Topiramate-induced psychosis in two members of the one family: a case report

Topiramate-induced psychosis in two members of the one family: a case report

Journal of Medical Case Reports 2008, 2:195
Published: December 2009
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Abstract
Introduction:
The use of topiramate has increased in recent years. It is now used by various specialties to treat a wide range of medical conditions. A small number of case reports describe psychosis as an adverse event of topiramate but most are in patients being treated for epilepsy and none describe a family history of this side effect.

Case presentation:
We present a case report of topiramate-induced psychosis in a patient with familial essential tremor, whose sister also developed this same adverse effect.

Conclusion:
Physicians need to be aware of psychosis as a rare but debilitating side effect of this drug. Several predictors have been identified and a careful history, including family history, needs to be obtained prior to initiation of therapy to stratify the risk.

Introduction
Topiramate is a relatively new anti-epileptic drug. There is increasing interest in its use in a wide range of applications and therefore its use and side effects have great importance to general and specialist physicians. It is licensed in the United Kingdom for the management of epilepsy and migraine prophylaxis and is used 'off-label' in the management of essential tremor, alcohol dependence, bulimia nervosa and mood disorders [1,2]. We present a case report of an unusual but serious side effect of topiramate. There are a small number of case reports describing topiramate-induced psychosis but the majority are in patients being treated for epilepsy [3-5] and none have described a family history of this side effect.

Keywords:
topiramate headaches, topiramate topamax, topiramate migraine prevention, topiramate metabolic acidosis, topiramate glaucoma, depression psychosis, signs psychosis, psychosis symptoms, psychosis treatment, signs psychosis,

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