A teenager who took bath salts in the Alps was left catatonic for more than a month, unable to move or speak.
The 17-year-old had taken a small tablet while on holiday that police later confirmed were “bath salts”, a synthetic stimulant that can cause euphoria and alertness, as well as aggression, violence, paranoia and hallucinations.
He had hallucinations and became confused with the drug. As it left his system, the symptoms turned into severe anxiety and depression.
A week later, she arrived at the hospital anxious, confused and dissociated, since she had not slept for days. He had balance problems, slurred speech, and slurred speech.
Doctors believed the girl had suffered a psychotic break and began a regimen of antipsychotic medication, which blocks dopamine receptors in the brain.
Bath salts flood the brain with dopamine, the neurotransmitter most closely associated with pleasure, reward and motivation, as well as motor control.
But too much dopamine can cause hallucinations and paranoia, both symptoms of psychosis.
But his condition worsened and he eventually stopped speaking altogether, a condition called mutism. She did not respond to doctors’ requests or instructions (called negativism), became limp when doctors tried to move her, and refused to eat, requiring a feeding tube.
Although doctors did not recognize it at the time, their patient had developed catatonia, a life-threatening mental health condition that can cause blood clots from prolonged lack of movement, as well as malnutrition, dehydration, muscle breakdown and kidney damage.
The teenage patient entered a catatonic state approximately 24 hours after taking what police later confirmed were “bath salts,” a synthetic stimulant known to cause disturbance and aggression, as well as symptoms of psychosis (file photo).
He developed deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot that forms in a vein deep in the body, usually in the lower leg or thigh, which can travel through the bloodstream and reach the lungs, blocking blood flow.
This can cause a life-threatening pulmonary embolism.
When he was first admitted to the hospital, doctors believed he was in the midst of a psychotic break as a result of the drugs.
She was initially treated with risperidone (an antipsychotic), which was later stopped when her condition worsened to the point where she needed a feeding tube because she could not eat and stopped talking.
When she developed a blood clot as a result of moving very little for about two weeks, doctors moved her to the hospital’s medical wing for treatment.
Once there, they reviewed his psychiatric evaluation and administered a catatonia screening tool called the Bush-Francis Catatonia Rating Scale.
He scored high on immobility, mutism, vacant gaze, unusual posture, and negativism, all signs of catatonia.
They removed risperidone from their medication regimen and believed that adding Lorazepam (an anti-anxiety medication) would help with his symptoms, but it was not completely effective even at high doses.
They then briefly tried olanzapine (a second antipsychotic), but their condition continued to worsen and their symptoms worsened.
He described the feeling of living in a dream, like in the game ‘The Sims’.
Finally, when his catatonic symptoms worsened, doctors took him off antipsychotics completely. However, when she was kept on benzodiazepines, she improved.
Although he had never sought professional treatment for a mental health problem, he had a family history of bipolar disorder characterized by high-energy manic episodes for a week or more, followed by depressive episodes for at least two weeks.
Doctors started giving him medications to treat bipolar disorder: lithium and memantine. They followed up with her, although the case report does not say how long after her discharge, and she was still doing well.
According to your medical case reportAfter two weeks he left the hospital and a week later he made a full recovery.
Drug withdrawal catatonia is most commonly seen in people who take drugs regularly for months or years and stop suddenly.
But in this patient’s case, her health collapsed after taking drugs just once, as a result of an “unrecognized malicious consequence of dirty new designer drugs, like ‘bath salts,'” as well as a genetic predisposition.”