Acute parkinsonism induced by the combination of a serotonin reuptake inhibitor and a neuroleptic in adults with Tourette's syndrome

✍ Scribed by Dr. Roger Kurlan

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 423 KB
• Volume: 13
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-3185
• DOI: 10.1002/mds.870130136

✦ Synopsis

Neuroleptics are the most effective tic-suppressing drugs in treating Tourette's syndrome (TS).' When compared with the high neuroleptic dosages typically used to treat psychiatric disorders, the low dosages used in TS uncommonly cause druginduced parkinsonism.' A selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant is often added to neuroleptic therapy in TS to treat the commonly associated problems of obsessivecompulsive behavior, depression, or neuroleptic-induced dysphoria. SSRIs have been reported themselves to induce parkinsonism in psychiatric patients and to worsen motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson's disease.24 I now describe three adult patients with TS who experienced acute, severe, druginduced parkinsonism as an adverse reaction from combining a