Coexistence of a septic state of unspecified etiology with an acute psychotic episode under treatment. Case study
Coexistence of a septic state of unspecified etiology with an acute psychotic episode under treatment. Case study

Summary/Abstract: Acute psychotic disorders are psychiatric disorders with various clinical manifestations and variable onset form, which require the administration of psychotropic medication, the first therapeutic line being antipsychotics, which can lead to a number of side effects, some of which are extremely rare, but with systemic resonance. Such a mental illness does not bring with it the guarantee of protection against other general medical conditions, although the collective mind often tends to attribute any manifestation to psychosis or its specific treatment. Thus, therapeutic approaches may be delayed or they may be on the wrong track. This paper aims to present a complex case, challenging in terms of positive diagnosis and differential diagnosis, which intertwine the actual manifestations of an acute psychotic disorder with symptoms of schizophrenia and the multisystemic symptoms of sepsis with unknown etiology, in the context of the administration of psychotropic treatment, which raised the initial suspicion of the appearance of a neuroleptic malignant syndrome. The present case is an eloquent example of the overlap of a general medical condition in a person suffering from an acute episode with multiple psychiatric symptoms, for which has been initiated specialized treatment, thus raising multiple problems of discernment between the elements strictly related to pathology and medication and those associated with organic pathology, which appeared independently of the first. In addition, it challenges us to ask questions about cases of psychosis that can be easily overlooked by people with a certain behavioral pattern and about distrust in psychiatric and medical services in general, in the context of the coincidence of a major medical condition., such as sepsis, which brings with it the tolerance of symptoms both by the person concerned and by those close to him, with a dramatically low or even absent therapeutic adherence.

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