MON-LB122 Psychiatric Medication Induced Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Psychiatric medications are well established cause of diabetes. Our case had similar presentation. 67-year-old African-American male with history of hypertension and dementia was brought to the ER for auditory hallucination and bizarre behavior. His home medications were Hydrochlorothiazide, Nifedipine and Spironolactone. Psychiatry was consulted and he was admitted to psychiatric floor. He was diagnosed for first time with psychosis and depression. He was treated with citalopram 20 mg for depression; donepezil 10 mg for dementia and risperidone 0.5 mg twice a day for psychosis. 2 weeks later he developed difficulty swallowing and weakness, blood glucose level of 1263 mg/dl. All of his psychiatric medications were stopped except for citalopram 10 mg daily and patient was transferred to ICU. In the ICU, pH was 7.28 (normal 7.34-7.45), normal anion gap, bicarbonate 29mmol/L (normal 20-24), plasma osmolality 428 mOsm/kg (normal 280-320), HbA1c 10% (normal 4-5.6). He was intubated and managed as Hyperosmolar Hyperglycemic Non-Ketotic coma (HONK). He was started on insulin drip and later transitioned to Lantus and short-acting insulin. He improved and was then extubated. After 40 days, repeat A1C was 7.4%. The patient moved to another state and follow-up was lost.Discussion While the patient was on thiazide for a long time, he had a fairly good glucose control; his A1C ranged from normal to prediabetic (A1c 5.7%-6.4%). This makes thiazide unlikely cause of diabetes mellitus for him. The fact that right after 21 days of starting psych medications caused him to land in ICU for HONK, with A1c of 10% and glucose of 1273 mg/dl, strongly suggests that this is a case of psych medications induced T2DM. This is also supported by the fact that discontinuation of those medications lowered the A1c to 7.4% in 40 days. 3 weeks before the hospitalization his A1c was 5.1%. Metformin is demonstrated to be most promising long term medication in cases like this.Conclusion Psychiatric medications are important cause of drug induced diabetes and should always be thought as a cause of acute new onset diabetes. Stopping the offending drugs ensues good glycemic control.