Loperamide Induced Torsades de Pointes: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Abuse of over the counter drugs often gets overlooked by health care providers. Loperamide is one such over the counter drug that is often abused by drug addicts. We present here a case of a young male attaining euphoria from taking massive doses of loperamide. He developed Torsades de Pointes and s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Case Reports in Medicine 2016-01, Vol.2016 (2016), p.266-268
Main Authors: Ward, J., Catalasan, G., Yousef, Hindi, Mukarram, O.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cardiac arrhythmia
Care and treatment
Case Report
Case studies
Complications and side effects
Diagnosis
Dosage and administration
Drug dosages
Electrocardiography
Health sciences
Heart rate
Heroin
Hospitalization
Hospitals
Loperamide
Narcotics
Risk factors
Sinuses
Torsade de pointes
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Summary:Abuse of over the counter drugs often gets overlooked by health care providers. Loperamide is one such over the counter drug that is often abused by drug addicts. We present here a case of a young male attaining euphoria from taking massive doses of loperamide. He developed Torsades de Pointes and subsequent cardiac arrest. We found similarities in the progression of myocardial electrical conduction abnormalities among loperamide and other previously known arrhythmogenic drugs. We intend to raise concern over the ease of availability of such drugs over the counter and increase the index of suspicion for over the counter drug abuse from our experience.
ISSN:1687-9627
1687-9635
DOI:10.1155/2016/4061980