A Patient With Schizophrenia in Remission Relapses Following COVID-19: A Case Report

As managing COVID-19 complications has become more prevalent in psychiatry, its effects can range from provoking new illnesses in previously healthy individuals to inducing relapses in patients in remission. However, an aspect of COVID-19’s influence that is not well documented is its effect on medi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) CA), 2022-10, Vol.14 (10)
Main Authors: Shaaban, Saeed S, Bhullar, Rooble, Mohammad, Ibrahim, Hashmi, Aqeel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antipsychotics
Case reports
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Hospitalization
Hospitals
Infections
Mental disorders
Mental health
Patients
Psychiatry
Psychosis
Psychotropic drugs
Remission (Medicine)
Schizophrenia
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Summary:As managing COVID-19 complications has become more prevalent in psychiatry, its effects can range from provoking new illnesses in previously healthy individuals to inducing relapses in patients in remission. However, an aspect of COVID-19’s influence that is not well documented is its effect on medication responsiveness. In this case, we present a 28-year-old male diagnosed with treatment-resistant schizophrenia for eight years. While in remission on a maintenance dose of clozapine, he was admitted to the hospital with signs of severe psychosis after testing positive for COVID-19. On admission, he did not have any other major stressors and no prior comorbidities that could have induced the relapse. Despite being on a higher dose of clozapine for four weeks while hospitalized, the patient’s psychosis did not improve. This raises the question if his infection had altered his response to medication that previously brought on remission.
ISSN:2168-8184
2168-8184
DOI:10.7759/cureus.29845