Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Paroxetine is an antidepressant belonging to the class of
SSRI. It is used in multiple psychiatric disorders including depression,
anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Apart from being very
efficacious, it causes some adverse effects too and hyponatremia is one
of them. The association between the two is not well established, which
makes this case worth of attention. CASE PRESENTATION: A 52 years old
male hypertensive patient was brought to the ER after having an episode
of seizure. Hyponatremia due to an unknown cause was made a provisional
diagnosis. He was then referred to the psychiatric department for
further assessment, where his detailed history was taken and mental
state examination was performed. The patient was found to be suffering
from chronic depression. The patient has been taking a combination of
antipsychotics and antidepressants for this condition. Paroxetine,
Olanzapine and Quetiapine were prescribed to him by his psychiatrist 10
years back, and since then he was taking it daily. His current
medication was then immediately altered and paroxetine was replaced by
mirtazapine. DISCUSSION/ CONCLUSION: Numerous studies have been done on
the effects of SSRIs, but very few of them mentioned their association
with hyponatremia. Electrolyte imbalances are common with many
medications including antiepileptic and antidepressant drugs as well.
Although some literature has shown the link between the two, drug
induced hyponatremia remained one of the rarest adverse effect. In
summary, paroxetine is very effective in the management of depression
but its long-term use could result in an electrolyte imbalance in
hypertensive patients