Pregabalin misuse and abrupt cessation a recipe for delirium: case
The patient was prescribed the medication for pain relief but developed hallucinations and agitation.
Taking 13 times the prescribed daily dose of pregabalin before abruptly stopping treatment ended badly for a middle-aged man who was hospitalised with delirium, report doctors in India.
The patient, in his mid-50s, was prescribed 150mg/day of the neuropathic painkiller due to a prolapsed intervertebral disc (L2 and L3), in addition to a tapered seven-day regimen of oral prednisolone.
Four weeks later, he presented to ED with “prominent visual hallucinations, profound disorientation and marked agitation that developed over a few hours”.
“During the initial assessment, the patient was uncooperative and combative and seemed to engage in conversation with non-existent entities,” the doctors wrote in BMJ Case Reports.
