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Amelioration of Psychosis with Carbidopa: A Case Report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Markku Linnoila ,
Farouk Karoum ,
Steven G. Potkin ,
Richard Jed Wyatt  and
William Z. Potter
Markku Linnoila*
Affiliation:
Clinical Psychobiology Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Room 4S-239, Building 10, Bethesda, Maryland 20205 USA
Farouk Karoum
Affiliation:
Adult Psychiatry Branch
Steven G. Potkin
Affiliation:
Adult Psychiatry Branch
Richard Jed Wyatt
Affiliation:
Adult Psychiatry Branch
William Z. Potter
Affiliation:
Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit, Clinical Psychobiology Branch
*
∗Correspondence
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Summary

We have recently demonstrated that some patients with atypical bipolar affective disorders, characterized by psychotic manias and depressions, have fluctuating and episodic high urinary phenylethlamine (PEA) excretion. We treated a 30 year old woman, who has this disorder, with 200 mg/24 hours of carbidopa. Her psychosis was ameliorated and the urinary PEA output stabilized to a low normal level. Upon withdrawal of carbidopa her psychosis worsened and improved again when carbidopa treatment was reinstated. Carbidopa did not affect the duration or severity of the patient's mood cycles.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 144 , Issue 4 , April 1984 , pp. 428 - 431
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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