Acute thyroxine overdosage: two cases of parasuicide.
Year: 1993
Type: article
Study design: Case Report
Abstract: Factitious hyperthyroidism is a well documented clinical entity where the signs and symptoms of hyperthyroidism are self-induced by the chronic ingestion of excessive amounts of thyroxine l 2. The acute ingestion of large amounts of thyroxine might be thought to carry a risk of acute thyrotoxicosis, but despite high plasma levels of thyroxine this may not be so. Previous reports suggest that such cases are largely asymptomatic 3, but the majority of these have been in children 4-7. There are few guidelines available for the specific management of acute thyroxine overdose in adults, where the amount ingested is usually relatively larger and treatment is more likely to be delayed. Two cases are presented where large amounts of thyroxine were taken in attempted suicide. CASE 1. An attention seeking 14 year old girl was admitted to the metabolic unit about 15 hours following an overdose of about 100 mixed tablets, including ferrous sulphate, multivitamins and 0.1mg tablets of thyroxine. Over 3mg of thyroxine had been taken. She had vomited once nine hours after ingestion, and on admission complained of dizziness. No formal gut decontamination (emetics
Source: PubMed
Author: S J Matthews
Institution: Royal Victoria Hospital
Language: English
Subfield: Emergency Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W157612082