PSYCHIATRIC COMPLICATIONS DUE TO UNDERLYING CUSHING'S SYNDROME: A CASE REPORT

Summary

Cushing’s syndrome is a multisystem disorder, which can present with a spectrum of manifestations.  It might be particularly hard to detect the disorder in early stages if psychiatric symptoms are also presenting features. Major depression, mania, anxiety, and neurocognitive impairment are the most important clinical abnormalities found in these patients. Cushing’s syndrome should always be considered as a cause of organic psychiatric illness, especially if there are other features like adiposity, hirsutism, glucose intolerance and hypertension present. A prompt diagnosis and treatment is important to decrease morbidity and mortality. In this article, we discuss a case of a young female patient presenting with a variety of psychiatric symptoms - anxiety, panic attacks, accompanied by fear of suffocation, tightening in the throat, sweating, racing heart, dizziness, mood swings, psychotic symptoms with auditory hallucinations and neurocognitive dysfunction, associated with iatrogenic Cushing’s syndrome.