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Reminder of important clinical lesson
Dramatic weight loss associated with commencing clozapine
  1. John Lally1,
  2. Colm McDonald1,2
  1. 1Department of Psychiatry, National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG), Galway, Ireland
  2. 2West Galway Mental Health Services, Health Service Executive West, Galway, Ireland
  1. Correspondence to Dr John Lally, john.lally{at}nuigalway.ie

Summary

The authors report the case of a 44-year-old man with a long history of chronic enduring schizophrenia who experienced dramatic weight loss after commencing treatment with clozapine, an antipsychotic medication characteristically associated with the greatest degree of weight gain among medical treatments for schizophrenia. He was obese with a body mass index (BMI) of 41.5 kg/m2, but after commencing clozapine therapy he experienced an improvement in psychotic symptoms and 40% loss of his body weight attained through an altered diet and exercise regime, which resulted in him attaining a normal BMI of 24.8 kg/m2.

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Footnotes

  • Competing interests None.

  • Patient consent Obtained.