Journal of Alzheimers Disease & Parkinsonism
Open Access

Rapidly Progressive Dementia (RPD) in the Setting of Therapeutic Lithium Levels

Melissa Stockton-Brown^*

Department of Internal Medicine, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, Camden, New Jersey, United States

Received Date: Feb 27, 2023 / Published Date: Mar 30, 2023

Citation: Stockton-Brown M (2023) Rapidly Progressive Dementia (RPD) in the Setting of Therapeutic Lithium. J Alzheimers Dis Parkinsonism. 13:566.DOI: 10.4172/2161-0460.1000566.

Copyright: © 2023 Stockton-Brown M. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Rapidly Progressive Dementias are characterized by a subacute or acute decline in neurologic function and causes run the gamut from easily reversible to universally fatal. The sudden onset and abrupt decline are distressing for patients and caregivers and present a unique challenge for clinicians. In the absence of readily apparent cause, many will move to a presumptive diagnosis of prion diseases is a diagnosis which can only be confirmed after death. In patients taking neurotoxic medications, to include such routine medications as lithium, tricyclic antidepressants, or even bismuth-based antacids, a ‘medication vacation’ should be considered to rule out an iatrogenic cause. Based on numerous case reports, a ‘vacation’ is still recommended in the setting of therapeutic serum medication levels.

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