Don't Take It 'Lytely': A Case of Acute Tetany.

crohns disease hypocalcemia hypokalemia hypomagnesemia respiratory alkalosis rhabdomyolysis tetany

Journal

Cureus
ISSN: 2168-8184
Titre abrégé: Cureus
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 101596737

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
05 Oct 2019
Historique:
entrez: 23 11 2019
pubmed: 23 11 2019
medline: 23 11 2019
Statut: epublish

Résumé

The most common causes of tetany are hypocalcemia, hypomagnesemia, hypokalemia, and alkalosis. Most case reports of tetany in the literature include some combination of the above metabolic derangements leading to non-life-threatening symptoms. We present a unique case of severe life-threatening tetany in a 38-year-old female with a history of Crohn's disease. She was previously dependent on total parenteral nutrition (TPN) but discontinued TPN two weeks prior to presentation due to the improvement of her Crohn's symptoms with a new medication regimen. We propose that malabsorption led to multiple electrolyte abnormalities, resulting in acute tetany that subsequently caused rhabdomyolysis. This case reviews the most common causes of acute tetany and highlights the interaction between electrolytes implicated in both tetany and rhabdomyolysis. It also emphasizes the importance of considering tetany as a diagnosis in a patient with unstable vital signs and diffuse muscle spasms.

Identifiants

pubmed: 31754580
doi: 10.7759/cureus.5845
pmc: PMC6830852
doi:

Types de publication

Case Reports

Langues

eng

Pagination

e5845

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2019, Johnson et al.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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Auteurs

McKenna M Johnson (MM)

Internal Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA.

Satya Patel (S)

Internal Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA.

Jason Williams (J)

Internal Medicine, Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cleveland, USA.

Classifications MeSH