The Delayed Diagnosis of Thyroid Storm in Patients with Psychosis

Abstract

We herein report two cases of patients with thyroid storm with a delayed diagnosis due to psychosis. The patients were a 63-year-old woman with bipolar II disorder and a 37-year-old man with major depressive disorder. The psychoses in both patients were well controlled with medication. Although they both showed symptoms of thyrotoxicosis, the symptoms were ignored, presumably because the psychological manifestations of worsening of psychosis and thyroid storm are similar. When the mental or physical state of patients with psychosis changes, thyroid hormone levels should be measured for early treatment.