Toxic psychosis due to self-administered antiparkinson drug overdosage: A case report

Anticholinergic antiparkinson drugs are psychotoxic and euphorigenic. Abuse of these drugs has been documented. Levodopa, a dopamine precursor used for the symptomatic treatment of idiopathic Parkinson's disease, is potentially psychotoxic too. However, euphorigenic effects of levodopa have not been documented and to the author's knowledge there are no reports of abuse of this drug. The author presents a case of toxic confusional psychosis due to overdosage of two antiparkinson drugs, levodopa and orphenadrine. The motivation for the overdosage was to achieve pleasurable psychic effects. Levodopa should be included among psychotropic drugs with a potential to cause confusional psychotic reactions in non-Parkinsonian patients.