Lithium is considered a gold standard drug for the management of bipolar disorder
and is a widely used mood-stabilizing drug in psychiatry practice. However, its side
effects are of important concern. The narrow therapeutic index of lithium predispose
to its toxicity/side effects, but various case reports and research has shown that
adverse drug reactions can occur even in the therapeutic range. We present the case
of a 56-year-old woman with no history of cardiac illness presenting with tachycardia-bradycardia
syndrome along with moderate pulmonary hypertension. Patients recovered to sinus rhythm
after withholding lithium therapy for 1 week while her mean pulmonary artery pressure
remained the same at day 10 of drug withdrawal.
Keywords
pulmonary hypertension - lithium - sinus node dysfunction - bipolar disorder - adverse
drug reaction - tachy-brady syndrome - ECG
