Acute respiratory depression due to treatment with clonazepam: a case report

Bipolar disorder is one of the most common psychiatric disorders. Benzodiazepines can be used as an additional treatment for mania. Adding a benzodiazepine such as clonazepam or lorazepam to acute attack treatment, provides a faster and more effective treatment. High dose parenteral use of benzodiazepines can lead to respiratory depression. As far as we know, no cases of Intensive Care Unit follow-up requiring respiratory depression due to olanzapine or clonazepam use in an otherwise healthy than a psychiatric disorder is reported in the literature. We report a case of respiratory depression due to treatment of manic episode with olanzapine 10 mg pills and clonazepam 2 mg pills. [Anadolu Psikiyatri Derg 2017; 18(5.000): 519-522]