Treatment of high dose of intravenous midazolam abuse: a case report

Abstract

This study reports a rare case of high-dose midazolam abuse and Munchausen Syndrome. A 48-year-old female physician was referred by a psychiatrist to the Toxicology Department of Imam Reza Hospital for abstaining from 300 mg/day of parenteral midazolam. She had mimicked the symptoms of Crohn’s disease; therefore, she had undergone 15 colonoscopies and 40 times MRI or CT scan, all of which were normal. Six months earlier, she had switched oral methadone to 30 mg/day of intravenous midazolam. She also had several skin lesions on injection sites that she considered pyoderma gangrenosum. When the total daily dose of intravenous midazolam was switched to oral bioequivalence of clonazepam, she could not tolerate withdrawal (Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment Scale-Benzodiazepines = 68). Therefore, she received midazolam again as a continuous intravenous infusion. Within 7 days, the whole dose was replaced by the bioequivalence oral dose of clonazepam. She was also treated with carbamazepine and cognitive behavior therapy. Afterward, she was transferred to the psychiatric ward for further psychiatric treatment. Dependency on a high dose of midazolam could be treated by tapering off the long-acting benzodiazepine.

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“…The potential for benzodiazepine abuse is highlighted in the impressive case report in this issue (Ramazani et al, 2023). The subject reached the level of 300 mg/day of midazolam abuse and, apart from being surprisingly well tolerated, the very high dose caused difficulties in managing withdrawal.…”