Does amantadine induce acute psychosis? A case report and literature review

BACKGROUND Over-the-counter cold medicines, which contain amantadine, are widely used in the People's Republic of China. Clinicians are familiar with the psychosis caused by long-term treatment with amantadine, especially in elderly patients; however, early-onset psychotic complications among healthy young individuals have rarely been reported. CASE PRESENTATION This article reports the case of a 28-year-old patient who presented with hallucination-delusion syndrome soon after treatment with cold medicine containing amantadine hydrochloride and acetaminophen. The symptoms resolved completely after a 2-week course of paliperidone treatment. CONCLUSION Clinicians should be sensitive to the acute psychotic complications induced by an interaction between amantadine and acetaminophen.