На
ук
а о жизни и з
доровье №2, 2020
106
1963
with Venlafaxine 75 mg within an outpatient
program. Further depressive episodes were
recorded every other year and associated with
the patient’s non-compliant attitude toward
the basic antidepressant therapy.
As for 2014, the first hypomania
symptoms emerged after regular depressive
episodes. That time, the patient reported
talkativeness, an increase in goal-directed
activities that did not cause marked
impairment in social functioning. The elevated
productivity was expressed in the poetry
writing, recreational drug experimenting and
spiritual online forum surfing. The duration
of hypomania was no longer than 7-9 days. In
2018, the patient experienced the deteriorated
course of depressive episode, which included
suicidal ideations and delusional thoughts
about self-guilt and uselessness. The resistance
and severity of affective symptoms resulted
in the transformation of formal diagnosis
newly formulated as schizoaffective disorder.
Psychological distress (e.g. the breakup
of a personal relationship) as well as first
episodes of NPS use were associated with the
intensification of endogenous pathology in
question. The reduction of the symptoms was
achieved with a combination of Amisulpride
100 mg and Fluvoxamine 50 mg under
directly observed therapy (DOT) while patient
was admitted for differential diagnoses to
the Republican Center of Mental Health for
a two-month course. Upon discharge, the
mood remained to be stabilized with the same
medication. Meanwhile, the development of
synthetic stimulant addiction contributed to
the progressive mental and social instability.
The history of drug addiction. The
patient started using of substances (alcohol and
tetrahydrocannabinoids on social occasions) at
the age of 18 years. He described the episodes
of cannabis intoxication as periods with
substantial emotional elevation and visual
hallucinations. At the time, he reported the use
of cannabis with investigative motivation to
broaden transpersonal awareness. Compared
to cannabis, alcohol intoxications brought
about relaxation and sedation and was not
as preferable as marijuana. Upon the clinical
manifestation of bipolar symptoms, the patient
stopped the experiments with cannabis when
he noticed the aggravation of depression
during the intoxications. He reported drinking
alcohol on social occasions at a rate of two
times a month with no more than three standard
alcohol doses per episode.
At the age of 31, he was introduced to
synthetic stimulants referred to as “skorost”
at the initial dose of 0.03 grams. He rapidly
moved to regular “skorost” use, showing a fast
progression, from a monthly use to a day use in
less than two months. He administered the drug
by smoking and snorting. Being intoxicated, he
exhibited psychotic symptoms with audial and
visual hallucinations accompanied by inflated
self-esteem or grandiosity. Notably, the mood
elevation and the feeling of happiness during
stimulant intoxications were of the highest
intensity and had no subjective similarities with
endogenous hypomania sensations previously
experienced. The patient denied having any
severe intoxication psychoses or somatic
failures due to stimulants use. Three months
after the onset of use, he noted the decrease in
euphoric effects in parallel with the onset of
craving symptoms. Although the strong desire
to consume the drug dominated in the patient’s
motivational area in the form of thoughts, it
was not followed by the loss of behavioral
control and binge drug use. The episodes
of intensive craving sensations preceded the
acute exacerbation of endogenous depression
with resistance toward antidepressants. In
the year following the onset of stimulant use,
the patient experienced recurrent switches
of depressive and hypomaniac episodes
and intensive delusional symptoms that
warranted the changing of the diagnoses to
schizoaffective disorder.
At the present hospitalization, the
patient performed the craving symptoms with
persistent thoughts and dreams about the drug
intake. The patient’s blood samples showed
that his renal function test, lipid profile test,
liver function test, and full blood count test
conducted on the first day of hospital admission
were within normal limits. We commenced
the anticraving therapy with a combination
of Carbamazepine 200 mg and cognitive-
behavioral sessions. The basic antidepressant
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