Tijdschrift voor Psychiatrie 51 (2009) 9, 699 - 703
Case report
Clozapine use and abrupt smoking cessation; a potentially life-threatening combination
summary
A 58-year-old man was in a period of 3 weeks twice admitted to a general hospital with symptoms of clozapine intoxication, i.e. loss of consciousness. We are of the opinion that the patient developed clozapine intoxication because he had been prescribed clozapine (300 mg/day) and at the same time had suddenly stopped smoking. The link is confirmed in the literature. We therefore recommend that clozapine-dosage be adjusted to a patient's smoking behaviour.
keywords clozapine, intoxication, smoking cessation