• A D Huitema, M Soesan, P L Meenhorst, C H Koks, and J H Beijnen.
• Slotervaart Hospital, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
• Hum Exp Toxicol. 1998 Jul 1;17(7):406-8.

AbstractWe report a case of a 29-year-old woman with a borderline personality disorder who presented with intentional substantial acetaminophen (paracetamol) overdosage on nine occasions during a period of 21 months. In most cases, the patient presented at the hospital within 4 h after ingestion and was treated with gastric lavage, activated charcoal, laxatives and intravenous N-acetylcysteine. During the sixth overdosage the patient developed a rash on her chest and shoulders which was considered an anaphylactoid reaction to N-acetylcysteine. Therefore she was treated with oral methionine subsequently, but developed the rash again. The rash was then ascribed to the repeated high-doses of acetaminophen and treatment with N-acetylcysteine was reinstituted. This case shows that when an anaphylactoid reaction occurs after an acetaminophen overdose and treatment with N-acetylcysteine, acetaminophen must also be taken into account as the cause of the anaphylactoid reaction before effective therapy with N-acetylcysteine is withheld.

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