Acute dystonic reactions in a lady presenting with repetitive involuntary muscle twitching: a case report

A 56-year-old lady was admitted with complaint of involuntary muscle twitching around the eyes, face and neck for two days. She had a history of low grade non-hodgkin lymphoma with completion of the first cycle of chemotherapy. Her medication on presenting consisted of Ondansetron 8 mg two times a day and Metoclopramide 10 mg three times a day (TDS). She started taking these medications 24 hours before having the above symptoms. She was clinically diagnosed with acute dystonic reactions and was also secondarily treated with anti-emetic medications. She was given IV procyclidine 10 mg stat followed by per oral (PO) procyclidine 2.5 mg TDS. Within an hour of administering IV procyclidine her symptoms began to gradually settle down. Acute dystonic reactions are not a very rare clinical presentation in the daily practice. The above case is a good example for the clinicians dealing with acute medical admissions.