Title: Altered Mental Status- Is It Anticholinergic Toxicity? <br/>Author: Jon Mark Hirshon<br/><a href='http://umem.org/profiles/faculty/96/'>[Click to email author]</a><hr/><p> A patient presents with altered mental status for unclear reasons- could it be anticholinergic syndrome? </p> <p> </p> <p> There are many medications (e.g. Beers Criteria, see pearl from March 5, 2017) and plants (e.g.: certain mushrooms) that can cause this life-threatening toxidrome.</p> <p> </p> <p> The quick mnemonic for anticholinergic poisoning is:</p> <p> · Hot as a hare (hyperthermia)</p> <p> · Red as a beet (flushed)</p> <p> · Cry as a bone (decreased secretions)</p> <p> · Blind as a bat (mydriasis)</p> <p> · Mad as a hatter (delirium)</p> <p> · Full as a flask (urinary retention)</p> <p> </p> <p> <em><strong>Bottom line: </strong></em>Keep anticholinergic syndrome within your differential for a patient with altered mental status without a clear cause. </p> <p> </p> <p> Note: An earlier version of this pearl incorrectly listed organophospahtes, which cause cholingeric toxicity.</p>
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<fieldset><legend>References</legend>
<p> 1) <a href="http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/812644-overview">http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/812644-overview</a></p> <p> 2) http://www.uptodate.com/contents/anticholinergic-poisoning</p> </fieldset>