Peripheral neuropathy after disulfiram administration: reversibility despite continued therapy.
The clinical history of an abstinent alcoholic developing paresthesias after one year's treatment with disulfiram (250 mg daily) is presented. Despite continued disulfiram in decreased dosage (125 mg daily), associated with multivitamin supplementation, marked improvement in symptoms and signs was noted, contrary to previous case reports. The peripheral sensorimotor neuropathy associated with disulfiram administration has been well described [1 - 8]. From those reports, it appears that symptoms may appear from several weeks to several months after the drug has been administered. Although the etiology of this neuropathy remains speculative, the usual treatment is to discontinue disulfiram once the toxicity develops. Presented here is the clinical course of a subject, whose neuropathic symptoms resolved with continued disulfiram administration at a lower daily dosage in conjunction with multivitamin therapy.
D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000188:drug therapy; D004221:Disulfiram / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced*
D004221:Disulfiram