Nausea, emesis, and muscle weakness in a pregnant adolescent.
BACKGROUND
Gitelman syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disorder that presents in early adulthood with fatigue, muscle cramps and electrolyte abnormalities.


METHODS
A 17-year-old African-American woman presented at 17 weeks of pregnancy with nausea, emesis, profound lower extremity proximal muscle weakness, hypokalemia, and hypomagnesemia. After a thorough evaluation, Gitelman syndrome was diagnosed. The patient was maintained on high levels of potassium and magnesium supplementation throughout the rest of her pregnancy and delivered a healthy infant.


CONCLUSIONS
In pregnancy, nausea and emesis is most commonly attributed to hyperemesis gravidarum. However, an atypical presentation of these symptoms and/or the coexistence of less common complaints warrant further investigation.
Srinivas
Sindhu K
SK
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. srinivas@obgyn.upenn.edu
Sukhan
Sabrina
S
Elovitz
Michal A
MA
D000293:Adolescent; D000471:Alkalosis / Q000175:diagnosis; D002118:Calcium / Q000652:urine*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007008:Hypokalemia / Q000175:diagnosis; D008275:Magnesium Deficiency / Q000175:diagnosis; D008659:Metabolic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D018908:Muscle Weakness / Q000209:etiology; D009325:Nausea / Q000209:etiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013577:Syndrome; D014839:Vomiting / Q000209:etiology
D002118:Calcium