Not all depression is depression

Authors: Faisal Faruqi, Simon Colledge / Editor: Steve Corry-Bass / Reviewer: Ahmad Alabood / Codes: NeuC2, NeuP2, SLO1 / Published: 14/06/2023

A 30-year-old patient delivered her sixth pregnancy by Caesarean section. She was an inpatient for 3 days and developed symptoms suggestive of post-natal depression with catatonia and functional weakness. She was treated with Olanzapine and Sertraline and transferred to an inpatient psychiatric unit.

She attended the Emergency Department (ED) with a headache, right sided weakness and left sided facial droop. Neurological examination was deemed to be normal and her symptoms were suspected to be functional. She was discharged back to the inpatient psychiatric unit.

She re-attended ED 3 days later with right arm jerking and had a generalized seizure like event lasting a couple of minutes. She had CT Head which showed Dural Venous Sinus Thrombosis.