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In clinical practice it can be difficult to distinguish between catatonia and the neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS). A female patient with an intellectual disability was treated in hospital with the help of risperidon because of conduct disorders. A few months later readmission followed with an NMS, which was initially interpreted as catatonia because of its mitigated nature, and its appearance several days after the cessation of the antipsychotic medication. On the basis of this case description, we discuss the clinical picture of the nms and its overlap with catatonia.

A 52-year-old man was admitted to hospital with abdominal pain, erythema and mild eosinophilia. Medical history revealed fatigue and dyspnoea on exertion after returning from the Gambia a year previously, and allergic rhinitis with nasal polyps that were surgically excised. Before a cause of the abdominal symptoms was determined he developed mononeuropathy, severe eosinophilia and arthralgia in combination with positive anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) against myeloperoxidase, which lead to the diagnosis of 'Churg-Strauss syndrome'. Despite treatment with high-dose corticosteroids (prednisone 1 mg/kg) his abdominal complaints intensified. A CT-scan of the abdomen showed a soft tissue mass around the caecum. Subsequent colonoscopy showed severe ulcerative lesions and signs of colonic ischemia. When PCR for cytomegalovirus appeared to be negative, treatment was intensified with cyclophosphamide 2 mg/kg, resulting in resolution of the abdominal complaints and healing of the ulcerative lesions in the colon.