Pancytopenia in Carbamazepine Therapy: A Rare and Serious Entity with Simple Prevention

Carbamazepine is a commonly used drug in psychiatric settings used for indications such as partial seizures, generalized tonic-clonic seizures, mixed seizure patterns, pain associated with trigeminal neuralgia, acute manic, and mixed manic states. However, this drug comes with its own series of adverse effects such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, hyponatremia, headaches, and dry mouth. One serious side effect which is rarely documented includes “carbamazepine-induced pancytopenia.” In this case report, we wish to highlight a known case of schizophrenia, who was taking tablet carbamazepine as adjunctive treatment and subsequently developed pancytopenia. On removing the offending agent, her counts gradually returned to normal. By reporting this case, we wish to emphasize regarding the importance of regular monitoring of complete blood count, which often gets neglected. Furthermore, psychoeducating patients regarding regular blood monitoring and the importance of adherence holds considerable importance in enhancing their compliance. By ensuring such simple preventive measures, such serious and unusual side effects may be averted through early detection of warning signs.