Abstract
Case 1: A 39-year-old woman with schizophrenia, obesity, hypertension and dyslipidemia was admitted to our hospital for deteriorating serum Cr level, from 97.2 to 645.3 µmol/l. She had been started on losartan 5 months earlier. After suspension of losartan and infusion of saline, her serum Cr level gradually recovered and she was discharged. Unfortunately, her physician restarted her on losartan, and 5 months after this discharge, her serum Cr level rose again to 194.5 μmol/l; again, serum Cr promptly recovered when losartan was discontinued. Self-induced vomiting after overeating, suggesting bulimia nervosa, was revealed via the detection of a remarkable reduction of chloride compared to sodium in her spot-urine sample. Case 2: A 39-year-old woman who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and diabetes mellitus was admitted to our hospital with suspected diabetic ketoacidosis. After improvement in her blood sugar level, olmesartan administration for hypertension was begun. Four days later, her serum Cr level had risen from 60.1 to 256.4 μmol/l. After suspension of olmesartan and infusion of saline, her serum Cr level gradually fell to normal levels. Urinalysis revealed the dissociation of sodium and chloride. During her hospitalization, habitual self-induced vomiting was discovered. The measurement of urinary electrolytes may be useful for the detection of eating disorders with self-induced vomiting; in these patients, the administration of angiotensin II receptor blockers may induce acute kidney injury.