Essential Palatal Myoclonus Accompanied with Psychiatric Symptoms

Palatal myoclonus is a rare and unique neurological disorder which can be primary or secondary to lesions of the central tegmental tract in the brain stem. This is a case report of a patient who complained of hearing a continuous disturbing noise for many years. Later an affective disorder superimposed on his previous complaints and confounded his auditory complaints. The co-morbidity resulted in attributing the complaint of hearing noise to his psychotic states and as a hallucinatory phenomenon. Thorough clinical and paraclinical examinations revealed that the patient had primary palatal myoclonus and the misattribution of the auditory complaints had resulted injudicious prescription of antipsychotics. Administration of appropriate therapy resulted in improvement of both problems.