Serotonin Syndrome

This is more of a warning than a question.  Anyone who is on SSRI's should be on the look out for Serotonin Syndrome.  My daughter has been hospitalized 3 times with what Dr.'s said was a drug overdose.  Each time she tried to explain that she had not taken anything other than the prescribed SSRI (Effexor first, Celexa second, and Lexepro third).  She was never believed and each time, she was tossed into a detox facility or a locked psych facility.  The 3rd 'overdose' came 3 weeks after starting the smallest dosage of Lexepro......she was rushed by ambulance to a hospital and, THANK GOD, the Dr. recognized the symptoms of Serotonin Syndrome.  She was flushed with fluids for 26 hrs and little by little started to come around.  When we left the hospital the next day, her pulse was still over 100 bpm but her eyes were no longer fully dilated and she was not seizing nor hallucinating.  Please....anyone who reads this or knows someone on SSRI's, Google the symptoms for SEROTONIN SYNDROME and be very careful.
I will gladly answer any specific questions anyone has in respect to this case.  By the way, we are speaking of a college student first hospitalized at age 19, then 20, then 21 after telling a Nurse Practitioner that she was feeling sad........without hesitation, the nurse tossed some SSRI's into a brown paper bag and gave my daughter a RX for 3 refills....never suggesting that my daughter be seen in between.  This is criminal!!  This nurse has been fired but can you imagine how many times similar 'freebies' are passed out every day???

[NicoleHope]

Hi karidu,

I was an otherwise healthy 30 year old who has yet again come down with serotonin syndrome. The first time happened three years ago after just taking one prescribed SSRI (Lexapro) for 3 months, which ended up leaving with me numb arms and legs, chattering teeth and anxiety attacks that did not resolve for two years. No one diagnosed it as such so I did not know not to go back on anti-depressants. I thought it was do to the klonzepan (benzo) they put me on.

The second time around, I was put on prednisone here at a reputable hospital and was put on lock down after spinning out of control. They put me on two SSRIs and I started developing serotonin syndrome immediatetly which they did not catch. I asked them what all these strange symptoms were and they said they were in my head. After ten days and severly worsening symptoms, I went to a local clinic and asked for help. They took me off the two SSRIs but my symptoms have not resolved after two weeks, but they stopped getting worse. How long did you daughter take to return to normal?

[urdacrazy1]

You have just scared the HECK out of me. My doctor has prescribed Celexa but I've been hesitating to take its. How much Celexa was your daughter taking and for how long? Was she taking anything else with the Celexa?

[Ryan1981]

Wow that's horrible this is a very rare case this girl must be very sensitive to SSRI they aren't for everybody I don't understand why should would have gone through 3 rounds of them after this happened the first time and its unusual that it would occur 3 weeks into the treatment it is more common when first taken or when a dosage is increased don't let this one post scare you my friend who is a doctor said he's never heard of a case like this nonetheless we need to aware of our bodies when we take any drug OTC or prescription I have had allergic reactions but those can be stopped by taking a benedryl