Tramadol and Fluoextine

[Boulder257]

I currently take 20mg of Fluoxetine daily. I was recently prescribed Tramadol for migraines; however, through my research it appears as though these together may have significant increased chances of seretonin toxicity.

What is the likelihood of a problem with taking these two medications? What should I be concerned with? Is it okay to take these two together?

[Sandra Y, RPh]

Concomitant use of tramadol and serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as fluoxetine increases the risk of seizures and serotonin syndrome. It may also reduce the pain relieving properties of the tramadol. If you must take tramadol, do not take it at the same time as fluoxetine. Try to take tramadol and imitrex a few hours apart from the fluoxetine.

[TwinsMommma]

don't even no where to begin....well, wanted to read through some more topics before joining BUT i just could not pass up this topic not even for one second...this is my first time on any forum and i'm not sure how comfortable i am posting information that may effect someone's treatment decision BUT...oh well...i am still emotially scarred and concerned for others soooo this is my story as related to tramadol ..(i suffer chronic back pain and want to disuss that in differnt area)
long story short...(as best i can)...after on 4 lortab a day for 2 years (will get into details on seperate post if curious) i decided to try a non-narcotic road...so dr put me on cymbalta and i take adhd med....cymbalta did nothing after raising dose...and nothing...so since cymbalta they said also was for my anxiety they switched me to prozac (fluoxene) (400mg a day...that's max per day)....so thats prozac, tramadol and adhd stimulant...which brings me to my point.....i very quickly each hour of each day became extremely ill...extreme fatigue, vomiting, shortness of breath, dizzy, shakey, blurred vision....the list goes on...i called y dr several times to let them know and she switched me to prisqu (some sis to prozac) b/c she thought it might be b/c prozac...after getting worse and ER trip and worse docs kept blowing me off as i was just exasterbating my symtoms of side effects....i finally goggled my meds on drug interactions and all these were MAJOR drug interactions causing something called serotonin syndrome or serotonin toxity...this can be fatal and i felt like i was going to die...THIS IS OF NO CONCERN IF YOU ARE NOT ON OTHER MEDS WITH SEROTONIN....BUT BE AWARE THAT COUGH MEDS and other over-the-counter meds can interact in a milder way (i guess....need to do own research) i stopped all med for 48 hrs and tramadol and prozac permantenly and immediatly began feeling better...i called my dr when i figured out what was wrong and her nurse said she (the doc) doesn't think i had that...i left her and every time i mention this story to docs i encounter they are blown away no-one helped me...a psych doc even said that 9 out of the 10 ER patients that came in with symtoms of this toxicty that tramadol was the medicine that again 9 out of 10 were prescribed....and this is the short version of the story..heehee...IN ADDITION, MY OPINION OF TRAMADOL IS THAT for me it did not touch my pain AT ALL for relief...that's for those those who do not take anything else for concern...
i know i should have goggled this info on what i was taking before my near death experience (and i am for from a drama queen...so no exaggeration there) BUT IT IS VERY, VERY COMMON THAT THIS IS MIS-DIAGNOSED....shouldn't be prescribed together to even be something to misdiagnose...anyways..so sorry this is long-winded...i'm still pissed off and could go on all night...i'm a mother of 2 yr old boy/girl twins and they didn't deserve their mom vomiting in between changing diapers b/c doctors think your exaggerating side effects!!!!!!!!!!