Combining anti-depressants

[BUTS]

My 16 year old daughter is currently taking 4 different anti-depressants.  She is currently taking Cymbalta, Lamotrigine, Seroquel and Ziprasidone.  She has been depressed for a few years but it suddenly got worse since she started to take ziprasidone.  She has been taking it for about 2 weeks now.  She informed us that she is hearing voices telling her to harm herself.  She has experimented in cutting in the past, but yesterday she did it to the extreme resulting in numerous cuts to her arm.  Is taking these four medications together a detriment to her mind set?  Please help.

[spikerusty]

agree to all that is talked about above as she really should'nt be on 4 different anti-depressants as she sounds really distressed and requires sadly at this time serious assessment to determine what's so troubling her. be strong for her to achieve this. best wishes

[mammo]

This is definitelty too much medication for a teenager. I would seek a second opinion on her diagnosis as well as what is best for her whether it's medication and/or therapy. Take care.

[jnreid]

Yes, combining a number of drugs raises the risk of interactions that are hard to predict.  However, from what you report it sounds like the Zipraidone might be a problem, since that is the last drug added.  It can take a week or two for a new drug to get up to full strength in the body and that may explain why the cutting and voices started two weeks after the new drug was started.  The appropriate thing to do is call your psychiatrist and report these changes.  He/she will know what to do.

Norm