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Serotonin Syndrome?
by seaandra79, Nov 08, 2007 12:58PM
I don't know if anyone will read this, but if someone does and can contact me, it would be greatly appreciated.
I began treatment for severe depression and axiety in the beginning of this year, and a few months ago I was also diagnosed as bipolar 1, with my therapist looking into BPD (boderline personality disorder), because I have the rapid ups and downs, but not the severe highs (mania). (Sometimes I wish I had those feelings, so I could feel "good" at least sometimes.) Anyways, aside from all of that, initially when starting on a couple antidepressants, Wellbutrin at first, which caused some shaking and worsened the anxiety, I was then changed to Celexa. I had a most frightening experiance with it, and I am not here to degrade the medication, because different people can react very differently to the same medication. Rather, I am here to describe some of the things that I experianced, and try to get some answers. Thus far, I have none, only a bunch of perplexed doctors who tell me they don't know what happened, and even went as far as to tell me it was not from the Celexa. Here is my story, if anyone out there knows anything or can help me, PLEASE contact me!
This past year (April of 2007) I began taking Celexa. At the moment I can't remember the dosage, but I was just starting it, so it would be the common starting dose (20mg?). The first day that I took it I was shaking and felt drunk (silly drunk, or high) I called the doctor, who said these were common side effects that would pass in a few days or a week. At night I would have twitching in my face, arms and legs, along with whole-body jerking. It was almost as if I was having seizures or something. I had episodes where I would be right in the middle of doing something, and I suddenly didn't know where I was, it was like waking from a nightmare, with that disorientated feeling, where everything is "fuzzy" and it takes a few minutes to figure out where you are. It was so very scary.
This was all within 3-4 days of taking Celexa. On my way to work (I believe on the 4th day), I passed my job, and was suddenly in a panic. I felt like I had awakened from a dream again, I didn't know where I was, and I had no recollection that I had just dropped my son off at school. Once at work, I was shaking uncontrollably all over, my hands were shaking, my legs were shaking. A co-worker rushed me to the hospital, and by then I began to have an uncontrollable stutter, I was extremely dizzy and in a state of panic. I knew i was in the hospital but upon trying to tell my fiancé over the phone which hospital I had been rushed to from work, I had no idea where I was and I was completely unable to form a proper word.
Over the same couple days before the extreme shaking and stuttering, I was nauseous, I threw up at least twice, and I had diarrhea. I thought at the time that these were more side effects that would soon go away.
I also had rapid heartbeat, which of course resulted in elevated blood pressure, but CAT scans and later an MRI (they thought maybe it was a stroke) all came out normal (with the exception of an Arachnoid Cyst found in my brain in the MRI, again, told means nothing). I was also given an EEG, in which it was noted that there were some "intersting" patterns, but they were probably normal. In the ER I was given Ativan and another medication (I can't remember its name) that is for Parkinson’s disease, to calm the anxiety and shaking. I do not recall what they gave me in the IV in the ER, but both times I was in the ER they managed to reduce the shaking some, but not stop it, before they sent me home. I was still barely able to walk on my own when I was sent home. I was dizzy and felt high or drunk, shaky on the inside and the outside, and stuttering. At home, the Ativan did help me sleep, but the other medication only worsened my ability to function at all. I was completely unable to stand, my fiancé literally had to hold me up so I wouldn't fall over. The couple times I thought I could stand on my own, he ended up catching me because I fell right over.
The shaking finally eased up after a couple days, but the stutter took two weeks before it was fully gone. The hospitals and doctors, as well as the neurologists, had no answers for what had happened to me. They just all looked at me very perplexed, and told me they didn't know what it was, but it was good that it was over and I was okay. To me, that is not a good enough answer. I have done a lot of searching and came up with Serotonin Syndrome, and I found an article where there was one case that Serotonin Syndrome was caused by citralopam, (Celexa) alone and not combined with anything, before it was available in the United States.
Is there anyone who knows anything about what happened to me? I firmly believe it was Serotonin Syndrome, but I have no medical answers whatsoever. I am hoping that if someone can look over my experience, maybe it can help at least one more person, because from what I have read, I think I am lucky that I am even alive.
Please, if anyone happens to read this, and has any input or knowledge of what happened to me, please contact me ASAP, maybe, just maybe something can be discovered and it can help someone else.
I began treatment for severe depression and axiety in the beginning of this year, and a few months ago I was also diagnosed as bipolar 1, with my therapist looking into BPD (boderline personality disorder), because I have the rapid ups and downs, but not the severe highs (mania). (Sometimes I wish I had those feelings, so I could feel "good" at least sometimes.) Anyways, aside from all of that, initially when starting on a couple antidepressants, Wellbutrin at first, which caused some shaking and worsened the anxiety, I was then changed to Celexa. I had a most frightening experiance with it, and I am not here to degrade the medication, because different people can react very differently to the same medication. Rather, I am here to describe some of the things that I experianced, and try to get some answers. Thus far, I have none, only a bunch of perplexed doctors who tell me they don't know what happened, and even went as far as to tell me it was not from the Celexa. Here is my story, if anyone out there knows anything or can help me, PLEASE contact me!
This past year (April of 2007) I began taking Celexa. At the moment I can't remember the dosage, but I was just starting it, so it would be the common starting dose (20mg?). The first day that I took it I was shaking and felt drunk (silly drunk, or high) I called the doctor, who said these were common side effects that would pass in a few days or a week. At night I would have twitching in my face, arms and legs, along with whole-body jerking. It was almost as if I was having seizures or something. I had episodes where I would be right in the middle of doing something, and I suddenly didn't know where I was, it was like waking from a nightmare, with that disorientated feeling, where everything is "fuzzy" and it takes a few minutes to figure out where you are. It was so very scary.
This was all within 3-4 days of taking Celexa. On my way to work (I believe on the 4th day), I passed my job, and was suddenly in a panic. I felt like I had awakened from a dream again, I didn't know where I was, and I had no recollection that I had just dropped my son off at school. Once at work, I was shaking uncontrollably all over, my hands were shaking, my legs were shaking. A co-worker rushed me to the hospital, and by then I began to have an uncontrollable stutter, I was extremely dizzy and in a state of panic. I knew i was in the hospital but upon trying to tell my fiancé over the phone which hospital I had been rushed to from work, I had no idea where I was and I was completely unable to form a proper word.
Over the same couple days before the extreme shaking and stuttering, I was nauseous, I threw up at least twice, and I had diarrhea. I thought at the time that these were more side effects that would soon go away.
I also had rapid heartbeat, which of course resulted in elevated blood pressure, but CAT scans and later an MRI (they thought maybe it was a stroke) all came out normal (with the exception of an Arachnoid Cyst found in my brain in the MRI, again, told means nothing). I was also given an EEG, in which it was noted that there were some "intersting" patterns, but they were probably normal. In the ER I was given Ativan and another medication (I can't remember its name) that is for Parkinson’s disease, to calm the anxiety and shaking. I do not recall what they gave me in the IV in the ER, but both times I was in the ER they managed to reduce the shaking some, but not stop it, before they sent me home. I was still barely able to walk on my own when I was sent home. I was dizzy and felt high or drunk, shaky on the inside and the outside, and stuttering. At home, the Ativan did help me sleep, but the other medication only worsened my ability to function at all. I was completely unable to stand, my fiancé literally had to hold me up so I wouldn't fall over. The couple times I thought I could stand on my own, he ended up catching me because I fell right over.
The shaking finally eased up after a couple days, but the stutter took two weeks before it was fully gone. The hospitals and doctors, as well as the neurologists, had no answers for what had happened to me. They just all looked at me very perplexed, and told me they didn't know what it was, but it was good that it was over and I was okay. To me, that is not a good enough answer. I have done a lot of searching and came up with Serotonin Syndrome, and I found an article where there was one case that Serotonin Syndrome was caused by citralopam, (Celexa) alone and not combined with anything, before it was available in the United States.
Is there anyone who knows anything about what happened to me? I firmly believe it was Serotonin Syndrome, but I have no medical answers whatsoever. I am hoping that if someone can look over my experience, maybe it can help at least one more person, because from what I have read, I think I am lucky that I am even alive.
Please, if anyone happens to read this, and has any input or knowledge of what happened to me, please contact me ASAP, maybe, just maybe something can be discovered and it can help someone else.
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God thing is, no shaking or any of that mess that I had before, and I was really scared because I found out that fluoxotine is more like Celexa than Cymbalta, but you know, one molecule difference and the effect can be monumentally different!
I'll keep ya posted, thanks for all the advice, hey, you can email me
***@****
Maybe it would be good to keep in touch with someone who understands the whole depression/anxiety thing, my fiance loves me very much, but he just can't understand the things I struggle with, I guess no one really knows until they have "been there, done that," right?
Thanks for everything, keep in touch if you like!
(I learned to keep a "spare" email account, to filter out junk easily, this way, I don't have to use my actual email unless it's to people I WANT to have it!) :-)
Thanks again, and email if you like!
how long did you take the medication for before stopping? I was on it for two months before I switched doctors and they discovered that the inital ONE anti-depressant started the process, but when I was put on a second for pain (amitryptaline) a ton of things happened. Its been two weeks after I have stopped everything, but the symptoms have yet to resolve.
Since you claim that you do not the severe highs (mania) you may want to be re dx. I feel you may be BP II. or hypomanic. google BP for a better explaintion.
Are you being treated by a Psych Dr that is educated in meds for BP or with just a GP? There is a big diff. I wish you luck in finding the right Dr. and the right combo of meds that work for you.
Seems to me you had a really bad reaction the Celexa. I am in the midst of recovering from Serotonin Saturation Syndrome, and the symptoms vary quite a bit from yours. We both will recover from these awful experiences.
The link above is quite thorough. Best wishes