Finding the right medication after seratonin syndrome

[Justmehere]

I took Luvox a few years ago while in an intensive inpatient treatment center, and it caused seratonin syndrome. The doc there was okay, but totally ignored how much I was visibly sweating through my clothes and was not ok. I ended up falling apart with my therapist at home at the time who protested against me going to the ER as soon as I got home. She quit. Suddenly. It broke me. I went to the ER only to find out I was dealing with seratonin syndrome for well over a week or so.

I’m depressed again, and my new doc prescribed luvox today. She also gave me lexapro too. Said I could pick either one. She said the lexapro has greater risk of seratonin syndrome and I should take the Luvox because the prior episode of it is a good sign it actually works, I simply needed a lower dose. She reviewed all the symptoms of it and said I could just quit it suddenly if I developed any signs of seratonin syndrome.

I’m depressed enough I’ve stopped caring much about anything killing me. With treatment deaths by seratonin syndrome are rare. But I don’t think I’d seek or be able to obtain treatment.

I’m just not sure what to do. I’m pretty leery of depression meds after my last experience.

 

[Nessa7]

Would it be possible to get an appointment with a psychiatric nurse between appointments with your psychiatrist? Two of the p-docs I've been to have had that arrangement for patients with compliance issues and just generally because they were so overbooked that emergency appointments were impossible to get. I've also had serotonin syndrome and probably can't be trusted to get help if it were to happen again, and I've done that when trying a new medication. Making an appointment with your general practitioner might have a similar effect, but there's a bigger chance that they might not be familiar with serotonin syndrome.

 

[Deleted member 47099]

I struggle with this too with my SSRI and am often not sure if it's mild serotonin syndrome or if I'm just having an awful PTSD day.
How do you tell the difference?

 

[Nessa7]

Symptoms should occur within 24 hours of starting something new or raising the dose of a medication. It can be caused by adding another medication even if that medication isn't intended for mental health. St. John's wort can cause it, too.

Mine was an antibiotic. For me, I woke up with symptoms about four hours after taking the antibiotic for the first time.

 

[EveHarrington]

Maybe this sounds like a dumb question, but do you NEED an antidepressant?

People get concerned about my depressive symptoms but I know that antidepressants are not for me given my past bad reactions to them.

There’s more than one way to skin a cat....more than one way to attack depression.

Has seratonin been a component of your depression? (I know for me, it’s better to use other drugs that work in other ways.....ie attack anxiety, depression improves, stabilize overall mood, depression improves).