The Facts About Serotonin Syndrome

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Serotonin syndrome is a potentially life threatening condition that occurs when two or more medications affecting serotonin levels in your body are taken at the same time. Serotonin is a chemical in your body that is produced to help your nerve cells and brain to function. The most medications that affect serotonin levels are anti-depressants. Anti-depressants are not the only drugs that can be the cause of this condition, such drugs as opiates, stimulants, and some herbs, can have the same affect on the levels of serotonin in your body. Studies show that serotonin syndrome is more likely to occur when the patient first starts using these medications or increases the dosages.


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This condition can be refered to by different names, such as: serotonin sickness, serotonin storm, serotonin poisoning.

The symptoms of this condition are subtle, in most cases, they are more commonly masked as flu-like symptoms. Be on the look out for symptoms including: Sweating, headache, dilated pupils, nausea, restlessness, vomiting, agitation, loss of coordination, diarrhea, rapid changes in blood pressure, and quick heart rate. In more severe cases, serotonin syndrome can also lead to shock, paralysis, and death.

In order to be diagnosed with serotonin syndrome, you need to have been taking one of the medications that affect serotonin and have at least three of the symptoms listed. Most medical professionals will not diagnose a patient with serotonin syndrome unless other testing has been done. Usually, the testing consists of procedures to rule out every other possible condition.

Once the patient has been diagnosed with this condition, the main treatment by doctors is to discontinue all medications that affect serotonin. In mild cases, where the patient has not been on these medications for a long period of time, the patient will be cleared of this condition within 24 hours, though it is recommended that the patient be observed in the hospital for another day. In more severe cases, if the patient has been taking the drugs causing the syndrome for a long period of time, they may be given other medications to block serotonin.

If serotonin syndrome is left untreated, patients can become increasingly worse and in some cases, the disease can be life threatening. In order to prevent serotonin syndrome, make sure to tell your doctor of all the medications that you are on. This information will help your doctor to prescribe your future medications.

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