14 replies to this topic

[creepy]

Wow. That is really unusual. Ever taken an SSRI before this one? It should work on serotonin like any other. I wonder if you are just that sensitive to it? Or maybe youre taking something else thats blocking metabolization?
Sounds to me like you should drop it ASAP, but thats better left to you and your doc.
I took zoloft and it just made me angry.. nothing like what you describe

[dymphna]

Well, I doesn't appear that it was the combo of the Fexofenadine and the Sertaline:

Fexofenadine Hydrochloride ± A New Anti-Histaminic Drug

It seems that concomitant administration offexofenadine with anti-fungal agents (such as fluconazole andterbinafine), anti-depressants (tricyclics, sertraline, paroxetine),H 2 -blockers (cimetidine, ranitidine, famotidine, nizatidine), oralcohol is safe.

You don't happen to be also taking St. John's Wort?

There are documented reports of visual disturbances with Sertaline (can't get the links to come up, sorry). It is used to treat tinnitus, so I don't know where to go with that. Nausea is a side effect of all SSRIs.

Yes, LSD does affect serotonin receptors. And it has been found (study just shows hypothesis, can't find the study I'm looking for - it was on another version of this board) to cause long-term to permanent problems in gene expression. eg: people who have taken LSD may alter the manner in which their brain processes and reacts to various substances.


Dymphna

[JonTom]

This may be panic symptoms. I experienced intense derealization on Zoloft and worsening of my panic symptoms. Zoloft is a very activating drug...

JT

[dymphna]

Dymphna: Very interesting... As a matter of fact, I had taken St. Johns Wort about two weeks prior to starting the Zoloft... Could this have effected things? I highly doubt that it would have been the allergy medication - it's not mentioned in the PI sheet for Zoloft (unless I accidentally skipped over it)
JonTom: Hmmm... I also display panic symptoms, and this is one of the reasons my doctor wanted me to get medicated. If Zoloft tends to activate these things, very strange that he chose THIS drug for me...

Things are generally coming back down to earth for me now. The derealisation feeling lasted for about 24 hours, and then the following 24 hours it kept reappearing then disappearing in waves...

Yes. the combo would have caused the symptoms you described.

Perhaps the SJW had not cleared your system (it remains in your tissues longer than in your bloodstream).


Dymphna

[dymphna]

St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum): drug interactions and clinical outcomes

Pharmacodynamic interactions between selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
SJW and SSRIs result in symptoms characteristic of central serotonin excess [38–41]. Serotonin syndrome is characterized by at least three of the following: confusion, agitation, hyperreflexia, diaphoresis, shivering or tremor, nausea, diarrhoea, lack of co-ordination, fever, coma, flushing or rhabdomyolysis [42]. The excess serotonin is believed to be due to common pharmacological mechanisms of action on serotonin, particularly in the brain, of both SJW and conventional antidepressants [7, 43, 44].

It has been suggested in the literature that SJW should not be used with psychoactive or psychotropic drugs, as the potential for adverse effects may be increased. In the majority of clinical trials of SJW patients taking conventional antidepressant medicinal products have been excluded from the studies. Therefore the safety profile of combining these agents with SJW is not fully known and in the interests of patient safety these combinations should be avoided.

Google Scholar is your friend.

And, BTW, I found the old LSD study I was looking for:

LSD-like panic from risperidone in post-LSD visual disorder

The key for you is the post-LSD, not the Risperdal.


Dymphna

[bluegirl]

I know this info might not help you at all but being in the same drug class it is kind of interesting...
When I was a teenager and a sometimes user of LSD, I was Rxed Paxil. And the first few weeks I tripped my ass off on it. Visuals, just like I got on LSD. I actually didn't mind at the time.

I don't get those effects from SSRIs now though. And I haven't done acid since I was a teen. So whatever it was, it wasn't a permanent effect to my brain. Though I think I might still have some tracer action happening. I'm so use to it I thought it was normal until I talked to a friend and found out they don't see long streamers coming off the tail lights of passing vehicles. So, maybe it did do something permanent to my brain.

[bear]

"i extremely carefully snorted a mini bump of coke again... "
how is this even possible? What is 'careful' about using recreational drugs when you have mental illness?

"now keep in mind that i also had speed in my system and haven't slept for 3 days... so there could be a lot of other factors as well"

you think?
If you have mental illness, are predisposed to mental illness, or sometimes neither of the above but are just really unlucky, cocaine can trigger schizophrenia symptoms. It happens because it increases the release of dopamine and makes one of the four dopamine pathways in the midbrain (the mesolimbic) become overactive, which releases even more dopamine into the post synaptic neurons which brings about delusions and psychosis. This isn't D.A.R.E. (that school-age 'just say no' anti-drug campaign), it's biology. And I have certainly done my fair share of idiotic drug experimentation before I knew there were ramifications deeper then just possible addiction or overdose.
Seriously, no one of mental-interestingness should be messing around with drugs, especially coke or methamphetamine. I find it surprising that someone comes to a site worried about the side-effects of an FDA controled substance who at the very same time shows no concern for the possibly permanent neurological consequences of untested, uncontrolled street drugs.