Serotonin syndrome, recovery?
Posted , 3 users are following.
Hey.
Almost 2 weeks ago I started to add a supplement of curcumin with high absorption to my daily medicines, in order to fight my newly diagnosed psoriasis which doesn't respond well to cortisone.
I was on curcumin for 3.5 days before quitting due to what I think was serotonin syndrome with the following symptoms:
high pulse
vomits (last day)
muscle pain
tingling sensation over many body parts
fatigue
shivering
The day I quit I took a trip to the ER due to the vomits which started that same day, and I felt really crappy. They ended up sending me home since the doctor said that there was no research that supported this.
Since the 9th this month - 10 days ago - I have only been using Venlafaxine, and my symptoms have changed somewhat. My current symptoms consist of:
tingling sensation
muscle twitching in fingers and legs (occasionally, especially when trying to sleep)
waking up about every 2 hours and having difficulties falling asleep again
significantly less muscle pain
restlessness
Since a few weeks back I've been decreasing my Venlafaxine dose from 150 to 75mg, and I probably suffer from psoriatic arthritis as well, which makes it hard to tell which symptoms originates to what disease.
Are there any risk of the damage being permanent from serotonin syndrome? Thank you for reading.
1 like, 3 replies
infestissumam ephemeral
Posted
It's possible that you've been getting the continued tingling sensation and other symptoms from lowering your Effexor dose, I get those symptoms plus many more when I forget to take mine for a day and also the one time I tried to switch off of it. Were you decreasing at the suggestion of a doctor? I wouldn't recommend lowering your dose unless you really have to because Effexor can be quite brutal when it comes to withdrawal symptoms. Best of luck, I don't know how much research there is for Serotonin Syndrome but it seems like a lot of doctors are not well informed of both SS and how bad Effexor withdrawal is.
patricia96761 infestissumam
Posted
Thanks it makes me feel better knowing this effect is reasonable did get similar weird effects when I had missed a dose during a weekend when surgery wasn't open to obtain repeat prescription.
ephemeral infestissumam
Posted
Thanks a lot for the reply. I decided to lower the dose because I wanted to see how I would react to it, and until I added any high potent curcumin to the mix I didn't experience any symptoms. Talked to my doctor about trying to tap out the Effexor just to see if the symptoms subside, else I will know for sure that Effexor is the reason I get these symptoms.
Since my symptoms get better if I take the pill 12 hours later, I think it could be due to SS, but that's just a wild guess. The brain zaps and abstinence do settle in after being off it for 12 hours so quitting cold turkey is out of the question at least.
I've read on the net that the Effexor withdrawal is among the worst when it comes to SNRI, so I know I have a hellish ride ahead of me, but if it indeed is SS, there's a risk of the symptoms getting permanent the longer I go with it. At least the Effexor withdrawal symptoms can not be permanent, I think.