Venlafaxine & serotonin toxicity

[DAC]

After awhile on mirtaizpine, I've been changed to Venlafaxine. I've read in a lot of place that it can cause serotonin syndrome aka serotonin toxicity, which is life threatening. Has anyone been on, or is on, venlafaxine ? And if so, what has your experience been.

Thanks
Dac

[kittikat]

Hello & :welcome:

I have been on Venlafaxine since last August and it has been a very successful drug for me with very few side effects. There is an interesting thread in the meds section where people post about their progress on the drug...

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=110037

All the best, Kitti :)

[Mark13]

Mixing ADs can cause serotonin sydrome, but cases are rare apparently.

I'm starting duloxetine (a SNRI like venlafaxine) tomorrow alongside mirtazapine. 2 low doses, it's worth the slight risk for the pay off.

From studying ADs myself (as I've tried many) I find that the scare stories seem to come from American sites, where GPs are no doubt more used to being sued and therefore the whole medicine culture is naturally more cautious.

I read from some NHS prescribing guidance that mirtazapine plays nice with other ADs because it's in a pharmacological class of it's own (not an SSRI, SNRI etc).

[DAC]

Thanks Kitti and Mark appreciate it. BTW Mark just wondered which CBT book/s you'd recommend ? :)

[venusbluejeans]

Hi

This is just a courtesy reply to let you know that your post was moved from its original place to a sub-forum that is more relevant to your problem.

This is nothing personal - it just enables us to keep posts about the same problems in the relevant forums so other members with any experience with the issues can find them more easily.