Sorry to hear this, fishman. I guess this is one of those events that puts everything else into perspective somewhat?
As pulisa has said these meds can do powerful things to young people which is why there are the additional warnings so I doubt she is the first as bad as it is for anyone to go through. This might be a case of a bad med reaction coupled with life problems so it's worth checking out whether she has been a lot worse since starting. You know what it's like starting these meds, you ask for help when you think you can't take any more pain and you are told to wait out the side effects including ones that make your original disorder worse.
A good note side effect wise here is that with her being on them for only a week the secondary effects of downregulation won't have kicked in and coming off/switching is easier. She has only just passed the steady state threshold timescale so it won't be even more to cope with (withdrawal).
It's not a long half life drug so within just over a week it should all be back out but it does reduce by 50% per half life (considering normal usage) so it sharply reduces anyway.
Serotonin Syndrome is rare even in severe poisoning according to the NHS and Drugs.com state no reports of toxicity leading to what you must have feared, which seems in her favour a long with being younger. I'm sure your GP would have had her straight up to the hospital if he/she thought it was a risk or they have the tox lines they use for advice too.
I hope she is feeling a bit better soon and able to have a good discussion with you about how she feels and gets into some therapy. And her GP should take this as a sign for some very close monitoring of SSRI prescribing with her.
---------- Post added at 23:42 ---------- Previous post was at 23:38 ----------
No, cold turkey is for long term use with SSRI's. Switching advice or cessation would be immediate withdrawal when on so short a time.Originally Posted by fishman65
I couldn't say about the impact of a much higher dose in terms of giving her a real knock to her anxiety/depression though. The therapeutic range is up to 200mg anyway so she may not be too far over and with Serotonin there is only so much they do in terms of saturation and it's gradual effects on top of that. It's perhaps going to be like someone jumping too high a dose to then reduce down again, maybe not pleasant but will fade as the drug is eliminated.
Have you got a local Crisis team line? Given the situation I would have thought they would be involved or at least you given their number until she is seen.
It's still horrible but thankfully not as bad as something like painkillers.
---------- Post added at 23:47 ---------- Previous post was at 23:42 ----------
Fishman, maybe not the time but I remember you saying she had a BF who she feared would stray (again) and she wanted you to drive her quite a way to stop what she perceived from happening. We can just be like that when we are young and take things hard but it sounds like maybe some help with her thoughts, feelings and emotions regarding what she sees as important in her life might be helpful to her.
Don't put this on yourself either, you seem to spend your life supporting others. Recent situations are about more than your own involvement in what (may) have led to your wife's cheating anyway and more of it actually sits on her regardless as she took the action. Just wanted to add that as we are terrible for kicking ourselves and you have enough on your plate right now.
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