WHY HIGH SEROTONIN 5 1/2 MOS. AFTER C/T?

[Christiana]

I just got my serotonin lab results from my doctor, which were drawn a week ago this past friday.

I took 5mg of lexapro for approximately 7 weeks about 5 1/2 months ago, when I cold turkeyed it.

My serotonin level is 297.

The normal range is 50-220.

Can anyone tell me what this means?

All my doctor said, according to his nurse, is it indicates my body is under a lot of stress right now, which doesn't make sense to me.

Could it be that I suffered serotonin syndrome, while on the drug? I can say the more I took of it the worse I felt, as far as being lethargic, brain fogged, etc.

How do I get my serotonin into normal range?

Is this why I'm feeling so bad now?

Christiana

[NewQuestions]

My understanding is that those lab test results are not very reliable. I wouldn't read too much into it. My doctor said they are a waste of money. You have to decide for yourself whether you are in protracted withdrawal or the underlying condition is returning.

[Juwane]

I didn't know serotonin levels could be measured!

[LCrawford67]

NewQuestions is right, those tests aren't very reliable and your result isn't over the top high and yes, stress can absolutely play a factor in those numbers.

Again Christiana, you have many other factors to take into consideration here, besides the 5 mgs of Lexapro. You're on many different medications, have Lyme, and thyroid issues. You need to discuss all of this with your doctor as well and not just solely focus on seven weeks of Lexapro use, almost six months ago.

You were asked this before, but never answered; this is a list of drugs you either are taking, or have taken:

In addition, I took 12,000 IU of heparin and 1 cholestyramine packet, but only one time. The medicines I took made me feel much, much worse, so I'm not taking them anymore, at least for right now.

SEVERE anxiety, heart pounding, sensitivities to medications I was taking fine before (armour thyroid for hypothyroidism, benadryl and unisom for sleep, diazepam for anxiety, hydrocodone for pain, and hydrocortisone for hypoadrenalism),

Are you not on any kind of anti biotic for the Lyme? How are they treating it? Why the Heparin and why the Cholestyramine?

[pax80]

my serotonin levels are very high too... and it's been 3 years without paxil!

i just don't know how to bring those levels down!

about what docs say regarding the reliability of the serotonin tests, well, they're the ones who believe paxil works, so...I don't know who's more or less reliable.

[Christiana]

I'm not on any antibiotic for lyme, because I'm sensitive to them now, since discontinuing lexapro. My nervous system is just way too sensitive right now.

Heparin and cholestyramine are used to treat lyme in some patients, such as myself.

As for the rest of the medications, I'm taking them, which I've already stated why, except for the unisom and benadryl, because they give me rebound adrenaline rushes/akathisia/anxiety/heart palpitations, once they wear off.

I know the difference between my lyme symptoms and what has happened since I quit taking lexapro. Lexapro has messed me up BIGTIME!!! I feel like I'm living in pure HELL!!! Just to give you one example, I've never, ever had early morning wake up calls with high adrenaline rushes, which last for hours, with lyme.

Christiana

[scotty]

The blood test for serotonin has nothing to do with brain serotonin. It measures platelet bound serotonin, which varies greatly throughout the day.

There is NO association between platelet bound serotonin and brain serotonin.

Lets be logical here....if this test was accurate they would do it on everyone to PROVE low serotonin....they don't, because it means nothing.

What type of doctor ordered this test?

[jule1]

I have had these tests too blood and urine but mine always come back low with the exception of one time I was actually in the normal range. I finally got frustrated with spending all the money and the inconsistency in the results and quit taking them! I still don't quite understand how they work!

A GI doc ordered the blood tests and my integrative doc ordered the urine tests.

[Lucy]

7 weeks doesn't sound like it should cause a problem, but I took lexapro for less than 7 weeks, and I'm still having problems that began with cold-turkey. However, I continue to believe that my sensitivity to lexapro and withdrawal was increased due to previous SSRI use, carelessly starting and stopping SSRIs several times.

Benadryl gave me palpitations also, early in w/d.

Even if lyme is not responsible for current symptoms, it may be a complicating factor, since it affects the nervous system, also.

[LCrawford67]

Originally Posted by Lucy

Even if lyme is not responsible for current symptoms, it may be a complicating factor, since it affects the nervous system, also.

Exactly. Having Lyme and thryroid problems, plays a role here as they affect the nervous system and that complicates this all the more.

[scotty]

Originally Posted by LCrawford67

Exactly. Having Lyme and thryroid problems, plays a role here as they affect the nervous system and that complicates this all the more.

Yup...Lyme symptoms are very commonly misdiagnosed as anxiety. If your Lyme isn't being treated then that is where you have to look first.
The heparin/cholestyramine is very controversial.

[Christiana]

My primary care physician ordered the test.

Lyme causes hypercoagulation, in some people, which can be measured by a blood test, thus heparin is used to remedy it. I also have a genetic blood clotting disorder, called factor V Lieden, which it's used for.

Cholestyramine is used, in some people, to help rid the toxins, which are created, from lyme dieoff, because of the use of antibiotics to kill the bacteria. Some people have a hard time with being able to get rid of the toxins. This is expecially true if you have the HLA-DR4 genotype, which I do.

So, there is nothing controversial about using either one of the medicines, alongside lyme treatment. Wherever you got your information from, is false.

I have a medical background and know my body well, especially when it comes to and about lyme, as I've been dealing with and treating it, for quite some time now.

There is NO doubt WHATSOEVER in my mind that I should have NEVER been given lexapro in the first place, or any anti depressant, for that matter, given I have lyme.

That is hindsight though, as I NEVER thought it would hurt me and neither did my doctor, but now, here we are and I'm living in HELL and there's nothing I can do about it.

I TOTALLY agree, with me having lyme, plus hypothyroidism and hypoadrenalism, they're only complicating my discontinuing the lexapro, not to mention I cold turkeyed it.

With that being said, the symptoms I'm having now are NOT a return of my lyme symptoms.

I've never had them before, EVER, but they CERTAINLY line up with all of the symptoms so many here talk about.

That is how I know it's the lexapro that has messed me up SEVERELY, except I'm probably sicker than most here, because I have other health issues, plus I cold turkeyed!!!

My doctor, who knows me VERY well, as I've been under his care for nearly 15years now, is leaning more toward me having an advere reaction to the lexapro, rather than withdrawals, but as you and I know, there is no exact proof.

Either way, I'm SEVERELY sick and my nervous system is VERY hypersensitive right now to anything, such as stimuli, food, supplements, medications, etc.

None of that was so SEVERE before I took lexapro. NONE!!!

My doctor has seen how bad off I am and won't suggest any supplements or prescribe any medications to ease my symptoms for fear of what might happen to me.

I've never heard him say that to me. NEVER!!!

He did run several other blood tests on me, some of which I have the reults, as follows, arranged according to type of test, my result, and normal range.

TSH .27 (.35-5.5) This was normal, before lexapro.
T3 2.7 (2.3-4.2) This was normal, before lexapro.
Serotonin 297 (50-220) This was lower, before lexapro.
DHEA .583 (1.330-7.780) This was normal, before lexapro.
D3 14 (30-80) I recently found out this was low and was working on bringing it up. Since I can't tolerate supplements right now, I don't know what to do about it.
White blood cells 11.8 (4.0-10.4) This was normal, before lexapro. I have no fever, nor do I feel ill in any way, as one would feel with something like it.

My best guess is lexapro made my central nervous system VERY hypersensitive, because I had an ADVERSE REACTION to it. In turn, even though it appeared, after the first couple of months, after I cold turkeyed it, I was over it, underneath it was, and still remains, VERY sensitive.

So, when the worst was over, after about two months, and I tried to resume my regular lyme medications, which I hadn't been able to tolerate during that time, I still hadn't given my central nervous system enough time to heal from my reaction, so I overstimulated it, when I restarted them.

I say this because, I felt like I was living in HELL, I was so SEVERELY ill, after being off of lexapro for six weeks, for two months straight. Afterwards, although I didn't feel perfectly back to normal, as I noticed I was sensitive to sugar and caffeine, I had started feeling quite a bit better. I, at least, didn't feel like I was living in HELL anymore.

During those two months, I was taking supplements, such as l-theanine and ashwaghanda, as well as benadryl and unisom, plus phenergan, with no issues. Perhaps they were merely covering up my symptoms and the worst was yet to come, when I stopped taking them? Perhaps my attempt to resume my lyme medications, before my central nervous system had time to heal from my reaction has caused me a HUGE setback, thus taken me back to the beginning, albiet worse now? Perhaps I'm having a bad wave and no matter what I did or didn't do, I was bound to end up even sicker anyway?

I hope this explains my situation more. I know there are no REAL answers, thus I'll probably NEVER know why I'm feeling VERY sick again, even sicker actually, after a brief period of feeling somewhat well.

Yes, it's complicated and I don't expect you to be a doctor, but for those of you who've been around here a lot longer than I have, thus have seen and know more than I do, I have some questions for you.

What is the trend between an adverse reaction and withdrawal? How do they differ?

What do you think about everything I've said now? Where do I go from here?

PLEASE share your insights with me!!! I DESPERATELY need you to talk to me!!!

Is there anyone here who would be so kind as to call me or let me call them, so that I can connect more with either one or more of you who are either going or have been through this? I TRULY need to hear the voices of people, so I can connect on a more personal level, to help get me through this!!! At this time, I can DEFINITELY talk much easier than I can type.

Christiana

[Charlie]

I have no doubt that the serotonin levels they tested were in fact high as most of your serotonin is not found in the brain but is still altered by AD's. My best guess is that the adverse reaction your Dr said you had was because you're an extremely poor metabolizer and the drug levels went way to high way to fast. That may have caused extremely elevated levels of the drug in your brain stem. Those levels can be 300 times the level in your blood. So if you are an extremely poor metabolizer and those levels are that high you could be trying to clear them from your system 6 months out.

If all that happened on top of CT I could understand how you're still experiencing issues.

Also, ask your doc, there is no way to measure brain serotonin in a living breathing person.

[scotty]

Being in the medical field for 26 years, I do understand your situation with the multiple medical problems you have going on. The heparin for the Leiden V makes sense....and I know that heparin is used in some cases of borreliosis, but I don't believe it's a "treatment for lyme", but a control of some the blood dyscracias of the Lyme disease. The Questran..sorry, I don't see where that would have any effect on Lyme, except to constipate you. Some claim that it's a detox, but in my practice I've never heard of it being any "treatment" for Lyme. Lyme needs antibiotics.

Adverse reactions are just what they say they are, an immediate reaction to any substance or drug. In the case of your Lexapro use we do know that adverse reactions can last a period of time...I'm not sure about such a short use, but we've heard of this before.

What concerns me most is that there are so many other factors involved. Hypothyroid, hypoadrenalism, Leiden V, Lyme....it could be from the Lexapro, or the affect that the short term use of Lexapro had on the other preexisting conditions. Are those thyroid levels done on thyroid supplementation? Because the low TSH and normal T3 are indicative of hyperthyroid, not hypothyroid.

Regardless, if this is all due to the Lexapro reaction, then time will heal. But don't put your faith in a blood level of serotonin, because that means absolutely nothing in the use or monitoring of an antidepressants effects.