hollywoodfreaks Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 I was reading about this thing called Sudden Adult Death Syndrome and one of the possible causes is Long QT Syndrome. Long QT Syndrome can cause an arrhythmia called torsades de pointes which is sometimes deadly. I remember reading in the Lexapro PI sheet that the drug increases the QTc interval but claims that it is not a clinically significant change. Fluoxetine (Prozac) is listed as a "drug to avoid" on an Adult Death Syndrome advocacy website, so I assume Lexapro falls under that too, but avoided by whom I don't know. My question is does anyone have any idea how often these kinds of serious arrhythmias occur on SSRIs? One article claims that some drugs induce this arrythmia in as high as 2-3% of takers. Oh yeah, another thing in the PI sheet said that 5 of 10 dogs in a study died suddenly because of QT interval prolongation! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollywoodfreaks Posted November 25, 2005 Author Share Posted November 25, 2005 ah, here we go, from www.torsades.org "Drugs Unlikely to Cause Torsades de Pointes Drugs that, in some reports, have been weakly associated with Torsades de Pointes and/or QT prolongation but that are unlikely to be a risk for Torsades de Pointes when used in usual recommended dosages and in patients without other risk factors (e.g., concomitant QT prolonging drugs, bradycardia, electrolyte disturbances, congenital long QT syndrome, concomitant drugs that inhibit metabolism). Elavil Celexa (close enough probably) Anafranil Sinequan Prozac Sarafem Pamelor Paxil Vivactil Zoloft" The only psychiatric drugs that are definitely associated with it are some old-school antipsychotics. That dog thing is just scary, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ldo Posted November 26, 2005 Share Posted November 26, 2005 In that case,you'd better give up chocolate, too. (Go ahead and Google dogs and chocolate.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollywoodfreaks Posted November 26, 2005 Author Share Posted November 26, 2005 Good point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loon-A-TiK Posted November 27, 2005 Share Posted November 27, 2005 I have heard antidotal stories of this happening to people, and have seen EKGs of people wtih weird heart beat patterns, mainly due to discontinuation of an SSRI. All of them have withdrawl symptoms, some worse than others (Paxil has been kicking my ass for YEARS), but having heart beat weirdness can come with the territory I'm told. Discuss with your pdoc and see an MD, and tell him/her about your issues. They can do an EKG and stress test, and rule out heart issues. Then it is all in your mind, this anxiety and other things that can complicate heart issues. I am assuming that you do not have heart problems and are an otherwise healthy person just having weird issues due to the SSRI. Best of wishes Melinda aka Loon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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