Could St. John’s Wort be interacting with Lexapro?
I took a 10mg dose of Lexapro on the 21st (it is now the 25th). 3 hours after the dose I began experiencing many side effects including dry mouth, shivering, dry heaving, complete loss of appetite, inability to sleep and more. I’m still experiencing these symptoms, combined with anxiety attacks (I’ve never had issues with anxiety in the past).
I was taking St. John’s Wort (900mg) prior to being given Lexapro by my doctor, but had discontinued the supplement about 1 week before. Could they still be interacting? I’m afraid it may be serotonin syndrome or a similar issue.
Absolutely. Many medications can interact with herbal supplements and according to Wikipedia the combination of an medication like Lexapro (a selective serotonin re uptake inhibitor) can cause elevations in serotonin levels in the system and you really don’t want that. So call the MD who gave you the Lexapro as soon as possible and if it is not possible to call the MD call your local pharmacist. If in fact they are interacting it is imperative you get medical attention immediately.
November 24th, 2009 at 12:32 am
those are some of the potential side effects of any ssri, not just lexapro. you should give it a true 4-6 weeks to get into your system and your body to get used to it, but if you cannot live with these symptoms, talk to your doctor about it, or maybe start with 5mg, and slowly taper up. there are several alternatives to lexapro, so find the one with the lesser side effects.
References :
November 24th, 2009 at 1:21 am
Absolutely. Many medications can interact with herbal supplements and according to Wikipedia the combination of an medication like Lexapro (a selective serotonin re uptake inhibitor) can cause elevations in serotonin levels in the system and you really don’t want that. So call the MD who gave you the Lexapro as soon as possible and if it is not possible to call the MD call your local pharmacist. If in fact they are interacting it is imperative you get medical attention immediately.
References :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin_syndrome
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_John’s_wort#Drug_interactions