Antidepressants & Migraine Drugs May Be A Dangerous Mix

July 2006

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning to doctors and patients that some migraine drugs and antidepressants, when used together, might cause a serious health problem known as serotonin syndrome.

The combination of these drugs can cause an overdose of serotonin in the brain. Symptoms include restlessness, hallucinations, lost of coordination, rapid heartbeat, fluctuations in blood pressure, fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. The FDA has received 27 reports of serotonin syndrome, of which 13 patients were hospitalized and two were considered life-threatening.

Antidepressants in the warning include:

• GlaxoSmithKline’s Paxil
• Pfizer’s Zoloft
• Eli Lilly’s Cymbalta
• Forest Laboratories Inc.’s Lexapro

Migraine drugs included:

• GlaxoSmithKline’s Imitrex
• Pfizer’s Relpax
• AstraZeneca’s Zomig

The FDA is asking the drug makers of both antidepressants and migraine medications to revise their labels to include a warning of serotonin syndrome. Patients taking both types of medications should consult their doctor before stopping their medications.