Kham Posted November 30, 2013 Report Share Posted November 30, 2013 My serotonin serum is 14 and won't budge. I feel awful. Anyone else deal with this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahA33 Posted November 30, 2013 Report Share Posted November 30, 2013 What are the ranges for the lab that processed it? Sorry you arent feeling well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
looneymom Posted November 30, 2013 Report Share Posted November 30, 2013 The last serum blood test my son had could not even report a level. He has a headache all the time. He is very sensitive to touch and complains that pain levels are worse in the evening. To help him sleep through the night he takes extended release clonidine. He also takes 100mg of Zoloft in the evening. Zoloft works in the body to help retain what little seratinon that the body is making. This does help my son but when he takes a growth spurt, it's not as effective. The range on my sons test is 50-200. The highest level his has ever shown was 21. This last March it was not reportable and that's when our doctor up his zoloft from 50mg to 100mg. Sorry that you are having to deal with this. It makes life miserable. The best thing I have found to help my son is to keep him distracted. Pet Therapy is good also. We have a new kitten that is house broken and loves to be held. My son also uses an ice pack at night on his head. Rachel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kham Posted December 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2013 Thank you for your replies. Sarah, the lab for my test said the normal range is 50-220. It's funny too because I already take 20mf of Prozac daily and have for years. They tried to double it but it didn't make a difference and my fatigue was worse. Then they tried to add Wellbutrin. Big mistake. I had major anxiety with that. So they tried adding a supplement called 5HTP which is supposed to naturally add serotonin to your body. At 100mg of the 5HTP on top of my Prozac I started having symptoms of serotonin syndrome so my dr discontinuted the 5HTP.Rachel, your son is lucky to have you:). My family is quite understanding most of the time about my illness but when I get so emotionally low and just want to cry all the time, it's not good. I also get quite irritable. Something has to give soon. Does all if this just go hand in hand with dysautonomia? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahA33 Posted December 1, 2013 Report Share Posted December 1, 2013 Kham,I have the opposite problem and have naturally high serotonin numbers w/out medication interactions or med's that would raise it. 5H's and Serum's are always in the 500-800's. I've been ruled out for carcinoid's a few times to say the least.None of this is easy.. It's all very frustrating because every day is a challenge.I'm glad you've got family support - that means so much. You've got support on here, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
looneymom Posted December 1, 2013 Report Share Posted December 1, 2013 Hi KahmHave you had your amino acids checked? Amino acids are the building blocks for serotonin and other hormones in your body. After much research and talking to my son's cardiologist, we started him on an amino acid supplement. This supplement can be bought at a gnc store. My son got so bad that he started rolling back and forth and was not able to sit up at all. This happened after we got back the 1st test results on no serotonin. After this happened, we started him on the supplement. If you would like to read my son's story it's on a blog called survivingpots.com. It's sad but it all happened and it's depressing. After you read his story, you will understand why he is still taking the supplement.Rachel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon6945 Posted December 9, 2013 Report Share Posted December 9, 2013 The last serum blood test my son had could not even report a level. He has a headache all the time. He is very sensitive to touch and complains that pain levels are worse in the evening. To help him sleep through the night he takes extended release clonidine. He also takes 100mg of Zoloft in the evening. Zoloft works in the body to help retain what little seratinon that the body is making. This does help my son but when he takes a growth spurt, it's not as effective. The range on my sons test is 50-200. The highest level his has ever shown was 21. This last March it was not reportable and that's when our doctor up his zoloft from 50mg to 100mg. Sorry that you are having to deal with this. It makes life miserable. The best thing I have found to help my son is to keep him distracted. Pet Therapy is good also. We have a new kitten that is house broken and loves to be held. My son also uses an ice pack at night on his head. RachelZoloft and other SSRI's actually reduce Seretonin levels. They uptake Seretonin but because there is more Seretonin in the synapses the brain and gut end up producing less. If your son were to go off the Zoloft he would then begin producing more Seretonin and his levels would go up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramakentesh Posted December 28, 2013 Report Share Posted December 28, 2013 Vandy just published a study that suggested acute dosage of SSRI did not improve POTS if that is of interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemma Posted March 19, 2014 Report Share Posted March 19, 2014 How do you check for seretonin levels, and what else needs to be checked, like dopamin or something. I wanted to start SSRI but not sure what my levels are. I read here somewhere that if levels are already high then SSRI will make it worse. So, what do I have to check and how? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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