What Causes Agitation Post Anti-depressant Withdrawal?

Posted on Wed, 4 May 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Wed, 4 May 2016 Answered on

Fri, 17 Jun 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : My daughter-in-law is on several different medications the main one being oxycodone (one caplet 2 times daily). She is also taking ondansetron 4 mg (1 every 8 hours around the clock), cymbalta 60 mg (2 pills a day),quetiapine 25 mg (2 at bedtime), nabilone 0.5 mg(4 at bedtime) , amitriptline 10 mg (1 at bedtime), synthroid 0.5 mg ( 1 once a day). She did suffer a head injury a few years ago. I also suspect that she has been taking the oxycodone more than prescribed (prescription filled on April 27 for 28 tablets and is now out. Also she has not been taking her anti-depressants. She has been yelling about everything and anything tonight. She is refusing to listen to reason from anyone and is exaggerating situations and extremely agitated. Any advice is more than welcome

Answered by Dr. Dr. Chintan Solanki (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
consult ER for diagnosis and treatment

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

Thanks for writing to us. I can understand your concern for your daughter-in-law.

She is on multiple medications. She is likely taking medicines irregularly. Most likely her agitation can be due to either or more of the following reasons. One is dependence of the oxycodone and secondary disturbance due to intoxication. Second reason can be due to withdrawal of stopping the medicines for depression. Third possibility is these are symptoms of agitated depression.

I recommend consulting ER to diagnose her condition with proper history and mental status examination and required treatment.

Hope I have answered your query, I will be happy to help further.

Regards,

Dr.Chintan Solanki.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar