Anyone been advised to stop serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)?

Posted by Lucy @welchllb, Mar 1, 2022

Has anyone been advised to stop taking their serotonin reuptake inhibitors like Imipramine/Tofranil or Elavil, etc.? I have been taking a low dose for a long time to treat fibromyalgia.

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@welchllb

The suggestion to stop using them was in a medical journal - still don't think doctors can do more than suggest. So many unanswered questions with Long COVID.

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Any chance you can post the link to that medical journal?

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@aae

Any chance you can post the link to that medical journal?

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Now, I can't find it. I'll keep looking.

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@welchllb

The suggestion to stop using them was in a medical journal - still don't think doctors can do more than suggest. So many unanswered questions with Long COVID.

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@welchllb @aae @nataliem @rrher @liz58, like everything with COVID and long COVID, the evidence continues to evolve and researchers do more and more studies. Here are 2 papers I found related to the topic of SSRIs, psychotropic medications and COVID:
- Safety of psychotropic medications in people with COVID-19: evidence review and practical recommendations (2020) https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-020-01685-9
This article from 2020 suggests "All classes of psychotropic medications showed potentially relevant safety risks for people with COVID-19. A set of practical recommendations was drawn in order to inform frontline clinicians on the assessment of the anticipated risk of psychotropic-related unfavorable events, and the possible actions to take in order to effectively manage this risk, such as when it is appropriate to avoid, withdraw, switch, or adjust the dose of the medication."

- COVID Patients on SSRI Antidepressants Are Less Likely to Die, UCSF-Stanford Study Finds (2021) https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2021/11/421771/covid-patients-ssri-antidepressants-are-less-likely-die-ucsf-stanford-study
"A large analysis of health records from 87 health care centers across the United States found that people taking a class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), particularly fluoxetine, were significantly less likely to die of COVID-19 than a matched control group."

As always, work with your medical professional to manage both the quality of psychiatric care AND long COVID to find appropriate management of the medical condition without worsening the psychiatric condition and vice versa.

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