Serotonin toxicity issue with your Parkinsons?

Posted by usafvet1980 @usafvet1980, Dec 14, 2025

Hello, Parkinsons Dx 2021, DBS 2024.
After recent stomach stricture surgery, placed in recovery I was having great trouble waking up. Heart rate dropping as well as O2. I was eventually comatose. Strangely I could hear everything going on with Rapid Response Team in ICU, once my nurse realized I was in a bad way. I heard Dr's giving orders for O2 & IV meds & felt what seemed like every medical person working that day giving me long hard & painful Sternal rubs! But I couldn't respond! I kept thinking im here don't use the crash cart as they were talking about. I heard my heartbeat Bradycardia was falling into the 40s then 30s. My O2 dropped to 50s. All along screaming in my head Im here! A nurse standing next to my head saw my lips move & me barely say Im here!! She yelled "she's just whispered Shes here"
I then lost consciousness but they eventually brought me out of it. They said i had Serotonin Toxicity, common they said in Parkinsons patients!? The fentanal, Zofran, tramadol, plus carbadopa/levo and setraline that I was given was too much SSI uptake for my body to handle! Very scary having 'locked in episode' I pray never again! Anyone experience this Serotonin toxicity issue with your Parkinsons? Im hoping not to ever have surgery again because so many pain & anesthesia drugs buildup Serotonin and cause these terrifying potential deadly toxicities!

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Parkinson's Disease Support Group.

bruizersmom | @bruizersmom | Dec 21, 2025

@usafvet1980 I did my own research when things got bad with no answers coming from my long list of doctors. I amnaged to convince my PC of possible Serotonin Syndrome. Working together, we found alternatives to 5 different meds which could be causing this! She contacted the various prescribing doctors who then tried the alternatives. This all happened after my PD diagnosis. I do remember that some of the troubling symptoms/reactions did disappear and others lessened.

Lisa Lucier, Moderator | @lisalucier | Dec 24, 2025

Hi, @usafvet1980 - glad you decided to share some of your story. It sounds as though you had a harrowing experience in the ICU. Feeling locked in does not sound like a good experience at all. Wow. Having trouble waking up and then hearing everything going on yet being unable to respond does sound terrifying.

Glad to hear the one nurse did see you trying to respond.

If you'd like to connect with others who've also spent time in the ICU, you might check out this Mayo Clinic Connect support group, as well:

- Intensive Care (ICU) Support Group https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/intensive-care-icu/

I noticed the publications that relate to Parkinson's and serotonin syndrome seem to center on case reports. Here are a couple you might be interested in:

- A Case Report on Serotonin Syndrome in a Patient With Parkinson’s Disease: Diagnostic and Management Challenges https://www.cureus.com/articles/120209-a-case-report-on-serotonin-syndrome-in-a-patient-with-parkinsons-disease-diagnostic-and-management-challenges

- Serotonin syndrome caused by escitalopram in Parkinson’s disease psychosis: a case report https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12877-024-05371-w

How long did it take you to fully recover from your serotonin syndrome incident? How did the stomach stricture surgery turn out?

nonnied | @nonnied | Dec 24, 2025

My sister also has Parkinson’s and experienced something similar. A team in the ER saved her life - her team included neurology - and they led the life saving measures. No one knew exactly what caused her near death experience- what has been shared here makes sense for her too. Her brain with Parkinson's is so sensitive to medications - an example - she has stenosis at C4 - with terrible pain. A steroid shot for pain triggers a huge dip in her cognitive and her motor function. Her husband and I pay attention to the patterns and picked up on that. Report it to her doctors who make adjustments to her care. If she doesn’t get enough protein - same thing. The serotonin syndrome you talk about - I now have a thought on the why behind my sister’s experience- thank you for sharing your experience- and that nurse - was your guardian angel. Best to you!