Serotonin Toxicity Versus Withdrawal: Clonidine One Size Fits All? 2021

Jordan Burdine, and Sherry Luedtke

Serotonin discontinuation syndrome (SDS) can result in a constellation of symptoms exhibited by infants exposed to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or other psychotropic drugs during pregnancy. Currently, there is no consensus regarding the pharmacologic management of SDS. We report our experience with clonidine for the management of a term infant with poor neonatal adaption. The infant exhibited biphasic symptoms of acute toxicity at birth and a plateauing of symptoms, followed by subsequent withdrawal symptomatology requiring the use of clonidine in doses up to 4 mcg/kg/dose every 3 hours for control of symptoms. The 38-week gestation Caucasian male infant was born to a mother with major depressive disorder, which was managed with sertraline, trazodone, venlafaxine, and buspirone throughout her pregnancy. The infant exhibited severe hypertonia at delivery and continued to have hypertonia, tremors, hypoglycemia, and feeding issues upon admission to the NICU. The initial Modified Finnegan Neonatal Abstinence scores were extremely elevated, and clonidine was started at 1 mcg/kg/dose every 3 hours and then the dose was titrated up to 4 mcg/kg/dose. This is the first report documenting the use of clonidine to manage serotonin toxicity at birth followed by subsequent neonatal withdrawal associated with maternal antidepressant drug use during pregnancy.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries

Related Publications

Jordan Burdine, and Sherry Luedtke
January 2003, Advances in genetics,
Jordan Burdine, and Sherry Luedtke
March 2012, Vaccine,
Jordan Burdine, and Sherry Luedtke
May 2000, American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses,
Jordan Burdine, and Sherry Luedtke
February 2008, Current hypertension reports,
Jordan Burdine, and Sherry Luedtke
June 2002, British dental journal,
Jordan Burdine, and Sherry Luedtke
August 2010, Lab on a chip,
Jordan Burdine, and Sherry Luedtke
April 2006, CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne,
Jordan Burdine, and Sherry Luedtke
February 2002, Nature reviews. Cancer,
Jordan Burdine, and Sherry Luedtke
January 2006, Journal of nuclear cardiology : official publication of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology,
Jordan Burdine, and Sherry Luedtke
January 2002, American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine,
Copied contents to your clipboard!