"Sertraline" - A disturbing case of adverse effects in a 15 year old girl.
A mother's desperation over the physical and psychological health of her daughter and the inadequacy of the current 'medical model' and methods of diagnosis.
Our daughter’s name is Ellie, she is 15 years old and will be 16 in August. 4 months ago her life changed drastically overnight.
Just over 4 months ago our daughter was put on an anti-depressant calledsertraline. This was because she has had on going mental health conditions since she was 10 years old, which include, general anxiety, OCD, intrusive thoughts,
social anxiety and depression. However when she was put on sertraline she became extremely unwell, after 5 days taking the sertraline, recommended by CAMHS, things drastically changed.
During her sleep one night, she started to have uncontrollable body movements,
which resulted in her arms and legs violently flapping around. The next day she woke up
and was fine, like nothing had happened. However that night it happened again, but this time it was much worse. The following day she woke up with severe motor and vocal tics (involuntary movements). As a mother this was terrifying for us because it happened so suddenly. Ellie was saying everything she was seeing and thinking, with no break and she couldn't control it.
She was also crying and screaming with intense pressure in her head, she also developed separation anxiety and extreme OCD. Her senses had also become severe, sound, touch and light sensitivity were heightened, she couldn’t tolerate any noise and if things get overwhelming e.g. too much noise she will start screaming or get angry.
I immediately contacted CAMHS who she was under for her mental health issues. We were called in for an assessment by the CAMHS team where she was
assessed with her newly developed condition. They were surprised and very concerned that it was a rare side effect from the sertraline, they had prescribed. The course of Sertraline was immediately stopped. They advised us to wait for 2 weeks to see if the
symptoms would stop. They assumed that the tics were caused from heightened
anxiety from the sertraline but after 2 weeks they decided this was not the case.
Her physiatrist queried PANDAS, which is paediatric auto-immune
neuropsychiatric disorder associated with Streptococcal. This is inflammation
in a part of the brain called the Basal Ganglia. The reason the brain gets inflammation is because the immune system starts to attack good brain cells. If PANS/PANDAS gets left untreated it can cause cognitive brain damage. This can develop and cause a number of
psychiatric and physical problems that may become extremally serious.
We were told to get an ASOT blood test to test the amount of Strep in her blood. This came back with a reading of 200, which is the top of the normal range, so she was prescribed 2 weeks of anti-biotics from the doctor (the minimum course of meds for PANDAS is at least 6 weeks but the NHS do not know this and only provided 2 weeks). They said if her symptoms hadn't reduced in 2 weeks, it would most probably be Tourette’s syndrome. Ellie was on anti-biotics for a month but the symptoms did not change.
She was referred to the Paediatrics where she was sent for an MRI head scan, and various blood tests. Including a lymes serology test at my request. Even though they disagreed on my suspicion of it being Lymes disease because she had no
obvious tick bite or bullseye rash associated with lymes. I also queried Bartonella due to Ellie having many symptoms and strange stretch marks horizontally on her back. This idea was also dismissed straight away. All of the NHS test results came back normal and we were advised to have an EEG and were referred back to CAMHS, where we were told this was
probably all due to her mental health.
At this point I still didn’t believe that Ellies symptoms over the past 18 months
were down to mental health. I know when there is something wrong with my
child, like every mother knows, when their child isn't themselves. Over those 18 months my daughter has had many physical issues as well, which were looked into but there was nothing found through NHS tests.
She was referred to the Paediatrics where she was sent for an MRI head scan, and various blood tests. Including a lymes serology test at my request. Even though they disagreed on my suspicion of it being Lymes disease because she had no
obvious tick bite or bullseye rash associated with lymes. I also queried Bartonella due to Ellie having many symptoms and strange stretch marks horizontally on her back. This idea was also dismissed straight away. All of the NHS test results came back normal and we were advised to have an EEG and were referred back to CAMHS, where we were told this was
probably all due to her mental health.
At this point I still didn’t believe that Ellies symptoms over the past 18 months
were down to mental health. I know when there is something wrong with my
child, like every mother knows, when their child isn't themselves. Over those 18 months my daughter has had many physical issues as well, which were looked into but there was nothing found through NHS tests.
Ellie has suffered from chronic daily stomach pains since she was 8 years old, being told by doctors she had ‘IBS’. Some of the symptoms she’s had over the past 18 months include; pains in different areas of the body especially her legs, a running low grade fever, a fast heart rate, that even doctors were concerned about, (to the point they sent her to hospital and was told to have an urgent ECG, yet again nothing was found). She has also suffered from depersonalisation, fatigue, often feeling sick, severe nausea and flank pain which landed her in hospital again by doctor’s request, back ache and constant swollen lymph nodes. She’s also has consistent UTI (Urinary tract infection) symptoms which include; bladder pain, bladder pressure, constant leukocytes, traces of blood and urinary hesitancy.
As time went on Ellie developed more symptoms such as severe rage and aggression, more OCD and the separation anxiety got worse, so much so that I haven’t been able to work since this all started. Our daughter hasn’t left the house in over 4 months, not even for family walks we all enjoyed. She also cannot be left unattended due to her tics as they can grab dangerous objects. Her tics also make her harm herself and others by hitting, punching, kicking and scratching. As a parent I found myself desperate and with no help from the NHS I luckily found a PANS/PANDAS Facebook group, where so much help and information was available by others experiencing the same.
I found out about place called the E- hospital where they specialise in PANDAS. We had a consultation call at £350 and blood tests carried out at £1000 where we were told strep can hide elsewhere however when the results came back, they showed nothing major other than the 200 reading and a few other abnormalities, only showing what we already knew. I was gutted and didn’t know where to go from there. I found out that PANS (paediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome) was also a thing which causes the same brain issues but it’s caused from anything other than strep, such as infection, virus’s, yeast, vaccines including HPV, parasites in gut and blood, disease, mineral and nutrition problems, food intolerances, general illness, gut toxins, toxins in the environment and even mould. I found out that some medications can also trigger this autoimmune response such as SSRIS or even anaesthetic. So we thought again that possibly the sertraline triggered these symptoms.
After being told it’s most likely PANS we started to investigate further to find out what was causing my daughters many problems. We went to a functional practitioner who ran a number of tests including a GI map test (a type of stool test), OATS test (a type of urine test) and a hair mineral test. All of these tests had to be done privately as the NHS do not do them nor do they even know about them. When the results came back we were shocked to find out how many problems there were with our daughter. Most of her vitamins and minerals were very low and some levels were high including yeast and quinolinic acid. Some of the high levels explained a lot of her physical and mental Problems. She also had multiple bad bacteria in her gut including E.coli and H.pylori.
As time went on Ellie developed more symptoms such as severe rage and aggression, more OCD and the separation anxiety got worse, so much so that I haven’t been able to work since this all started. Our daughter hasn’t left the house in over 4 months, not even for family walks we all enjoyed. She also cannot be left unattended due to her tics as they can grab dangerous objects. Her tics also make her harm herself and others by hitting, punching, kicking and scratching. As a parent I found myself desperate and with no help from the NHS I luckily found a PANS/PANDAS Facebook group, where so much help and information was available by others experiencing the same.
I found out about place called the E- hospital where they specialise in PANDAS. We had a consultation call at £350 and blood tests carried out at £1000 where we were told strep can hide elsewhere however when the results came back, they showed nothing major other than the 200 reading and a few other abnormalities, only showing what we already knew. I was gutted and didn’t know where to go from there. I found out that PANS (paediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome) was also a thing which causes the same brain issues but it’s caused from anything other than strep, such as infection, virus’s, yeast, vaccines including HPV, parasites in gut and blood, disease, mineral and nutrition problems, food intolerances, general illness, gut toxins, toxins in the environment and even mould. I found out that some medications can also trigger this autoimmune response such as SSRIS or even anaesthetic. So we thought again that possibly the sertraline triggered these symptoms.
After being told it’s most likely PANS we started to investigate further to find out what was causing my daughters many problems. We went to a functional practitioner who ran a number of tests including a GI map test (a type of stool test), OATS test (a type of urine test) and a hair mineral test. All of these tests had to be done privately as the NHS do not do them nor do they even know about them. When the results came back we were shocked to find out how many problems there were with our daughter. Most of her vitamins and minerals were very low and some levels were high including yeast and quinolinic acid. Some of the high levels explained a lot of her physical and mental Problems. She also had multiple bad bacteria in her gut including E.coli and H.pylori.
Over the 8 years my daughter has had chronic stomach issues, not once did the NHS tests her poo for bacteria. A few things spiked up in the test which could indicate food intolerances and Lymes disease. We told the paediatrician about these result’s but she said she couldn’t comment on them as they were not NHS tests. We decided to get a private food intolerance test at £116 to get an even bigger picture to what was wrong with Ellie. The results completely shocked us all as there was 17 different food intolerances, including normal everyday things such as, milk, egg, wheat, gluten, rice and so much more.
Even after finding all this information I still had an instinct that something else was wrong. These things we found out still didn’t explain the physical symptoms she’s been experiencing over the past 2 years. We asked the paediatrician again about possible bartonella due to multiple symptoms and marks on her back, that she had since the symptoms started. The doctor said they googled it and understood our concern, so she spoke to her infectious disease colleagues about it but never got back to us. We were also told that if she did have Lymes, then she already had antibiotics, so it would be gone by now. However the antibiotics she was given weren’t even the antibiotics administered for Lymes disease and wouldn’t have been a long enough course to have any effect.
By this point we were fed up and decided to get a private Lymes, Bartonella and Babesia (blood parasite) blood tests done. When the results came back they were positive for Lymes disease and bartonella. Her Borrelia (bacteria of Lymes disease) was at 12 SI and her other Borrelia was at 6 SI. Her Bartonella was at 4 SI and for these results anything over 3 SI is a positive. Ellie Babesia test came back negative, this meant Ellie is positive for Lymes disease and Bartonella. She also has Chronic immune suppression which also blocks out antibodies and means she is susceptible to illness. We were told these numbers were significant and needed to be addressed, we also found out that NHS don’t test for Bartonella and we’re told the Lymes tests on the NHS are unreliable as they test for antibodies, however if Lymes disease is chronic which my daughters is then you won’t have antibodies and after 4 weeks of having the disease antibodies disappear anyway. The test we had done was far more accurate than the NHS tests.
This leads us to why we are making this Go fund me page. Unfortunately the NHS do not treat and do not believe in chronic Lymes disease and can only really treat up to 4 weeks after initial bite, even though a lot of people don’t know they have been bitten as bites can be the size of a poppy seed. Lots of people have been turned away by the NHS for this disease. The NHS also do not test for Bartonella nor do they treat it, and they don’t test it because they don’t have an accurate test available.
Even after finding all this information I still had an instinct that something else was wrong. These things we found out still didn’t explain the physical symptoms she’s been experiencing over the past 2 years. We asked the paediatrician again about possible bartonella due to multiple symptoms and marks on her back, that she had since the symptoms started. The doctor said they googled it and understood our concern, so she spoke to her infectious disease colleagues about it but never got back to us. We were also told that if she did have Lymes, then she already had antibiotics, so it would be gone by now. However the antibiotics she was given weren’t even the antibiotics administered for Lymes disease and wouldn’t have been a long enough course to have any effect.
By this point we were fed up and decided to get a private Lymes, Bartonella and Babesia (blood parasite) blood tests done. When the results came back they were positive for Lymes disease and bartonella. Her Borrelia (bacteria of Lymes disease) was at 12 SI and her other Borrelia was at 6 SI. Her Bartonella was at 4 SI and for these results anything over 3 SI is a positive. Ellie Babesia test came back negative, this meant Ellie is positive for Lymes disease and Bartonella. She also has Chronic immune suppression which also blocks out antibodies and means she is susceptible to illness. We were told these numbers were significant and needed to be addressed, we also found out that NHS don’t test for Bartonella and we’re told the Lymes tests on the NHS are unreliable as they test for antibodies, however if Lymes disease is chronic which my daughters is then you won’t have antibodies and after 4 weeks of having the disease antibodies disappear anyway. The test we had done was far more accurate than the NHS tests.
This leads us to why we are making this Go fund me page. Unfortunately the NHS do not treat and do not believe in chronic Lymes disease and can only really treat up to 4 weeks after initial bite, even though a lot of people don’t know they have been bitten as bites can be the size of a poppy seed. Lots of people have been turned away by the NHS for this disease. The NHS also do not test for Bartonella nor do they treat it, and they don’t test it because they don’t have an accurate test available.
Now my husband and I are feeling alone, alone and let down not even considering how disappointed and anxious Ellie feels. Our daughter’s life had been on hold for over a year. She left school permanently December 2019 due to severe social anxiety and panic attacks. She just feels lonely and lost. She just wants to live a normal teenage life and not have an illness to hold her back anymore. She want’s to go to college this year but fears she may be held back if this illness isn’t cured by then, which will impact her more mentally as she is already so isolated and has no life.
We now need to raise enough money to get our daughter to a private infectious disease clinic in Poland or Ireland, that knows how to deal with these diseases correctly. By allowing the medication to work properly rather than just having oral antibiotics which will not work. They would use a number of methods on fixing this, which include antibiotics through an IV, herbs, ozone therapy, supplements through infusions or injections, hypothermia treatment which gives you a fever, which will use together with antibiotics to make treatment for affective oxygen therapy, heat treatment which can help the medication get into her system quicker. It’s an intense therapy that can last anywhere from 2 weeks to 8 weeks. Treatment will be 5 days a week, all day and charged per day and per course of treatment.
We need to raise this money as soon as possible as we’ve spent over £3600 and I’m no longer getting sick pay from work, my husband is on 80% due to furlough and our savings have gone on the tests so far. We have literally hit a wall and it frustrates us that our daughter needs healing but without funds she can’t have it.
We are desperate to help our daughter and she is also desperate for a normal life. She just wants to be able to be independent again, this illness has disabled her and she is unable to do anything herself mainly due to her severe tics that are constant, she never has any brake’s from them and cause’s a lot of distress at times, especially in a tic attack. If she gets treatment eventually all her neurological, psychiatric and physical symptoms will subside and she can go back to being independent, happy teenager, as she wouldn't have any dangers. Like I said, due to her tics she is a danger to herself. I also cannot work as she needs to be accompanied at all times and can’t even sleep alone. Due to this, I am now not getting paid anymore.
We would appreciate any donation, anything you can donate will be a huge help.
Thank you for reading our story and we hope that you can help.
We now need to raise enough money to get our daughter to a private infectious disease clinic in Poland or Ireland, that knows how to deal with these diseases correctly. By allowing the medication to work properly rather than just having oral antibiotics which will not work. They would use a number of methods on fixing this, which include antibiotics through an IV, herbs, ozone therapy, supplements through infusions or injections, hypothermia treatment which gives you a fever, which will use together with antibiotics to make treatment for affective oxygen therapy, heat treatment which can help the medication get into her system quicker. It’s an intense therapy that can last anywhere from 2 weeks to 8 weeks. Treatment will be 5 days a week, all day and charged per day and per course of treatment.
We need to raise this money as soon as possible as we’ve spent over £3600 and I’m no longer getting sick pay from work, my husband is on 80% due to furlough and our savings have gone on the tests so far. We have literally hit a wall and it frustrates us that our daughter needs healing but without funds she can’t have it.
We are desperate to help our daughter and she is also desperate for a normal life. She just wants to be able to be independent again, this illness has disabled her and she is unable to do anything herself mainly due to her severe tics that are constant, she never has any brake’s from them and cause’s a lot of distress at times, especially in a tic attack. If she gets treatment eventually all her neurological, psychiatric and physical symptoms will subside and she can go back to being independent, happy teenager, as she wouldn't have any dangers. Like I said, due to her tics she is a danger to herself. I also cannot work as she needs to be accompanied at all times and can’t even sleep alone. Due to this, I am now not getting paid anymore.
We would appreciate any donation, anything you can donate will be a huge help.
Thank you for reading our story and we hope that you can help.
NOTES:
Sertraline is a type of antidepressant known as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). It's often used to treat depression, and also sometimes panic attacks, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Sertraline may cause side effects. Tell your doctor if any of these symptoms are severe or do not go away:
- nausea
- diarrhoea
- constipation
- vomiting
- difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
- dry mouth
- heartburn
- loss of appetite
- weight changes
- dizziness
- excessive tiredness
- headache
- nervousness
- uncontrollable shaking of a part of the body
- changes in sex drive or ability
- excessive sweating
Bartonella are bacteria that live primarily inside the lining of the blood vessels. They can infect humans, mammals and a wide range of wild animals. The disease that results is called bartonellosis. Bartonella henselae causes an important emerging infection that was first reported in 1990.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a class of drugs that are typically used as antidepressants in the treatment of major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, and related illnesses to serotonin deficiencies.
Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria normally live in the intestines of healthy people and animals. Most types of E. coli are harmless or cause relatively brief diarrhea. But a few strains, such as E. coli O157:H7, can cause severe stomach cramps, bloody diarrhea and vomiting. You may be exposed to E. coli from contaminated water or food — especially raw vegetables and undercooked ground beef. Healthy adults usually recover from infection with E. coli O157:H7 within a week. Young children and older adults have a greater risk of developing a life-threatening form of kidney failure.
Helicobacter pylori(H. pylori) is a type of bacteria. These germs can enter your body and live in your digestive tract. After many years, they can cause sores, called ulcers, in the lining of your stomach or the upper part of your small intestine. For some people, an infection can lead to stomach cancer.
Lyme disease, also known as Lyme borreliosis, is an infectious disease caused by the Borrelia bacterium which is spread by ticks. The most common sign of infection is an expanding red rash, known as erythema migrans, that appears at the site of the tick bite about a week after it occurred.
See also:
Ex-landlord took overdose in prison day before manslaughter interview
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/ex-landlord-took-overdose-prison-5992269
He also had Sertraline in his system but she said this did not cause his death and was not in a fatal range.