Combinations of new style antidepressants can result in a toxic reaction known as serotonin syndrome, doctors have observed.
Cases have already been reported when a patient has been given the antidepresant venlafaxine with the drug phenelzine.
Now doctors from Denmark have reported a similar reaction when venlafaxine has been taken with isocarboxazide. A patient was rushed to the emergency ward after combining the two drugs; he was agitated and he was suffering from visual hallucinations. The last of the symptoms stopped only six days after treatment (The Lancet, November 11, 1995).