Author(s)

Matthias Fischer, Stefan Unterecker, Bruno Pfuhlmann

University of Wuerzburg, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Wuerzburg, Germany.

The antidepressant venlafaxine in overdose can lead to serotonin syndrome, seizures, QTc interval prolongation and can increase the risk of cardiac arrhythmias. It has been reported to be more toxic in overdose than other new antidepressants. We report a case of venlafaxine intoxication with a venlafaxine/O-desmethylvenlafaxine serum level of 2861/2670 ng/mL 22 h after ingestion. This is one of the so far highest survived venlafaxin serum levels. In contrast to other reported survived venlafaxin overdoses with high serum levels no clinical signs of intoxication were observed in our case. So venlafaxine overdose not necessarily leads to life-threatening signs of intoxication.

Venlafaxine; Intoxication; Overdose; Drug Monitoring

M. Fischer, S. Unterecker and B. Pfuhlmann, "Overdose of Venlafaxine with Mild Outcome," Neuroscience and Medicine, Vol. 3 No. 4, 2012, pp. 327-329. doi: 10.4236/nm.2012.34038.