Prognosis

There should be complete recovery from severe serotonin toxicity with no sequelae after the offending drug is stopped, unless it is treated late and multi-organ failure develops. Both mild and moderate serotonin toxicity will resolve over 24 hours or a few days. The time course will depend on the clearance of the implicated drug (i.e., based on the drug's half-life) and will be much longer for drugs such as fluoxetine.

With prompt treatment, mortality is reported as <1%.[2][31] Relapse will occur only if the drug is restarted. Relapse may or may not occur with other serotonergic drugs. Depending on the situation that has led to the serotonin toxicity (e.g., increased dose, overdose, drug-drug interaction), a single serotonergic medication may be restarted at a lower dose after the condition has resolved, while the patient is monitored closely.

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