Prescribed With Setraline For Cancer. Experiencing Hallucinations, Dry Mouth And Stuffy Nose. Is It Due To The Medicine?

Posted on Tue, 26 Nov 2013

Question: My mother was prescribed Setraline to help her deal with her recent diagnosis of cancer. However she is now experiencing serious side effects from this drug ie: hallucinations, dry mouth, coughing, stuffy nose etc. It is very scary as my mother is elderly. Could you please let me know how long it will take for this medication to leave her system, she also has a very hard time sleeping, ends up in odd postions, could this be from the medication as well.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Michelle Gibson (32 minutes later)

Brief Answer: It would take 3 to 5 days Detailed Answer: HI, thanks for using healthcare magic The half life of a drug is the time it takes for the amount of drug in the body system to decrease by half. It is thought that it takes 3 to 4 half lives for a drug to be completely eliminated. It can cause difficulty sleeping, jerking movements of the muscles which may result in the abnormal positions, vivid dreams. The half life of setraline is 26 hours. Since it takes 3 to 4 half lives for complete elimination this means that it would be eliminated in 3 to 5 days after the last tablet is taken. I hope this helps and wish your mother all the best. Please feel free to ask any additional questions

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar