Fluovex Special Precautions

Seizures: Seizures are a potential risk with antidepressant drugs. Therefore, as with other antidepressants, fluoxetine should be introduced cautiously in patients who have a history of seizures. Treatment should be discontinued in any patient who develops seizures or where there is an increase in seizure frequency. Fluoxetine should be avoided in patients with unstable seizure disorders/epilepsy, and patients with controlled epilepsy should be carefully monitored.
Mania: Antidepressants should be used with caution in patients with a history of mania/hypomania. As with all antidepressants, fluoxetine should be discontinued in any patient entering a manic phase.
Hepatic/renal function: Fluoxetine is extensively metabolised by the liver and excreted by the kidneys. A lower dose, eg, alternate day dosing, is recommended in patients with significant hepatic dysfunction. When given fluoxetine 20mg/day for 2 months, patients with severe renal failure (GFR <10ml/min) requiring dialysis showed no difference in plasma levels of fluoxetine or norfluoxetine compared to controls with normal renal function.
Cardiac disease: No conduction abnormalities that resulted in heart block were observed in the ECG of 312 patients who received fluoxetine in double-blind clinical trials. However, clinical experience in acute cardiac disease is limited, therefore caution is advisable.
Weight loss: Weight loss may occur in patients taking fluoxetine but it is usually proportional to baseline body weight.
Diabetes: In patients with diabetes, treatment with an SSRI may alter glycaemic control. Hypoglycaemia has occurred during therapy with fluoxetine, and hyperglycaemia has developed following discontinuation. Insulin and/or oral hypoglycaemic dosage may need to be adjusted.
Suicide: As improvement may not occur during the first few weeks of treatment, in common with all antidepressants, patients should be closely monitored during this period. The possibility of a suicide attempt is inherent in depression and may persist until significant remission occurs. It is general clinical experience with all therapies for depression that the risk of suicide may increase in the early stages of recovery.
Haemorrhage: There have been reports of cutaneous bleeding abnormalities, such as ecchymosis and purpura, with SSRIs. Ecchymosis has been reported as an infrequent event during treatment with fluoxetine. Other haemorrhagic manifestations (eg, gynaecological haemorrhages, gastro-intestinal bleedings, and other cutaneous or mucous bleedings) have been reported rarely. Caution is advised in patients taking SSRIs, particularly in concomitant use with oral anticoagulants, drugs known to affect platelet function (eg, atypical antipsychotics, such as clozapine, phenothiazines, most TCAs, aspirin, NSAIDs), or other drugs that may increase risk of bleeding, as well as in patients with a history of bleeding disorders.
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT): There have been rare reports of prolonged seizures in patients on fluoxetine receiving ECT treatment, therefore caution is advisable.
St John's Wort: An increase in serotonergic effects, such as serotonin syndrome, may occur when selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and herbal preparations containing St John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) are used together.
On rare occasions, development of a serotonin syndrome or neuroleptic malignant syndrome-like events have been reported in association with treatment of fluoxetine, particularly when given in combination with other serotonergic (among others, L-tryptophan) and/or neuroleptic drugs. As these syndromes may result in potentially life-threatening conditions, treatment with fluoxetine should be discontinued if such events (characterised by clusters of symptoms, such as hyperthermia, rigidity, myoclonus, autonomic instability with possible rapid fluctuations of vital signs, mental status changes, including confusion, irritability, extreme agitation, progressing to delirium and coma) occur, and supportive symptomatic treatment should be initiated.
Effects on ability to drive and use machines: Although fluoxetine has been shown not to affect psychomotor performance in healthy volunteers, any psychoactive drug may impair judgement or skills. Patients should be advised to avoid driving a car or operating hazardous machinery until they are reasonably certain that their performance is not affected.