Man's warning after serotonin syndrome ordeal triggered by anxiety medication almost killed him
A man who survived a bout of serotonin syndrome said it was 'one of the scariest experiences' of his life, sharing graphic footage of his ordeal on social media.
Ryan Swain wants ordinary people and NHS medics alike to become more informed about the 'life-threatening condition' he encountered in April as a result of prescribed medication.
The father-of-four, from North Yorkshire, has told LADbible how he 'felt like he had rigor mortis' or as though he had been 'plugged into a TENS machine at full capacity' when in the throes of a serotonin syndrome-related seizure.
Although serotonin is known as the 'happiness hormone', having too much of it in your system can have lethal consequences if left untreated.
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It can cause symptoms such as a fast heartbeat, shaking, sweating, twitching muscles, confusion, agitation, diarrhoea, or nausea - as well as more severe ones, such as seizures.
The latter is what Ryan endured earlier this year, with millions seeing the excruciating moments for themselves in clip he uploaded to his TikTok channel.
Revealing why he posted the video from his hospital bed, the 36-year-old tells LADbible: "It was more about making other people see the risks. Not to scare them, just to raise the awareness of what serotonin syndrome can look like if you leave it too long.
"It’s not about putting fear in people, it’s not about scaring people; it's about educating people and making them understand and be aware that answers aren’t always in tablet form."
You can take a look at the video here, but beware that some viewers may find the content distressing:
Ryan - who wears many hats as an actor, DJ, motivational speaker and skateboarder - explained that his doctor recommended that he tried a drug called Duloxetine.
He has Tourette’s syndrome, as well as ADHD, and explained that his motor tics started 'ramping up' after a hectic period in his life. The presenter said he had grown 'physically exhausted' by his body making so many 'involuntary movements and noises'.
Although Duloxetine is most commonly used to treat depression and anxiety, Ryan claims he was informed the drug could help 'relax his muscles' and ease his 'anxiety that brings on the tics'.
"I started on 30mg and that didn’t really do anything," he recalls. "I was still getting really bad tics and episodes of anxiety.
"So when I went back to the doctor, he said, 'We’re going to up your dose to 60mg'. A week into upping the dose, I started feeling…different."
'Something wasn't right'
Ryan started to notice that he was frequently experiencing palpitations, a 'very, very tight' chest and most noticeably, his balance and coordination was completely out of whack.
"Being a skateboarder, I’ve got second to none balance," he goes on. "So I noticed something wasn’t right when I was doing tricks I’ve done for 20 years and suddenly found it a bit wobbly and more difficult to see through.
"It was a bit of a sudden change. It seemed coincidental that it was all around the time of taking this medication. But I didn’t really think anything more of it."
He continued to take Duloxetine for a number of months and said that 'everybody around him' - including his parents, brother, fiancée Sam and four children - all 'noticed a change in him'.
Describing some of the 'scary stuff' he dealt with during this period, Ryan said: "My behaviour, my moods…I was very frustrated. I was hyper-focused on all the wrong things. Zoning in and out of stuff, really heavily.
"I’d be staring at a wall or just staring into nothing for hours. Quite scary stuff, really. I had a lot of brain fog. I was not able to follow instructions very well or digest information, and I just felt pressured all the time."
As this was coupled with a host of strange physical sensations - including 'stiffness, rigidity, aches, pains and not being able to move' - he booked an appointment with his GP, who immediately suspected he had serotonin syndrome.
"I felt like my legs were two dead weights," Ryan said. "My brain was wide awake, but none of it was functioning correctly." His doctor informed him he needed to seek hospital treatment urgently.
He recalled how his condition deteriorated rapidly over the course of two hours, rendering him unable to walk or even move.
"My legs were hyper flexed, it was like I was plugged into a TENS machine at full capacity," Ryahn said. "Everything was just totally rock solid. My veins were popping out my legs, arms and neck.
"My shoulders were aching. It felt like I had rigor mortis, that's what it felt like. But the difference is, my brain was overworking. I felt like I’d had like 10 energy drinks. I was wide awake upstairs.
"But getting my brain to work with my body to do things, it just wasn’t happening. There was no control over that."
What it felt like
Ryan said he slipped 'in and out of consciousness' and went on to recall: "My hands were crimped and looked like claws. My ankles and joints just became extremely stiff. I had a soaring temperature. I had quite a couple of tics as well during the seizure, and that was incredibly difficult, because my body was so strained and so tense that it was like physically hurting me. I was crying out in pain, but I couldn't get my sentences out.
"I felt a total disconnection [between brain and body]. It was an out-of-body experience, I felt like I was being trapped inside my own body, but my brain was doing its own thing…it was weird. It was really weird.
"The consultant in A&E who was treating me for serotonin syndrome said, ‘You need to video this and document some of these side effects, because a neurologist will want to see this’. Looking back on the video, it’s terrifying."
The Ryedale Skate School owner courageously uploaded this footage to social media in a bid to show how 'incredibly dangerous' serotonin syndrome can be.
Explaining the dangers of the deadly condition, Ryan said: "Not only is it life-threatening but it can damage your nervous system, it can damage your brain, it can damage a lot of stuff. It was just terrifying.
"I just wanted to relax my body. If I could go back and not take Duloxetine, then I would totally do it." The 36-year-old said doctors later concluded that the medication 'did not agree with him at all'.
In wake of his body becoming overloaded with serotonin, Ryan said he had to learn to 'walk again' as well as teach himself how to perform simple tasks such as holding a knife and fork.
The father-of-four is thankfully back on the mend following his hospitalisation in April, but he admitted his recovery has 'definitely been a journey'.
Ryan now wants to raise awareness of serotonin syndrome and the potentially deadly consequences it has, as he had 'never, ever heard of it' before the conversation with his GP.
And although he described the NHS medics who saved him as 'absolutely fantastic', he pointed out that a lot of health experts aren't too well versed in the condition either.
Dubbing serotonin syndrome a 'minefield', he urged anyone who encounters even 'the most minor symptoms' to speak to a medical professional as soon as they can, just in case.
Saying he feels 'lucky to be alive', Ryan added: "The symptoms can soon lead into what’s classed as a seizure - and you’re then going into a coma, and I dread to think what can come out of the end of that.
"Thankfully, I managed to come around from mine, but not everybody does."
Olivia Burke