SSRI and stimulants UWorld Q 11853

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lana62

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Patient who takes SSRI ingests an unknown substance at a party and develops serotonin syndrome. Question asks which substance most likely cause his condition. The right answer is ecstasy, but there are bath salts among the options.
Bath salts may increase the release or inhibit the reuptake of noreinephrin, dopamine and SEROTONIN according to Uworld step 2 CK question 11815 as well as other sources. Hence, the combination of bath salts with SSRI may cause serotonin syndrome as well. Am I missing something?

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What's your confusion? As you've said, bath salts inhibit the reuptake of serotonin so it partially acts as another SSRI, increasing the risk of serotonin sybdrome when taken with SSRI SNRI TCA.
 
What's your confusion? As you've said, bath salts inhibit the reuptake of serotonin so it partially acts as another SSRI, increasing the risk of serotonin sybdrome when taken with SSRI SNRI TCA.

My confusion is that the right answer is ecstasy, but there are bath salts among the options, and serotonin syndrome can develop with ingestion of either one. Uworld explanation is that at a party people take ecstasy, not bath salts. They don't mention that bath salts can cause serotonin syndrome as well. So I didn't like the explanation that we have to decide which substance was ingested for the reason that the patient was at a party.
 
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