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Re: Lexapro - Really need support

Posted by Rix on April 2, 2004, at 11:19:07

In reply to Lexapro - Really need support, posted by seatgti on April 2, 2004, at 9:22:15

Andy:
I am a brand new Lexapro user, so I may not be much help: (but I ad tried every other antidperessant and this one has the least side effects for me )
I am on my 5th week, but my doctor Warned me that the serotonin enhancement effects of Lexapro can Markedly INCREASE anxiety for many many weeks......SInce I suffer severe GAD, OCD, panic and agoraphobias, he started me on 5 mg.....At first I trembled, gasped for air, got frightened, fuzzy and confused and scared and wents nuts.....He told me to "hang in there" as this can be expected, so at least I felt like i understood it and it helped me bare it...he also gave me xanax, or ativan to take several times a day to assist me with this increased anxiety...I found that the xanax made me more fatigued (and the Lexapro was very very fatiguing), so I pulled back on the xanax, and went just with the Lex....I have tried it ams and pms, but now the faituge is also diminishing...I upped the dosage to 7.5 mg (which is 3/4 of a 10 mg tab(I use a razor blade to cut it)...as soon as I Upped the dose the extreme fatigue and anxiety came over me again..I felt like I had to sleep all the time and it felt like depression but it was just exhasution)..which has taken three full weeks and is still NOT settled, but this time I know its ok....I am on 3rd week of that, and miraculously am just feeling much better, altho have a hard time sleeping, so I take the Ativan at night to sleep. I noitce that I am bothered less by stuff that used to make me crazy..not alot, but enough to make life less painful..also I expect that this will keep improving)
My point is:
You may feel bad from starting too high on the Lex...instead of allowing your mind to become accustomed to the rushes of increased anxiety....
I have had several friends who's doctors put them straight on 10 mg and they could barely function, and consequently were sooo disorietned that their anxiety went thru the roof...your mind needs to slowly slowly adjust to the antidepressant effects....More people seem to quit the Lex when they start off too high...(its just my observation.)
I know for myself, I may have to stay on 7.5 mgs for months until I learn to think new ways, and reorder my world.....I am also using cognitive therapy to address how I think and what I do...theres a book called Feeling Good by DAvid Burns which could help.
I don't believe a magic pill will just make the world rosy. You must reorder your life, values and interpretations of things....what you do, and how much pressure you put on yourself..I have pulled back and given myself permission to stop being all things to all people and take a more "whatever" attitude..and thats helping amazingly well...
One more idea: if you are drinking or taking other sorts of "depressants" this can defeat the anti dpressant effects...
God Bless......


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poster:Rix thread:331721
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040402/msgs/331748.html