Lexapro

Tinkerbell2 · Nov 9, 2005

Hello

Does anyone here receive the e-mail newsletter regarding responses to

this forum, and if so, did anyone receive a graphic and totally inappropriate

e-mail today, regarding a posting (which I have yet to find on this forum) by a person going by "javina" ?

lsyorke, RN · Nov 10, 2005

It was a post(made on multiple threads) that I reported early this am. The Mods handled it quickly!

lucianne · Nov 10, 2005

No, but report it to the moderators and they'll take care of it.

Thunderwolf, MSN, RN · Nov 11, 2005

It was taken care. Report any bad posts via your red triangle which is found at the left of every post. Staff will address quickly as previously mentioned. This is what maintains the quality of our board. Thanks for reporting it.

Wolfie

Louisepug · Nov 12, 2005

Hi. I've tried multiple anti-depressants, and so far in my opinion, lexapro has been the best for my anxiety=depression. It does make me VERY tired, so my doc switched me from taking it in the morning to taking it at night instead. It also has caused sexual side effects, but it seems like they all do. That whole thing is a vicious cycle. Go off the anti-depressant=orgasms, but anxiety/depression. Stay on the medication=no orgasm, but calmness in life. Oh well, I think we all know that life ain't a bowl of cherries. I'd like to eventually be off anti-depressants all together and see if I can handle life drug free. :rolleyes:

dbzro9 · Nov 24, 2005

my experience w/lexapro:

i began taking lexa this past june for what my PCP described as 'general anxiety disorder'. Despite my effort to steer him in a different direction, he is the doc.. so i figure i'd roll with it.

i started first on the 10mg pills for about 6 weeks and then moved up to the 20s. the side effects i had with the 10mg: severe jaw clenching, decreased appetite, and those horrible never-ending lawns. i felt 'ssri'd' if that's an acceptable term. these side effects remained with the 20mg dose, and began to be accompanied by severe bouts of paranoia and hopelessness. i threatened to take my own life twice.

eventually.. for lack of a better term.. lost it. ended up on 72hr lock down and after talking with the staff psych and the social worker assigned to me, they almost immeadetly diagnosed me as type 1 bipolar (which is what i argued with my doctor and anyone who'd listen to the past 5 years).

since then (early september) i've been ramped up to 200mg/day of Lamictal and I can wholeheartedly say that I feel better now than I have in years.

i was always skeptical of lexapro from the get-go.. seeing that it is basically a giant marketing scheme Forrest Laboratories concocted to counteract their patent-expiration on celexa.

i've spoken with several other individuals who have had similar experiences (good, goooood, GOOD......................BAAAD) with lexapro and have read in numerous locations all over the web that Forrest actually sort of 'faked' a lot of their lab tests that lead to this not only getting FDA approval, but the stats they can use in promotional materials touting it's 'excellent' results.'

personally, i'd steer clear.

lucianne · Nov 27, 2005

Your situation is what is maddening about PCPs prescribing antidepressants--they generally just don't take/have the time to do a thorough evaluation and get a good history. You most likely would have had a bad experience with any SSRI you were given without a mood stabilizer as well. I'm glad the Lamictal is effective for you.

missunnybrook · Dec 18, 2005

I am on Wellbutrin and I take Neurontin to help me sleep and for my back pain. Neuronitn is a great drug as a sleep aid and I have never had any side affects. No grogginess in the am either.

Oh, I take 1600 mg. about 8 hrs. before I want to sleep. For some reason it takes a looong time to kick in but that may just be me.

missunnybrook · Dec 18, 2005

I just upped my lexapro on my dr's recommendation and I
can't sleep! I already take 50 mg benedryl every night to sleep. I've built up a tolerence to Trazodone and Ambien makes me loopy.
Does anyone taking lexapro use something to sleep as well? If you're not on lexapro but have a sleeping rx that has worked well for you I'd be very interested to hear it.
~~~lifelong insomniac~~~

I posted an answer to this but it went to page 10 so I will repost.

I take Wellbutrin and sometimes Lexapro. A great med to take for sleep is Neurontin. I have never had side effects from this drug and there is no grogginess in the morning. I take 1600 mg. about 8 hrs. before I want to sleep. It takes a long time to kick in but I think that may just be me. I also take Neurontin as part of my regimen for back pain. For me this is a great med.!:)

CowsRGreat · Dec 24, 2005

Ahhh, Lexapro has been my life saver:p I was experiencing extreme anxiety and panick attacks:uhoh21: Lexapro helped calm me and get on with my life I've been on it for about 6 months and have had minimal side effects. No weight gain. Although, when I fist started it it actually increased my anxiety(which is normal). My doctor prescribed me Klonopin to help me threw the adjustment period. I don't know how I would be functioning without it!

rdop5388 · Dec 24, 2005

I have been on it for over a year. I guess it works for me. I just raised my dose to 20 mg and seems ok. The only side effects that I seem to have are the sex drive. My poor husband. But that could be related to the change of life. Once that I take it at night I go right to sleep but don't sleep more than about 5 hours, then come afternoon time I need a nap. But that could be related to depression and not the med. I have ran out of it for a couple of days and was not to pleasant to live with so I would recommend weining off it and not stopping cold turkey. All in all it seems to take the edge off and has kept me sane while in nursing school.

JustSearching · Feb 14, 2006

Have been on Wellbutrin SR for 3 weeks. After the first week at 100mg, increased to 200 mg and within a week noticed that I was cycling very rapidly (I'm either cyclothymic of BPII) and started feeling like the depression was worse. I asked my psych about it and he said "it takes weeks for these to work so just stick it out" and wouldn't even acknowledge that the drug might be making me worse. I'd had a bad experience with Prozac about 10 years ago where within a month it had made me suicidal and perhaps even homicidal. Stopped it immediately. Smart doctor.

I went through a similiar experience with my now 17 yo son who is Bipolar. B4 dx they increased his Wellbutrin and he got violent, hypomanic on Zoloft and Paxil.

So I've now fired my psych and will wean myself off Wellbutrin while I search for a new doctor. Was just curious is anyone had heard of it making depression worse. For me it was a completely different type of depression - crying for no reason, where I'm usually just a bit dysthymic with cycles into just below hypomania... have never had a full-blown manic.