dbzro9

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.