Lexapro

[polly4711]

Ama.... as being a former fellow lexapro taker... i COMPLETELY understand how you feel. You need to definately talk with your doctor. When I was on it, I didn't care about life or what was going on. I'm quite the snuggling/touchy feely person, and I didn't want to hold hands with my boyfriend. (So if you have a partner, talk with them and tell them how you feel on it and that you are trying to fix it.

Maybe you need to change the pill overall. Please keep my posted.... I'm here for you.

[Aggie_Ama]

Polly- I am actually feeling quite well on it so far but my doc wants to constantly monitor because this is my first try on anti-depressants. I am actually quite loving towards my husband which I hadn't been for months. He is so happy I am no longer shying away from his hugs.

I am trying to track my sleeping to see if it is abnormal because I have always enjoyed a good nap. I think I took a 3 hour one yesterday but then I went to bed at 11 and got up at 5:30 so really I am not sleeping that much, just should go to bed early so I don't need that nap.

I meant the "I don't know who is in my head feeling" has gone away finally. I feel so much better just a bit sleepy in the afternoon.

[chatterbox]

I took lexapro for about eight months. It definitely short-circuited the crying jags and really helped, but after six months my husband was concerned because not only had I stopped crying, I'd stopped laughing. I didn't have sleeping issues while on it, but when I came off of it I had terrible terrible vertigo. My doctor actually decided I could cold turkey because the draw down was just prolonging the dizziness. I think I was dizzy for about 6 - 8 weeks.

Glad you're getting help and beginning to feel better.

[polly4711]

, but after six months my husband was concerned because not only had I stopped crying, I'd stopped laughing. .

yes... i understand.

Ama... i'm glad that it's working out well for you and the hubby.... i don't know what to tell you.... but good luck.

[jobob]

Well, I'm a relatively long-time Lexapro user and I think my sense of humor and my ability to laugh is still intact.

In fact, I think I find it easier to laugh nowadays. But that's just me.

It's different for everyone. Looks like I'm in a minority here, as a satisfied Lexapro user, but, there you have it. I sympathize with those of you for whom it hasn't worked out, I guess my particular brain chemistry & what-have-you are compatible w it. I hope you've been able to find something else suitable, be it drug or talk therapy. I did talk therapy for a while but it didn't work well for me - maybe it was the therapist I was seeing, but this was before trying Lexapro. I'm not inclined right now to try talk thereapy again, but I'll never say never ...

(To be honest I was rather hesitant to talk about my experiences with the drug, but since the trend on this thread was somewhat negative, I thought I would add my own positive experience as a counterpoint. Who knows, maybe I'm the only satisfied Lexapro user out there ... )

[malaholic]

Aggie, I'm glad that the Lexapro is helping you. I hope that the insomnia is only a temporary adjustment thing and that you don't experience any other bad side effects.

FWIW, there is a website http://www.askapatient.com where you can typically find a lot of anecdotal information on how well specific drugs have worked for people and what side effects they've experienced. I found it to be pretty helpful a few years ago when my then-doctor told me that there was absolutely no way that the headaches I was getting were due to the birth control I was on...I eventually stumbled upon that site and what do you know, there were a ton of people reporting killer headaches while on that pill.

Anyway, once again, best of luck with this treatment!

[Dogmama]

(To be honest I was rather hesitant to talk about my experiences with the drug, but since the trend on this thread was somewhat negative, I thought I would add my own positive experience as a counterpoint. Who knows, maybe I'm the only satisfied Lexapro user out there ... )

Well Jobob...I have to eat my words...chomp chomp, slurp, swallow...

My Pdoc tried to take me off Lexapro. Big mistake. I started to get p*ssy about everything. Even on my bike rides, I'd play the "conversation" game - You know, "I'll say this...then he'll say that...then I'll say this..." etc. Completely missed what a beautiful day it was because my head was in a very bad neighborhood. When I can't relax on my rides, I know I'm in trouble.

I'm on a super low dose, 5 mg, but it is just the dusting of SSRI I need to keep sane. My anxiety & depression just takes over my life. That's one reason why I started riding & working out. I don't think I need as much med as most people.

I do talk therapy too. Depression & suicides run in my family & I don't really want to continue the family tradition. My bike would cry & rust...so sad.

[jobob]

Well, I eat my words all the time. Everyone needs a hobby, I likes to say.

I might go for a lower dose at some point. I actually missed a few days during my current "adventure" (hospital etc after biking accident) and I didn't notice anything off ... altho I wasn't in much position to notice such stuff, heh.

Then again, at least for the moment anyhow, it ain't broke so why fix it ... (just a rhetorical question) .

[Aggie_Ama]

Everyone's experience with a drug can be mixed but usually people who have a very negative response remember it more. When my tremors first started I was on Neurontin. I was also extremely depressed. I thought it was the Neurontin and was convinced it was the devil's drug. Now that I have had the same depression feelings I had in 2004 and my tremors were coming out of remission I know it probably wasn't Neurontin. Although I felt like an idiot on it (many people say that), it gave me hot flashes and made me really loopy if I took anything else but the depression wasn't the Neurontin. Oh and quitting Neurontin made me feel really out of it, I would say wacko but that isn't the word. I was even more depressed, irritable and frustrated for the two week taper. Many people take Neurontin for tremors and are quite happy with the results, so there you go.

I appreciate everyone's stories and cautions about their experience. I go back to the doctor next week to see what he thinks but I feel less irritable, more in control and overall content. I guess for me, for now it is the right choice.

Oh and the sleeping? I realized I always take a lot of naps in the spring, have since I was 15 I guess it could be the time change and not a thing to do with the Lexapro. The insomnia has stopped. Sometimes we want to blame something when it probably has nothing to do with it.

[Dogmama]

Sometimes we want to blame something when it probably has nothing to do with it.

Jumping to conclusions is how I get my exercise when I can't ride.

Neurontin made me scrub my kitchen floor at 2AM. I just knew the grout had to be cleaned...or else. My ortho surgeon put me on it because I had neuropathy in my hands. I finally just had the cervical fusion & decided the grout would have to get dirty.

[crazycanuck]

I'm confused & hope a chemist/pharmacy expert might be able to answer this question. Why is it that all of the drugs that are supposedly supposed to help folks(the type of illness/disorder/etc etc does not matter as there are drugs to help each one) have so many side effects? It's the 21st century & I would assume there's the technology...

It doesn't seem fair to create more conundrums for folks when all they want is a solution to their illness/disorder/etc etc.

[limewave]

I'm confused & hope a chemist/pharmacy expert might be able to answer this question. Why is it that all of the drugs that are supposedly supposed to help folks(the type of illness/disorder/etc etc does not matter as there are drugs to help each one) have so many side effects? It's the 21st century & I would assume there's the technology...

It doesn't seem fair to create more conundrums for folks when all they want is a solution to their illness/disorder/etc etc.

My best friend is a chemist for a very large pharmaceutical company. I've asked her similar questions. Why aren't they trying to find cures? Why are there so many side-effects? Etc.

Basically, she said, that the money is in treating symptoms--not in curing them. If there's more symptoms to treat, there's more money to be had . . .

This is why I now see a Doctor who practices Functional Medicine. I was on Lexapro for YEARS. It was great in that it really gave me my life back, but I suffered from so many side-effects. I was told that I would be a lifer on Lexapro. Now, I'm off all SIX of the prescription drugs I started taking at 25. And I feel better than I've ever felt. My doctor manages my depression symptoms naturally through supplements and diet. I won't go back on prescriptions--I can't stand the thought of being under the influence of something that was designed to rip me off, not make me better.

[jobob]

Aw, come on, let's get real - don't you think that if BigPharmaCo came up with a cure (for anxiety, depression, hangnails, what-have-you) without any sort of side effects they'd market it out the wazoo and make a fortune?

The reality is, science is (still) imperfect, and hasn't yet progressed to the point that it can mimic and predict all of the outcomes of any particular agent on a person it is meant to treat.

That is why there are clinical trials for new drugs, and why trials are in (at least) three phases. The first phase is to determine the safety and tolerability of the drug, figure out a safe dosage range (not effective - safe) and to determine if any side effects are present. In Phase II the drug is given to a larger group of patients to figure out what the effective dose range is and to further monitor side effects and tolerability. In Phase III, the drug is given to an even larger group of patients to determine its effectiveness relative to currently used drugs for that condition (if there are any), and to further monitor safety & side effects. The length, size and the precise nature of the clinical trials depend in large part on the disease/disorder being treated by the drug. But in general, clinical trials involve lots of people, lots of trials, and lots of bucks spent to conduct those trials.

Now, that said, does BigPharma have a profit motive? Of course it does. That is why there are treatments out there to cure such life-threatening conditions such as baldness and erectile dysfunction. (OK, that was snarky of me, those are traumatic situations for those involved ... but you know what I mean ...)

And if the clinical trials for a certain disease are very lengthy and/or involve vast quantities of patients, some companies (especially smaller companies) might shy away from attempting to develop treatments for that disease, or at the very least try to partner with a Big(ger)PharmaCo with deeper pockets. Companies survive and fail based on the outcomes of these trials, so yes, it's big bizzness.

So, it's not as simple as it sounds. Like everything else.

[limewave]

Aw, come on, let's get real - don't you think that if BigPharmaCo came up with a cure (for anxiety, depression, hangnails, what-have-you) without any sort of side effects they'd market it out the wazoo and make a fortune?

I'm just passing on what my friend told me--word for word. I wasn't trying to be cynical and if you knew me personally, you would know that I'm not into conspiracy theories, etc. Sadly, this has been my personal experience with commercial medicine. Its a cycle I see my parents going through--being prescribed prescription drug after prescription drug to satiate side-effects while no one bothers to investigate the origin of the problem.

You can roll your eyes, that's fine. I just want people to be aware that there are other options out there and they are worth being explored. Prescription drugs are NOT the only solution.

[Possegal]

Well I work in the field too and I would strongly disagree that companies prefer to have drugs with side-effects so that they can make more money.

The reason there are so many side effects is that the drug acts at many more places other than where you need it to act for its benefit. They aren't really "side effects" but are what we would call extensions of the pharmacology of the drug or exaggerated pharmacology. So you need a drug to act at point B in order to benefit you. Unfortunately, point B exists at more parts of the body than just the one you are looking for. Or point C and D are physiologically very similar to point B and so the drug has effects there too.

The body is a very complex thing and finding a drug that does one thing only at one point only in the body, is damn near impossible. But trust me when I say that companies are definitely trying to find more exact mechanisms.