Lexapro

[imported_admin]

My life has changed since taking lexapro for anxiety. I have been on it for about 9 months now, at 10mg per day. I no longer have thoughts about dying, and my panic attacks have gone. I am sleeping a lot better, and can even hop on a plane now without being scared to death. My work productivity is 100 times better. There are some side effects...I have put on abit of weight, and my memory does not seem so great. But I would rather be fat and forgetfull than living in constant fear.

Lexapro isn't a total cure...i still feel a sense of underlying anxiety, but just not anywhere near as bad as before. Lexapro gets a thumbs up from me :)

[Sam888]

Are you in therapy ie. Cognitive Behavior Therapy?

You do realize that medication treats only the symptom of the problem (if the doctors want to find the source in the first place). Taking meds is akin to taking pain killers for a broken leg without actually fixing or mending the broken leg. If only the meds can be taken short term without any starting or stopping side effects.

[isis2383]

That is good to hear. I just started lexapro 11 days ago. Im only on 2.5 mg at the moment because the side effects kick my behind and I am very sensitive to meds. As soon as I start to adjust to this dose Im upping it to 5mg (as suggested by my pdoc). Im really hoping it is all worth it in the end. I have felt horrible since I started the medication but I know it takes time and that side effects are normal. Im glad to hear it works for you. Im hoping I will have the same results... of course with psychotherapy in the mix of being on meds!

[Sam888]

isis2383, in blind studies. placebos worked equally effective as these meds. that should tell you something. side effects are normal? that's like saying death is normal. has it occurred to you ho these side effects will affect your health in the short and long term?

[isis2383]

Yeah tell it to my doctors. My health is already affected by many other factors and diagnosis other than ones of a mental state. I didnt want to try medication by any means but nothing else was working and I do need a regime where I will be able to function on a daily basis. It is not as if I can cure my own anxiety/panic disorder it is something consistant and out of my control as well as my depression. Believe me if I could just snap out of it all together or if therapy alone just helped, I wouldnt be on medication right now. I hate medication in all forums but I figure I already feel like hell and my health isnt so hot already so what do I have to loose? Seems to me with all do respect that you may need to research these conditions more. Please tell me what you think would be best to correct a chemical imbalance? Have you ever even tried medication or did you come to post in my thread without any background experience in taking AD's yourself?

Im aware there are positive and negative outcomes from taking medication. That's pretty much the scenario for anything in life.

[Phil]

That sam 888 sounds like one of those barking mad alternative practioners who generally spout drivel concerning side effects etc blah blah. Look, meds are the one and only method to help and alleviate the suffering that people are going through due to anxiety and depression and its not necessarily caused by anything in particular. You ain't gonna feel better by taking st johns wort, homeopathic junk or bach remedies which is just alcohol. These people ought to stop their claptrap and allow their doctors to help their patients to get some much needed succour!. The vast majority of us will gladly take the side effects anyday over the appalling feelings we've gone through before meds.

[Robbed]

Look, meds are the one and only method to help and alleviate the suffering that people are going through due to anxiety and depression and its not necessarily caused by anything in particular.

You can't make blanket statements like this about medication and anxiety. The fact of the matter is that (1) medications don't help everybody, (2) among those it helps, many are not helped completely, (3) it is NEVER a cure, and (4) side effects CAN be a problem, and CAN be more problematic than the anxiety itself IF the anxiety is mild, and (5) PLENTY of people DO overcome anxiety without meds. If medication has worked for you and/or you want to take it, then that is certainly okay. But PLEASE don't try to tell us that medication is the ONLY way for ALL of us.

[NerveFray]

My life has changed since taking lexapro for anxiety. I have been on it for about 9 months now, at 10mg per day. I no longer have thoughts about dying, and my panic attacks have gone. I am sleeping a lot better, and can even hop on a plane now without being scared to death. My work productivity is 100 times better. There are some side effects...I have put on abit of weight, and my memory does not seem so great. But I would rather be fat and forgetfull than living in constant fear.

Lexapro isn't a total cure...i still feel a sense of underlying anxiety, but just not anywhere near as bad as before. Lexapro gets a thumbs up from me :)

I am glad for you but also envious :oops: I started on Lexapro but it put me in a stupor for 12 hours after I took it and I can't feel like that at work (I operate machinery) so I couldn't take it everyday, ergo, I couldn't take it. I am disappointed because I believe I need something that will work over time and not just a quick fix like a tranquilizer :cry:

[SuperMegaRichard]

I am currently trying out Lexapro myself. I am only taking 2.5mg a day and this is only my 3rd day. I read up on other peoples comments about side effects and this is what I have to say.

Side effects are some real and some fake. The brain is a remarkable thing. Some side effects are strictly made up in the brain due to fear responses. If you go study up on it as most people with anxiety such as myself will do, you will realize that people who take a placebo have a lot of the same side effects as people who take the real thing. With this kind of thing you will never know. I do believe that there are side effects with any medication, I am saying that its harder to determine which one is real when dealing with anxiety medication because people with anxiety manifest things and they become pretty real.

For example myself. I went in the hospital once because I self medicated with zoloft which I didn't abuse. But I also the same day I went to the hospital I took a tryptophan tablet earlier. So the result was a condition called serotonin syndrome, which I don't believe was that sever but they did place me in ICU. The reason I don't believe it was that sever is because people with that usually will have a fever and other symptoms and they was about to send me home but they decided to keep me over night. But thats not hear or there :). Anyways what I am getting at is I currently believe that I have it again when I am only taking 2.5mg which is 1/4th of the starting dosage I do believe and of course it is only even found in 18% of people who everdose. My eyes are dilating pretty big and I believe I have hyper reflexivity in my knees, but when I dont pay attention i can catch my pupils really small and this varies a lot depending on how I am feeling. When I sit here and have my irrational thoughts about it I get up and check my pupils and they are bigger than normal, but then I am not they are fine. So basically its all in my head (of course knowing this doesn't help the symptoms.) Your mind is a powerful things.

So basically you have to weigh the symptoms with the rewards. If you believe the symptoms are more sever than the reward than maybe your anxiety isn't sever enough to need meds or maybe your mind is not ready to cope with whatever is giving you anxiety. And of course always consult your psychiatrist before making any decisions.