Brintellix

[Confidential]

Has anyone tried this new med for anxiety? I started it on the 11th of this month, so just over 2 weeks now, and my anxiety is starting to hit me like a brick. I completely stopped taking Celexa 20mg and started taking this new med 10mg the next day. Is it possible I am just in the down phase of a med switch?

[crmac50]

Hi there. I'm surprised to see someone else has taken this medication because it's so new. My prescriber gave this to me about six months ago. I started at 10mg for about a month, and moved up to 15mg (a pill and a half) afterwards. I tried moving up to 20mg at one point but the 20mg dose seemed to magnify some of my symptoms, so I dropped back to 15mg and waited a few months to see if the medicine would show greater benefits over time. Overall, it definitely made my symptoms *better.* It was a improvement versus being on nothing at all, and in terms of side effects, it was a much more pleasant experience than some of other drugs I've tried. It took me from having panic attacks pretty much every day to just having "normal" GAD symptoms, more or less. However, it never got me "back to normal" to speak. With this medication I had very few side effects: a small spell of nausea in the beginning when I jumped up to 15mg but that was it. I've discontinued it because my symptoms didn't improve enough while I was on it to make me feel like I could return to work and live a normal life again. Keep in mind that it's only been approved for Depression so far, not anxiety (no studies for anxiety yet). But that being said, it did help improve my anxiety with very little side effects—just not enough to get me functional again, unfortunately.

[Confidential]

Thanks for the input! I really hope this current anxiety is just the transition period!

[Ckraft42]

Hi. I also started taking brintellix in 2014 for anxiety/depression, although my problem has always been mostly GAD. I began having severe depression with the onset of the "CHANGE" and my psychiatrist switched me from 150 mg of zoloft to 10 mg of brintellix. I've since had my anxiety symptoms return including nighttime continuous panic attacks, so my psych dr raised my dosage to 20 mg with alprazolam ER to be taken at night and in the daytime until the higher dosage kicks in. I've had no bad side effects.
On your question of down time between meds, it's to be expected. It's not always a smooth transition, so hang in there.

[Anne1221]

Brintellix would definitely not be right for me. Any medication that hasn't been approved for anxiety is a non-starter for me.