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Depression advice - Lexapro (escitalopram)

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    #32
    sam34
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,073 ✭✭✭sam34


    its not just my experience and speculation, it's fact.

    it's a caution in the SPCs of anti-depressants.

    it's mentioned in treatment guidelines and protocols for BPAD

    some classification systems have even included a subtype of BPAD to describe exactly that, mania induced bt anti-depressants


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    #33
    seanybiker
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,898 ✭✭✭✭seanybiker


    I was on them before. Didnt really notice any side effects meself but it can vary from person to person.


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    #34
    bob50
    Registered Users Posts: 535 ✭✭✭bob50


    was on lexapro 15mg for about 6 months but didnt like the side effects head hurting poor libido etc went back to cipramil 20mg they seem to be helping me but libido is not great never mind eh


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    #35
    Stargazer7
    Registered Users Posts: 374 ✭✭Stargazer7


    Hi,

    I'm on lexapro for the past 7/8 months-starting on 10mg and moved up to 15mg but to be honest I haven't found that it has had much of an effect for me personally. The first week I felt very sick which is supposed to be the norm and 5 weeks in I was on a "high" for a while and easily lost my train of thought. But now I find I'm taking them and they make no real difference. I am attending counselling also for the past 15 months.

    Like someone else here said, take experiences reported on the net with a pinch of salt as everyone is different and I think there is a bit of scaremongering sometimes too. Good luck with it anyway.


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    #36
    bob50
    Registered Users Posts: 535 ✭✭✭bob50


    Hi Stargazer i was thinking of going back on lexapro say 15mg as against cipramil 2omg which i am taking at the moment i was prescribed these 6 years ago for depression and panic disorder. ie going into crowd places flying etc stress at work my doc says they are "cleaner" ie less side effects than cipramil


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    #37
    Stargazer7
    Registered Users Posts: 374 ✭✭Stargazer7


    bob50 wrote: »
    Hi Stargazer i was thinking of going back on lexapro say 15mg as against cipramil 2omg which i am taking at the moment i was prescribed these 6 years ago for depression and panic disorder. ie going into crowd places flying etc stress at work my doc says they are "cleaner" ie less side effects than cipramil

    To be honest I'm wondering whether or not to go back to my GP and ask for a change. I was given a 6 month perscription a month ago but I'm wondering if I'm wasting my time with a drug that isn't helping.


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    #38
    bob50
    Registered Users Posts: 535 ✭✭✭bob50


    hi Tell your gp you dont feel any better and is there anything you can take instead i know the gp will say it takes 2 weeks before any new drug takes effect i hope you get better soon


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    #39
    nesf
    Registered Users Posts: 27,645 ✭✭✭✭nesf


    Kevster wrote: »
    If that's what you have noted in your professional experience, then so-be-it. I just assumed that the idea was kind of novel; and I guess I was genuinely curious why Lexapro/SSRIs aren't used for BP. I respect your information though.

    Take care,
    Kevin

    It's fact. I'm a bipolar sufferer who's had an antidepressant fueled mania and believe me they're a hell of a lot worse than "normal mania" for many of us. In the correct context they can be part of a treatment regime, I'm on one atm, but they will make mania worse if they aren't balanced out by anti-manic drugs during manic periods.

    If you think of it trying to get the volume coming out of your speakers at the right level when there's something increasing it on the computer side, turning the volume up (i.e. giving anti-depressants) isn't going to help if you want to get the volume down. (horribly oversimplified of course but as a basic "model" of bipolar it works).


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    #40
    LegacyUser
    Registered Users Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭LegacyUser


    i was on prozac, then ciprimil and now for the past 3 yrs - lexapro.
    It is used for anti depression - anti anxiety.
    the only side effect i get from it is a slight weird sensation in my head if I dont take it right.
    But I know it works for sure - went off it of my own accord last year and had a major bump and had to tell doc and he put me back on it again and made me an appointment to see the acute doc in the psych unit...
    not sure what worked - the fear of going back to hosp or the lexapro but I have been feeling ok since and have had a few challenges but was ok to manage them and work through then with out going back into the hole.


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    #41
    LegacyUser
    Registered Users Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭LegacyUser


    Hi, I started on Lexapro - 10mg - taking it at night but feeling hungover in the morning..
    when is the best time to take it? day or night? and I dont wanna be sleepy in the day and i have to drive and work.. thanks..


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    #42
    LegacyUser
    Registered Users Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭LegacyUser


    hi, when is the best time to take lexapro? morning or nite? i dont wanna be sleepy during the day...


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    #43
    JackReacher1980
    Registered Users Posts: 76 ✭✭JackReacher1980


    To be honest, its different for different people. I took it at night, but sleepiness/ tiredness can be a side effect of anti-depressants. Might be worth trying the morning, and if it doesnt work for you, the evening. Either ways, maybe talk to your doc.


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    #44
    Stargazer7
    Registered Users Posts: 374 ✭✭Stargazer7


    I have a very similar problem, I'm finding myself needing to take a few hour nap in the evenings and I'm still oversleeping at night, regardless of the time I take the medication.


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    #45
    sam34
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,073 ✭✭✭sam34


    discuss it with your doctor


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    #46
    LegacyUser
    Registered Users Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭LegacyUser


    hi, i did discuss it with my doc and he said people normally take it in the morning.
    i have to say I am not felling hung over in the morning now - strange..
    do not feel any different during the day - we'll see..

    finding it hard to be motivated in this weather anyway so its hard to tell..


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    #47
    Liffeywalk20
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1 ✭Liffeywalk20


    I am still taking Lexapro. Was on them since last year (Janurary 2009) to now. I find them great. At first I was on 10mg. My doctor told me it best to take them in the morning. For the first 3 months I got terrible side effects, even though I continuted to take them while I had the side effects. The side effect where: Couldnt sleep, gain more weight, nightmares, sweating. I couldnt sleep for the first 3 night when I took Lexapro, so I went to the doctor, so she prescribed me sleeping tablets. I took the sleeping pills for three night and was fine after that. Now I am on 5mg and should be off the tablets by the end of February, will see what happens.


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    #48
    JackReacher1980
    Registered Users Posts: 76 ✭✭JackReacher1980


    Well, I've come off citalopram twice, under doctors guidance, with no adverse effects at all. Have currently started lexapro again, aftera few months on effexor. Weaned down to 150mg of effexor, for a week, then straight onto lexapro. Its day 2 now, and I'm feeling xceptionally nauseous and anxious. I know this will pass, its just a matter of getting through it. I have an exam though next week, and am finding it very difficult to study. I've to go back to the doctor next week, and will be telling him how I feel, but just wondered if anyone else had experiences like this - I'm wondering is it effexor withdrawal, or just the lexapro settling into my system.


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    #49
    up for anything
    Registered Users Posts: 5,778 ✭✭✭up for anything


    I'm on Lexapro about a week now for general depression and mega stress. I was feeling nauseous before going on the tablets which I'd put down to stress and not eating properly but since I've started them it's gotten much worse. Today, my mouth is constantly filling with that strange tasting saliva that's usually a precursor to vomiting. I'm not getting the spasms, just the physical feeling that it's not too far away.

    Do you have to persist with the tablets and hope that the side effects will ameliorate or is it better to look at trying a different brand? I have an appointment with my GP on Monday but I'm wondering what other people have found to be the case.


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    #50
    nesf
    Registered Users Posts: 27,645 ✭✭✭✭nesf


    up for anything wrote: »
    I'm on Lexapro about a week now for general depression and mega stress. I was feeling nauseous before going on the tablets which I'd put down to stress and not eating properly but since I've started them it's gotten much worse. Today, my mouth is constantly filling with that strange tasting saliva that's usually a precursor to vomiting. I'm not getting the spasms, just the physical feeling that it's not too far away.

    Do you have to persist with the tablets and hope that the side effects will ameliorate or is it better to look at trying a different brand? I have an appointment with my GP on Monday but I'm wondering what other people have found to be the case.

    A lot of symptoms present in the first few weeks don't last beyond the first month to month and a half. I've had some very nasty symptoms at the start of antidepressant treatment which didn't last belong the first few weeks.


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    #51
    LegacyUser
    Registered Users Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭LegacyUser


    up for anything wrote: »
    I'm on Lexapro about a week now for general depression and mega stress. I was feeling nauseous before going on the tablets which I'd put down to stress and not eating properly but since I've started them it's gotten much worse. Today, my mouth is constantly filling with that strange tasting saliva that's usually a precursor to vomiting. I'm not getting the spasms, just the physical feeling that it's not too far away.

    Do you have to persist with the tablets and hope that the side effects will ameliorate or is it better to look at trying a different brand? I have an appointment with my GP on Monday but I'm wondering what other people have found to be the case.

    I have been on Lexapro and so has my mother and neither of us experienced nausea....the tablets can take about a month to kick in .....maybe there was a reason for the nausea before you started on Lexapro so I would get that checked....with Lexapro I felt sleepy at times....and both myself and my mother experienced some weight gain.....there are other choices out there so you could switch medication....but the nausea thing may be a symptom of your depression and stress......I use to feel sick at the thoughts of going on the bus to work and being in work....which was a sign of my depression so I was given a relaxant called Gerax as well as Lexapro to stop the panic and anxiousness....you could get an anti nausea tablet which you can take with your Lexapro called Stemetil which stops nausea and sickness ....your best to go back to your doctor....or get a second opinion


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