meds switch

I saw a new psychiatrist today who seemed to care a lot more than my other one. I've been on Lexapro 7 weeks and I don't think it's effective. I think it may have to do with the fact that I was on it for so long before I got off 3 months ago.

I'm weaning off Lexapro starting today and starting on Viibryd. He also switched me from Ativan to clonopin and added 1mg abilify.

DOes anyone have any experience with Viibryd & abilify.

So far today, I feel extremely sedated, but not much else.

I was on Abilify in April. I didn't notice any difference but I also didn't have anything bad. I was on a med that had pooped out though so the Abikify may not have been enough. I know Karen, getting by" takes it and it works well for her.

My psych suggested Vibriid last year for me but I decided to stay on my old AD until the beginning of this year when I switched. He had good things to say abt Vibriid.

I now take Pristiq & Lamictal.

Your new combo sounds good to me. You'll likely have minor start up effects like maybe headache or dry mouth but you should be fine.

I'm glad you found a new doc that is listening to you. Makes ALL the difference.

You're going to be ok Kaez. I feel very hopeful for you w/your new medication regime!

Hugs,
Lisa

Hi,
Thanks everyone for your replies.

I really hope this works.

Roxy, I was on Lexapro for over 7 years.

So far, I have restless leg syndrome but not many other side effects. I do feel more sedated and I think because of that I don't feel like doing much. But I did do yoga this morning and am about to go swimming.

I want to get well for my children and husband so bad. They are so worried. I have lost 45 lbs since April. I've read some negative things about Viibryd and Abilify but I guess there are risks with all meds.

I think the sedation is also from switching from Ativan to Klonopin. I think Klonopin make me more tired.

Keaz- don't google the meds

My friends friend takes Viibryd & swears by it. I know at least 2 ppl in here are on Abilify. I took it too. Had no bad side effects whatsoever. The sedated feeling is likely the benzo switch.

Give it time... I know, it's hard bc we are impatient and want to be better yesterday! You'll get better, so continue to do what you've been doing despite this trial. You are growing through this and will come out of this better than before!

Hugs,
Lisa

I have restless leg from the fibromyalgia. I find a walk during the day helps me a lot. If I don't walk, it bothers me. Then I feel lilke I want to go out and run as hard as I can to take it away. Which wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't at night time. Ha!!!

Hugs, Karen...

I had restless legs and never before I took buspar for anxiety. I've been off of it for a month and don't have it now. It may just be a start up effect of one of the meds that will go away. I'm betting it's a start up effect. Give it some time. Just what we hate I know, waiting! Hugs!

Lisa

Hello Keaz....

Well as far as my friend taking abilify she just said she can't remember but she does recommend it...it helped her out a lot and also like I mentioned she was on a combo of meds.but seems that she did all with them. how have you been feeling today?

please be carefull with the klonipin. its extremly addicting. please use it sparingly and hope your other med kicks in quick.

Sounds like you've gotten some helpful advice, Keaz! And to discover a caring doctor is quite a score! Step by step, you're gonna make it.

Jan

some good advice here. ask dr for ambiem to help sleep. better than klonopin for this plus its easy to stop once you return to normal sleep. less klonopin the better

Every day since day 1 on these meds has been better than the one before. I don't know why the lex didn't agree with me this time, but I wake up feeling 100% like myself. There are times in the day when that goes up and down a little but nothing like before.

My husband and I are even going out on a date this Friday, and for me to be able to sit still for hours was not even an option a couple of weeks ago.

Lexapro was wonderful for me for many years. But although it was helping somewhat, it was not effective enough. At 7 weeks, I shouldn't have had so much despair that I was thinking of checking in.

How are you doing on it? Are you still running. I'm so mad right now because I have another stress fracture in the same right metatarsal, so I'm just lifting and swimming for hours. But I make sure to exercise daily. I can already feel the sweet cravings that I'm trying to fight as I type because people bring donuts here all the time!!

keaz - THAT'S GREAT NEWS!! YAY!! Enjoy the date to the fullest .

I am still on 10 mg of lex. Sometimes I do have anxiety - usually at night. But it's bearable. I'm off the xanax altogether. I'm still running but I had a cold last week, so I took 7 days off of running. But I went back to it last night. My race is in about 2 weeks!

My real area of anxiety lately is my ears. My buds on the Lupus board (Jan included) know all about my family history with autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases (mom had lupus, aunt has Mediterranean fever and cousin has Muckle-Wells) and my own lupus like issues and ear problems, but I've been having a lot of ear problems for a long time. It all started around the same time I started having stomach issues (about 2 years ago). I sincerely feel like I am going deaf and I am only 29. I also have severe shooting pain (down below and behind my ears) and tinnitus.

I've gone to the ear doctor quite a few times and I'm actually getting the allergy shots in hopes that the allergist is right in diagnosing my ear problem as "Eustachian tube dysfunction" due to allergies. But the last few weeks... I've been having a lot of deaf moments, asking people to repeat themselves multiple times, having to cover my other ear or go to a closed off room at work to hear people talking on the phone. I'm super stressed out about going deaf and I'm getting to the point where I'm going to just beg the ear doctor to do whatever it takes to figure out what is wrong with me.

Right now, I'm sitting at my desk at work and if I plug my right ear, I cannot hear the radio and all of my coworkers can plug one of their ears and hear it just fine. So I'm on edge about that, not sure what to do. My partner wants me to see a rheumatologist but it is so hard to find a good one and one who will listen to me and not just do a blood test and tell me I don't have an autoimmune disease based on a test that most autoimmune experts will tell you is irrelevant.

Jan - how are you? How was the rest of your trip?? I hope you are well. Same to Roxy, Dan, Lisa, keaz, turtle and Karen.