cant afford my meds but i have an alternative?

Welcome to the depression forum. Have you told your doc what you did? I would keep him/her informed. Prozac and lexapro are different medicaions and switching might not be good. Though I do understand why you felt you needed something.

There is a site called needymeds.com. They help you pay for your medications. Check it out and see what you think. Can the doc give you samples for a month or so so you can see if it is going to work. Meds shouldn't be kept longer than a year. The chemicals can change in them, or get weaker. Please let your doc know what you did. Maybe you can get by with the prozac.

Hugs, Karen

HI, sorry you are down. I know very well what that feels like. If you are going to go on Prozac (which I've taken and works well) also consider asking your Dr. for Generic Wellbutrin...personally I' don't care for it, but it does work for many people so it's worth trying and cheaper than Prozac. I too would be very careful with Lexapro...it was horrible for me and for my husband. Also if you go off any antidepressant unless you know how to do it, you can get a really terrible backlash from going off of any antidepressant...like what you are describing and worse ( you need a Dr. to tell you how you should do that for your body.What works for me, might not work for you..OK?..so do ask your Dr). As for something that works that is non RX...I can tell you I do take an RX every day, but a very low dosage and sometimes it's not enough, so i take Gaia's Kava Kava capsules, 1 or 2 if needed, but only when I really need them. You do not take these every day..only as needed...for example..if you are really upset..then they help level you out...something else that has worked for me that will bring me up when I'm really down is GABA I take the brand source naturals. BUT you must not take them together and take more than your Dr. tells you to or than the package tells you or you will be physically ill or possibly something worse. I never take more than 1 GAGA in 4 hrs and no more than 2 in 24 hrs...but do yourself a big favor and do not take either of these without at a min. reading all you can on the net, because some people have had side effects and you need to know what to expect and what to watch for. Also the idea of joining a forum like suggested above I think is an excellent idea.I've been dealing with sever depression for over 45 years, so I've tried many things that came on the market and one think I can tell you for sure..it really helps to have someone to talk to and to educate your self on your condition and to learn to have what the Dr. call you own person "tool kit" to help you overcome a rough time. (PS that tool kit includes things like exercise, talking with someone, running, diet, OTC meds[herbs/vitamins/minerals], and RX meds and some other things)Life can be fun and happy...you just have to work a little harder at it than some others. Oh one last thing....do a bit of reading on NLP (neurolinguistic (sp?)programming....ie: how you talk to your self..its really important)

I agree with the others in that you should've consulted your doctor about your situation,
as maybe he/she could've gotten you some free samples and he/she might have signed you up
for a medicine reinbrustment program or you could've talked about a different medicine
such as the prozac...also you could've looked up lexapro online to see if they had a program
to help you get your medicines for a reduce amount of money, and you can always talk to
the pharmacy for programs to help pay for prescriptions....but now that you've done the switch
I hope you don't go into any type of medicine withdrawal....and look up prozac and check and
see if they have a low costs medicine program that you qualify for and then sign up...
Hope this helps and many well wishes to you and do keep us posted as we do truly care...

we are here for you and each other!!! with healing compassion, jamie

You might consider 6 grams of Inositol. It is always dificult to switch, but I have had a number of people tell me that this did the trick for them without the prescription meds...however please journal your progress and make sure and talk to those around you to make sure you are reacting well.