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GAD/Lexapro problems.

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Posted 1/2/2011 5:14 AM (GMT 0)

I'm new here and in desperate need of advice! It started out with me having severe anxiety and panic attacks in my classes at college. (I'm a junior) It got so bad to the point where I couldn't even stay in a classroom and I had to drop classes because of it. I was finally diagnosed with GAD in November. I've been taking 40mg of Lexapro since. It's helped reduce some of the symptoms of my panic attack however I am nausea all day long and still get anxious at random places. Also my sleeping has been a complete mess. I don't know if its from the Lexapro or what, but I am wide awake until 3,4,5 am, and I don't wake up til 12 or 1pm. My life is basically ruined. I can hardly go places anymore and I'm always sad because of this. I have zero motivation. Has anyone had symptoms like these on Lexapro? I've begged my doctor to put me on xanax or something else but he refuses, even after telling him all these symptoms he doesn't do anything. But my psychologist has given me a referral to a psychiatrist so basically this is my last hope to try and get new meds but the appointments not til the end of January. :( I don't even know how I'm going back to school next semester and my parents don't get my anxiety. They think "something happened to me" but honestly nothing did. Anyone else on Lexapro feel nausea, lack of motivation, or suffer from serious insomnia? Also for people on Lexapro, if you take additional medications to help, what do you take?
Any advice or thoughts would be great!

Posted 1/2/2011 1:19 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Elle

Welcome to the HW forum you have come to a great place were you will find the support you are looking for. Sorry to here about what you are going through at the moment anxiety can be very disabling and have a big impact on the way you lead your life. I am glad that you have had a diagnoses as that helps in regards to how you then go on and deal with the issue, I have GAD and I also take Lexapro (Escitalopram) and find that it does help with my anxiety. Lexapro is one of the stronger ssri and my understanding is that 20mg is the highest dose so would be good to bring this up with your psychiatrist when you see them.

I take my Lexapro in the morning as I also have sleep problems and find for me this is the best time to take it, I take a number of other medication but as I am not a doctor it would be wrong off me to advise on some you could try. One of the best things I have done is going to see a psychiatrist so glad you have an appointment they are the specialists when it comes to mental health and it is beneficial to be as honest as you can when speaking with them to get the most out off you appointment.

Medication may not solve the problem and in my view is only an aid to help with the symptoms, I can highly recommend CBT which stands for cognitive behavior therapy, This is a type of talk therapy which helps you recognize the cycles of anxiety which are affecting you and then gives you coping techniques and strategies to help you deal with your anxiety so you can get it to a more manageable level. Something you could look into? there is a site on the web called www.moodgym.com which is free.

It is good to meet you and I hope things work out for you and please do keep posting here and we can help to support you and Im sure some other members will be along soon.

Take Care

Ben
Posted 1/2/2011 8:24 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks Ben! Sorry for the confusion, when I got bumped up to 20mg of Lexapro they switched me to a generic which is 40mg but equivalent to the 20mg of Lexapro. I always keep calling it Lexapro though lol. But I will have to check out that website you recommended because I know I need to learn other techniques to dealing with my anxiety instead of relying on medication. I just haven't been successful with that yet.
Posted 1/2/2011 10:38 PM (GMT 0)
I'm on 15 mgs of Lexapro. I too feel a lack of motivation, but not the insomnia.

I had nausea from it the first week or so and diarrhea (blech, it was awful)

I also take Buspar (which I personally think makes me worse)

and the wonder drug Klonopin. I take 1 mg to 1.5 mgs typically on a daily basis. Klonopin (generic clonazepam) is a benzo/sedative and is long acting. Comparable to vallium or xanax. Takes a while to kick in though, sometimes an hour.

Do you ever feel irritated on lexapro? I do. UGH drives me nuts.

You don't need a referall to a psychiatrist so you could call your health insurance member services and ask for a list of the shrinks in your area that cover you. Maybe you'll be able to get in faster that way. I get in with my shrink usually in a week, even on the first time I did with every one of them.

Good luck and welcome to HW! HUGS

TG~
Posted 1/3/2011 1:35 AM (GMT 0)
Nice to meet you. Yes! I'm always pretty irritated on it. But then sometimes I'll randomly get hyper on it. Its weird. But I didn't know you don't need a referral, I'm definitely going to look into that because I really can't wait until my appointment. I went out to dinner with my parents last night and had such bad anxiety. I just want things to go back to normal. Today I've been itchy all day (I'm always itchy since this anxiety problem) and I have all these little bruises on the inside of my theighs that my doctor said is from anxiety. Blehh :( I hate it.
Posted 1/3/2011 1:13 PM (GMT 0)
i always feel the need to post this for some reason but there is no generic form of lexapro. Often the doc pawn off celexa as a generic but truthfully it is not. I have tried to get on celexa twice now and have not been able to. The celexa made my anxiety SKYROCKET.  Lexapro I have been on twice now after trying to get started with celexa. They kept telling me that the celexa molecule is a mirror image to the lexapro molecule so they are in a sence the same. But really your left and right hands are mirror images of each other but far from the “same”. I would love to be on celexa because the cost would be about 1/10th that of lexapro but it just didn’t agree with me. Anyway just wanted to post about this.

I am on 20mg lexapro, which i felt didn't help all that much but when wellbutrin was added i felt much better (this was also for my depression).  I also have ativan for panic attacks/high anxiety etc.. seems to work well for me with therapy as well.  Good luck to you keep up updated!

Post Edited (Geosojda) : 1/3/2011 6:18:53 AM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/3/2011 3:14 PM (GMT 0)
Lexapro  does not come in a generic forum .

Celexa does come in   generic form and  is citalopram.

Many  members wonder, " What is the difference between Lexapro versus Celexa ?"  Although both medications are licensed to treat depression and are very similar chemically, they are actually quite different.  Lexapro and Celexa are not interchangeable; only Lexapro is approved to treat anxiety, and only Celex is available as a generic in the USA.

Ellen,  I hope you get to see a psychiatrist soon as they are much more educated in the medications for mental health disorders.  I have gone through some that helped,  some that pooped out for me and some that really made me feel awful.  There is always hope and together with therapy you will get past this.

Welcome to a great forum.

Kindly,
Kitt 

 

Posted 1/4/2011 5:14 AM (GMT 0)
Lovely, I had no idea this whole time the difference between these two. My doctor basically just told me he was switching me to the generic with no explanation of any differences. But you guys are right, I just checked my meds and it does say Citalopram. Thank you for bringing this to my attention because I actually did have different reactions to the Citalopram than I had on the actual Lexapro before I switched. Ahh so confusing! I'm definitely going to bring this up at my apt because all I know is I'm still having panic.
Thanks guys!
Posted 1/6/2011 7:28 AM (GMT 0)

ElleMichelle said...
lso my sleeping has been a complete mess. I don't know if its from the Lexapro or what, but I am wide awake until 3,4,5 am, and I don't wake up til 12 or 1pm.

I'm taking 10 mgs of Lexapro, and I'm having the exact problem. I stay awake until 3:30-4:30 am and don't wake up until 1:00 to 2:00 pm.

I take Lexapro before going to bed, because it causes a ringing in my ears. Maybe, I should start taking it earlier. Perhaps around 5:00 pm and see whether or not that helps in my being able to get to sleep earlier. I am finding that I'm also sleeping more hours each day. I seem to be always dreaming and not going into a deep enough sleep to get fully rested.

And then I have issues with not having any sex drive. It's so bad that the motion of sex will often make me feel nauseous.

All in all though Lexapro has been a miracle drug for me. I'm now talking on the phone every day and giving speeches. Only three years ago, I couldn't talk on the phone at all. Of course, this caused others to become very upset with me if I didn't call as instructed. It did not bode well for my career.

I'm a different person on Lexapro. I would never be able to go back to the life I had pre-Lexapro. One might think that it would be easy giving up Lexapro now that I've come so far in overcoming my social anxieties, but if I lower my dosage, I start retreating back to pre-Lexapro days. Although lowering my dosage does help with the sleeping issues, and I find that I finally get a fully rested night's sleep.
Posted 1/9/2011 2:33 AM (GMT 0)
Subdued, its so good to hear I'm not alone with this sleep schedule. I don't even take the medicine late, I take it as soon as I eat my 1pm breakfast (totally normal lol!) A friend recently suggest I take melatonin at night, so I tried it.. it did help me fall asleep earlier, but then I woke up 3 hours later in a panic attack so overall I'd rather fall asleep at 3 or 4 than wake up around that time in a panic. But congrats to all your success!!
Posted 1/9/2011 6:27 PM (GMT 0)
Just got off the lexapro cold turkey starting last Wednesday with the guidance of my new shrink and I realized it was making the anxiety worse. I guess it just happens to some people that way. Found this new shrink and got in with him within a week. He's a great shrink and therapist. We will see how it goes. Feeling a lot more stable now.
Posted 1/9/2011 10:29 PM (GMT 0)
I too have been on Lexapro since Novemeber. While my body was adjusting to the medication I had sever insomnia. Im fine now though. It only took around 3 weeks to completely get back to normal. I also have lack of motivation but that might just be because Im a senior in highschool. Ha, senioridice. I also noticed that if i try to go to sleep when Im not ACTUALLY tired, my body twitches and jerks a lot. Dunno what that is. Anywho what youre feeling is pretty common, just not sure if it normally lasts that long.
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