Day 22 on Lexapro 20mg - Still have a lot of Anxiety

Hi Everyone, I am new to this forum.
I have been on Lexapro for really bad anxiety for almost 4 months. Started at 5mg, then 7.5, then 10, then 15 and now 20mg. I have seen gradual improvements along with 1mg of Klonopin/day, but I am not where I need to be comfortable or even close to it.
6 days into 20mg Lexapro, I started to feel pretty good. I had a stretch of 6 days where I felt pretty good, very little if any anxiety in the morning, I did not even need the Klonopin but I took it to prevent withdrawal symptoms. So I lowered the Klonopin from 1.0mg to 0.75mg. As of 5 days ago, anxiety is back again. I have to take Klonopin to calm myself down. It has been very hard 7 months of my life since I have been dealing with this anxiety. I see a CBT therapist and another talk therapist.
My triggers are around lunch time since my anxiety started with having heartburn and thinking that it would eventually give me cancer. I have seen GI's and they have assured me that I am ok in that regard.
My doctor want to increase my Lexapro to 30mg. Is that too soon to do so. I have to say that I am pretty calm starting 5:00-6:00 pm and sleep ok with 22.5mg Tempazapam.
So here are my questions again please,
1. Should I stay on 20mg longer? Why would I feel great for only 6 days and back down again?
2. Anyone seen good results on 30mg Lexapro? Is that too high of a dose?
3. Should I just increase the Klonopin to 1.5mg/day to get relief.

BTW, another trigger I have now is having idle time. So the holidays coming up are not good for me as I live alone. I have many friends, but they have their own family etc..

Hi Lexahelp!
30 mg is a fairly common dose for Lexapro, trust your doctor if he thinks it's best.
Also, do you think that maybe the klonopin decrease may have cause your anxiety to act out? Maybe you just need a few more days at 20 mg to make sure it's not something else causing the anxiety.

You'll get better! Hang in there!

Anyone else with suggestions please?

My 5 mg are workin for me now, but that was not my initial dose, I'm tapering, have been on Lex for 3 years. I also have increased anxiety at noon, but that could be because I take my dose at about 2 PM, so by noon I'm a bit edgy, usually feel better in the afternoon.

Rose, how high did you go on Lexapro? I am starting to feel hopeless. I am scared of trying 30mg and worried about changing meds.

Rose,

Thank you for your response. I am honestly loosing hope. Most people do well on 20mg and here I worked well for only one week. I don't know how to keep my hope up? I have been dealing with this for 7 months and have seen so many pdoc's and therapist and although things are better, I am still suffering. How do I keep going? Life has gone from mostly joy to sadness and mental pain :(

I had heartburn issues, but then I got obsessed over it thinking I would get cancer if it did not go away, health anxiety. I now take Protonix with 20mg of Lexapro and sometimes I wonder if Protonix is preventing the obserbtion of Lexapro. I am on 20mg of Lexapro for past 3 weeks and 80mg of Protonix for 2 months. Is that possible?

Does 10mg of Lexapro help with your health anxiety?
Did it really 7 weeks to feel better?
I felt better on 20mg after a week, felt pretty good actually, but it lasted one week only. I do have to admit that I reduced Klonopin from 1.0mg to 0.875mg during the time I was feeling well. I felt so well where I did not feel like I needed the Klonopin, but after 7 months, my body is probably is too used to it. I wonder if that has been causing my increased anxiety?

two different pdoc's are suggesting 30mg, but today is day 23 on 20mg Lexapro. As mentioned before, 5 days into it, I felt great for a duration of 10 days. Then I reduced the Klonopin from 1.0mg/day to 0.875mg/day. Then things took a step back and I became anxious again. Not sure what caused it.
Holidays coming up and having too much idle time (I am single and live alone) is a trigger for me. So I am not sure if that part of it. During the 10 days where I was feeling good, I was not too worried about the holidays.
I have many friends around, but I can not be with them all the time.

Lexahelp
Please don't feel hopeless. You're going to be ok. You're scaring yourself. Its something we anxiety sufferers are good at. We have amazing imaginations. Just remember that all anxiety is, is adrenaline being released in our body. They're actually the same symptoms we get if we were to go on a roller coaster. Rapid heart beat, butterflies in the stomach. And guess what the symptoms always go away. Before increasing your medications, Take a Deep Breath and get busy, distract yourself, and check out the midwest center's attacking anxiety program. They're awesome! You can also find yourself an acupuncturist/herbalist. There are herbal formulas a TCM practitioner can make for you for your specific needs.
Hope this helps

if you have good insurance -take nexium instead of protonix. its not nearly as effective on acid refux. some proton pump inhibitors do interfere with phyc meds. best do some resurch on your own. drs dont always catch these things. believe it or not. your pharmacist usually knows more than your dr about drug inter conflicts

Lexihelp,

Sorry it took a day to get back to you. Yes it took seven weeks on 10 mg lex to fee start feeling better at the least functional. I had a panic track today but it was not as severe as the past. I would suggest keeping with the 1 mg of klonopin until things even out unless yr doc told u to cut back. I cut back from 1 to .5 after a month. There is a possibility that the klonopin was taking the edge of and the benefits of the lexapro had not set in yet.

Cat, CBT worked really well for you?
I am working with a CBT therapist and have been doing it on my own. I would like to get rid my concerns for heartburn, and that typically comes up as anxiety around lunch time. I have done CBT and HMR therapy for this issue and it is still a concern around lunch time.