Cipralex and Anxiety Cycles: Is It Still Working?

Wasn't sure where else to seek some advice, so I hope this is alright. After a medical consultation, I was started on 20mg of Cipralex to address bad anxiety and depression in February. Rough startup, but huge overall improvement in my day to day. I have a biological inheritance when it comes to this condition, so this was a long time coming. For a few months it's been smooth sailing, but as of this past week, I've noticed some physical and mental behaviors ramping back, and I'm not sure what to make of it.

When I first began the drug 3 months ago, I initially I went through a lot of side effects:
-Startup anxiety (really, really bad)
-Mental fog
-Loss of ambition
-Loss of appetite
-Decreased libido

As the weeks went on though, each side effect would come, and then recede. The benefits were far outweighing the side effects:

-Lightning strikes in my chest when I got startled or anxious completely disappeared.
-Panic attacks completely ceased.
-Things just plain stopped bothering me, and I felt like I was in a constant state on contentment.
-No more wakeup depression and foreboding feelings
-Physical manifestations of stress (shaking fingers, muscle twitches) also disappeared.


So for 2 solid months now, things have gone really well, better than I could have ever imagined. In the last week though, some stressful situations have seemed to bring out old demons, and I'm trying to figure out if the efficacy of the medication is waxing and waning like the side effects, or if it's something else.
(Admittedly, life has a high amount of stress right now: I'm in the middle of changing companies, moving cross country with my wife and kids, planning everything that comes with that, etc.)

In the past week, overall well-being seems to be regressing slightly:
-Lightning strikes can be felt in my chest again when I get startled or nervous, though they're not nearly as pronounced as before the medication though. It's more like a "push" now, over the sharp sensation it was.
-Physical pleasure during sex has increased to previous levels, effort to orgasm has also decreased to previous levels (yay!).
-Mental fogginess has lifted.
-I found myself shutting down in two different instances based on my primary anxiety trigger, money.

While I'm happy that sex feels normal again, I'm disheartened to see other aspects returning as well. As far as I know, your body doesn't become "accustomed" to this drug, so I'm wondering why I see its effects possibly diminishing. Has anyone else seen this happen with this particular drug, or anti-anxiety medication in general? Is some ebb and flow in regards the the drug's effectiveness to be expected for a few months?

I'm more than willing to see how things play out for another few months, but I just wanted to be reassured that my brain isn't, I don't know, trying extra-hard to eat my serotonin with the addition of a blocker inhibiting it. Thank you for any insight you can provide!

Yes, I am seeing a psychologist regularly, one that has been helping me to zero in on what causes me anxiety and why. After some further reflection, I'm wondering if this is a problem with expectations, rather than potency. Perhaps I had been assigning too much of the previous months' success to the drug itself, when in reality the drug had allowed me to subconsciously change my approach to certain situations. Now suddenly I'm stumbling into old habits, and it's my thinking that is changing, not the drug. The very fact that I was able to pull myself out of these stressful situations instead of spiraling downward like before may be confirmation of that.

It's something to think about in the coming weeks. Thank you for the warm welcome and advice!

Hi BF

Welcome to the forum I am pleased you have found us.

Sorry to hear you have been having a set back these happen on your road to recovery and it's important to try and stay positive and use any coping skills you have to help bring your anxiety down.

Cipralex is a good medication and you are on the maximum dose so it's unlikely that your doctor will raise your dose but as SC mentioned medication is only going to help ease your symptoms. the most effective way to beat your anxiety is by doing some talking therapy such as CBT or Mindfulness Meditation.

Keep us posted

Hibee

Great Update, Thank you for letting us know how you are doing. I'm glad the move and new job is working out better then you anticipated.

I like the way your therapist explains needed medication, I'll have to remember that one. :)

Some days remain a greater challenge than others. Every once in awhile I'll wake up, feeling down or even paranoid, like today. I can feel how that thinking taints my life now, intimately aware that it's occurring. It's disconcerting because it still seems to just creep into my thoughts sometimes, like a bodily reflex. I used to descend downward because of the anxiety, now I sometimes feel down because I've let it come back for a moment, a momentary failure, and I know I shouldn't be doing that to myself.

Eventually I pull out of it, and it's always faster and far more controlled than the process previous to medication. I hate involuntarily assuming the worst, because I'm an optimist at heart. I surround myself with good people and good things, and why should I waste my time thinking about what I would do if I were betrayed, or if everything went to hell today? I don't want to live like that. I did that for far too long. It's exhausting and wasteful.

I've found more and more that talking it out helps, like it helps to validate and catalogue what I'm feeling, and helps me to see just how good things are. My therapist is the best one for that, but I need to do it more often and with more people; therapy isn't free, but friends' ears are!

Post Edited (Blue_Form) : 6/2/2015 1:29:56 PM (GMT-6)

Hi B.F. and welcome back!!

First of all Congratulations are in order!! A new house is a reason to celebrate!!!

...but the flip side to that is exactly as you described...some anxiety about the ability to make it all work!

Every new home buyer goes through this. My husband and I were overwhelmed when we bought our first home almost 7 yrs ago.

The fact that you are thinking and re-thinking things through just speaks to the fact that you are consciencious...and ready for this responsibilty. You take it seriously, and that's a good thing.:)

Try to enjoy the experience, even as you feel the inevitable stress that naturally goes along with a major purchase.

After some time, (and mortgage payments) things will settle down, be less overwhelming...and you will begin to enjoy your investment more and more.:)

Keep up the good work...and post anytime for support and encouragement!

S.C.