Drug info - Lexapro (Escitalopram) effective?

[Laudaphun]

I've been prescribed many different anti-depressants for anxiety. All basically caused me to feel depressed and were discontinued. At this point in time I have began to feel mildly depressed and it is interfering with school. Also anxiety/stress has increased dramatically. I'm currently prescribed a few different benzo to be taken on an as needed basis (not everyday). But anyways I've not had good luck with anti-depressants in the past and my dr. knows this... We decided to put me on 5mg lexapro (escitalopram oxalate), which is an ultra-small dosage. Anyone had any luck with this drug for either anxiety or mild depression? The pharmacy did a pretty poor job at splitting (10mg is lowest dosage unit available) the pills for me, but I thought it was nice that they did this for me.

[kinai]

I was prescribed 10mg of lexapro for depression and anxiety back in college.. it didn't do much for me so I stopped taking it. Everyone is different though.. plus the Dr. would probably tell me I didn't give it enough time.

[spacelord]

To me Citalopram is effectively reducing anxiety. Escitalopram should be the same with lower dosage.

But be aware of the fact that the anxiolytic effect of SSRI takes more time to kick in than its antidepressive effect. What have you been diagnosed? For example for obsessions it takes even longer to help than for both depression and anxiety.

Anyway if there is a noticeable positive effect from that dosage but it's supposed to be stronger you can still take m ore. But waiting is crucial in the beginnen when taking ADs. That's the point where a lot of treatments fail as a lot of people just feel negative side effects in the beginning.

[p.p.a.420]

i was prescribed lexapro.. didn't do a thing for me.

[spacelord]

Originally Posted by p.p.a.420

i was prescribed lexapro.. didn't do a thing for me.

without more details your info is pretty much useless.

important would be:
- diagnosis
- dosage
- time you've taken the specific drug

that does not only apply to this one post. but everyone should say more than "doesn't work" as there's a lot of possible reasons.

[boostd GVR4]

I feel like lexapro saved my life. I was diagnosed with depression like 4 years ago and I felt like life was pointless. After about 2 weeks of taking lexapro I felt different. I felt less frusturated and less sad all the time. Ive been on the 10mg. But I rarely take them now for some reason.

[BobTheGreat]

Originally Posted by boostd GVR4

I feel like lexapro saved my life. I was diagnosed with depression like 4 years ago and I felt like life was pointless. After about 2 weeks of taking lexapro I felt different. I felt less frusturated and less sad all the time. Ive been on the 10mg. But I rarely take them now for some reason.

Im sure you mean your friend. On the flip side of the coin swim almost commited suicide while on lexapro.

OP,
Lexapro has been approved for the treatment of GAD.

HAMA score reduction was 15.6 for LEXAPRO 5 mg/day, 16.5 for LEXAPRO 10 mg/day, 16.8 for LEXAPRO 20 mg/day, 14.8 for Paxil 20 mg/day, and 14.5 for placebo. This was over a 12 week study. Swim isnt familiar with the HAMA test but those numbers dont look impressive. SwiOP might want to look more into how it is scored since the scale could be small. Swim looked but couldnt find anything on how it is scored.

Swiy might also want to consider cognative behavioral theropy. Many consider this the best treatment for anxiety related disorders.

[Shampoo]

Originally Posted by BobTheGreat

Im sure you mean your friend.
HAMA score reduction was 15.6 for LEXAPRO 5 mg/day, 16.5 for LEXAPRO 10 mg/day, 16.8 for LEXAPRO 20 mg/day, 14.8 for Paxil 20 mg/day, and 14.5 for placebo. This was over a 12 week study. Swim isnt familiar with the HAMA test but those numbers dont look impressive.

Self-incrimination only applies to illegal activity. Prescription drugs do not fall under self-incriminatory rules. On the "flip side of the coin", someone who isn’t you is also not self-incriminating by admitting their understanding of the HAMA test, which is limited (those are considered successful numbers.) Read the rules forum.

[BobTheGreat]

Originally Posted by Shampoo

Self-incrimination only applies to illegal activity. Prescription drugs do not fall under self-incriminatory rules. On the "flip side of the coin", someone who isn’t you is also not self-incriminating by admitting their understanding of the HAMA test, which is limited (those are considered successful numbers.) Read the rules forum.

Actually mods ask to use swim when talking about any drug whether prescribed, legal or not. Its better to cover ones arse then to get in trouble even if it is a grey area.

using swim has just become force of habit.

[Laudaphun]

Turns out lexipro (escitalopram oxalate) at doses starting from 3mg and working towards around 7mg (estimated due to the unequal splitting of the pills by the pharmacy) seemed to only delay the side effects for a few days. At least for me anyways. Since he's exhausted the modern anti-depressants, a trycyclic anti-depressant will be tried... (imipramine) Tofranil. I'm a little concerned, it will probably take quite awhile to work up the courage to attempt to begin taking it.

[penta]

Swim has used lexapro in the past for both depression and anxiety, and swim really does not like it. When swim used it, all it would do was cause swim horrible headaches that not even motrin or tylenol could take care of. Eventually, swim's doctor took him off of lexapro, and swim is on another ssri (cymbalta) which hasn't been improving swims depression or anxiety either. Swim has taken multiple ssri's such as zoloft, lexapro, prozac, and now cymbalta, but none of them seem to work for him.

The only medication that has ever worked on both swim's anxiety and depression was xanax, but swim's doctor will not prescribe him this because swim's doctor does not like short-life benzos.

If swiy is willing to try something that helped swim out a little bit, swiy should discuss with his doctor trazodone. Even though this is really considered a sleeping pill, swim has taken triple the dose he was prescribed (150mg), and swim's depression seemed to drift away almost completely. Other then these two medications, swim is unsure of any other good anti-depressants, and swim has been researching almost every anti-depressant that is available.

Reputation Comments on this post:

SWIM is in a similar situation, with lexapro and xanax. thanks for the input!

[apecsok]

Swim has been diagnosed with depression and tonight will be my third dose of lexapro. so far nothing but unpleasantness. bad headache, diarhea, lethargy, no desire to do anything which is bad because he has exams this week. Hopefully with time it will give swim better effects. i will keep you posted on his whereabouts.

anybody know how alchohol might affect the medication? advice mgiht be better suited for my alchohol and depression thread.

thanks

[Shampoo]

Besides the fact that alcohol has been unequivocally proven to deepen and increase depression and anxiety, the efficiency of the uptake of alcohol increases exponentially with higher doses of Lexapro, resulting in common reports of a single beer acting like 3 or 4 beers. There is not great health risk, outside of course of the mental health risks, but tell swiy to pace themselves very carefully when on Lexapro, especially when they are first feeling out the realm of psychoactivity caused by it.

[spacelord]

Originally Posted by Shampoo

Besides the fact that alcohol has been unequivocally proven to deepen and increase depression and anxiety, the efficiency of the uptake of alcohol increases exponentially with higher doses of Lexapro, resulting in common reports of a single beer acting like 3 or 4 beers. There is not great health risk, outside of course of the mental health risks, but tell swiy to pace themselves very carefully when on Lexapro, especially when they are first feeling out the realm of psychoactivity caused by it.

Any sources to back this up?

[Shampoo]

Both swimy experience on prescription 20mg and the advice of swimy personal doctor. The correlation between chronic depression and CNS depressants in alcohol as well as many other intoxicants should be clear enough.

[FrankenChrist]

As far as SwiFr knows, he liked escitalopram(selexa/lexapro) a lot more than paroxetine (paxil)

Damn why do these drugs have to sound like they're from another planet?

[static_vodka_420]

Originally Posted by Laudaphun

I've been prescribed many different anti-depressants for anxiety. All basically caused me to feel depressed and were discontinued. At this point in time I have began to feel mildly depressed and it is interfering with school. Also anxiety/stress has increased dramatically. I'm currently prescribed a few different benzo to be taken on an as needed basis (not everyday). But anyways I've not had good luck with anti-depressants in the past and my dr. knows this... We decided to put me on 5mg lexapro (escitalopram oxalate), which is an ultra-small dosage. Anyone had any luck with this drug for either anxiety or mild depression? The pharmacy did a pretty poor job at splitting (10mg is lowest dosage unit available) the pills for me, but I thought it was nice that they did this for me.

i am prescribed lexapro and it is a horrible substance it makes me unable to eat sleep or go to the bathroom properlly it has withdrawl symptoms similar to a 4 day binge of alcohol and made me have suicidal thoughts (something i had never experienced before) it does not help my anxiety at all but the dr is reluctant to prescribe me another substance note i also am on a 5mg dosage

[Mona Lisa]

Originally Posted by static_vodka_420

i am prescribed lexapro and it is a horrible substance it makes me unable to eat sleep or go to the bathroom properlly it has withdrawl symptoms similar to a 4 day binge of alcohol and made me have suicidal thoughts (something i had never experienced before) it does not help my anxiety at all but the dr is reluctant to prescribe me another substance note i also am on a 5mg dosage

SWIM was once prescribe citalopram which is very similar to Lexapro but only took two doses before she decided to cancel the prescription due to how awful it made her feel -- like a bad hangover. She was too scared to try any other depressents in case she suffered similar or even worse side effects. She questions whether it's even really necessary to be on all this crap unless, of course, the depression is SEVERE.

[Matt The Funk]

Lexapro hasn't done much for SWIM. Although he is on a low dose 5mg, he has been on it for a while. He has to slowly work up his dose since most SSRI's make him instantly a manic monster, and then it switches to rapid-cycling. SWIM takes SSRI's for anxiety, but he feels they don't really treat his anxiety well, they just try to numb him to the world, much like the rest of his medication. SWIM is also on lamactil(lamitrogine, a mood stabilizer anti-convulsant) and has plenty of benzo's prescribed to help with anxiety as well. Although most SSRI's normally make SWIM up, lexapro brought him down...which is weird...especially since he's almost at the target dose of lamactil, and has been on it for about 8 or 9 weeks. SWIM has found no real luck with his anxiety problems besides the help of benzo's and cannabis, along with cigarettes.

[imyourlittlebare]

any antidepressent is scary especially when one knows that relief is a joint or hit away. Antidepressent medicines can be very effective when
A. one avoids alcohol and drugs all together
B. Uses as one should
C> realize one wont see relief till 6 weeks later than it keeps getting easier.
D. alot less side effects than other drugs and thankfully less addictiveness psychologically,. the hardest addiction

they help alot of people. An honest year is the best amount of time to see and give it a fair shot. It not, bunepherione, the pain medicine, is being tried off label for some experiments. One could always print up these findings after exhausting other options. Bun does NOT get one high. It just helps some of the people who dont respond to typical antidepressants. Also, low dosages of ketamine, very low dosages. But the thing is, alot of people dont give antidepressants or anti anxiety medicines like buspar a true chance because its not getting them high. Its helping one deal with their problems which some people dont like at all. Thats my two cents

as for lexapro in general, swims mom and friends swear by it. Milder than other meds in side effects they found themselves better attuned to themselves to learn ways of coping with stress and natural sadness in healthy, interactive ways where they had to try and they had to work it out. That is part of the magic.

Not really off subject but there was an experiment done by dr david buss. Two monkeys. same size and shit fight. The other monkey loses. THis monkey gets down, serotonin down, it kept losing fights that it should have won while the other monkey kept winning. That monkey had two things working against it

A. low biological help
B. Low self-esteem or bad frame of mind

It had lost and continued to lose so it just kept thinking it was supposed to lose. Medicine with therapy can help prevent this very adequately and help one. Help the biological and help one deal out those negative and automatic thoughts and behaviors

sorry if this is a rant but i wanted to help the maker of this thread and help ease anxiety over this jump. Its a new point in your life. I believe you are doing the right thing and it needs a fair shot. Later down the road there are other choices, now, you much stick with this choice thick and thin and trust yourself. Take time to pamper yourself, work with yourself and know your limits. medicine will help but it will only help you so you have a chance to develop skills to deal with ones environment

[SuprSonik]

SWIM was on Escitalopram for about a year and a half for depression. He started at 10mg, was moved up to 20mg after 3 months, and 30mg after a year. 30mg gave horrible side effects and made SWIM feel like killing himself even more, so he didn't stick to that dose for long. For the first 6 months or so, SWIM really was trying hard to get the most from it by not using any illegal drugs or alcohol. It still didn't do anything for him aside from giving him some vivid dreams. SWIM tried using various illegal drugs again, particularly cannabis, only to find that their effects were greatly dulled as a side effect of the Escitalopram...he eventually stopped taking it, and things have been much better for him now that he can relieve his depression by smoking some weed.

SWIM hasn't had a positive experience with any SSRI antidepressants though. Your mileage may vary...but probably not, SWIM would say.

[plur]

phyic med cocktails a as varied from person to person as each person is
some meds work wonder for some while others have no benafit to paradoxic effects it not a matter of what med works best but rather what med works for you

also this is why phycologist seem like idots because it can take many years of trial and error for some this is the unfouat realty of the mental health indastry

it very simple we are only at the very tip of the icebrug in understanding the human brain we know way more about illagle drugs and there effeces on the brian then we understand mental illness we only have vague theory
and a lot of lets try this chemacl

oh and one thing i do know (from personal obsevatation)...if you can get by with out them then chacies are you dont really need them and if you dont need the then the side effect mess you up worse the how you where before them but take this as a grian of salt I AM NOT A DOCTOR

[imyourlittlebare]

SSRIS can help alot of people. Not all. But people going on them have to realize its not a drug that takes away problems. It doesnt make them forget like pot and alcohol. It helps make things duller so that YOU can take responsibility for yourself and learn the skills needed to get out of the cognitive realm of being depressed. By helping the biology you give the psyche a chance. Its not as easy as using marijuana. It makes you do the work. While I dont think SSRIs are always the best, I think they work for a majority of the time for those truely clinically depressed. There are some people that need more immediete relief thats why they are trying suboxone in clinical trials. Some people are misdiagnosed and their anxiety is getting them depressed. then they need to try buspar. None of these will make a person forget their pain like illicit drugs nor do they provide immediete pleasure like them. But help the biological aspect of the disease enough so one can be strong enough to gain skills they need to overcome the cognitive parts of depression. But its a difficult process. And there are 10% of people who dont respond. Those 10% have tried everything for years and used exactly and they were suppossed to. They are running trials of ketamine for them and finding that this works for them. Its more complicated than serotonin and such. The use of SSRI and the reason it takes a long while for relief is probably in its activation of secondary systems in a safe way. Instead of using ketamine, using an SSRI may in fact eventually slowly effect the same thing. But it takes patients and stregnth and other drugs since they are quick fixes and "bandaids" do interfere with this process. While people are right, SSRIs dont cure, they dont have the addictive side effects of other drugs so therapy and self help can come in and if other drugs, even pot, come into that therapy session, its ruined chance. Most psychologists wont see a person on drugs due to this bandaid method hurting the therapy so badly. It takes a devoted person. But im not saying its for all. Again, it takes alot of trial and error because psychiatrists

A. arent gods
B. Should take more time in critically evaluating a person in intake

I believe more buspar would be prescribed and l-tryptophan for depressoin and sleep naturally. Thats swims opinion and some research

[Matt The Funk]

Originally Posted by imyourlittlebare

SSRIS can help alot of people. Not all. But people going on them have to realize its not a drug that takes away problems. It doesnt make them forget like pot and alcohol. It helps make things duller so that YOU can take responsibility for yourself and learn the skills needed to get out of the cognitive realm of being depressed. By helping the biology you give the psyche a chance. Its not as easy as using marijuana. It makes you do the work. While I dont think SSRIs are always the best, I think they work for a majority of the time for those truely clinically depressed. There are some people that need more immediete relief thats why they are trying suboxone in clinical trials. Some people are misdiagnosed and their anxiety is getting them depressed. then they need to try buspar. None of these will make a person forget their pain like illicit drugs nor do they provide immediete pleasure like them. But help the biological aspect of the disease enough so one can be strong enough to gain skills they need to overcome the cognitive parts of depression. But its a difficult process. And there are 10% of people who dont respond. Those 10% have tried everything for years and used exactly and they were suppossed to. They are running trials of ketamine for them and finding that this works for them. Its more complicated than serotonin and such. The use of SSRI and the reason it takes a long while for relief is probably in its activation of secondary systems in a safe way. Instead of using ketamine, using an SSRI may in fact eventually slowly effect the same thing. But it takes patients and stregnth and other drugs since they are quick fixes and "bandaids" do interfere with this process. While people are right, SSRIs dont cure, they dont have the addictive side effects of other drugs so therapy and self help can come in and if other drugs, even pot, come into that therapy session, its ruined chance. Most psychologists wont see a person on drugs due to this bandaid method hurting the therapy so badly. It takes a devoted person. But im not saying its for all. Again, it takes alot of trial and error because psychiatrists

A. arent gods
B. Should take more time in critically evaluating a person in intake

I believe more buspar would be prescribed and l-tryptophan for depressoin and sleep naturally. Thats swims opinion and some research

SWIM believes cannabis is so much better. Drugs and alcohol don't "numb" SWIM, they help change his perspective, which in SWIMs opinion is the ONLY way to get out of a depressive state, or any type of state. You have to change your state of mind. Now SWIM doesn't think people should just be taking pills and expect to feel better. SWIM believes a lot of peoples depression could be solved with life-style changes.

[BobTheGreat]

Originally Posted by Matt The Funk

SWIM believes cannabis is so much better. Drugs and alcohol don't "numb" SWIM, they help change his perspective, which in SWIMs opinion is the ONLY way to get out of a depressive state, or any type of state. You have to change your state of mind. Now SWIM doesn't think people should just be taking pills and expect to feel better. SWIM believes a lot of peoples depression could be solved with life-style changes.

Actually unless clinically depressed, ADs do nothing more than an applified placibo. Depression is part of life. Learn from it and move on to become a stronger person.