Starting escitalopram need reassurance!
Posted , 4 users are following.
i am going back to dr thursday . i have been taking fluxotine (prozac ) for about 15 months for general anxiety and back pain. the anxiety is better. the side effect i still have from prozac is stomach trouble gastritis burping heartburn etc, i take fluxotene for anxietyand it hurts my stomach and gives me more anxiety just a cycle!!!! the dr has mentioned escitalopram ( lexapro ) before. so when i see him im sure lexapro will be what he says. Any positive encouragement would be helpful !!
thanks
0 likes, 12 replies
andrea08357 brian49010
Posted
Hi Brian,
I started on escitalopram two weeks ago after Citalopram did not work for me any longer.
I am on week 5 between the two (3.5 on cit and now on week 2 of the escitalopram).
I have to be honest the side effects have been brutal for me to the point that i developed severe panic disorder which I am now being treated for.
my side effects are:
No emotions other then fear
severe anxiety
severe Panic disorder
fear of driving
leg spasms
no appetite at all (going on 35 days)
brain zaps though minor
tinnitus in the ears
The worse for me has def been the anxiety and panic disorder as well as the obsessive thoughts of being stuck this way and wanting to die.
Yesterday my dr finally gave me a benzo to help with the anxiety and panic. ATIVAN 1mg amd omg it has literally saved me.
I took only one half yesterday as I was afraid of how hard it might hit me. I have to say that my panic had me convinced this med would not work at all.
However after twenty minutes I felt the edge of my panic come off and what a relief. Though small it was something. I was still panicky and anxious but just not nearly as bad as it had been the last 5 weeks.
Today I woke up with extreme morning anxiety again and I IMMEDIATELY took an ativan this time a whole one and i fell back asleep for about 30 minutes. I Woke up still slightly panicked but better then previous days and it lasted about 8 hours for me before the panic set in again and so I took my second dose of ativan and I have been great for 5 hours now. I am heading to bed and plan on setting my alarm for 5 so I can get a jump start on my morning anxiety and take my ativan before the morning anxiety sets in. Hopefully this helps as the morning anxiety is frightening for me.
Please make sure to ask your Dr for a benzo as a back up to help with anxiety shoukd youbget that side effect.
I spent the first 4 weeks in pure hell and shouldn't of had too.
These types of meds always make you worse before they make you better and can last 4-6 weeks or longer to work. Also everyone is different so you may have little to now side effects
wishing you all the best
brian49010 andrea08357
Posted
thanks andrea !
ive been following yall some on hanas post . i have taken some klonopin as needed . morning anxiety is worse for me too. feel better in evening. i read on here that many people have more anxiety in morning. side effects of these meds are definetly rough. thanks for the info.
hang in there!
andrea08357 brian49010
Posted
Thank you as well Brian,
My hope is that if I wake up before the anxiety peaks and get the ativan in my system it will settle me a bit.
I have been putting crackers by my bed so i can quickly eat two or three and then take the med and hopefully sleep a tad longer.
please feel free to reach out anytime for support!
andrea
mrs_susan74280 andrea08357
Posted
This tablet did not work for me,
mrs_susan74280 brian49010
Posted
Prozac made my back pain worse, I am now takeing citalopram 10mg,
andrea08357 mrs_susan74280
Posted
Susan i may also go back to citalipram as kt worked for 19 years for me. At the moment however I have to give the escitalopram a fair chance.
Now that I am on the ativan which is helping my nerves i am going to stick to it for the full three more weeks. If then I am still iffy and will try going back to the escitalopram.
good luck we are all here for you!!
andrea08357
Posted
I meant that if it doesn't work I will go back on the Citalopram. If that doesn't work I will keep going to find out what works for me.
Theanxious1 brian49010
Posted
week 1 i to lexapro (after sertraline had too many side effects and then stopped helping). no side effects with lex and im starting to feel bit better. v early days bit so far i like it. try not fear the worst you wont know until you try it
andrea08357 Theanxious1
Posted
good luck!
I hope you have continued success with the lack of side effects.
That's fantastic!!
brian49010 Theanxious1
Posted
i took prozac this morning and heartburn. i hope he can cross me over from prozac to lexapro without having to go through many side effects! i may be jumping the gun but he did mention lexapro before. so i beleive thats what will do ?
thanks
brian49010
Posted
i want to encourage you all to give the med you are on at least 3 months. i do know for a fact these meds work slow but they DO work!! i took paxil for 13 years and zoloft for 2 . and prozac for about a year half. its always taken me around 3 months to start feeling better and about 6 months to recover . I used to think there was something wrong with me why i didnt ever get better by 6 weeks. found these forums and found out most people recover around 3 months. With that said everyone is different. when you are on these meds you dont think you are getting better because it works so slow. search katecogs post on the patient site or her blog site for info!!
brian49010
Posted
dr visit went very well today. i was pretty calm. we are crossing over to lexapro . he said prozac is easiest one to switch from usually. i feel like the dr and i are on same page now. since im accepting that i have this issue. anyway had a good day! hope yall have a good evening thanks for the support!