# Going back on medicine



## dreamingoflife (Oct 22, 2006)

So tomorrow I am going to the doctor and I am going to ask for an antidepressant. I am am going to see if he will give me Celexa because my sister and mom both had luck with it at aiding their depression and anxiety so I am hoping this will help me at least control the anxiety I suffer right now. I'm not worried about the dp as much, though it would be great for that to go as well but if I can at least live without anxiety and fear everyday along with the agonizing depression that follows it then I will be satisfied enough I suppose. If I have luck with this medicine I will defiantly keep everyone posted. Got my fingers crossed!


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## Guest (Sep 25, 2009)

you say going back on medicine, what have you been on before, just curious?


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## dreamingoflife (Oct 22, 2006)

I've been on paxil, zoloft and lexapro and haven't had luck with them. Zoloft for me was the worst medicine ever prescribed. I felt like a walking zombie on it. I cried the entire time I was on it. Made me a basket case, more so than I normally am lol


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## Surfingisfun001 (Sep 25, 2007)

How did the appointment go?


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## dreamingoflife (Oct 22, 2006)

It went pretty good other than he didn't want to give me more xanax to help until the celexa kicks in but I just explained how intense my anxiety is at the moment and he decided to give me .25 and 20 at that. I was a little pissed about it because that is a lower dose than I am on right now so I will have to take 2 of these to even get the same effect I am used to but oh well, maybe this celexa will help with that. Thanks for asking though kenny!


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## Surfingisfun001 (Sep 25, 2007)

Yea hope it works out Crystal.


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## dreamingoflife (Oct 22, 2006)

Well I have been taking Celexa for 4 days now and so far it has really increased my anxiety and panic attacks but I am trying to stick with it. Luckily I have xanax to help me cope with the increase in anxiety but am hoping once the celexa kicks in I can get rid of xanax completely. I am keeping high hopes that this will help me.


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## staples (Apr 1, 2009)

How's the medication been working for you the past week? Has the anxiety / panic attacks subsided?


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## dreamingoflife (Oct 22, 2006)

> How's the medication been working for you the past week? Has the anxiety / panic attacks subsided?


The anxiety initially got worse about the first 5 days but now it seems to have subsided. There have been a few days I wake up and feel I have a little more energy and some what confident as well. I have been on the medicine for 11 days. I started at 10mg and now have bummed up to 20mg. There is not difference in dp and my anxiety at times seems stable. I am going through a nasty side effect right now which is brain shivers. Feels sort of like my brain is being squeezed or something every so often. It's annoying but I am trying to hang in there.


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## staples (Apr 1, 2009)

I feel your pain, I really do. I'm on almost week 4 of Zoloft 50mg and I too was getting the brain shivers. It hasn't done anything for my derealization, and it seems that it's making my anxiety even worse. I get a feeling of weak limbs, kind of like when your leg falls asleep minus the pins and needles, it's very weird and causes me to start to become panicky.

But please keep this thread updated throughout your experience with this med, I'm trying to find another solution to Zoloft.


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## dreamingoflife (Oct 22, 2006)

the brain shivers are so annoying. It almost makes me dizzy when i get the sensation sometimes. yucky stuff



> I get a feeling of weak limbs, kind of like when your leg falls asleep minus the pins and needles,


yea I think I know what you are talking about. I got the feeling at first like my arms and legs were weak and I felt like they needed to be stretched or something to relieve it. They say it gets worse before better so hopefully if we hang in there these sensations will go away.


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## dreamingoflife (Oct 22, 2006)

Well guys, I have decided to get off of the medicine because it was honestly causing way more problems than helping and now thanks to the lovely meds my dp/dr is getting bad again which wasn't really that bad before I decided to take it. I am now going to try a more natural and healthy way to rid myself of all this anxiety, dr and dp. I have bought some sublingual B complex and will go tomorrow and get some inositol and see how this does since it seems to be helping others on the forum. If I get any benefits from the vitamins I will let you all know. I have my fingers crossed that this will help me.


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## staples (Apr 1, 2009)

Sorry to hear that Lexapro wasn't your ticket out. I hate the trial and error process! I'm going to wean off of Zoloft because it's making my anxiety higher then ever. So far I've tried; Cymbalta, Pristiq, Wellbutrin, Zoloft.

I was on Cymbalta for 4 years which it always kept me stable, just not energetic or easily excited.

How's the Vitamins working for you? I'm on B Super Complex and it helps somewhat with my energy levels.


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## dreamingoflife (Oct 22, 2006)

Well it was actually celexa I was on but I had the generic version. I am still confused on what I should do. I was 100% against meds when I came off of citalopram but now I am starting to get desperate and think i may try lexapro out again because I didn't really give it a far chance to kick in. It's supposed to be milder as far as side effects ago and it's more targeted toward anxiety. I am nervous bout taking it but I have already filled the script for it and that sh*t is expensive so i guess i should give it a go and see what happens.

As for the b vitamins it does give me more energy and I am more willing to get things done but does nothing for anxiety, but it is good for the body so i will still take it. I bought some inositol and was going to take it and I actually did take one, but when i called my docotor to be sure it was safe to mix inositol and xanax if I should need to take it he recommended I not take so I haven't since.

What is the next step for you if you decide to wean off of zoloft? I really hate this trial and error too but if we are trying something at least we haven't given up


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## Surfingisfun001 (Sep 25, 2007)

dreamingoflife said:


> What is the next step for you if you decide to wean off of zoloft?


ask your doctor and make sure he gives you an answer. weaning off SSRI's correctly is important.


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## dreamingoflife (Oct 22, 2006)

> ask your doctor and make sure he gives you an answer. weaning off SSRI's correctly is important.


I never wean off of antidepressants correctly and always pay the price. If/when I get on another I will wean next time time. It can make things so much worse if you don't wean off correctly.


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## staples (Apr 1, 2009)

I guess after I wean myself off Zoloft I'll try Lexapro again. It's been about 7 years since I last took it. I think you should give it another shot, maybe at least a month or so.

The anxiety now is unbearable, I constantly feel tensed and detached, fogged, anti-social, and dreamlike. It's hard for me to even get out of bed in the morning and do anything. I literally HAVE to push myself to go to work and even at work I still feel dreamlike and out of it.

Maybe like try lamictal and lexapro together to see if that works out for me.


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## voidvoid (Sep 5, 2008)

Lexapro has a very fast onset and a very short half-life. So you should notice its effects much faster than other antidepressants. I think ive mentioned this before but I quit it cold turkey after taking it for like a year and I felt better because of it. I dont know what that says about my doctor (she was the one saying I could just stop taking it). Ofcourse I still had Klonopin so I guess that fought off any withdrawal effects.


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## staples (Apr 1, 2009)

Inzom said:


> Lexapro has a very fast onset and a very short half-life. So you should notice its effects much faster than other antidepressants. I think ive mentioned this before but I quit it cold turkey after taking it for like a year and I felt better because of it. I dont know what that says about my doctor (she was the one saying I could just stop taking it). Ofcourse I still had Klonopin so I guess that fought off any withdrawal effects.


You felt better after you stopped taking lexapro? Did it lift your anxiety / depression at all during the year you took it? Any periods of time when you weren't feeling DP / DR?


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## dreamingoflife (Oct 22, 2006)

Ok so I started lexapro today. I am starting at 5mg for now to see what happens. My doctor prescribed 10mg to start at but I don't feel comfortable starting so high this time around so we will see how this goes. It's been an hour since I took it and I'm not freaking out too bad which is a good sign because I am scared to death of medicine. I am awful about coming here routinely to let you guys know my progress but if I start to have really negative effects or really positive I will come back for sure to let you know. Plus I think monitoring yourself so much can be a bad thing, so i'll do my best to keep everyone updated. Here we go again....


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## staples (Apr 1, 2009)

I think the more you worry about taking the medication, the more anxiety you're going to have, which will contradict each other. It's best just to say I'm looking to cure myself and this is my first step in that direction.
If the medication doesn't work, then move on until you find something that suits you personally.

Please keep us updated though on your progress!


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## dreamingoflife (Oct 22, 2006)

Been on Lexapro for 4 days now. Still too early to have any benefits but I was just updating to let you know of any side effects. I haven't really had anything as of yet that I can't deal with. The first day I had the head buzz feeling that was irritating with loud noises and lasted maybe 2 days. Last night I woke up feeling sort of weird and freaked out a few times which never happens for me. The funny thing was I remember it but it didn't wake me up completely from my sleep. I was half asleep still but I just remember I felt really anxious and restless. Not sure if thats a SE of the pills or not but I never do that normally so I don't know. Today when I got up I felt jittery and on edge for the first 3 hours or so I was up but I feel better now. Of course I took my daily dose of lexapro so maybe that helped? Anyway, I'll keep everyone updated if anything significant happens.


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## voidvoid (Sep 5, 2008)

staples said:


> Inzom said:
> 
> 
> > Lexapro has a very fast onset and a very short half-life. So you should notice its effects much faster than other antidepressants. I think ive mentioned this before but I quit it cold turkey after taking it for like a year and I felt better because of it. I dont know what that says about my doctor (she was the one saying I could just stop taking it). Ofcourse I still had Klonopin so I guess that fought off any withdrawal effects.
> ...


Yes, No, and No. I was on 20mg for the most part.


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## staples (Apr 1, 2009)

dreamingoflife said:


> Been on Lexapro for 4 days now. Still too early to have any benefits but I was just updating to let you know of any side effects. I haven't really had anything as of yet that I can't deal with. The first day I had the head buzz feeling that was irritating with loud noises and lasted maybe 2 days. Last night I woke up feeling sort of weird and freaked out a few times which never happens for me. The funny thing was I remember it but it didn't wake me up completely from my sleep. I was half asleep still but I just remember I felt really anxious and restless. Not sure if thats a SE of the pills or not but I never do that normally so I don't know. Today when I got up I felt jittery and on edge for the first 3 hours or so I was up but I feel better now. Of course I took my daily dose of lexapro so maybe that helped? Anyway, I'll keep everyone updated if anything significant happens.


Sounds like the typical side effects for any anti-depressant. They should subside within 2 weeks especially since you're on a low dose.

I just bought sub-lingual vitamin b super complex, calcium / magnesium, and a vitamin that increases GABA which is a neurotransmitter that affects relaxation / mood.

I can't handle the Zoloft 100mg I was having so many panic attacks. I went back down to 50mg. I see my psychiatrist this Friday so we'll see what she has to say. Hang in there, and keep us updated!


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## dreamingoflife (Oct 22, 2006)

Day 8 on lexapro. Still no difference in my anxiety. I will be bumping up to 10mg soon. I know being on such a low dose I shouldn't expect anything dramatic but I just get discouraged easily. I know dp will never go away until my anxiety is gone so I will keep pushing on with this and hopefully have a break through soon.


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## voidvoid (Sep 5, 2008)

I was gonna write something positive here but it didnt end up the way I wanted it. Best wishes to you Crystal, it sucks that we dont chat as much anymore. I blame the demise of Chatzy.

Peace


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## dreamingoflife (Oct 22, 2006)

Well I bumped up to 10mg on the 13th and this friday will be 2 weeks on this dose and I still feel no difference in anxiety or dp. I am going to take this until my prescription is out and then decide from there what to do. I don't want to get on too high of a dose with this because I hate taking them. I still don't really have any side effects to report throughout this 3 weeks of being on it.


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## staples (Apr 1, 2009)

It seems like most people find 10mg to be their therapeutic dose. I do know first hand that SSRIs take longer to reach their full effect then SNRIs do. My doctor prescribed me 30mg of Cymbalta and 10mg of Lexapro. I've only been taking the Lexapro for 2 days now. If this doesn't work, I'm going to try to add a mood stabalizer to the mix (lamictal). I've read if a SSRI by itself doesn't do the trick, there's been a 50% success rate with adding a mood-stabilizer to the mix with helping DP for a lot of people.

Give it another couple weeks, 5mg is a very low dose and your body needs to adjust to the new medication.


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## dreamingoflife (Oct 22, 2006)

Well, I have been on lexapro for almost a full month now and it's making my dp a living hell at times so I am getting off this stuff. I hate to keep bouncing around with meds but I can't tolerate this dp right now on this medicine. I feel like I have lost myself fully and won't come back and thats scary so I have to get off of this. I just hope when it's out of my system I will go back to "normal" dp I had. The lexapro did help my anxiety and panic attacks though so I can't down it entirely but when my dp gets intense it causes a lot of anxiety and freaks me out. I am going to wean off of this stuff within the next month slowly so I hope I can bypass any side effects. Wish me luck!


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## staples (Apr 1, 2009)

Yeah I've been on Lexapro almost a month too and it's also been a living hell. The anxiety isn't the worst part, but the weird nightmares are. I'm going to stick it with Cymbalta and see if my doctor will prescribe me Lamictal.


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## dreamingoflife (Oct 22, 2006)

I have seen a lot of reviews on lexapro about having bad nightmares on it. I didn't have that issue but my dp has made up for any other side effects. This is day 3 on going down to 5mg and I am noticing an increase in anxiety and dp is still pretty bad at times. I took a small nap earlier and started to have an almost panic feeling while half asleep. I got up and have an on edge panic sort of feeling now and hate it but it won't kill me. I notice about 3 hours after taking 5mg I get dizziness pretty bad as well. This part of meds isn't fun but it's only temporary. I hope you find luck with something, staples. It's defiantly a trial and error process.


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## staples (Apr 1, 2009)

It's been a little over a week since I've last been on here, but my doctor changed my medications up slightly. She took me off the Lexapro because it seems like it was too potent for me to handle (I'm extremely sensitive to medication side effects). I'm still on Cymbalta 30mg, but she also added Celexa 20mg (a little easier to handle), and lamictal 100mg that I'm working my way up and building a tolerance. It's been 5 days, and I haven't had much negative side effects with Celexa as I did with Lexapro.

I still take the Klonopin as needed, but I've been taking it for about a month straight until the medications fully kick in.


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