TO: Barbara/or anyone out there

October 23, 2004

Thanks for your response, I guess I just figured anti-depressants

were for...emotional problems and what I feel I have is a nervous

system problem, and what if taking a med to fix my nervous system

problem ends up giving me emotional problems? Is that possible? The

brochure I have here says " there is a connection between depression

and anxiety disorders, almost 50% of those who have depression have

an anxiety disorder too " Well, what about the other 50% ? Also,

(and I dont want to sound argumentive or anything,just trying to get

informed) why are people talking about withdrawls, and tapering off

the Lexapro if its supposedly not addictive? I didnt really know

xanax was any more or less addicting than the Lexapro because both

have to be tapered off and both give people withdrawl symptoms right?

And what is this thing I keep reading about people having

brain'zaps'? What is that? It sounds really scary. Anyway, I really

would appreciate any advice you or anyone else could give me. I

mean, I'm still young and this thing is happening to me, something

in my nerves and my body that I cant control; I just dont want to

make it any worse.

October 23, 2004

Anxiety brings on depression. You may not even recognise it at first as

depression. That's what happened to me.

You don't become addicted to the SSRI's the same way you become addicted to

drugs like Xanax. The talk of withdrawal confuses the issue somewhat. When

you take the SSRI's it's affecting your seretonin balances. Your brain

adjusts to this. When you first begin Lexapro or any other SSRI you should

start out with a small dose and work your way up to the dose your doc tells

you you need. Less side effects that way. When you come of the drug you

should come off the same way you went on, in small increments. You don't

crave the SSRI's the way you would another type of drug you've become

addicted to. You suffer some withdrawal because your brain has to adjust to

functioning without the SSRI. Another thing to remember, in a true drug

addiction, your body needs increasing levels of the drug to maintain the

feeling you first got from the drug. Sometimes something similar seems to

happen with Lexapro. But it's different cause the Lex is balancing the

levels in your brain and sometimes the initial affects 'fool' the brain but

then it adjusts and the dose needs to be increased or decreased. With true

addiction any decrease in the drug brings dire physical consequences

including cravings for the drugs. I don't know of anyone that's ever craved

a SSRI. ;-)

Keep in mind that everyone reacts differently to Lexapro. If Lexapro isn't

going to work for you you'll know it within 3 to 4 weeks for sure. One of

the initial side effects of going on the Lex is a temporary increase in

anxiety. Again, this doesn't happen to everyone or even alot of people. Just

some.

The brain zaps you're asking about happen to some people when they come off

of a SSRI. I think sometimes they came off too fast. As I said it took me

from Mar through July to come off the Celexa. But I did it by cutting my

dose 5 mg from one taper to the next and I'd stay at that level for a

minimum of two weeks. If I dropped down to the next decrease and had

problems with withdrawal I'd bump back up for a few days and then come down

again. The withdrawal I had was very mild and not a single brain zap. People

describe the zap as, well, a zapping sensation in the brain. Like an

electrical current. Which makes sense as the brains synapses are electrical

in nature.

Over all, with Lexapro, I think there are many fewer cases of withdrawal

problems, including brain zaps, then there ever has been in the history of

SSRI's and AD's.

I took Celexa. It saved my life. If I had to take it again, would I? You

bettcha I would. I don't ever want to feel the way I did then ever again.

Give it a try. You truly have nothing to lose.

And why you see more seemingly negative stuff on this board? Because most of

the people that Lex worked well for have gone on with their lives and have

no need of this message board. There are a few of the old timers still

around lurking I'm sure. I'm one.

Barbara

TO: Barbara/or anyone out there

>

> Thanks for your response, I guess I just figured anti-depressants

> were for...emotional problems and what I feel I have is a nervous

> system problem, and what if taking a med to fix my nervous system

> problem ends up giving me emotional problems? Is that possible? The

> brochure I have here says " there is a connection between depression

> and anxiety disorders, almost 50% of those who have depression have

> an anxiety disorder too " Well, what about the other 50% ? Also,

> (and I dont want to sound argumentive or anything,just trying to get

> informed) why are people talking about withdrawls, and tapering off

> the Lexapro if its supposedly not addictive? I didnt really know

> xanax was any more or less addicting than the Lexapro because both

> have to be tapered off and both give people withdrawl symptoms right?

> And what is this thing I keep reading about people having

> brain'zaps'? What is that? It sounds really scary. Anyway, I really

> would appreciate any advice you or anyone else could give me. I

> mean, I'm still young and this thing is happening to me, something

> in my nerves and my body that I cant control; I just dont want to

> make it any worse.

>

October 23, 2004

I have been on this crap since it came out.

In a message dated 10/23/2004 4:24:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

terry120953@... writes:

Has anyone in this group been on lexapro a long time? Terry

October 23, 2004

If you read my posts, especially the one you just responded to, I've stated

repeatedly that I weaned off of Celexa. So yes I know what I'm talking about

as it regards *me*. As I also keep stating some people can take SSRI's and

some cannot. Everyone is different. My withdrawal was very mild. But I knew

what I could face and planned my weaning off long before I ever did it.

When one talks about SSRI's and side effects one has to be general out of

necessity. As I keep saying, everyone is different when it comes to these

drugs. How they react, how the drug affects them and how easy or difficult

is is for that person to wean off these drugs.

For you, the SSRI family of drugs is not a choice. That happens with people

with all kinds of drugs. Even blood pressure meds. Why do you think there

are so many different drugs that do essentially the same things? Because one

drug may work well for one group of people but not another. The same thing

applies to most drugs. Allergic reactions, individual responses and side

effects. All can and do vary from person to person.

It's different for everyone.

Barbara

TO: Barbara/or anyone out there

>

> >

> > Thanks for your response, I guess I just figured anti-depressants

> > were for...emotional problems and what I feel I have is a nervous

> > system problem, and what if taking a med to fix my nervous system

> > problem ends up giving me emotional problems? Is that possible? The

> > brochure I have here says " there is a connection between depression

> > and anxiety disorders, almost 50% of those who have depression have

> > an anxiety disorder too " Well, what about the other 50% ? Also,

> > (and I dont want to sound argumentive or anything,just trying to get

> > informed) why are people talking about withdrawls, and tapering off

> > the Lexapro if its supposedly not addictive? I didnt really know

> > xanax was any more or less addicting than the Lexapro because both

> > have to be tapered off and both give people withdrawl symptoms right?

> > And what is this thing I keep reading about people having

> > brain'zaps'? What is that? It sounds really scary. Anyway, I really

> > would appreciate any advice you or anyone else could give me. I

> > mean, I'm still young and this thing is happening to me, something

> > in my nerves and my body that I cant control; I just dont want to

> > make it any worse.

> >

October 23, 2004

Barbara, I beg to disagree. I had a HORRIBLE withdrawal from Lexapro which I

went off of because of horrendous increase in blood pressure. I was on Zoloft

before that and had no problem. Then when I started GAINING weight on Lexapro,

I decided to wean off. Big mistake. Horrible withdrawals--head rushes,

dizziness, nausea, you name it. My pdoc immediately put me on Effexor. Oh my

gosh! The biggest mistake of my life. Why do I believe these doctors? My

blood pressure went up to 180/100 and my pulse to 100. However, I did lose the

weight from the Effexor because I had no appetite and couldn't eat. So, now I

decided the SSRI's are not for me and wanted to come off. Nobody, I mean

nobody, even the docs, don't tell the patients about the " discontinuation

syndrome. " It's awful--it's painful, you feel like you want to die. Did you

ever come off an SSRI? If so, and you did so comfortably, you're one in a

million. Look it up on the internet. I'm not alone--in fact I'm certainly not

the minority but probably the majority. It is shear HELL and everyone should

know this before they decide to take any of the SSRI's. If you don't need your

seratonin balanced, you don't need the SSRI's! They work the opposite and make

you more anxious!

Deb