Re: LEXAPRO VS CELEXA--NEED HELP

[Guest guest]

kelly, what side effects are you having???

*Brynn*

[Guest guest]

Hmmm...it's noted for more side effects than Lexapro. Lex *is* Celexa. Just a

more refined version of it. However, it is worth a try as there have been

reported cases just like yours where they couldn't tolerate Lex but did fine

with the Celexa.

I took Celexa for 14 months. :-)

Barbara

LEXAPRO VS CELEXA--NEED HELP

> I have not been able to tolerate the liquid form of Lexapro even at

> 1mg per day or 2.5 mg every 3 days since late December of 2003. The

> sides are horrific. I am aat a loss here, I just want to feel

> better.

> My psychiatrist is thinking about changing to oral Celexa to see if

> I might be able to tolerate it better.

> Has anyone taken Celexa, if so how was it--and side effects

> any advice will help.

> Many thanks

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

thanks for sharing kelly... hrm.. well, i tend to have the same issues

getting on SSRIs in general (majorrrrrr anxiety) .. i've tried celexa before and

it

seemed to be worse than lexapro.. and seeing as it is a sister to lexapro, i

dont think it would make a huge difference regarding your reaction to it...

lexapro is just an isomer of celexa... as far as zoloft and prozac go, is there

a

reason that you dont try those again, instead??? I wonder if i have that

weird mutant SS thing cause i have been off alot of drugs due to side effects

and

what not.. and back in the day i used to be able to tolerate drugs (SSRIs)

alot better than i do now. Now whenever i start an SSRI i feel like i am going

crazy and have really hard core panic to the point where i can't move, etc...

but as i was explaining to holly, my doctor put me on zyprexa which really

really helps with anxiety, like riiiiiight away!.. and then when i was put on

lexapro

i didn't have panic attacks or anything.. quite amazing.. as i had been

struggling with those SSRIs for quite some time now. hope this helps! oh yeah,

and

if you want more info on lexapro/celexa or any other drugs i highly recommend

you check out depressionforums.com and remedyfind.com ... but i am not

suggesting you leave us behind hehehh keep in touch even if you do find all

the

info you need there.

*Brynn*

In a message dated 02/13/2004 10:51:11 PM Pacific Standard Time,

cjung61fau@... writes:

> Brynn;

> I am having increased anxiety/panic and an increase in my obsessive

> compulsive disodrer (OCD). I am on the liquid form of the lexapro at a low

dosage

> and have been trying to inching it mg by mg by mg since late December up to

2.5

> mg every 3 days and using klonopin for the side effects that keep breaking

> through. We tried to go to 1mg every day and the same side effects, then we

> went ot 1mg every other day same thing. I have tried taking it late at night

> with the klonopin so that I can sleep through some of the sides, but I am a

> mess during the nest day, However when it starts to elminate I am o.k. just

> to have it start again.

> So we are going back to 2.5mg Saturday night and see what happens on Sunday,

> we will try this again for 2 more dosages if it is a no go then my doctor is

> talking about changing medications and the closest is the Celexa oral

> because it does not contain alcohol.

> This is the third time I had tried to take the Lexapro. In October of 2003

> I was able to tolerate 5mg, 7mg and 10mg in the pill form, FELT GREAT! I did

> not have any sides up until week #3 then the side effects were so bad, we

> think it was due to the rapid increase--and I was taken off the lexapro.

> We don't know why the sudden intolerance to the SSRI's because in the past I

> was able to take Zoloft and Prozac without any sides in the pill form. I

> thought I was able to go it alone, stopped the Zoloft almost cold turkey--this

> might have caused the problem--we don't know. There is genetic testing

> available to see if I have a gene that is called a mutant (SS Variant) however

it

> so expensive I can't take the blood test.

> What do you know about he Celexa--is there a group like lexapro where I can

> see what others are saying about the Celexa?

> Any advice help would be greatly appreciated.

>

[Guest guest]

- your advice and encouragement about school and research is

wonderful. I want to add a little bit of wisdom which I posess from

my experience of doing research based on personal interest while

compensating for psychiatric problems. In my case the excitement was

in exploring ideas, thinking about things with collegues, and finding

susscinct ways to express complicated ideas and results. The sicker I

got during a depressive cycle the worse my thinking was and my

interactions with other researchers suffered. Even though they knew

about my disorder and rationally understood, it was difficult for

them to endure without some form of resentment or disapointment. I

began to think of the management of my illness in a professional

situation as Disappointment Management.

Disappointment Management was basically anticipating how my

predictable depressive cycling would affect those that depended on me

to be symptom-free but at the same time knew about my

illness/condition/disability. Thinking in this way didn't really give

me any power over the depression but it did give me a certain

distance from the pain of disappointing others and myself. Yes, I had

to manage my own disappointment, too. Somehow this realization makes

it less dramatic and I get less anxiety over the downs. The only bad

thing that I can think of is that I also have used the fear of

eternal incapicitation and psychological death to motivate a

temporary remission.

So what I am trying to say is that whatever plan you have to

compensate professionally for a psychiatric disorder should have lots

of padding and slack. Don't try to pretend that getting well is part

of the professional goal because you can't really control that

outcome - you can only make it less likely to occur and sometimes

that just isn't enough. Don't try to make success or failure an

indicator of your value or your wellness. There is very little

correlation. Hope my ideas are helpful.

AM

> You willmake it back to school, even if you have to take 1 course

or 2 courses at a time, that is what I did, until I decided to becoe

a full time student and get it over with. I found that college is a

lot of fun, especially if you feel well and I am 42 and doing it and

there are other gradduate students in my age bracket and older (I

graduated with a dual degree in psychology and biology and in my

graduating class a man was 72 years old! So it can be done!) I just

want to feel better to obtain my Ph.D and go into the field where I

can help others through applied research, mostly from the

misery/experience that I have gone through. Other researches that

are not affected my a neorubehavoiral disorder(OCD) have no clue--

just from what they have learned from bookls and conferences, they

are great at what they do, but imagine if they did suffer from what

we do, the quality and quanity of their research would be so

beneficial--less suffering--

> I'll keep you posted on the " new dosage " and how it goes!

>

>