Re: need answers (update)

[Guest guest]

Hi ~ ~ It's a good thing that you are accompanying your hubbie

to the pdoc's. Oftentimes, at least when I go in, it is very

difficult to be my own advocate and I find that when I leave I am

more confused than before hand. Your husband is lucky to have you in

his court.

Probably doing all that switching around may be causing all this

, especially fooling around with Klonopin. Klonopin is a

controlled drug and is extremely powerful and to go off it and hop

onto another can be distasterous.

I found that the higher levels of Lexapro gave me break through

anxiety and panic whereas the lower level (5mg) I seem to be leveling

out. However, I am augmenting everything with Pamelor - 1/2 ml every

other day and I take .25 mg of Klonopin for sleep at night. I have

been on Klonopin since 1997.

I hope some of this information has helped and I hope you can

get your pdoc to pay attention to you and get your needs met

Keep us posted

Dana Rose

> Thought I would update you on my husband who suffers from

> anxiety/panic disorder...he was on Celexa and a miniscule dose of

> Klonipin for 5 years without a single breakthrough anxiety

> attack...before Christmas he (finally) recognized that he was also

> very depressed and sought counseling...she sent him to a

> psychiatrist to check his meds....the shrink changed BOTH his meds

> to Lexapro and Xanax XR. all was well for 3 weeks then came the

> Christmas vacation from hell..which resulted in an increased doase

> of bothe meds..all was well again unitl last week. mu husband has

> been suffering from increasing anxiety each day...Here is the

update:

> His shrink is out of town...on call doc 2 days ago took him off the

> Xanax and put him on 1mg Klonipin....His anxiety is so severe today

> he called the on call shrink of the day (not the same as 2 days

ago)

> and she told him to take Klonipin 2 times a day...we are getting

> conflicting opinions each time...one says it might be the

> lexapro...one says it must be the xanax..another says it's the

> Klonipin...We went from 5 years of NO ATTACKS to this medicine

> hell...He has an appointment with his doctor Monday...and I am

> anxios to see what else they do...At this point his system is

> probably so screwed up going back to celexa and Klonipin probably

> won't work

> He is a student set to graduate in May and has 2 tests and a

> presentation next week...his stress level is high..mine is severly

> elevated trying to deal with him and all this...

> hopefully this will be over soon..I am going to go on Monday with

> him to the doctor....I am not leaving until we get a plan of

> action...and that doctor is going to spend more than 5 minutes with

> him this time!@!!!

> thanks for the opportunity to rant

> lisa

[Guest guest]

HI ;

Sorry to hear that your husand is having such severe anxiety. Yes,

stay there until you have a plan of action! Rememeber the Lexapro

comes in a liquid form and can be adjusted--mg,by mg by mg.

I am also very sorry to hear that your did not get the same on call

doc. The on call doctors do not know your husband's history, so they

have differing opnions. From my past experience: VERY, VERY

FRUSTRATING.

Back in October of 2003, I was on 5 mg of the pill form of Lexapro,

NO SIDE EFFECTS, FELT WONDERFUL AFTER 2-3 DAYS, the following week

they uped it to 7mg, NO SIDES the next week to 10 mg. Bang!!! SIDE

EFFECTS: SEVERE ABDOMINAL PAIN. So, I went the ER, they told me it

was the Lexapro, I beleved them!! (turned out to be a stomach virus

going round)....So we decreased down to 5mg couldn't tolerate the

pill form and had to go off of the lex...There was also the

possibility that the the Klonopin was decreased too fast as well. So

as you can see there are many variables that come into play with

medications. Outside of genetic testing for varients (mutations

whichcan lead to medication side effects) I don't know wht else I

cantell you. This testing is being done by SERYX--the web iste is:

WWW.signaturegenetics.com

So your husband taking 2 mg of klonopin and how much Lexapro?

I checked the drug-drug interactions with my psychiatrist, OCD

thrapist and pharmacist to rule out why I have such a high degree of

anxiety and spike in my OCD symptoms--thought a drug interaction. My

answwer: NO---klonopin is not known to interfere with the Lexapro.

However, the Klonopin takes a little longer to kick in and once it

does it lasts for a long time.

Perhpas this michjt be soem thing to look into.Did your husband have

any blood work done recently? such as a the super sensitive TSH, T3,

T4, Cortisol, etc... I was told that when certain blook levels are

out of wack it can cause an increase in anxiety.

My heart goes ouot for both you and your husband. I am also a student

(graduate) and it is very hard to deal with keeping my grades up

while trying to feel normal on the inside and apppear normal on the

outside!

I'm at a stuck point because I don't tolerate the SSRI's so I am on a

liquid form 2.3 mg every 3 days. Now my Pshcyiatrist just called and

advised me that I can take 1.25mg every other day so that I don't

spike--meaning increased symptoms and when I get them it is awful.

loose a whole day because I can't do anything and when one is a

student there is a lot to be done. So tonight I'll take my 2.5 liquid

lex and see what happens tomorrow.

I will keep you and you husnabd in my thoughts.

> Thought I would update you on my husband who suffers from

> anxiety/panic disorder...he was on Celexa and a miniscule dose of

> Klonipin for 5 years without a single breakthrough anxiety

> attack...before Christmas he (finally) recognized that he was also

> very depressed and sought counseling...she sent him to a

> psychiatrist to check his meds....the shrink changed BOTH his meds

> to Lexapro and Xanax XR. all was well for 3 weeks then came the

> Christmas vacation from hell..which resulted in an increased doase

> of bothe meds..all was well again unitl last week. mu husband has

> been suffering from increasing anxiety each day...Here is the

update:

> His shrink is out of town...on call doc 2 days ago took him off the

> Xanax and put him on 1mg Klonipin....His anxiety is so severe today

> he called the on call shrink of the day (not the same as 2 days

ago)

> and she told him to take Klonipin 2 times a day...we are getting

> conflicting opinions each time...one says it might be the

> lexapro...one says it must be the xanax..another says it's the

> Klonipin...We went from 5 years of NO ATTACKS to this medicine

> hell...He has an appointment with his doctor Monday...and I am

> anxios to see what else they do...At this point his system is

> probably so screwed up going back to celexa and Klonipin probably

> won't work

> He is a student set to graduate in May and has 2 tests and a

> presentation next week...his stress level is high..mine is severly

> elevated trying to deal with him and all this...

> hopefully this will be over soon..I am going to go on Monday with

> him to the doctor....I am not leaving until we get a plan of

> action...and that doctor is going to spend more than 5 minutes with

> him this time!@!!!

> thanks for the opportunity to rant

> lisa

[Guest guest]

Has anyone else experienced a bloated tummy from Lexapro? I actually

appear pregnant! But I'm not. I wasn't like this before I started

taking Remeron, and then went off the Remeron and switched to Lexapro.

I hate my bulging belly!

[Guest guest]

> Has anyone else experienced a bloated tummy from Lexapro? I actually

> appear pregnant! But I'm not. I wasn't like this before I started

> taking Remeron, and then went off the Remeron and switched to Lexapro.

> I hate my bulging belly!

YES, and the same thing happened on Celexa....this is not OK with me...i'm

already big enough

tish