Lexapro

Anyway, I wanted to know if anyone has ever had a bad reaction to Lexapro? I'm not talking like an allergic reaction or anything, I mean a completely freaking out, feeling like you're going to die reaction! My doctor prescribed it for me last week (I'm starting to think I need a new doctor, but that's a whole other story.) He told me it was for anxiety and depression but that he's seen it help a lot of people with Fibro. I try so hard to stay away from these types of medicine but my anxiety has been pretty bad lately so I decided I'd give it a shot. Well, I started on the Lexapro yesterday and I've never had an anxiety attack, but I think I had one last night.

I woke up at 5 o'clock this morning. It was really weird because I instantly felt like I was wide awake. Normally if I wake up through the night I'm still groggy and fall back to sleep after a few minutes. I got up and went to the bathroom, thinking maybe that's what woke me up so suddenly, but by the time I came out my heart was racing. I went back to bed but then I started feeling like I was going to jump out my skin. It was SO bizarre! After a few more minutes I started having trouble breathing, my entire body felt like it was burning up yet I was actually shivering, and I began to get really nauseous. It got so bad that I went and crawled into bed with my mother. I felt like I was 5 years old again!! Eventually I was in tears because it was just such a scary feeling and I've never felt anything like it before. I've had my heart race from certain medicines, but it was NOTHING like this. It lasted a good 2-3 hours before I finally fell back to sleep.

Needless to say I will not be taking Lexapro again.

It seems to be a fact of life that many of us are intolerant of SSRI"s as well as many other meds given to us because for our various symptoms.

Even when we inform them of the problems the standard response seems to be "Doctor says that the benefits of the medicine outweigh the side effects so you should keep taking them".

Some background on Lexapro. All meds are born with left & right hand molecules ( when a daddy molecule meets a mommy molecule & they want to show their love) although there are both left & right molecules the brain receptors that respond to SSRI's are only "one handed" (I forget if it's left or right)) and are only "unlocked" by the one side. Lexapro is a modified version of Celexa for every 2MG of Celexa 1mg (the wrong handed one ) is worthless stuff that goes along for the ride ( as twins they are very close). Lexapro is Celexa with the dormant side removed so 1mg of Lexapro is equal to 2mg of Celexa. The thought was that by removing the ineffective half of the dose the side effects would be less because those caused by the worthless molecule had been removed.

Nice in theory but Celexa makes me sick as a dog & so does Lexapro. I get physically sick, my hand go cold & my brain feels stuffed with cotton. Yes I was more manageable to my family but I wasn't me.

Back in the day when I still believed the "Doctor says" line I basically lost 30 lbs & laid I bed for 6 weeks until I could tolerate it. Who doesn't want to be skinny?

To be honest I went off it because of the sexual side effects (just like a man) . Since then I've come to realize that we (fibro folk)are entitled to be sad & that the SSRI's are inappropriate for the "Secondary Depression" (medicaliese for the patients is sad because her/his syndrome sucks) & have no place in MY treatment (you should decide this for yourself) especially as the side effects can be incapacitating for weeks if not months

Post edited by: bshapiro, at: 11/20/2007 11:32

Post edited by: bshapiro, at: 11/20/2007 11:35