Posted by LynneDa on November 25, 2003, at 15:07:15
In reply to depression/anxiety during perimenopause, posted by sgirl on November 23, 2003, at 17:39:02
Hi! I've been diagnosed with PMDD - premenstrual dysphoric disorder. It started when I was about 35 or so. I guess I'm perimenopausal to a certain degree. I'm 40 and my mom feels she started having symptoms around then. Anyway, my behaviors the 10 days before my period are pretty awful - irrational anger, crying jags, mild anxiety attacks, obsessive negative thoughts, feeling like I'm in a daze and can't get as much done at work, etc.... The other days of the month were starting to feel like that too, tho not as extreme. It got to the point where I only had a hand-full of good days per month as the last 3 years or so went by.
So, I've been on 10 mg Lexapro for about 6 weeks. Worked like a charm the first 2 weeks - tolerable side effects, but an alleviation of my depressive/anxious symptoms. But then during those 10 awful days before my period I felt myself sliding back into the old mood. My doctor says to give it a couple of cycles and see if the 10 mg. alleviates it during those days too. If not, he'll up me to 15 or 20 mg.
Celexa is the drug that came before Lexapro. They isolated one isomer to make Lex - supposedly this refinement makes it work faster and with less s/e's. From all those who post, I believe it is a good choice, but each person is very different in their responsiveness. Good luck!
~Lynne
poster:LynneDa
thread:282945
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031121/msgs/283697.html