Posted by KathrynLex on February 6, 2004, at 17:08:21
In reply to Re: Anyone still anxious on Lexapro? » KathrynLex, posted by sexylexy on February 6, 2004, at 16:25:31
Hi Lexy,
Thanks. I agree with you that any feedback helps.
Lexapro has helped with my general anxiety too, which has been very nice. But every once in a while something odd makes me anxious...like sitting in a movie theater or driving on the freeway. These things used to never make me anxious...but in the past year things have been different.
I moved away from my home state 2 yrs ago. While I was away my mom got cancer and a close friend of mine passed away. I was in a strange city with no support network, so I moved home several months after my friend died. But then I started getting anxious about strange things like I mentioned above, and this lead to panic attacks (a panic attack is one of the scariest things I've ever experienced and I wouldn't wish it on anyone) so I got on medication.
My pdoc said that the anxiety had also brought on depression. I hadn't really noticed it because I was so worried about everything else, but after being on lexapro I realize I had been quite depressed.
I also had a depressive episode in my mid-teens. That was when I started taking Prozac. (My father has suffered from depression for most of his life, but nobody else in my family has it.) Prozac was wonderful for me. I felt like getting out of bed again and going out with friends, classes were interesting and I stopped having mood swings. I took Prozac for 3 years. I took it for a year and half, went off for 6 months, went back on for another year and half (although it wasn't quite as effective as the first time) but then I stopped taking it again because I didn't want to be on meds my entire life.
I was off medications (and doing rather well!) for several years until I started having the panic attacks last year. Now I'm on Lexapro and it's starting to give me my life back. (Although, I'm still not up to 100%).
Now that I'm not as anxious/depressed, I plan to use lexapro as a tool to help me improve my life. I'm going to continue talk therapy, I've been exercising more and eating right, and I'm working on simplifying my life. These are additional tools I'll use to combat my anxiety/depression, and at some point in the future I won't need the lexapro anymore because I'll have so many other "tools" I can use instead. This is my goal.
Whew! What a long winded post. I hope this answers all of your questions Lexy.
Have you noticed any improvement on lex?
K.
poster:KathrynLex
thread:109458
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040204/msgs/310258.html