Posted by King Vultan on June 2, 2004, at 20:28:43
In reply to Lexapro questions again.., posted by Impermanence on June 2, 2004, at 19:50:11
> I've been taking 10mg for five weeks now with no positive results whatsoever, in fact it's been very difficult getting used to just that amount. I talked to my pdoc today about how bad it has made me feel so far and still she has decided to up my dose to 15mg from tomorrow and then to 20mg in a few weeks (with my permission obviously).
> I'm going along with this as she is a professional and must know what she's doing. Along with this she has lowered my dose of bromazepam (which I did NOT want) as it has been my best friend for a long time now and is the only thing keeping the anxiety from Lexapro away.
> I have a serious social phobia and she thinks the higher the dose of Lexapro the better is is for anxiety, is this really true? or just bull**** to taper me off the benzos?
>
> Another thing thats bugging me is if it's so hard for your body to get used to ssri's then what the hell is it going to be like coming off them.
> Is it really worth it?
She may be a professional and know what she's doing, but prescribing the proper med still winds up being kind of a guessing game. As I've taken umpteen different meds and know how difficult the side effects can be, I certainly feel some sympathy for your situation. In my case, though, I am an unusually quick responder, and the positive effects would always counterbalance the negatives to some extent to make the situation more bearable. It sounds like that is unfortunately not the case for you, which must make it doubly difficult.I'm curious as to what types of issues you have beyond the social phobia and anxiety and what types of negative effects you are suffering from the Lexapro. In partial response to your question about anxiety and a higher dosage of Lexapro, the textbooks say that SSRIs like Lexapro are indicated for this, as serotonin seems to play an important role in mediating anxiety. Paradoxically, though, they can increase anxiety (usually in the very initial stage of treatment) in some individuals. I have not taken a benzo myself, but my impression is that they do have a more powerful effect on anxiety than do SSRIs.
Todd
poster:King Vultan
thread:353162
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040602/msgs/353178.html