Posted by orbital on July 3, 2011, at 13:27:23
In reply to countering lexapro side-effects, posted by g_g_g_unit on July 3, 2011, at 8:24:13
Most of the side effects you mentioned should resolve, particularly the poor sleep.
However, Lex does have a generally "slowing" effect.
The main issue I had with Lexapro was a bad case of anhedonia which crept up on me slowly, after a while I was feeling so mellow that I couldn't be bothered to do anything, and I didn't care.
I tried the Lex + agomelatine combination, it did nothing for me.
In my case, at one point the best add-on turned out to be Provigil.
I really wish I had tried lowering the dose to see if the anhedonia/numbing resolved, instead of increasing it. I was on 20mg and went up to 30 - the anhedonia only got worse. Lex is so clean powerful and selective, I think that 5mg (or even 2.5mg) might clear up this side effect while maintaining the drug's efficacy - something to keep in mind.
HTH.
> So my psychiatrist and I decided to try another SSRI, given that Zoloft was ratcheting up my OCD to insane proportions. He ended up selecting Lexapro and I've been taking 10mg for just over a week. Why - I don't really know. I've been hit with all the same side-effects I had last time, namely cognitive slowing, dissociation, poor sleep and emotional numbing.
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> Unfortunately, there aren't very many uncharted avenues left for me outside outside of the SNRIs, so I'm trying to be less rash. Given that Lexapro is otherwise working well for panic and irritability, I've been wondering if there's a chance any of these side-effects might pass (though I had been on Zoloft for over 6 weeks, so I'm not sure if some kind of carry-on effect takes place when switching between SRIs). Otherwise, I guess it might also be exacerbating my ADHD, because I'm incredibly hyper and nicotine fixes most of the cognitive problems, though does little for the lack of feeling/desire.
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> I've actually been wondering if something like Agomelatine might be helpful in this case, which my GP offered to prescribe .. improved sleep, and doesn't it induce catecholamine release in the pFC?
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poster:orbital
thread:990055
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110630/msgs/990074.html