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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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Posted by sexylexy on January 8, 2004, at 10:41:45
In reply to Lexapro and Advil, posted by KathrynLex on January 5, 2004, at 19:24:21
> I've noticed that the side effects of Lex are quite a bit more tolerable if I take it with an Advil. This helps my head to feel less foggy and I don't feel quite as anxious at night. Has anyone else experienced this? Or can you tell me if it's dangerous to take Advil on a daily basis?
Kathrynlex...
Hi! Im Lexy, I am new to the board so if you have answered this question could you reanswer it for me please? I am on day 17 of Lexapro taking 10mg. I was wondering what your S/Es were and if they have tapered off. Could you please describle the foggy feeling you get, if it is constant ect and the advil seems to help that.
I seem to have become a little spacey/foggy on the medication, it is much worse sometimes than others. I would love to hear your story.
Thanks so much, God bless your progress
Lexy
Posted by KathrynLex on January 8, 2004, at 11:13:55
In reply to Re: Lexapro and Advil, posted by sexylexy on January 8, 2004, at 10:41:45
Hi Lexy,
I'm on day 20 of 10 mg Lex. Besides feeling "foggy" most of the side effects I experienced at first are gone. When I began taking Lex I felt a little more anxious, couldn't sleep (still having some trouble with that), lost my appetite and I had night sweats. Most of those things have gone away.
By "foggy" I mean I can't quite focus on things, it takes me a little longer to process info and I don't feel like I'm all here. I feel foggiest a few hours after taking Lex, so I've started taking it at night so I can sleep through the worst of it. This has really eliminated my need for the advil. (Taking an advil seemed to help but I was concerned about having one every day.) Have you experienced any of this?
K
Posted by KathrynLex on January 8, 2004, at 13:03:27
In reply to Re: Lexapro and Advil, posted by KathrynLex on January 8, 2004, at 11:13:55
Today is my 20th day on Lexapro. The initial side effects are starting to wear off. However, I still feel very unfocused and my mind is a bit "foggy." How long does it take for this to go away? I feel like I've spent the last few weeks in a haze.
Also, the last few days I've begun to feel jittery and wired. It's strange because I'm tired too. Odd combo. Is there anything I can do to help this improve? Thanks!
K
Posted by sexylexy on January 8, 2004, at 14:16:25
In reply to Re: Lexapro and Advil, posted by KathrynLex on January 8, 2004, at 11:13:55
> Hi Lexy,
>
> I'm on day 20 of 10 mg Lex. Besides feeling "foggy" most of the side effects I experienced at first are gone. When I began taking Lex I felt a little more anxious, couldn't sleep (still having some trouble with that), lost my appetite and I had night sweats. Most of those things have gone away.>
> By "foggy" I mean I can't quite focus on things, it takes me a little longer to process info and I don't feel like I'm all here. I feel foggiest a few hours after taking Lex, so I've started taking it at night so I can sleep through the worst of it. This has really eliminated my need for the advil. (Taking an advil seemed to help but I was concerned about having one every day.) Have you experienced any of this?
>
> KK...
Yes! I think we are feeling the same way, foggy not all there, kinda like a few weeks in a day dream. It is so nice to know that someone else feels this way. I just talked to a Pdoc and she said that 40%-50% of Lexapro users get this along with "tunnel vision" which I have also felt. She says that it will go away and to keep at it. Since you and I seem to be on the same time period of using Lex, please keep in touch and tell me how your symptoms go.
Lexy
Posted by muddled on January 8, 2004, at 14:20:00
In reply to How much longer until..., posted by KathrynLex on January 8, 2004, at 13:03:27
I have been on lex now for about 25 days and dont eat!!! I completly forget about eating entirely...Im dropping weight like crazy. (frankly Im letting it until another ten pounds and then Ill mention it to doctor) sse's have started to go away...still foggy and moody though. Have to set an alarm to remind myself to have breakfast & lunch. But i dont feel like the walking dead anymore so this is much better...thanks for the postings you guys, most had something I needed.
Posted by BobYuma on January 8, 2004, at 14:41:28
In reply to Re: hey where did my appetite go?, posted by Bali on January 7, 2004, at 17:23:14
> > > I have the same feeling of not worrying (obsessing?) about things as much as I used to. For example, I was so hard on myself about my body, weight, and the fact that I am aging...duh--everyone is! I now feel that I look damn good for a woman of my age and enjoy the compliments from other people about how young and active I am .... You are seeing things in a new perspective without insecurities [about your relationship] getting in the way of your perception. Just a thought...what do you all think? Bali > > >
Hi, Bali. I totally agree with you.
By the way, I also think you're a damn good looking woman for your age ... or any age for that matter.
Bob
Posted by BobYuma on January 8, 2004, at 14:45:03
In reply to How much longer until..., posted by KathrynLex on January 8, 2004, at 13:03:27
Sometimes I feel like a nut ... a macadamia usually ... then sometimes I don't.
Does anyone think this is an SE of Lex?
God I love you all.
Bob
Posted by muddled on January 8, 2004, at 15:00:15
In reply to How much longer until..., posted by KathrynLex on January 8, 2004, at 13:03:27
Katheryn...me tooo! It will be 4 weeks for me friday...foggy while awake and tossing in my sleep. Dr. gave me a sleeping pill but that just made me nuts during the day with the increased foggyness. Not worth it! I didnt ask for more. I wake up 3 or 4 times a night...plus as mentioned in another post dont eat. Im kinda a funny charector around the house now!. Called my husband at work and told him about this site I just found and said ....Im not the only one!!! Hurray! How long until Im just balanced out??? I think Im going to be on the 6 week side of the 4 to 6 weeks at this rate. Still, Muddled
Posted by Mrs C. on January 8, 2004, at 15:25:37
In reply to How much longer until..., posted by KathrynLex on January 8, 2004, at 13:03:27
Just hand in there. Alot of us have experienced these feelings and they will go away soon. Mrs. C
Posted by LynneDa on January 8, 2004, at 15:54:58
In reply to Lexapro and Nuts, posted by BobYuma on January 8, 2004, at 14:45:03
Bob, you are too funny! I know we are all nuts in our own way, that's for sure! But I have to commend all of us for trying to be less nutty! We are certainly more cognizant of our plusses and minuses and I'd rather be like that than floating through life having no clue about how or what to do to make things better!
~ Lynne
Posted by Vandy on January 8, 2004, at 16:10:46
In reply to Lexapro and Nuts, posted by BobYuma on January 8, 2004, at 14:45:03
Sounds like me. Wife says to pdoc, "My husband thinks he's a chicken."
Pdoc: "I'll see if we can't work on that delusion."
Wife: "No, don't! We need the eggs."
> Sometimes I feel like a nut ... a macadamia usually ... then sometimes I don't.
> Does anyone think this is an SE of Lex?
> God I love you all.
> Bob
>
Posted by CR on January 8, 2004, at 16:12:41
In reply to Anyone switched to Lexapro? « ggrrl, posted by Dr. Bob on June 11, 2002, at 7:52:48
> [Posted by ggrrl on June 11, 2002, at 1:19:51]
>
> > Seems like there are a lot of people on here who have talked about Lexapro's improved side-effects, specifically that it has less tiredness and sexual side effects than Celexa. Some have said that it has the same side effects as Celexa. However most people are quoting from press releases - does anyone here know from experience (theirs or others')?I have not taken Celexa, but was on Effexor (75 mg/day) for 3.5 years and switched to Lexapro (10mg/day) for about 3 months now. Did NOT notice an increase in sexual side effects, but did notice an increase in tiredness. I think all SE are pretty individualized. Going on Lexapro, I did not notice an increase in side effects.
>
>
Posted by CR on January 8, 2004, at 16:16:47
In reply to Re: Lexapro Withdrawal Dizziness, posted by Rich B on August 4, 2003, at 13:59:11
I discontinued Lexapro (10mg/day) cold turkey about 2 weeks ago. STILL getting severe dizziness in the left hemisphere in my brain with tingling and numbness of my extremeites. Is this normal for these syptoms to continue for so long? They are not decreasign in intensity at all. Anyone else have experience wtih this?
Thanks!
CR
Posted by Jayslace on January 8, 2004, at 16:19:59
In reply to Re: Lexapro and Nuts, posted by Vandy on January 8, 2004, at 16:10:46
Actually,sometimes I think that's why I'm on Lex.
But shhh... don't tell anyone.
I love this board!
Cashew nutcase..
Ruthie
Posted by Bali on January 8, 2004, at 16:21:19
In reply to Re: Lexapro and Nuts, posted by LynneDa on January 8, 2004, at 15:54:58
AMEN LYNN!!!!!!!! Bali
> Bob, you are too funny! I know we are all nuts in our own way, that's for sure! But I have to commend all of us for trying to be less nutty! We are certainly more cognizant of our plusses and minuses and I'd rather be like that than floating through life having no clue about how or what to do to make things better!
> ~ Lynne
>
Posted by LynneLaf on January 8, 2004, at 16:45:27
In reply to Re: Lexapro and Advil, posted by sexylexy on January 8, 2004, at 14:16:25
I am on my 7th week and I am glad to say that the Side effects are gone. I am still tired, but I am always tired so I don't that that is a Side effect. My husband and I are actually able to have disagreements and not scream at eachother. He is also on Anti-depresents (a different one) and we are getting along so much better. I found Advil also lessened the foggieness in the morning. I take my med at night before bed and Advil did help me.
Have a great day.
Lynne
Posted by sexylexy on January 8, 2004, at 17:13:42
In reply to Re: Lexapro and Advil, posted by Mrs C. on January 6, 2004, at 20:56:43
> I asked my doctor about advil when she prescribed lex to me. I have always suffered from tension headaches and advil was almost a daily thing for me. She said that advil is perfectly safe to take with lex. By the way, I have only had one headache since I began lex. Another benefit for me. Thanks for your post. Mrs. C.
Mrs. C...
Did you have spacey/foggy stuff on Lexapro when you started? Please tell me you did and it went away, I am starting week 3 today and feel like Ive been in a two week day dream.
Thanks
Lexy
Posted by melley on January 8, 2004, at 17:22:21
In reply to Re: How much longer until... » KathrynLex, posted by muddled on January 8, 2004, at 14:20:00
I too have been having this forgetting to eat thing! No appetite and some stomach upset. Food is not as appealing as it once was. It is good for the weight loss thing so I don't mind. Although probably not so good nutritionally.> I have been on lex now for about 25 days and dont eat!!! I completly forget about eating entirely...Im dropping weight like crazy. (frankly Im letting it until another ten pounds and then Ill mention it to doctor) sse's have started to go away...still foggy and moody though. Have to set an alarm to remind myself to have breakfast & lunch. But i dont feel like the walking dead anymore so this is much better...thanks for the postings you guys, most had something I needed.
Posted by BobYuma on January 8, 2004, at 17:27:27
In reply to Re: How much longer until..., posted by muddled on January 8, 2004, at 15:00:15
>>>> Dr. gave me a sleeping pill but that just made me nuts >>>
So it's the sleeping pill that makes you nuts ...
hmmm ... but I don't take sleeping pills ...
Bob
Posted by Mariposa on January 8, 2004, at 17:58:37
In reply to Lexapro Withdrawal Dizziness/Tingling/Numbness?!, posted by CR on January 8, 2004, at 16:16:47
> I discontinued Lexapro (10mg/day) cold turkey about 2 weeks ago. STILL getting severe dizziness in the left hemisphere in my brain with tingling and numbness of my extremeites. Is this normal for these syptoms to continue for so long? They are not decreasign in intensity at all. Anyone else have experience wtih this?
> Thanks!
> CRFrom reading here it would seem cold turkey is not a good idea. Others have posted that they weaned off VERY slowly as the best method.~~~8|8
Posted by ELENI4 on January 8, 2004, at 18:08:45
In reply to Re: Lexapro clinical data » pharmrep, posted by dr. dave on August 23, 2002, at 3:59:39
I have the patient insert for Lexapro listing only frequent and infrequent side effects. However I'm interested in rare and serious side effects concerning the muscles or neuromuscular disease. Where can I find a listing of the rare side effects caused by Lexapro?
> The chief study on Lexapro v. Celexa is that by Gorman, and is a meta-analysis of three 8-week studies comparing Lexapro, Celexa and placebo. It is available in poster form at
> http://www.cipralex.ch/pdf/poster/gorm521_501.pdf
> and in its full form at
> http://www.cipralex.ch/pdf/literatur/gorman.pdf
>
> Have a look at the end-point results when drop-outs have been taken into account - on the poster Cipralex is more effective than Lexapro by a tiny amount, in the printed paper it's the other way round. Same study, same graph. Go figure, as I understand you say on your side of the Atlantic.
>
> There are also papers galore at
> http://www.cipralex.ch/f/poster.html
>
> It gets a bit overwhelming but here's what research there is
>
> - lots of preclinical studies
> - three 8-week studies comparing Celexa, Lexapro and placebo only two of which are available (Burke et al and Lepola et al, despite me having asked Lundbeck specifically for the third)
> - a meta-analysis of these three (Gorman)
> - a study comparing Lexapro and placebo alone
> - a longer term study which again does not seem to be available for scrutiny
>
> All of these papers have been produced by Lundbeck/Forest. You may think that as they are 'scientific papers' they could not be biased or misleading. You may think otherwise.
>
> It is worth noting studies which show that research on the same topics published by those with conflicts of interest consistently come to different conclusions than those published by independent authors (British Medical Journal - I don't have the reference to hand but will supply it later)
Posted by ST on January 8, 2004, at 18:29:58
In reply to Lex Flu - Why Haven't Doctors Heard of It?, posted by KathrynLex on January 7, 2004, at 12:05:08
Hi,
I've switched so many antidepressants and this has always happened to me. The doctors don't know about this nor do they really care, I think. After searching the internet and talking with dozens of other antidepressant users, these symptoms are extremely commmon when starting or ending an antidepressant. In the archives, you may want to look up "seratonin syndrome", which supposedly occurs when mixing different meds, but the symptoms are similar when going off a med as well.Not everyone goes through this, but I'd say about 80% of the people I spoke with have.(I live in a major city where almost everyone I know is on something!)
It seems to occur as a withdrawal response to weaning yourself off of or stopping a drug. Your body is responding to not receiving that dosage every day. It can also occur if you are starting a drug and do not have another one in your system, but that has only been my experience once.
There was a time when I was very broke and would fool around with my prescription strength to save money. Often, I wouldn't have any money at the end of the month to buy my AD and would have to wait a few days before I could buy it. I would start geting the symtoms within two days of not taking my AD. They got worse and worse. Then when I finally bought my prescription and took the AD, the symptoms would start dissapearing and eventually I would feel "back to normal". It took my doing this a few times before I noticed the correlation! But it's very clear now.
Whenever I would miss my daytime dose of Effexor by one or two hours, I would start feeling sick. Then when i was weaning myself off Effexor I was extremely ill every day. I believe that Effexor can be the most difficult AD to get out of your system (check out the archives!). I had to wean myself over a period of about 3 months. I got down to chipping off tiny pieces of the drug each day to stave off the withdrawal symtoms. I missed so much work during this period! It was difficult explaining why I had flu symtoms to people for almost three months!I would take my tiny bit of Effexor in the morning and by the evening I would be sick as a dog: feverish, nauseous, achy and dizzy. Then I'd grudgingly chip off another piece of the Effexor, take it and wait about two hours to feel better.
Don't let your doctor make you feel nutty for feeling this or tell you that it's a coincidence that you have the flu. Mine finally got the picture after seeing my reactions so many times!
Good luck, it'll go away!Sarah
Posted by ST on January 8, 2004, at 18:30:39
In reply to Lex Flu - Why Haven't Doctors Heard of It?, posted by KathrynLex on January 7, 2004, at 12:05:08
Hi,
I've switched so many antidepressants and this has always happened to me. The doctors don't know about this nor do they really care, I think. After searching the internet and talking with dozens of other antidepressant users, these symptoms are extremely commmon when starting or ending an antidepressant. In the archives, you may want to look up "seratonin syndrome", which supposedly occurs when mixing different meds, but the symptoms are similar when going off a med as well.Not everyone goes through this, but I'd say about 80% of the people I spoke with have.(I live in a major city where almost everyone I know is on something!)
It seems to occur as a withdrawal response to weaning yourself off of or stopping a drug. Your body is responding to not receiving that dosage every day. It can also occur if you are starting a drug and do not have another one in your system, but that has only been my experience once.
There was a time when I was very broke and would fool around with my prescription strength to save money. Often, I wouldn't have any money at the end of the month to buy my AD and would have to wait a few days before I could buy it. I would start geting the symtoms within two days of not taking my AD. They got worse and worse. Then when I finally bought my prescription and took the AD, the symptoms would start dissapearing and eventually I would feel "back to normal". It took my doing this a few times before I noticed the correlation! But it's very clear now.
Whenever I would miss my daytime dose of Effexor by one or two hours, I would start feeling sick. Then when i was weaning myself off Effexor I was extremely ill every day. I believe that Effexor can be the most difficult AD to get out of your system (check out the archives!). I had to wean myself over a period of about 3 months. I got down to chipping off tiny pieces of the drug each day to stave off the withdrawal symtoms. I missed so much work during this period! It was difficult explaining why I had flu symtoms to people for almost three months!I would take my tiny bit of Effexor in the morning and by the evening I would be sick as a dog: feverish, nauseous, achy and dizzy. Then I'd grudgingly chip off another piece of the Effexor, take it and wait about two hours to feel better.
Don't let your doctor make you feel nutty for feeling this or tell you that it's a coincidence that you have the flu. Mine finally got the picture after seeing my reactions so many times!
Good luck, it'll go away!Sarah
Posted by BobYuma on January 8, 2004, at 18:53:18
In reply to Re: Lexapro and Nuts, posted by LynneDa on January 8, 2004, at 15:54:58
> > > ... I know we are all nuts in our own way, that's for sure! But I have to commend all of us for trying to be less nutty! ~ Lynne > >
Now, Lynne, why on earth would you want to be ordinary .. and less nutty? Sheesh ...
I happen to have an un-breachable reputation for being nutty, and I like it that way. God save me from normalcy .. and normal people.By the way, you're a very sweet person, Lynne [and I think you're a little nutty too, which is a good thing .. remember?].
Your Nutty Pal, Bob
Posted by BobYuma on January 8, 2004, at 18:59:03
In reply to Re: Lexapro and Nuts, posted by BobYuma on January 8, 2004, at 18:53:18
Hey, Guys. I found a site that's very interesting as far as information on Lexapro goes. Maybe some of you have seen it before, maybe some haven't. At any rate, when you arrive at the site, go a little over half way down the page [it's a very long page], and you'll come to " TABLE 1." This is a study of patients on Lexapro who experienced different types of adverse effects [I think we in-the-know folks call them side effects].
For example, it says that 15% of the patients on Lexapro experienced nausea, and only 6% experienced somnolence [sleepiness, I think]. Don't know about you folks, but I tend to think the percentages are a bit low. But that's just me, and we all know about me. Stop running with those scissors in your mouth, Ralph.
Bob
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