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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Alain on January 26, 2004, at 12:23:55
I was taking 5 mgs. of lexapro for 2 weeks. I upped it to 10 mgs. 3 days ago. I was feeling better, but today I am having trouble concentrating and thoughts are creeping back into my head, plus I feel depressed. Is this because the meds having taking full effect yet?
Posted by Wildman on January 26, 2004, at 12:39:28
In reply to lexapro advice, posted by Alain on January 26, 2004, at 12:23:55
> I was taking 5 mgs. of lexapro for 2 weeks. I upped it to 10 mgs. 3 days ago. I was feeling better, but today I am having trouble concentrating and thoughts are creeping back into my head, plus I feel depressed. Is this because the meds having taking full effect yet?
You did a good job of slowly ramping up to the 10mg/day - you got good advice there.
I would say that you probably are having a reaction to the increased amount of Lex in your system. The first few days after I went to 10mg, I had anxiety, heart palpitations and was very uncomfortable during the afternoon (I take my Lex first thing in the morning).
So, you are not alone in this - your symptoms seem to be pretty common. Hang in there a while longer it does get better (I'm in week 7).
Make sure you get plenty of rest, and avoid too much coffee as that seems to make it worse (I was a coffee pig before Lex, I cut down to 2 cups per day in the morning only). I don't know if you drink alcohol or not, but cutting down on that helped me as well (I like to have a beer or two while cooking dinner, now I'll just have some on the weekend - I'm not turning into a complete teetotaller :)).
So, I have had to make small lifestyle changes, but it's been worth it for me to this point.
Posted by KathrynLex on January 26, 2004, at 15:25:03
In reply to lexapro advice, posted by Alain on January 26, 2004, at 12:23:55
Hi Alain,
I'd be willing to bet after a week or two your body will adjust to the higher levels of lex in your body and you'll be feeling better soon! You may feel depressed for a day or so, but it should go away. The second day I was on lex, I felt more depressed than I had in a long time. But this went away by day 3. Granted, day 2 was very difficult to get through but I just kept telling myself that the depression was temporary. Yours is too!
K.
Posted by Bill LL on January 27, 2004, at 10:27:54
In reply to lexapro advice, posted by Alain on January 26, 2004, at 12:23:55
You need to give it at least another couple of weeks at 10 mg. If you still have concentration problems at that point in time, you may want to ask your doc about adding Wellbutrin. Wellbutrin is both an ADD drug as well as an antidepressant and is often added to drugs like Lexapro.
I personally take Wellbutrin with Lexapro.
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