This previous spring I had severe anxiety issues to the point where my panic attacks were controlling my daily normal functions. I was put on and I am still on Zoloft, but I have been thinking about giving something else a try. The Zoloft has definitely helped me, but I am nowhere close to where I want to be. Has anyone been on Lexapro if so pros cons? If you've been on both Zoloft and Lexapro I would greatly appreciate some feedback. The main things that spark my panic attacks are being alone, driving at night, leaving anywhere outside of my comfort zone, traffic, etc.
Thanks for any and all help!
I'm finally on the upswing of Lexapro (fingers crossed). After a failed second attempt on Celexa and a bad reaction to Prozac, here's what I've noticed with the Lexapro so far.
Ive went from 5 to 10 and now to 20mg all within a month. It really does get worse before it gets better like everyone says. Main Side effects were drowsiness and increased anxiety in the first few weeks. Also I became very fidgety/twitchy when increasing each week, which has finally settled a bit. Once I settled into 20mg these past 4 days have been pretty good. The spirit crushing anxiety/depression are gone. It's still there but nowhere near as intense. Also my moods seem to be more balanced externally. I work in a high stress environment, and I find things slipping off way easier than before and I just go with the flow without looking p*ssed off or snapping quick and then apologizing to people.
The cons are as soon as it seemed to start working for me, my sleep schedule got even more screwy than it was. I'll sleep for about 4 hours top and wake up thinking it's been all night, only to look at my phone and be disappointed. So slight insomnia. Then again, I've only been on this med a month and 20mg for 10 days so these side effects all could go. Who really knows. Another one is intrusive thoughts. I get them bad right along with the anxiety, they seem to co exist. Only problem is it seems to be working well on the constant underlying anxious feeling but not so much on the intrusive thoughts. It actually kind of freaks me out a bit as before the thoughts would repulse me, now they just kind of are there and it gets my old anxious self going ("Why aren't I freaking out about this, that's disgusting. I shouldn't be calm right now." ). So I'm reaaaaally hoping it helps with Intrusive thoughts eventually. If it starts helping in that department I'd HIGHLY recommend Lex as its been the most mild so far on this run of ADs. I initially responded to Celexa my first time ever trying ADs and would give it a 9/10. Lex so far is probably a 7/10. But again, I'm still in the very early stages. If the intrusive thoughts eventually don't go I'm going to look into Anafranil. I just know it's all interrelated, the angst/depression/OCDish tendencies, so maybe once my body has settled for a little bit, my mind will ease up a bit.
Personally if you are travelling and driving around it is better if you do not keep changing medications, although if your GP feels a change is good, you go for it.
When we take medications and we feel it works well we need to stick with it as you will have fewer side effects if something works smooth. I went through two years to find medications that worked for me and I am fortunate that when they add additional medications all seem to be ok. If it works do not fix it
Good Luck
BOB
Absolutely, Bob! Great advice as always
There is a danger of wanting/expecting meds to be the cure all when the reality is meds soften the symptoms, allowing us to cope better
She has an improvement with the Zoloft. Now she needs to self-help with the issues of anxiety she has in certain situations. This can be done but numbing with meds is not the answer