Lexapro

[pattycake]

Hi all,

Just wondered if any of you are taking Lexapro. I have been taking now for 6 weeks now and was fine for quite a while but now seems as though I have started having a lot of nausea? I'm wondering what type of side effects any of you may have had. I also had a question if most all of you are taking a anti-depressant/anti-anxiety type of medication. My doc who says I have POTS seemed to think my last real bad spell had to do with anxiety. Which in reading some of the posts here seems to be a misconception with most doctors.

Life for me like most of you can be extremely stressful. I work full time and have a very sick mom who I also try to care for. She still lives at home with her husband and is now in a wheelchair. Things have not been the best. It is such a long story. I have always been the strong type, oldest of the family and always carried all the responsibility from helping mom raise my siblings to now helping care for her. Sorry I have lost where I was going....rambling again.

Anyway I really felt like I was letting myself down for having to take something like lexapro. I have such a hard time with being medication dependant. It seems as though my siblings are and I just figured I have to be the stronger one. So I have guilt. I feel as though I'm just giving in a bit. Does this make sense to anyone?

Any of your thoughts on this scattered POTS Patty brain will be glady appreciated.

thanks a bunch

Patty

[Ernie]

Hi,

Lexapro gave me migraine headaches.

Ernie

[taylortotmom]

If all you need right now is a pill to get through what all you've got going on- you're doing great. My gracious! You are sick, work fulltime and are trying to take care of an ill parent? How can you NOT have anxiety? Lexapro has different side effects for diffferent people. I took it for about six months "to take the edge off" during a particularly stressful time. I don't remember having any significant side effects. What I can tell you is that it was very hard for me to go on it inititally because I felt as though I was "weak" for taking it. I was a therapist for Gods sake. However, my prescribing psychiatrist told me I would be shocked if I knew how many people were on psychotropic drugs and it is really and truly no big deal. As long as who is prescribing it has taken the time to talk with you and considered your history and put you on it for the right reasons it can be a a very useful tool. Please keep us posted- I admire you for what all you have taken on but don't be a martyr.

Carmen

[pattycake]

Carmen,

Thanks so much for the the kind words. My doc did tell me that it would not be a permanent type of medication. I did express to her my concerns for taking this medicine. I feel like it may be a while taking it because of the fact that my mom's problems will be with her for the rest of her life. But hey if this is what it takes I guess will take it. I bet it was hard for you to take this type of medication as well. It has to be difficult for you as well with all you have going on in your life and your professional career too.

thanks again Patty

[Sunfish]

patty -

i still struggle with times at the idea of my body being so dependant on any type of meds in general...i can't stand it....but am also thankful that there are meds out there that are helping b/c otherwise i'd likely be bedridden.

in regard to SSRIs, if you don't already know, they are often very helpful to those with OI/POTS and/or other autonomic disorders for reasons other than their "intended" use as well. there have been many former threads discussing SSRIs so you may want to do a search. obviously nothing works uniformly for everyone, but many have found help with one of the SSRIs with many different physical symptoms rather than, or in addition to, help with depression &/or anxiety. so...perhaps this will be the case for you as well!

i am not on an SSRI now but was on celexa and then lexapro for several years. when i started i had some nausea after about a week or two that lasted for about a week or two but it wasn't bad. i always took mine in the evening which can help to "sleep through" some of the side effects too.

good luck!

:-)melissa