Follow up with my family physician today

[fcjl8]

Hello good people,

Saw my MD today. She wanted to follow up since seeing me 3 weeks ago. I have been taking cipralex or lexapro starting with 5mg the first week and 10mg the last two weeks.

I went to her 3 weeks ago when I felt I could no longer handle constant feelings of dread, sadness and anxiety. She suggested the cipralex/lexapro as I had good results with it 3 years ago...unfortunately I declared myself better and went off it. I actually had a pretty good 3 years but late this winter I felt the downward spiral starting.

So, today... we both felt I was making some progress but great strides. It is only 3 weeks on the med. She suggested I stick with 10mg for another week and try going up to 15mg. I have mixed feelings on this.

Despite a stressful day, I think I felt stronger than any in the last few months. But, yesterday was a low one. I wish this depression/anxiety had a nice consistent climb. But I guess it isn't like that.

Anyone else here taking lexapro? Any advice? Thanks

[AlexSZfutureRN]

Hey there! I'm sorry to hear you had such a tough winter, but I'm so glad you're getting the help you need. I'm not personally taking Lexapro, but I know of it. What your prescriber is saying makes a lot of sense to me, as this drug is an SSRI that can take a few weeks to get up to therapeutic levels in the blood.

In the meantime, my favorite short-term coping mechanisms are hot drinks, hot showers, & time with the best people in my life. Kudos to you for taking this step; it must be very hard in the face of all you've been dealing with!

[fcjl8 in reply to AlexSZfutureRN]

thanks for your reply... I had meant to write that I was "not making great strides" but some progress.

SSRI seem beneficial but it is hard to say if seratonin is the real issue?

[AlexSZfutureRN in reply to fcjl8]

Well, someone I look up to once told me that depression is an illness of feeling bad, and that anything that makes you feel better without doing you harm might be considered a treatment. If an SSRI makes you feel better, I'd argue that it's successful, whether serotonin is the real issue or not Some of us can make our own neurotransmitters, and others have to buy them at the store.

If you have lots of questions about your drug, might I recommend Medscape? It's easy to understand without medical training and is a great source of objective info.

[BonnieSue]

When you're taking a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor you're necessarily giving your brain more available serotonin. Isn't that what you want? Hopefully your limited progress increases enough to help you feel significantly better by the 6 week point. If it doesn't, there are choices you and your doctor can discuss.

[fcjl8 in reply to BonnieSue]

Thank you for your wise reply. I believe my depression and anxiety is very much brain chemistry related. Long grey winter really has a pronounced effect on me and I can almost feel my body chemistry change.

I have recently begun taking my 10mg of SSRI in the morning as I was concerned it was having a negative effect on my sleep? But, my insomnia might have been more depression related with racing thoughts at night?

I am going to stick with the SSRI for at least 6 weeks. I am praying that these clouds lift...literally and figuritively.

[BonnieSue in reply to fcjl8]

I think that's wise since that's the usual max time limit on an SSRI to show if it's working. The racing thoughts would be attributable to anxiety for which you again were taking the SSRI so you might want to take it at night at bedtime or maybe even an hour prior and see if it makes any difference. Possibly you've already tried that? It's hard to guess which time will have the most beneficial effect on your bedtime vs. the least harmful effect. I think it comes down to actually trying it out.