Lexapro?

[Furch]

Ok: My wife's sister who has Gastroparesis but not suspected related PD had some anxiety, which considering she has dealt with this for over 30+ along with other close family illness. So she was placed on lexapro. After about 2 weeks she developed PD like symptoms as well as increased heartrate and general pain and discomfort. With her medical background she questioned if these changes were related to the Lexapro. Yes it was and she discontinued the Lexapro and she has since returned to her pre-lexapro status. In her research she found several reports of Lexapro related to PD like symptoms and other neurological changes. So just so happens my wife who has been diagnosed about 6 yrs with PD had her Lexapro increased about 6 weeks ago and she has had 4 falls since. We were just accepting the likelihood of the disease having its way and getting worse. So has anyone had any experience with Lexapro. I intend to slowly wean her if I can get her doctor to agree and consider.Thanks

[MBAnderson]

You seem pretty clear it has caused serious side effects. What if the doctor doesn't agree?

[Furch in reply to MBAnderson]

I guess I will cross that bridge if we cone to it. When it comes to Neurologist they are scarce and a movement specialist is rare around here eventhough we live around a major medical system. So have to be a bit more gentle when we have our evey 4 mth visits.

[radpooz]

I'm a caretaker, have no PD. I've taken lexapro for years, & it does cause me to have tremors. I'm now taking the smallest dose possible, have fewer tremors but still have some. Over the years I've tried to d/c lexapro, the tremors disappear.

[Furch in reply to radpooz]

Yes: Weaning off lexapro is not an easy task. It can take a lot of time for some. I myself have been on Lexapro for years. I pre-pour my meds and by some strange way I missed my lexapro for a month I actually ended up with hypertension vertigo and a nervous wreck. Then when I realized what was happening I restarted it again and it was also not very comfortable. But I really believe that her lexapro may very well be a cause of her condition changes, or perhaps it's just wishful thinking. Thanks for the response and replies.

[CheriAlli23]

Hi Furch,

I find your post very interesting. My husband with Parkinson’s (diagnosed 3 years ago) has been taking Lexapro (30mg/day) off and on for 20 years. He has also used several other antipsychotics to treat his bipolar depression (in later years has been told that he probably just has depression).

I’ve always surmised that these meds were, while helping him somewhat, were doing more harm than good but we had little choice.

His PD seemed to follow a period of testing him on various drugs from same class of meds (abilify, seroquel, latuda, geodon, etc.) that did not work for him. In recent years he’s gone back on Lexapro.

When asked about possible “Parkinsonism” (PD from meds) he was given a DAT scan where they arrived at the conclusion that he has Parkinsons disease not Parkinsonism. I still question that…

I would be interested to hear if anyone has tried CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) or any other kind of therapy for anxiety/depression. I feel that we cannot just stop or wean off meds that he is taking (Lexapro and Gabapentin). I would love to find something that is non-pharmacological.

[BAK524 in reply to CheriAlli23]

You may want to look into transcranial magnetic stimulation. It helped with my my PD anxiety.

[CheriAlli23 in reply to BAK524]

thanks. we will look into that!