Little scared to medication!

[mitchell]

I just started taking Lexapro last week and it is already helping a little bit. But it seems like I am more stressed in the morning and start feeling better in the afternoon. Is this how it starts working in some people? I have some Xanax too and sometimes take a half when I feel like I need. I'm hoping there are some people who DON'T have a really bad experience getting off of it. Is there anyone who did not have a lot of problems? I had a bad experience with Zoloft so I was scared to start another drug. Any advice?

Please help!

[veganmomma]

Ask your physician about Lexapro. Not everyone is going to have the same response to the same medication. He/She may have to adjust the time of day you take your medication.

 

Xanax is a benzodiazepine. What dosage and how often are you taking it? If you are taking a benzo or any medication for that matter NEVER stop taking it "cold turkey.'' You have to taper off of benzos slowly/gradually or you may have withdrawl side effects.

 

Are you taking Lexapro for depression and generalized anxiety disorder? Do you exercise regularly?

 

Exercise is beneficial for anyone with or without a mental disorder.

[veganmomma]

Here is an online forum/support group you may want to consider joining for additional support. The members are very supportive. http://www.theicarusproject.net/

 

 

Beware of anti-psychiatry online forums. They may try to convince you to stop taking your medications. Damn Scientologists! http://www.xenu.net/

[veggymeggy]

I've taken drugs in this group both recreationally and for prescribed medical need. For me personally, I had no withdrawal issues or addiction issues. I'd recommend monitoring yourself though until you know how you handle them. Be honest with yourself if you' start to develop a dependency.

[DV]

Mitchell,

 

I'm sorry you are having the problems that have led to a prescription of Xanax, Zoloft and Lexapro. Hopefully, your prescribing physician will also be able to answer some of these questions considering that he/she knows your health history better than we. I hope you start feeling better soon.

[veganmomma]

You should look for natural treatment of asthma. I read a book called asthma free naturally as written by Patrick McKeown. That this book is available online and details the Buteyko breathing method for asthma. He teaches Buteyko Breathing Clinic and many other methods. Have a look at www.asthmacare.ie You would surely be benefited.

Who on this thread discussion has asthma? And who are you to tell some what treatment they should or should not try? And how can you say someone will surely benefit? There is no one treatment modality that works for 100% of the population? You have only made 4 post. Are you here to sell your product?

[HealthyElijah]

I just started taking Lexapro last week and it is already helping a little bit. But it seems like I am more stressed in the morning and start feeling better in the afternoon. Is this how it starts working in some people? I have some Xanax too and sometimes take a half when I feel like I need. I'm hoping there are some people who DON'T have a really bad experience getting off of it. Is there anyone who did not have a lot of problems? I had a bad experience with Zoloft so I was scared to start another drug. Any advice?

Please help!

 

Read Eat To Live and get off the drugs.

[Cthulhu]

I just started taking Lexapro last week and it is already helping a little bit. But it seems like I am more stressed in the morning and start feeling better in the afternoon. Is this how it starts working in some people? I have some Xanax too and sometimes take a half when I feel like I need. I'm hoping there are some people who DON'T have a really bad experience getting off of it. Is there anyone who did not have a lot of problems? I had a bad experience with Zoloft so I was scared to start another drug. Any advice?

Please help!

 

 

My brother took xanax and it basically made him a walking zombie for five years of his life.

Make sure you don't drink ANY alcohol with any of those medications.

 

In the long run, however, I would really look for an alternative to those dangerous medications you're taking because they have some serious side effects including increased depression and diabetes.

About three out the four people I know who have been taking them for over eight years now have ended up with type two diabetes.

This stuff is dangerious. I'd find a safer aletrnative than using those and relying on them the rest of your life. I know it's hard at first- I battled it myself- but you can do it.

 

Believe it or not, research and studies shows that sugar pills actually work just as good, or even better. I'd say give those a try with a few other herbs. If you want more information on that, just PM me.

 

Cheers,

 

Stephen

Edited May 20, 2007 by Cthulhu

[Cthulhu]

You should look for natural treatment of asthma. I read a book called asthma free naturally as written by Patrick McKeown. That this book is available online and details the Buteyko breathing method for asthma. He teaches Buteyko Breathing Clinic and many other methods. Have a look at www.asthmacare.ie You would surely be benefited.

Who on this thread discussion has asthma? And who are you to tell some what treatment they should or should not try? And how can you say someone will surely benefit? There is no one treatment modality that works for 100% of the population? You have only made 4 post. Are you here to sell your product?

 

 

I have asthma and was born with it- or used to have asthma. Ever since I changed my diet it hasn't been as obtrusive as it used to be.

I don't think he is telling him that one treatment is going to help him, but it is worth it to give it a try. If I haden't of branched out and not ignored my doctor, I would of been chained to my steroid asthma inhaler too.

[vegling]

i can sympathize with your struggles. i have run the gamet and then some with meds like that. lexapro worked as an anti-depressant. however, it made me too groggy. lamictal was excellent, but it interfered with sleep. zoloft didn't do anything for me. i currently take seroquel off-label for depression, and i have valium handy if i have an anxiety attack. beware- benzos like valium, xanax, ativan, etc. are extremely addictive. try to only take those when you need them unless your doctor tells you otherwise. above all, don't lose hope because one medication didn't work. treating things like anxiety, depression, and mood disorders is mostly trial and error. everyone reacts differently to these meds. hope that helps...good luck!

 

ps- nothing personal, and i know i'll get flamed for this, but anyone who thinks psychiatric disorders don't require or are not helped by medication, is sadly mistaken. if you aren't affected, then you are truly blessed and i'm happy for you. but please, PLEASE refrain from discouraging ANY possible treatment option, medicinal or otherwise.

[flanders77]

First of all: I am really sorry to hear that you have these problems! I hope you find your way out of this situation.

Concerning your medication: Remember that the reason for your problem is not the defiency of any drug. Suppressing the symptoms is not healing the disorder.

 

treating things like anxiety, depression, and mood disorders is mostly trial and error. everyone reacts differently to these meds.

IMHO medications do not treat or heal any disorders. It is true people suffering disorders can suppress the symptoms by taking prescription drugs. But this should not be seen as a real treatment. When the symptoms are gone there maybe no or little motivation to find the reason of the disorder.

 

ps- nothing personal, and i know i'll get flamed for this, but anyone who thinks psychiatric disorders don't require or are not helped by medication, is sadly mistaken. if you aren't affected, then you are truly blessed and i'm happy for you. but please, PLEASE refrain from discouraging ANY possible treatment option, medicinal or otherwise.

(-nothing personal, too -) Since you also take medication of course you are convinced medication will help and that it is important to take them. From your point of view saying "medication is wrong" would undermine yourself.

Many members of this community have a different opinion towards medication and since mitchell knows this and put his question here he has the right to hear different opinions and to choose what seems to be useful for him.

So please stop telling other members what advice to give or not to give. It is the nature of an online forum that there a different opinions.

[vegling]

First of all: I am really sorry to hear that you have these problems! I hope you find your way out of this situation.

Concerning your medication: Remember that the reason for your problem is not the defiency of any drug. Suppressing the symptoms is not healing the disorder.

 

treating things like anxiety, depression, and mood disorders is mostly trial and error. everyone reacts differently to these meds.

IMHO medications do not treat or heal any disorders. It is true people suffering disorders can suppress the symptoms by taking prescription drugs. But this should not be seen as a real treatment. When the symptoms are gone there maybe no or little motivation to find the reason of the disorder.

 

ps- nothing personal, and i know i'll get flamed for this, but anyone who thinks psychiatric disorders don't require or are not helped by medication, is sadly mistaken. if you aren't affected, then you are truly blessed and i'm happy for you. but please, PLEASE refrain from discouraging ANY possible treatment option, medicinal or otherwise.

(-nothing personal, too -) Since you also take medication of course you are convinced medication will help and that it is important to take them. From your point of view saying "medication is wrong" would undermine yourself.

Many members of this community have a different opinion towards medication and since mitchell knows this and put his question here he has the right to hear different opinions and to choose what seems to be useful for him.

So please stop telling other members what advice to give or not to give. It is the nature of an online forum that there a different opinions.

sorry, i didn't mean to come off sounding like a jerk. i just think there is a big difference between ruling out a treatment option that may or may not work for an individual and offering potentially helpful advice. for example, i would never say something like "don't go to therapy", because while therapy isn't helpful for me, it may be helpful for others. by the same token, i don't think it is fair to say something like, "cut out the meds", because for some people that is the best solution. also, i wasn't telling anyone anything. i was asking. if people choose not to respect that, i'm not going to lose sleep over it. i just thought it would be helpful, that's all.

 

on a separate note, many mental disorders are simply genetic, in the same way HIV is genetic. you could get lucky and dodge the bullet, but if you aren't so lucky, you can treat the illness and/or symptoms. this is true not only for mental disorders, but many other disorders/diseases as well. take psoriasis for example. there is no known cure for it. you can treat the symptoms or live with it.

[flanders77]

I do agree with you that many individuals have genetic predispositions to develope certain illnesses. But there always is another component wether it is behaviour, psychological problems, poluution of the environment, to little sports, unnatural "food", drugs etc.

IMHO if all factors mentioned above are optimized and the illness/disorder is still there – the option of a medical treatment should be considered.

[DrNatural]

Let me say at the outset that I am one of those guys who, on occasion, prescribes these medicines for my patients. But those are very rare cases. There are some people who, despite therapy, exercise, and so on just can't break through their depression or anxiety disorder. These people need some kind of supplement or medicine and I am glad we have it to offer them.

 

But for the most part, patients are (I think) misdiagnosed with mental illness. Our society has lost the differentiation between grief (sadness with a reason) and depression (sadness without a reason). And our medical system supports that because we have turned our care over to our insurance companies. Lexapro is covered (mostly) but therapy rarely is. Quick fixes are economical. But again, thank goodness I have those medicines available to me for those patients who really, really need them.

 

Having said all of that, let me offer what information I can. Lexapro, Zoloft, Prozac, Celexa, etc, are all from the same family of drugs. It's not unusual for people to have some increase in symptoms (particularly anxiety) when they go off the medicine. The drug companies would have you believe that these symptoms are minor but in my experience they can be uncomfortable for the patient and require a weaning period.

 

The benzodiazapine (did you say Xanax?) is a drug I don't use except if a patient comes to me already on the medicine and then I just prescribe enough to do a tapering dose. These drugs are quickly addictive. I am glad to hear you only take it periodically - that's good. But not only do they become addictive, it's well known to every doctor that they also stop working. It sets up this weird thing between the doctor and the patient: the med is less efficacious, the patient starts taking more, the doctor starts getting nervous that the patient is abusing the medicine and that the doctor will lose his or her license, s/he begrudgingly prescribes the higher dose but when that stops working s/he blows his or her top at the patient and accuses the patient of drug seeking. I'd rather steer clear of all of that.

 

As far as going off them cold-turkey as the other post said, well, there is very good wisdom in what the other person said about not doing that if you are taking them regularly. The sudden cessation of this medicine can, in those cases, cause seizures. If, however, you are only taking it periodically and your brain has not accomodated their presence full time, then it is probably safe to go off them.

 

If you are one of those people who have really tried therapy, exercise, etc, and not found it helpful then there are other options to try besides the medicine. Remember that tryptophan cascade? I will try to type it out:

 

Tryptophan <----->Niacin

V

5 Hydroxy Tryptophan

V

Serotonin

V

Melatonin

 

In my clniical experience I have never seen 5 HydroxyTryptophan work. I think we haven't really come up with a bio-identical molecule, and anyway it's very expensive. But I HAVE seen Tryptophan work very well to increase serotonin. Remember that Lexapro works by blocking the uptake of serotonin in the nerve cleft. Tryptophan works by squirting out more serotonin into the nerve cleft. In either case the net result can be the same.

 

My goodness what a long post. Sorry if this is too much. You'd be a fool to chart out your medical treatment based exclusively upon anything you read on an internet bulletin board, but I hope this stimulates you to research all your options and consult with healthcare providers in your area.

[Guest]

Agreed...I think ADHD and similar problems are often just poor self control. All my friends taking medication for ADHD had no problems paying attention to video games or movies...they have have trouble paying attention to things society wants them too like school. I've only met one person in my life that can't pay attention to anything at all...everyone else has just been picky. The person I know that actually has it has to force himself to finish his food otherwise he'll wind up doing something else and wind up getting hungy...he can't do much of anything for more than 10 minutes.

[DrNatural]

Agreed...I think ADHD and similar problems are often just poor self control. All my friends taking medication for ADHD had no problems paying attention to video games or movies...they have have trouble paying attention to things society wants them too like school.

 

Well, uh, you're partly right and partly not right. The way medicine is being practiced has changed so much. It seems like there is a pill for everything now - even problems we never even knew we had. Who would believe the diagnosis of ADHD would take off so fast once there were so many pills for it?

 

The only way in which you might be getting a little off track is when you think of it as "poor self control". It sort of blames the victim and we all need to be careful not to let our alarm and dismay shift the finger of blame away from a system-level problem towards an individual person. Don't let your anger and frustration dilute your compassion. The patient is genuinely suffering and distilling that into poor self control might, um, you know, be a little harsh when I am sure you don't mean to be. I mean, you are vegan after all, aren't you? Ha! Get pissed at the doctor who prescribed the med instead of taking the time to make a more holistic assessment and intervention, and remember the words of Che Guevara (who is not somebody I often think of quoting) when he said "A true revolutionary is guided by deep feelings of love."

[artystik]

Regarding your question if people have experienced problems with pills such as SSRI's and Benzos, listen...

 

My brother was put on Xanax when he was 13. He was doing better until he started abusing them until he lost all of his money and dropped out of college. The doctor has taken him off of this drug due to his highly addictive behavior. For the past 2 years, he has been literally sleeping on his couch in utter despair. He thinks Xanax is the only thing that will save him, even though it destroyed him.

 

In my opinion, it's not too complicated. You have an imbalance either physically or mentally. Maybe your diet isn't up to par. Many vegans think they are healthy just because they vegans, but that isn't reality. If people live on tofu and rice milk, their health will suffer just as much as a meat eater. Maybe you do have a "chemical imbalance" in your brain, but it is more than likely due to a nutrient deficiency.

 

I was on Lexapro for depression and my sex drive went out the window. Because of this, I deeply researched nutrition and started eating much more green vegetables. My depression diminished, snap, like that. The only times I do get emotional is when my brother tells me how hopeless his situation is (he won't take my advice).

 

You may have something wrong with your belief system. There is a great lecture you can listen to by Gary Null here. Based on my life's experience, the best thing that helped me with monkey chatter in my brain is just letting go and let the universe guide you. It may sound strange, but this philosophy is taught in a variety of religions, especially Taoism. This technique has helped me the most out of anything. In my opinion, you can actually cause a lack of serotonin in the brain. If dogs can cause themselves to salivate over the sound of a bell, I guarantee you that a person can inflict brain damage when presented a certain stimulus. By the way, the gut secretes over 95% of the body's serotonin. People don't tell you that, do they? hmmm...

 

I'd use drugs as an absolute last resort. It's only suppressing the symptom and not addressing the cause. There are natural antidepressants out there also, such as 5-htp and L-Tyrosine. Do your best not to feed the pharmaceutical demon . I hope I gave you some insight. All the best.

[DV]

Thanks for posting Artystik. I have a sibling with a definite chemical imbalance and this family member is also vegan. I don't live near her and have no idea what she eats on a daily basis but I'm sure it's not nearly as healthy as my diet. Maybe that would make a difference but I think sometimes people truly need to shock their system with the drugs that are available. I say that as a person with lots of severe mental illness in my husband's extended family. When there's a drug that keeps you from "buying a gun today and killing all of you and myself" versus relying on greens - well, you become a believer in some of the pharmaceuticals on the market! We ARE in the dark ages of medicine and nutrition. If you look at the history of nutrition, so many people died of malnutrition in centuries past that it's laughable to even believe we know much about a healthy diet today. And to think that we can totally control molecular exchange in our brains by controlling molecular exhange in our GI tracts is a far stretch. We're all doing the best we can on partial information.

[DV]

n.

Edited November 16, 2008 by DV

[health freak]

First of all: I am really sorry to hear that you have these problems! I hope you find your way out of this situation.

Concerning your medication: Remember that the reason for your problem is not the defiency of any drug. Suppressing the symptoms is not healing the disorder.

 

IMHO medications do not treat or heal any disorders. It is true people suffering disorders can suppress the symptoms by taking prescription drugs. But this should not be seen as a real treatment. When the symptoms are gone there maybe no or little motivation to find the reason of the disorder.

 

Since you also take medication of course you are convinced medication will help and that it is important to take them. From your point of view saying "medication is wrong" would undermine yourself.

Many members of this community have a different opinion towards medication and since mitchell knows this and put his question here he has the right to hear different opinions and to choose what seems to be useful for him.

So please stop telling other members what advice to give or not to give. It is the nature of an online forum that there a different opinions.

 

WOW! Flanders77, i could not agree more! i had really bad experiences with chemical drugs. I would suggest alternative therapies, herbs, exercise, a healthy diet and so on...