Re: On lexapro, when to expect relief

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Well, truly it can take up to three months at optimal dose to see full effect.

Not very encouraging I know. Everyone is different with how long to see some

benefit. They do say that sometimes it gets worse before better, and this can

actually be a sign that it will have benefit.

Since he is in a new situation, that may contribute to anxiety/OCD ramping up

too, so might be hard to distinguish. Also, just the med switching causes

instability. So, might want to give it at least three weeks to really give it a

chance. If negative effects don't settle by then, consider trying other. I

would go for some stability and not switch again, give it a chance.

Lexapro is just a newer version of celexa though, and I think it might be more

potent at a similar dose. So, you might get him to try a smaller dose to let

his body adjust more slowly. Given all he's been dealing with, the slower the

better. I know they want fast results, but it can end up going the other way

instead. What dose IS he taking?

Since your daughter is doing well with zoloft, it can be an indicator that it

may work for your son too. Usually they start with something another family

member has had results with.

Might consider cymbalta. It is an SNRI (serotonin/norapinephrine). I can't take

an ssri, but can take cymbalta. Apparently it has a more balanced effect,

because it's two neurotranmitters it's targeting. I responded within 24hrs, was

for depression, and it just stopped! I was a mess for a few weeks with side

effects, but invested because I didn't feel depressed anymore!! Then I would

have been content to sit and watch paint dry the rest of my life, had no get up

and go, but was no longer depressed, which was amazing, after years of nothing

working. Took me about two months to feel more like myself, energy-wise.

Our son, on celexa, had positive impact within a day too. But when they started

increasing the dose is when we got into trouble - big trouble.... So, I'm a big

advocate for going slow, so you can see all effects, positive/negative.

Otherwise, how can you know really? Three week intervals for dose changes,

seemed to work well for us.

Last thought. You might want to post to Dr. , our advising psychiatrist.

Might take a while to hear back though, she's really busy most of the time.

Would raise the issue of the marijuana to see what she has to say.

Must be so hard to get the calls from your son and not be close by to try and

help/support. Good that's he's maintaining contact and asking for support, but

hard to get these calls, they can sound so desperate.

Warmly,

Barb

>

> My 20 year old is experiencing severe anxiety and constant thoughts around him

being a bad person. It first started after cheating one time on his gfiend he

has had 4 months. He told her and they are stayign together. But he can't let

this go and now tells me his whole life he has been so selfish and needs to do

good things. He started on Celexa for 7 days. Then pdoc switched him to Lexapro

b/c anxiety and thoughts (told me he thought he was going crazy) were so bad.

Now on 10 mg. Lex. for 10 days. Total about 2 weeks on SSRI. Also, stopped

smoking marij. since this started. Marij. was causing extreme anxiety.

> He started working at a camp that he has worked before at.Started 4 days ago.

No counseling there but has friends there. Texted me yesterday about still no

relief from the anxiety/thoughts. Have been telling him to give it time and try

to " power " through. Trying to be positive but worried myself. How long to give

this med. time. Lex. works for my anxiety. Husband and daughter taking Zoloft

for their anxiety stuff. Daughter maxed out on Celexa. Having better luck with

the zoloft. Any ideas? Thanks.

>

[Guest guest]

I 2nd Barb on the " everyone is different " as to how long to see a med start

working. Which, with your family being on more than one med of same type, guess

you know. With my son on Celexa, we went up a little faster than I wanted but

it was the 16th week when it kicked in well and I could say " yes! " Loved Celexa

for my son. Of course, it was the first/last SSRI we tried.

In general, docs say to trial each SSRI for 12 weeks before trying something

else, so long as no really bad side effects caused.

They do say that OCD may increase when beginning an SSRI and that is often a

sign that the med will work well on the OCD, should settle down.

From what I've read from some others who have mentioned marijuana use, some felt

it helped, but I've read more say it did help but was like the OCD came back

worse? so they felt better stopping it (tho still dealing with OCD). Again -

just have to go by how one feels when using. Though using with an SSRI too

(which you said he isn't) might make either worse or not work as well...and that

is just a passing thought of my own, nothing I read.

Hope he can work through the thoughts!

>

> Hi ,

>

> Well, truly it can take up to three months at optimal dose to see full effect.

Not very encouraging I know. Everyone is different with how long to see some

benefit. They do say that sometimes it gets worse before better, and this can

actually be a sign that it will have benefit.

>

>

[Guest guest]

I would give any med about a month before switching to something else.

Also, ask your doc to increase the dosage before switching. I started

Lexapro a few years back and didn't get results until I was on 20mg - but then

it

worked GREAT for me. I weaned off of it after a few years (again, going

on or off a med like this, the key to success is SLLOOWWWLY... increase or

decrease mg's a little at a time and only change dosage about 3 weeks apart

so the body has a good time period to adjust to any change.

Good luck to you & yours.

LT

In a message dated 6/11/2012 6:45:47 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

kellylinzy@... writes:

My 20 year old is experiencing severe anxiety and constant thoughts around

him being a bad person. It first started after cheating one time on his

gfiend he has had 4 months. He told her and they are stayign together. But he

can't let this go and now tells me his whole life he has been so selfish

and needs to do good things. He started on Celexa for 7 days. Then pdoc

switched him to Lexapro b/c anxiety and thoughts (told me he thought he was

going crazy) were so bad. Now on 10 mg. Lex. for 10 days. Total about 2 weeks

on SSRI. Also, stopped smoking marij. since this started. Marij. was

causing extreme anxiety.

He started working at a camp that he has worked before at.Started 4 days

ago. No counseling there but has friends there. Texted me yesterday about

still no relief from the anxiety/thoughts. Have been telling him to give it

time and try to " power " through. Trying to be positive but worried myself.

How long to give this med. time. Lex. works for my anxiety. Husband and

daughter taking Zoloft for their anxiety stuff. Daughter maxed out on Celexa.

Having better luck with the zoloft. Any ideas? Thanks.

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[Guest guest]

No ideas, but I second your advice - hanging in there and powering through is

an adult skill that he is growing in, and this is a great opportunity. Letting

him know we all have days and weeks and even months of deeply depressing

thoughts that we hang in there with, and as we put in better inputs - as he is

doing with the camp work, the girlfriend, the mom , etc., slowly the balance

shifts. Sometimes it's just a very long ERP.

Also doing some self-talking - so what if the thoughts say I'm a bad person? Mom

doesn't think so. Neither does girlfriend or camp friends. Okay, who wins? The

other issue - yeah, he did something bad, but does he believe in forgiveness?

Can he be forgiven or is he different from everyone else in the world? That's

good if he wants to do good things now. I guess it proves he's not such a bad

person after all.

He may not agree with what you tell him, but I think this kind of talk gets in

there somewhere if it's repeated often enough.

Rhonda

On lexapro, when to expect relief

My 20 year old is experiencing severe anxiety and constant thoughts around him

being a bad person. It first started after cheating one time on his gfiend he

has had 4 months. He told her and they are stayign together. But he can't let

this go and now tells me his whole life he has been so selfish and needs to do

good things. He started on Celexa for 7 days. Then pdoc switched him to Lexapro

b/c anxiety and thoughts (told me he thought he was going crazy) were so bad.

Now on 10 mg. Lex. for 10 days. Total about 2 weeks on SSRI. Also, stopped

smoking marij. since this started. Marij. was causing extreme anxiety.

He started working at a camp that he has worked before at.Started 4 days ago.

No counseling there but has friends there. Texted me yesterday about still no

relief from the anxiety/thoughts. Have been telling him to give it time and try

to " power " through. Trying to be positive but worried myself. How long to give

this med. time. Lex. works for my anxiety. Husband and daughter taking Zoloft

for their anxiety stuff. Daughter maxed out on Celexa. Having better luck with

the zoloft. Any ideas? Thanks.

[Guest guest]

Rhonda,I love the idea of his being at camp as a very long ERP. I feel that way

when I am at work. I have talked to him about forgiveness. I understand the

difficulty of forgiving the self but told him that it would allow him to move on

and not be so stuck. He is on a staff canoe trip now and then we leave for Cal

tomorrow. Next time we connect, I think I will tell him to talk to the minister

at the camp. I know he is there on Sun. and maybe he could help him with the bad

person stuff.

I know that I am worried b/c of my other son, , who was diag. with BP in

Jan. He must have had it a while but must have been more hypomanic. He channeled

it into multiple academic stuff. This other son, Sam, channeled his energy into

sport, drinking, partying, marij. Just don't want Sam to become psychotic or

extreme like did. Always blaming myself that I didn't catch it sooner with

. though with Sam I think he would go into deep depression.

Anyway, I am looking forward to this short break away.

>

> No ideas, but I second your advice - hanging in there and powering through is

an adult skill that he is growing in, and this is a great opportunity. Letting

him know we all have days and weeks and even months of deeply depressing

thoughts that we hang in there with, and as we put in better inputs - as he is

doing with the camp work, the girlfriend, the mom , etc., slowly the balance

shifts. Sometimes it's just a very long ERP.

>

> Rhonda

>

>

> On lexapro, when to expect relief

>

>

>

> My 20 year old is experiencing severe anxiety and constant thoughts around

him being a bad person. It first started after cheating one time on his gfiend

he has had 4 months. He told her and they are stayign together. But he can't let

this go and now tells me his whole life he has been so selfish and needs to do

good things. He started on Cel

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

, I saw this post on www.71sunny.blogspot.com and thought of you and son!

Hope you are having a glorious time in Cal!

" So how did I get over this horrible guilt? By finally believing my

psychologist. It was as simple as that. Crazy, huh? She kept repeating, over and

over again, that guilt changed absolutely nothing. Guilt was only serving to

keep me ill. It was tying me down in such a way that I simply could not move

forward with my life. Eventually, I made the conscious decision to let myself

off the hook, despite the fact that I didn't think I deserved it. Actually, I

knew I didn't deserve it, but that was no longer the point. I had too much

healing left to do and the guilt was blocking my recovery. I could think of no

better way to honor my loved ones and to make up for the past, than with my

recovery. I realized that even though my child was grown and out of the house, I

continued to be a parent. I still had lessons to impart. The most important one

being that change is possible and that we don't have to be chained to who we

were. "

Rhonda

On lexapro, when to expect relief

>

>

>

> My 20 year old is experiencing severe anxiety and constant thoughts around

him being a bad person. It first started after cheating one time on his gfiend

he has had 4 months. He told her and they are stayign together. But he can't let

this go and now tells me his whole life he has been so selfish and needs to do

good things. He started on Cel

>

>

>

>

>

>