All about Lexapro

,
and I have a little bit information on my web
http://alltoxoplasma.blogspot.com/

Hello all, I am new to the board. My insurance won’t pay for Lexapro,
but will pay for Citalopram. I was wondering what differences there
are between the two. I have been having really good luck with the
Lexapro, but am almost out of my samples. I’d love any information
about experiences switching from one to the other. I am nervous to
switch b/c this is my first time on AD’s and I don’t know what to
expect.
Thanks,
Julie

I’m now able to delete SPAM messages. Thank goodness.
Barbara

I am unable to delete the SPAM message. I’ve been trying since last
night. I’m getting some weird error messages. I’ve contacted support
but don’t anyone hold their breath.
So I apologize for the trash still being on the message board. Barbara

Has anyone with Bipolar depression tried this med, and if so, what was
your experience?
Did you have a great deal of anxiety with it initially and/or did it
dissipate over time?
thanks
Robin

There are many good articles here.
http://psychcentral.com/news/2007/05/30/brain-response-to-anxiety/
Brain Response to Anxiety
By: Psych Central News Editor
on Wednesday, May, 30, 2007
Reviewed by: John M. Grohol, Psy.D.
on Wednesday, May, 30, 2007
Anxiety disorders are a common psychiatric condition with nearly a dozen
different disorders classified in medical literature. New research finds
differing patterns of brain activity associated with each of two types of
anxiety: anxious apprehension (verbal rumination, worry) and anxious arousal
(intense fear, panic, or both).
The discovery may lead to improved treatment protocols as currently most of the
anxiety disorders receive similar therapies.
The study by University of Illinois researchers appears this month online in
Psychophysiology.
“This study looks at two facets of anxiety that often are not distinguished,”
said U. of I. psychology professor Gregory A. Miller, co-principal investigator
on the study with psychology professor Wendy Heller.
“We had reason to think there were different brain mechanisms, different parts
of the brain active at different times, depending on what type of anxiety one is
facing.”
According to a recent national survey, anxiety disorders are the most commonly
reported psychiatric disorders in the U.S. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
of Mental Disorders classifies nearly a dozen different anxiety disorders, from
acute stress disorder to obsessive-compulsive disorder to panic attack and PTSD.
But those who study and treat patients with anxiety disorders do not always
differentiate the patients who worry, fret and ruminate from those who
experience the panic, rapid heartbeat or bouts of sweating that characterize
anxious arousal.
These two kinds of anxiety may occur alone or in combination, with potentially
important implications for treatment.
To test whether neural activation patterns supported the hypothesis that these
two categories of anxiety are distinct, the researchers selected 42 subjects
from a pool of 1,099 undergraduate college students, using psychological tests
to categorize them as “high anxious apprehension,” “high anxious arousal,” or
neither.
Other psychological assessments standardized the pool of participants by
removing those with mood disorders or other complicating factors.
The researchers used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to map the
brain areas with heightened neural activity during a variety of psychological
probes.
As the researchers had predicted, the anxious apprehension group exhibited
enhanced left-brain activity and the anxious arousal group had heightened
activity in the right brain.
The anxious apprehension group showed increased activity in a region of the left
inferior frontal lobe that is associated with speech production. The anxious
arousal group had more activity in a region of the right-hemisphere inferior
temporal lobe that is believed to be involved in tracking and responding to
information signaling danger.
Other studies using electroencephalographic (EEG) methods had found that
patients diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive
disorder had heightened activity in the left brain, whereas patients with panic
disorder, panic symptoms or those subjected to high stress situations exhibited
enhanced activity in the right hemisphere.
This is the first study, however, to localize the affected regions to identify
areas within each hemisphere that seem to matter.
Miller stressed the importance of a related finding: The researchers
distinguished the left-brain region involved in anxious apprehension from a
nearby structure that is associated with positive emotional processing.
“Left and right is not the only distinction we made,” Miller said. “We did
left/right comparisons with groups, but we also did comparisons within the left
hemisphere to show that these different areas are doing different things.”
“This is biological validation of the proposal of the psychological
differentiation of types of anxiety,” Miller said.
“Whether you want to treat anxiety psychologically or biologically - and we know
that either type of intervention affects both the psychology and the biology of
the person - these findings are a reminder that you might want to assess people
carefully before you embark on a particular type of treatment.”

Hi Everyone,
My name is Lisa. I am 48 yrs old and have struggled with depression
on and off most of my life.
I have been on Lexapro for the past 8 months (10 mg for the first 6
months, and now 20 mg for the last 2 months). While it did greatly
lessen the “sadness”, I feel very tired all the time, no energy or
motiviation to do anything. I just want to sleep — I have no
interest in life.
My doctor just added Wellbutrin. She said it may help “kick start”
me in the morning, and if it works out that way, she will begin
increasing the Wellbutrin and decrease the Lexapro.
I started the Wellbutrin one week ago. I can’t really say that I
feel a difference yet.
I’d be interested in any feedback or experiences that you have had
with adding Wellbutrin to your Lexapro.
Thanks -
Lisa

So after being on 10mg of Lexapro for a good 3 months or so, I started
to ween myself off it.
For about a month I would take just 5mg a day. Then for 2 weeks or so I
did 2.5 MG’s a day.
I haven’t taken any Lexapro in about 2 weeks I think. Things have been
good…
The one thing I wanted to ask about, is if anyone knows if Lexapro has
any sort of longterm side effects I guess you could say.
Since it does screw with your brain chemistry (and it is a drug)
couldn’t it have permanent effects to your brain chemistry?

I’ve been on Lexapro for three months now, along with Resperdol, for
Bipolar Depression. I started on one 10 mg. pill per day. In month two,
this was raised to 20 mgs., and for the last three weeks I have been on
30 mgs.
I have had some gradual improvement in my depression, but nothing
dramatic. I am wondering where I am in the range for the dosages used
for this drug. In practical usage, which often exceeds the
manufacturer’s recommended target dosage, how high do most
psychiatrists go with Lexapro? At 30 mgs. and limited improvement, do I
still have a ways to go with this drug?
Thanks,
B. McDonald

Kevin Porter From: “Tim Kearney” Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 16:15:11 -0000
Subject: [rugbyfanatics] If you work out, or even if not…..
The FDA is about to promulgate* a rule whereby all natural
supplements and substances, including water in some cases, will
become regulated drugs which you will be able to obtain only by
prescription from an allopathic doctor
(an M. D.) Your right to treat yourself, take what you want when
you want, to control your own body in this way will be violated.
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55403
This is quite an emergency. We need to call our Congresspersons
and Senators quickly to stop this–and it absolutely has to be stopped.
All individual choice and natural treatment options will be gone
if this rule goes into effect. The supplement industry that millions
depend on for their health will go out of business almost overnight.
The only supplements available then will be ones made by
pharmaceutical companies, and will likely be of extremely poor quality.
Even if the rule goes into effect, Congress can pass a law
overturning it at any time, so it’s still very much worth
contacting your representatives in Washington, as well as President Bush.
There is a link to an FDA comment form in the news story above, but
folks have written back saying it won’t allow them to enter the case
docket number.
so they were not able to use it.
The best bet is to call Congress and the President to let them know
the American people do not want this.
Call YOUR Congressman
at 866 340-9281
1-800-833-6354
1-877-762-8762
1-866-808-0065
1-888-355-3588
1-866-220-0044
NOW!
Call the President
at 202 456-1111
NOW!
You can also use this JBS link to send a message:
Find Your Elected Officials and
send a message from this web page:
http://capwiz.com/jbs/home/
Sample letter or email to Congress–feel free to cut, paste, and
insert in the form, or your own letter:
Dear Senator/Congressperson:
The FDA is about to promulgate* a rule whereby all natural
supplements and substances, including water in some cases, will
become regulated drugs which we will be able to obtain only by
prescription from an allopathic doctor
(an M. D.) Our right to treat ourselves, take what we want when
we want, to control our own body in this way will be violated.
This is quite an emergency, and it absolutely has to be stopped.
The case docket number is 2006D-0480
All individual choice and natural treatment options will be gone
if this rule goes into effect. The supplement industry that millions
depend on for natural health options will go out of business almost
overnight.
The supplements available then will only be ones made by
pharmaceutical companies, and will likely be of extremely poor quality.
Even if the rule goes into effect, Congress can pass a law
overturning it at any time. I ask that you introduce legislation
to stop the FDA from doing this, now or ever.
Sincerely,
(your name)