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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Joslynn on December 14, 2004, at 21:25:49
I have a question. I have been on 10 mgs of Lexapro and several months ago, I went down to 5 mgs, something I had been wanting to try for a while. I didn't crash, but after several weeks, I did feel a little depression breaking through, so I got nervous and went back up to 10. (This was all under pdoc supervision. I could tell he didn't really want me to reduce, but it's something I wanted to try.)
Anyway, I went back up to my usual dose of 10 and was at that level for, hmm, I think about six weeks. I felt better.
Then, I had something very painful happen in my personal life and felt a sense of abandonment. This is a big trigger for me and I crashed, had another severe episdoe of depression, and had to take off a couple weeks of work. It was serious. I went back on Remeron for a while, tapered off that and stayed on my regular 10 mg Lexapro dose.
So, here I am three months after the crash and I feel good.
My question is, could tapering off the Lexapro have contributed to the crash, even though I had been back up to my normal dose or about six weeks before the crash occurred? Or was that just a coincidence?
I was feeling fine one day, then I had the personal crisis, then I crashed.
I wonder, was it all just situational, or remnants of having reduced the meds previously???
Does anyone have any ideas? thanks.
Posted by anxiety_free on December 14, 2004, at 22:02:26
In reply to reducing meds, then upping dose, THEN relapse?, posted by Joslynn on December 14, 2004, at 21:25:49
Personally, I think your crash was situational, and the lexapro dosages had little or nothing to do with it. Some people do find that when you reduce or stop taking an anti-depressant, and then resume taking it, the anti-depressant either doesn't work, or doesn't work as well. This happened to me: I took 20mgs paxil, quit, went back on at 30mgs, and it flat out failed. But in your case, the lexapro WAS working, so I think your problems were situational. Also, the lexapro just may not have had enough oooomph to keep you level during your crisis. You wrote that you went on remeron and felt better. Well, remeron hits a number of receptors and affects a number of neurotransmitters, while lexapro is basically a high powered serotonin drug. My guess would be that your crisis threw a lot of things out of whack, not just serotonin, so you needed a multi-neurotransmitter drug like remeron to stabilize. Just a guess.
Posted by Joslynn on December 14, 2004, at 22:36:30
In reply to Re: rashing, posted by anxiety_free on December 14, 2004, at 22:02:26
You know, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks!
yeah the remeron did seem to knock things back into place relatively quickly. I stayed on it for two months, then starting eating everything in creation, so I tapered off. I am ok now without Remeron, just on the lex. I'm glad Remeron is always out there though if I need that kind of kickstart again. It helped me with another episode I had three years ago. Too bad about the appetite thing.
Thanks for the speedy response.
This is the end of the thread.
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