Quote:
Originally Posted by nhojttennits  I just finished a 12 week double blind pfizer drug study for GAD and whatever I was taking was awesome. My anxiety was COMPLETELY gone during the study as if I was a new person. When the study was nearing the end my doc said I was probably tapering off but I never experienced any side effects other than the onset of my anxiety again. I told him I would love to take something close to the study meds so he prescribed 10 mg lexapro.
So now I'm on day 3 of taking Lexapro and am scared to continue after reading some of the stories on here. I have a few questions:
Why are you stopping?
Is it because of the weight gain? or because you don't want to be on meds for the rest of your life?
Does everyone gain weight from it?
How effective was it in handling your anxiety?
Is the withdrawal worse the longer you take it?
Thanks! |
Hi. Yes, Lexapro works at first, but it screws up your brain's normal functions over time, giving you worse problems than you began with. The majority of people do gain weight on the drug. I went from a 127 pound size 4/6 to a 165 pound size 12 in 5 months. The drug is extremely difficult to get off of. Doctors recommend a taper of about 3 months which leaves people with horrible side effects. I tapered much slower from July '07 until April '08. Once off the drug, it can take up to 18 months for your brain to heal and you to return to normal. The nervous system is hypersensitive during this time and normal life stuff is extremely hard to deal with.
I have been off the drug for one month and am experiencing a lot of depersonalization, depression and fatigue. I had none of these before the drug. I was put on it for a mild case of insomnia. Big mistake. The 40 pound weight gain is not budging in spite of regular exercise and healthy eating. This drug changed my life for the worse. It is dangerous to manipulate the brain this way. It will be a year or so before I am my old energetic thin self again. What a mistake I made.