[jca1928]

Hi all just wanted to post a quick update. i havent posted much latly because my eyes are bugging me lot and get bad headaches if i'm front of the pc to long. not much has changed since the last time i posted. most days are still realy tuff to get through. ive been thinking that i mite start a slow taper off of the 5mg of lex that ive taking. ive been back on this damn drug since the end of march. i'm not able to get my hands on the liquide lex so i'm going to try fileing my pills down with a fingernail file a little bit at time. and see how it goes not sure what i'm going to do though when they get realy small. I would be gratfull for any ones thoughts on this. thanks AJ

[hope for the best]

Originally Posted by jca1928

Hi all just wanted to post a quick update. i havent posted much latly because my eyes are bugging me lot and get bad headaches if i'm front of the pc to long. not much has changed since the last time i posted. most days are still realy tuff to get through. ive been thinking that i mite start a slow taper off of the 5mg of lex that ive taking. ive been back on this damn drug since the end of march. i'm not able to get my hands on the liquide lex so i'm going to try fileing my pills down with a fingernail file a little bit at time. and see how it goes not sure what i'm going to do though when they get realy small. I would be gratfull for any ones thoughts on this. thanks AJ

I can tell you what we did with my daughter's pills in order to get small doses. First I got some empty gelatin capsules. Then on a piece of paper I measured out with a ruler and marked in pen small increments (I did 20 increments). Then I crushed a tablet and spread the powder in a long even line along the marks on the paper. It was just a matter then of taking however large a dose and carefully putting it in the capsule. I used a razor blade and an index card to move the powder around.

A 10 mg tablet spread out over the 20 increment line would give ½ mg portions, a 5 mg tablet would give ¼ mg portions spread over the 20 increment line. With a little practice (I practiced on aspirin) it wasn't hard to do and seemed quite accurate as long as the line of powder was pretty even. It worked well for her.

Best of luck!

[jca1928]

Originally Posted by hope for the best

I can tell you what we did with my daughter's pills in order to get small doses. First I got some empty gelatin capsules. Then on a piece of paper I measured out with a ruler and marked in pen small increments (I did 20 increments). Then I crushed a tablet and spread the powder in a long even line along the marks on the paper. It was just a matter then of taking however large a dose and carefully putting it in the capsule. I used a razor blade and an index card to move the powder around.

A 10 mg tablet spread out over the 20 increment line would give ½ mg portions, a 5 mg tablet would give ¼ mg portions spread over the 20 increment line. With a little practice (I practiced on aspirin) it wasn't hard to do and seemed quite accurate as long as the line of powder was pretty even. It worked well for her.

Best of luck!

thank you for the tip i'll have to give it a try ive been cutting 10mg tabs in half to get the 5mg. ive done this for as long as ive been on lex for the most part so there already prity small. ware did you find empty gel caps? thanks very much AJ

[hope for the best]

Originally Posted by jca1928

thank you for the tip i'll have to give it a try ive been cutting 10mg tabs in half to get the 5mg. ive done this for as long as ive been on lex for the most part so there already prity small. ware did you find empty gel caps? thanks very much AJ

I found them at the local health food store but I think you can probably get them at many drug stores. Actually, we had some capsules of some barley green (recommended for Lex withdrawal) that I got for her to try but she only used once or twice so sometimes I emptied those out to use.

I know some people crush the pills and mix them in juice, pouring out however much they have to to lower the dose but since our insurance wouldn't pay for her Lex (and it was over $100 for (30) 10mg tablets) I couldn't afford to throw it away. I've heard mixed results with the lex liquid so this seemed like a good way to try and she was able to taper off with very minimal withdrawal. She's been off almost 7 weeks and so far is doing fine. She did take supplements before she started tapering and through the process which I think probably helped.

It wasn't all smooth sailing but it was do-able.

[auntybiotic]

Originally Posted by hope for the best

I can tell you what we did with my daughter's pills in order to get small doses. First I got some empty gelatin capsules. Then on a piece of paper I measured out with a ruler and marked in pen small increments (I did 20 increments). Then I crushed a tablet and spread the powder in a long even line along the marks on the paper. It was just a matter then of taking however large a dose and carefully putting it in the capsule. I used a razor blade and an index card to move the powder around.

A 10 mg tablet spread out over the 20 increment line would give ½ mg portions, a 5 mg tablet would give ¼ mg portions spread over the 20 increment line. With a little practice (I practiced on aspirin) it wasn't hard to do and seemed quite accurate as long as the line of powder was pretty even. It worked well for her.

Best of luck!

I was wondering if you can tell me what treatment your daughter recieved for the lyme disease, and for how long. What kind of testing diagnosed it?
Thanks,

[hope for the best]

Originally Posted by auntybiotic

I was wondering if you can tell me what treatment your daughter recieved for the lyme disease, and for how long. What kind of testing diagnosed it?
Thanks,

I can only say possible lyme, it's a long story and I don't remember all of it exactly because it's been confusing but here it is if you want to know. My daughter became ill with a flu like something while in France Jan 2007. She was still sick though somewhat better when she returned after 2½ weeks there so we thought she would continue to improve. After she was home a week or two she was running a fever again so we went to the doctor but no diagnosis, they just assumed she had flu and suggested it might be true influenza. She improved somewhat after awhile but wasn't really better so in March she was back at the doctor where they ran more tests, one came back possibly positive for Lyme so they sent for further testing. What they said was that while it "looked like a positive Lyme test" they didn't think it was. She did have a badly infected throat (not strep though) so they treated with doxycycline for 2 weeks. I just don't remember what the test was because it's been so long.

Over the next months she started to suffer from anxiety and depression which was totally un-like her. She went from being on the deans list at college to flunking her classes because she couldn't concentrate. We thought she'd do better as her physical symptoms improved but the mental ones kept getting worse little by little. Finally in Oct 2007 I took her back to the doctor in hopes of finding out why the illness she'd had so long before had been causing her so many problems. They ran some routine blood work and said that her depression/anxiety needed to be treated no matter what the cause and that's when the Lexapro came in.

I wasn't satisfied with just that, I had her test results from March sent and took her to an infectious disease specialist who basically said that because all her current symptoms were "mental not physical" there was nothing he could test for but that she'd had a positive Lyme test in March, he assured us it had been positive. He ran another Lyme test that came back negative, I don't remember which one.

I made an appointment to see a psychiatrist to oversee her meds, not trusting the GP all that much. It was the psychiatrist that recognized her symptoms as Lyme related especially because of her positive earlier test. Had we known in March that the test really was positive we certainly would have followed up the 2 weeks of antibiotics but we just didn't know.

The psychiatrist treated her with 30 days of doxycycline in Dec 2007 and she improved a great deal during that time. Unfortunately she was also on Lex so it was hard to know if it was the Lex or the Doxy.

She has had an additional 30 days on Doxy in June 2008 while tapering off Lex. She is now off Lex and doing very well. We don't really know if she really had Lymes or if it was just a nasty virus with long lasting results.

I know it's a long story but it's been a really confusing journey that I hope is about over. If she has more problems I think we'll have to find a good Lyme Literate doctor. The best one in the area isn't taking new patients.

[adoan]

Originally Posted by auntybiotic

Does anyone have any experience from withdrawaing from Lexapro 20 Mg for one and a half years?? My daughter is having a tough time tapering off lexapro.
She is getting sweats, anxiety, moodieness and manic like actions.

Let me know if anyone has sucessfully weaned off a SSRI and what happened along the way.
Thanks

How long did your daughter spend time to taper off? She took the drug for 1 year, it may take her a few months to taper down. She should restart 20mg daily again and after one week, take 20mg every other day while she take 10mg every other day. Then next week she can take 10mg daily for one week, then she will take 10mg every other week, then 5mg every other week for 1 week. Then the next coming week, she can take 5 mg daily for one week. Then after that she can take 5mg every other week and 2.5mg every other week. Then she continue 2.5mg daily for one week, then 2.5mg every other day for one week. Then stop. If she still feels uncomfortable go back to 5mg and 2.5mg every other day again and taper down like that for a while before take off completely. Good luck to your daughter. If it works, please post. She should have strength and courage and faith in God to help herself to get away from any drug addiction.

[auntybiotic]

Originally Posted by hope for the best

I can only say possible lyme, it's a long story and I don't remember all of it exactly because it's been confusing but here it is if you want to know. My daughter became ill with a flu like something while in France Jan 2007. She was still sick though somewhat better when she returned after 2½ weeks there so we thought she would continue to improve. After she was home a week or two she was running a fever again so we went to the doctor but no diagnosis, they just assumed she had flu and suggested it might be true influenza. She improved somewhat after awhile but wasn't really better so in March she was back at the doctor where they ran more tests, one came back possibly positive for Lyme so they sent for further testing. What they said was that while it "looked like a positive Lyme test" they didn't think it was. She did have a badly infected throat (not strep though) so they treated with doxycycline for 2 weeks. I just don't remember what the test was because it's been so long.

Over the next months she started to suffer from anxiety and depression which was totally un-like her. She went from being on the deans list at college to flunking her classes because she couldn't concentrate. We thought she'd do better as her physical symptoms improved but the mental ones kept getting worse little by little. Finally in Oct 2007 I took her back to the doctor in hopes of finding out why the illness she'd had so long before had been causing her so many problems. They ran some routine blood work and said that her depression/anxiety needed to be treated no matter what the cause and that's when the Lexapro came in.

I wasn't satisfied with just that, I had her test results from March sent and took her to an infectious disease specialist who basically said that because all her current symptoms were "mental not physical" there was nothing he could test for but that she'd had a positive Lyme test in March, he assured us it had been positive. He ran another Lyme test that came back negative, I don't remember which one.

I made an appointment to see a psychiatrist to oversee her meds, not trusting the GP all that much. It was the psychiatrist that recognized her symptoms as Lyme related especially because of her positive earlier test. Had we known in March that the test really was positive we certainly would have followed up the 2 weeks of antibiotics but we just didn't know.

The psychiatrist treated her with 30 days of doxycycline in Dec 2007 and she improved a great deal during that time. Unfortunately she was also on Lex so it was hard to know if it was the Lex or the Doxy.

She has had an additional 30 days on Doxy in June 2008 while tapering off Lex. She is now off Lex and doing very well. We don't really know if she really had Lymes or if it was just a nasty virus with long lasting results.

I know it's a long story but it's been a really confusing journey that I hope is about over. If she has more problems I think we'll have to find a good Lyme Literate doctor. The best one in the area isn't taking new patients.

Thanks for the update. What area are you from? The best lyme literate doctor is in New Haven, CT. Dr. Charles ray Jones..he is the best. What dose of doxy was she on for the 30 days?

My daughter also has lyme disease.

aunty

[hope for the best]

Originally Posted by auntybiotic

Thanks for the update. What area are you from? The best lyme literate doctor is in New Haven, CT. Dr. Charles ray Jones..he is the best. What dose of doxy was she on for the 30 days?

My daughter also has lyme disease.

aunty

I'm so sorry to hear your daughter has this on top of her terrible Lex withdrawal. We live in Virginia about one hour out of Washington DC in a semi-rural area. My daughter doesn't know if she had a tick bite though was outside quite a bit and while many would think it unlikely to be exposed to ticks in the winter, around here all it takes is a few warm days to get them active and we did have warm weather during the weeks before she became ill. I pick deer ticks off year round from a stray cat that comes by to eat so I know they are out there. One of my cats is indoor/outdoor so that's another possible route of exposure. I myself usually have several deer tick bites a year even though I'm careful and just last month I had a dozen or more bites while working on a building project in our woods. (They were the tiniest ticks, they were very hard to find without magnification.) Of course Lyme is a problem in France too and it was warm part of the time she was there and she was outside in the countryside so who knows.

Anyway, she was on Doxy 100 mg twice a day. I will add that she is 5' tall and dropped down to 82 lbs (possibly less) from her usual 92-95 lbs while she was really bad so she is a tiny thing. During the first 30 day treatment she seemed to have Herxheimer reaction and possibly but to a much less extent also during her second 30 days but because she was tapering Lex too it's hard to know for sure.

It's been very frustrating trying to deal with the doctors who seem to be in disagreement on Lyme symptoms, test results and treatment. We were so lucky to find a pdoc that has Lyme patients in her practice so knows what has worked for them. She says most of her patients with Lyme will respond to Doxy and sometimes they just need occasional retreatment if their symptoms (anxiety, lack of concentration, depression etc.) act up.

I hope your daughter is finding treatment that is working for her.

[auntybiotic]

Originally Posted by hope for the best

I'm so sorry to hear your daughter has this on top of her terrible Lex withdrawal. We live in Virginia about one hour out of Washington DC in a semi-rural area. My daughter doesn't know if she had a tick bite though was outside quite a bit and while many would think it unlikely to be exposed to ticks in the winter, around here all it takes is a few warm days to get them active and we did have warm weather during the weeks before she became ill. I pick deer ticks off year round from a stray cat that comes by to eat so I know they are out there. One of my cats is indoor/outdoor so that's another possible route of exposure. I myself usually have several deer tick bites a year even though I'm careful and just last month I had a dozen or more bites while working on a building project in our woods. (They were the tiniest ticks, they were very hard to find without magnification.) Of course Lyme is a problem in France too and it was warm part of the time she was there and she was outside in the countryside so who knows.

Anyway, she was on Doxy 100 mg twice a day. I will add that she is 5' tall and dropped down to 82 lbs (possibly less) from her usual 92-95 lbs while she was really bad so she is a tiny thing. During the first 30 day treatment she seemed to have Herxheimer reaction and possibly but to a much less extent also during her second 30 days but because she was tapering Lex too it's hard to know for sure.

It's been very frustrating trying to deal with the doctors who seem to be in disagreement on Lyme symptoms, test results and treatment. We were so lucky to find a pdoc that has Lyme patients in her practice so knows what has worked for them. She says most of her patients with Lyme will respond to Doxy and sometimes they just need occasional retreatment if their symptoms (anxiety, lack of concentration, depression etc.) act up.

I hope your daughter is finding treatment that is working for her.

Hi,

My daughter was on antibiotics for several years as we did not realize the rash was a tic bite even though it was a bullseye rash. Her doctor said it was a spider bite so nothing was done. About a year later she was SO ILL!! Doctor's said growing pains, hormones and so on. She slept 14 hours a day and became very defiant. She got so deathly ill that I took her to a lyme literate doctor in Ct. and she was tested positive for lyme, had many positive bands on testing. She was also tested for all the coinfections and they were negative.

I also have lyme disease and babesia (a coinfection of lyme) and cannot walk real well. Currently my daughter chose to stop all antibiotics during the withdrawal and she is not doing well. I am hoping that she will consider starting the antibiotics again. Lyme disease may never go away if not treated soon after the bite. It is difficult because many antibiotics are processed thru the P 450 Cytochrome system so she cannot take them while withdrawling from the lexapro...a double edge sword!!!

I have suffered with lyme disease for about 10 years. I retired early from a hospital job about 7 years ago. I have had a few good months where I feel great but mostly I have trouble walking, remembering things, headaches, depression and many others symptoms that wax and wane. That's how I chose my name auntybiotic..........because of the thousands of dollars spent monthly on antibiotics for lyme disease treatment.

I hope your daughter is symptom free from the lyme disease. I live on the East Coast and the state of Delaware has epidemic levels of lyme disease. I am sure thousands have it and are unaware. If not treated immediately..the symptoms mimic depression, moodiness, short temper, fatigue and joint pain that travels to various load bearing joints. Lyme also affects sleep, causes weight gain and causes one to withdrawal from activities and people. It can mimic epression so well that often it will go undiagnosed. I am sure many on antidepressants that have not responded may have lyme disease.

Everyone reading this, keep my daughter in your prayers.

[hope for the best]

Originally Posted by auntybiotic

Hi,

My daughter was on antibiotics for several years as we did not realize the rash was a tic bite even though it was a bullseye rash. Her doctor said it was a spider bite so nothing was done. About a year later she was SO ILL!! Doctor's said growing pains, hormones and so on. She slept 14 hours a day and became very defiant. She got so deathly ill that I took her to a lyme literate doctor in Ct. and she was tested positive for lyme, had many positive bands on testing. She was also tested for all the coinfections and they were negative.

I also have lyme disease and babesia (a coinfection of lyme) and cannot walk real well. Currently my daughter chose to stop all antibiotics during the withdrawal and she is not doing well. I am hoping that she will consider starting the antibiotics again. Lyme disease may never go away if not treated soon after the bite. It is difficult because many antibiotics are processed thru the P 450 Cytochrome system so she cannot take them while withdrawling from the lexapro...a double edge sword!!!

I have suffered with lyme disease for about 10 years. I retired early from a hospital job about 7 years ago. I have had a few good months where I feel great but mostly I have trouble walking, remembering things, headaches, depression and many others symptoms that wax and wane. That's how I chose my name auntybiotic..........because of the thousands of dollars spent monthly on antibiotics for lyme disease treatment.

I hope your daughter is symptom free from the lyme disease. I live on the East Coast and the state of Delaware has epidemic levels of lyme disease. I am sure thousands have it and are unaware. If not treated immediately..the symptoms mimic depression, moodiness, short temper, fatigue and joint pain that travels to various load bearing joints. Lyme also affects sleep, causes weight gain and causes one to withdrawal from activities and people. It can mimic epression so well that often it will go undiagnosed. I am sure many on antidepressants that have not responded may have lyme disease.

Everyone reading this, keep my daughter in your prayers.

I am so so sorry to hear about both you and your daughter's struggles.

This next part is mostly for anyone else reading this as I'm sure you are all too aware of what I'm about to say.

My daughter's pdoc said that there is a sort of split in the medical community concerning the long term effects of lymes. I believe the doctor's we have dealt with are of the camp that believes that you treat in once then any continuing problems are caused by something that may be associated with lyme (such as inflamation) but no longer lymes and no longer treatable with antibiotics. Of course the other camp believes it can have long term effects that can only be treated with antibiotics. I thought I'd go crazy trying to read all the sides to the issue and certainly have no answers myself. The pdoc felt that you try treating and see what happens. I think that's the only smart way to go even though antibiotics can cause problems too.

I don't know for sure if my daughter had/has lymes and for now I'm hopeful that she's past the worst of it so we may never need to have further testing. It's always possible that she did indeed have a virus as some viruses can also cause long term problems.

I hope that anyone reading this that may possibly had been exposed to lyme disease will understand that it's symptoms aren't necessarily physical.

Aunty I'm so so sorry about what's happened to you and your daughter and I will keep you both in my prayers.

[erinkj]

Hello ALL....I just thought I would drop a few lines to say hello to everyone. I have been keeping up with all the post's but, have not seen a need for me to reply lately...Everyone is doing such a GREAT job of supporting each other!
The Fall semester has begun for me so, I have been busy with classes...(one more semester...then I begin my Masters...UGH ) Aside from that I have been busily harvesting my garden and prepping and freezing my veggies for winter...."Oh my aching back."

Over the past several months I have had ALOT of people tell me that I need to be studying medicine...My family, friends, staff at my university and even my G.P., This has me VERY confused! Part of me would like to go that route yet, the other part of me sais..." At 35 I am to old to switch gears with my degree." Then I think, In some ways I would enjoy that work...I thrive on helping people but, at the same time wonder, can I afford all the emotion I would expend in that line of work...Stress is NOT something I need more of.....AH, decisions, decisions...I am open to ANY thoughts ANYONE may have on that one....

As for my update, I do not have much of one. I am still holding at 20 mgs celexa = to 10 mgs lexapro...I am off of xanax completely and switche dover to klonapin. I have reduced the klonapin from 4 x's daily to 3 times so, that is something....I will start cutting klonapin doses again next week...I am not planning on dropping my celexa dose any until AFTER I am off the klonapin....One med at a time....If I have learned anything from all this crazy experience it is PATIENCE!...Peace....Erin

[stephaniek1979]

I did not know about the withdrawals that could happend from stopping Lexapro. I was getting samples from my doctor as I had lost my job and did not have insurance anymore. She ran out of samples for a couple of weeks so I didn't have any. I have been on 20mg a day for over a year and was on 10mg a day for a couple of months before that. Within a few days I started feeling awful. I kept telling people I thought I was just getting sick and battling an inner ear infection. I was dizzy all the time and would get nauseaus while driving from the dizziness. I was jittery and would always feel like I had to tap my foot or something or roll my fingers from my returned anxiety. i went and got more samples today and talked to the nurse and they explained that it was withdrawal symptoms that I was having. I would have to say I thought I was losing it until I found the posts on this board about others going through similar situations. I have started my Lexapro back as it has been the only anti-depressant to help me.

[mims]

Originally Posted by stephaniek1979

I did not know about the withdrawals that could happend from stopping Lexapro. I was getting samples from my doctor as I had lost my job and did not have insurance anymore. She ran out of samples for a couple of weeks so I didn't have any. I have been on 20mg a day for over a year and was on 10mg a day for a couple of months before that. Within a few days I started feeling awful. I kept telling people I thought I was just getting sick and battling an inner ear infection. I was dizzy all the time and would get nauseaus while driving from the dizziness. I was jittery and would always feel like I had to tap my foot or something or roll my fingers from my returned anxiety. i went and got more samples today and talked to the nurse and they explained that it was withdrawal symptoms that I was having. I would have to say I thought I was losing it until I found the posts on this board about others going through similar situations. I have started my Lexapro back as it has been the only anti-depressant to help me.

The package insert with Lexapro (prescribing information, which can be found on their website; look for "dosage and administration") says something to the effect that there is no more improvement to be gained by taking 20 mg as opposed to 10 mg, according to their studies. (It also says that the dr should wait a minimum of one week before upping the dose from 10 to 20. However, it usually takes a month or more for the medication to work in the first place, so waiting only one week doesn't make sense to me. )

Different people respond differently to antidepressants, but maybe you should ask your doctor if you could cut those 20 mg pills in half, since you have no insurance coverage. You might get the same effect, or almost the same as with 20, and you could stockpile some meds in case the samples run out again! Did you actually feel alot better on 20 mg than 10?

[Aeroman]

Hello Everyone,

I completed my 6 month off Lexapro last week. It was last week I felt an improvement in my moods. 3-4 days where nice "windows" and then I started to slip back a bit but not all the way back down. I didn't expect 100% recovery but I am grateful for any kind of improvement at this point.

I still have a bit of the depression, anxiety/restlessness (esp in the morning), and just an overall weird feeling. I deal with the lightheaded, low back pain, disrupted sleep patterns (not refreshing sleep), weird eye floater type things (evenings), and loss of appetite still. I have lost weight, 254lbs down to 223lbs. I have gotten some increased motivation and energy to do stuff around the house versus before, I had a very hard time doing ANYTHING. I just mowed the lawn and that was a huge sign things are overall improving. Libido is so so but that is not on my top of the list.

I have nausea come and go (more going) which surprises me - thus, I am very wary about what I eat. I thought I can eat a burger and some fries yesterday but about an hour or so later, I started feeling mild nausea. So, for now on, fruits, veggies, soups, etc. I also noticed I cant hold the same amount of food in me - I eat much less before my brain tells me to stop.

I'm treading along, despite the issues still happening to this day. The psychiatrist tapered me off 10mg in 1-month back in Feb 2008 - way too fast. I didn't know back then it was a fast taper and it was too late for me to reinstate by the time I found out.

I currently take Carlson's Fish Oil (1 tsp / day), 2 capsules of Noni, 2 capsules of Passion Flower, and thats about it.

I'm hanging in there everyone! Hope the rest of you are recovering

[oliviaj]

Originally Posted by erinkj

Hello ALL....I just thought I would drop a few lines to say hello to everyone. I have been keeping up with all the post's but, have not seen a need for me to reply lately...Everyone is doing such a GREAT job of supporting each other!
The Fall semester has begun for me so, I have been busy with classes...(one more semester...then I begin my Masters...UGH ) Aside from that I have been busily harvesting my garden and prepping and freezing my veggies for winter...."Oh my aching back."

Over the past several months I have had ALOT of people tell me that I need to be studying medicine...My family, friends, staff at my university and even my G.P., This has me VERY confused! Part of me would like to go that route yet, the other part of me sais..." At 35 I am to old to switch gears with my degree." Then I think, In some ways I would enjoy that work...I thrive on helping people but, at the same time wonder, can I afford all the emotion I would expend in that line of work...Stress is NOT something I need more of.....AH, decisions, decisions...I am open to ANY thoughts ANYONE may have on that one....

As for my update, I do not have much of one. I am still holding at 20 mgs celexa = to 10 mgs lexapro...I am off of xanax completely and switche dover to klonapin. I have reduced the klonapin from 4 x's daily to 3 times so, that is something....I will start cutting klonapin doses again next week...I am not planning on dropping my celexa dose any until AFTER I am off the klonapin....One med at a time....If I have learned anything from all this crazy experience it is PATIENCE!...Peace....Erin

Hi Erin, I read your post about med school and thought I should throw in my two cents... Getting my master's degree was a complete cakewalk compared to what I have seen my daughter go through in med school, internship, and residency. I can not imagine a more stressful situation. If you truly don't want more stress in your life, it is probably not a good way to go. She is one of the most placid people I know but there are many many times when I listened as she cried and vented while going through the process. It will be 14years past high school by the time she is done. She is very happy that she has chosen her career, but it is a tough one. Follow your heart Erin, but also use your cognitive and reasoning skills (and yours are good) to determine if that is really the road you want to take. Olivia

[erinkj]

Originally Posted by oliviaj

Hi Erin, I read your post about med school and thought I should throw in my two cents... Getting my master's degree was a complete cakewalk compared to what I have seen my daughter go through in med school, internship, and residency. I can not imagine a more stressful situation. If you truly don't want more stress in your life, it is probably not a good way to go. She is one of the most placid people I know but there are many many times when I listened as she cried and vented while going through the process. It will be 14years past high school by the time she is done. She is very happy that she has chosen her career, but it is a tough one. Follow your heart Erin, but also use your cognitive and reasoning skills (and yours are good) to determine if that is really the road you want to take. Olivia

Thanks a million Olivia! I DON'T want to be a doctor that is for sure ....I had been thinking about an ANP which would take almost as long. ( I think)...The reason that I chose to get my masters in ART is so that I can teach art at the college level. I have always thought that would be calming and fullfilling work...At that level I would not be so much teaching Art as I would be helping artists to hone their craft and encourage their expression etc, Besides how better to surround myself with beautiful things while getting paid? I do have some medical skills though...I can stitch wounds, put in I.V's, draw blood, set bones etc, All from experience........Believe it or not, I have put my own stitches in more than once...shot of lidocaine and away we go.....same as doing cross stitch! I have reset bones ( a few of my own) and dislocated shoulders... (put my shoulder back in place 2 of the 3 times it has been dislocated) I have even re-set a nose that was GROSS!!!! Broken noses bleed...ALOT! I guess maybe I have enough on my plate just taking care of my incredibly accident prone family....ERGH...I out grew my lack of caution but I live in a giant testosterone forest! (4 boys +hubby+1 girl) I reffer to the antics of my men as "testosterone poisoning" Aside from that 2 of my neighbors call or bring their kid's over to me when they are sick so I can tell them if they should go to a dr or not...???What the??? My soon to be son in law is a volunteer firefighter/first responder, he has had far more training than I ever have and he calls me with medication questions. In fact, he was just here last week with an abscessed tooth wanting to know what to do...My sister calls me Dr. Erin....only partly joking as I seem to be her go to refference as well as her shrink! Yes, I think I will stick with the Art masters...Who knows, maybe someday if I truely feel the calling to medicine I could always work with the red cross...SIGH...Thanks for your input, I appreciate it....I guess if my heart was really in to medicine, I would have gone that route well before know....Hope all is well with you...Hug's...Erin

[mims]

Originally Posted by erinkj

Hello ALL....I just thought I would drop a few lines to say hello to everyone. I have been keeping up with all the post's but, have not seen a need for me to reply lately...Everyone is doing such a GREAT job of supporting each other!
The Fall semester has begun for me so, I have been busy with classes...(one more semester...then I begin my Masters...UGH ) Aside from that I have been busily harvesting my garden and prepping and freezing my veggies for winter...."Oh my aching back."

Over the past several months I have had ALOT of people tell me that I need to be studying medicine...My family, friends, staff at my university and even my G.P., This has me VERY confused! Part of me would like to go that route yet, the other part of me sais..." At 35 I am to old to switch gears with my degree." Then I think, In some ways I would enjoy that work...I thrive on helping people but, at the same time wonder, can I afford all the emotion I would expend in that line of work...Stress is NOT something I need more of.....AH, decisions, decisions...I am open to ANY thoughts ANYONE may have on that one....

As for my update, I do not have much of one. I am still holding at 20 mgs celexa = to 10 mgs lexapro...I am off of xanax completely and switche dover to klonapin. I have reduced the klonapin from 4 x's daily to 3 times so, that is something....I will start cutting klonapin doses again next week...I am not planning on dropping my celexa dose any until AFTER I am off the klonapin....One med at a time....If I have learned anything from all this crazy experience it is PATIENCE!...Peace....Erin

Hi, Erin. It sounds like you are already in for a fulfilling career helping others with art. But if you really want to go into a medical field, nursing, nurse practioner, physician assistant, or physical therapy might be a good option. One big plus: you'd be guaranteed employment; as we all know, medical skills are in very high demand. There are some less-stressful jobs for people with medical skills - it's not like you'd have to work in a hospital setting. You wouldn't get paid as much in a doctor's office, but there would be alot less stress to deal with. Something like physical therapy will be in demand and rewarding, but not as emotionally intense as some other areas of medical practice. Some hospitals have wellness programs for the community that you could be involved in, or you could be a wonderful school nurse!


I have a friend over 60 years old, who recently renewed her nursing license, after 30 years away from that field. At her age, she was having trouble finding employment even though she had several other degrees, and lots of experience. Nobody wanted to hire a 60 year old woman. But there are always jobs for nurses. She did find a non-medical job that she is happy with, but she says she will always keep up-to-date with her nursing certification, in case she needs it!

My only other advice on this is: If it's something you really want, don't let your age stand in the way. At 55, I can tell you, 35 is not as old as you think! I know someone who went into nursing in his 40's, a complete career change for him. You still have lots of years before retirement age, and you might as well spend them doing something you love. On the other hand, with your family, you are going to be doing lots of very fulfilling "nursing" with or without a degree!! Helping other people establish themselves as artists seems like a very fulfilling career, too, with no blood involved.

I have a question for you, since you seem to have spent alot of time researching SSRI's and their effects, and seem to be very knowledgeable.
I am about 5 weeks off Lexapro, and I thought for a while that I was having some gradual improvement in my symptoms; the worst problem is tremor/vibration. I was convinced that the acupuncture was helping.

Now I'm wondering if that was a placebo effect, because my tremor has returned. It's a low level of vibration, but incredibly persistent, and some of my other problems have returned, also. Some brain "flashes" and other "zaps", sensation of needle prick, minor numbness in my foot, other strange sensations, weird feeling in head and neck. I did see a psychiatrist who said that after one month I should improve, but here I am getting worse again. My main concern has been that I might have some other kind of illness, but the internist has been unable to find anything else.

My question is: I have read other people's stories of having symptoms for many months, but some of the long- term problems reported seem to be more in the area of depression or emotional response. Do you think I could still be having these physical symptoms 5 weeks after my last little chip of lexapro? I tapered from 10 to 5mg, then tapered down from there over a period of approximately 3 months. I'm starting to worry again about things like MS or tumor, even though I did have a brain scan. I don't know whether to pursue more testing or wait it out a little longer. Unfortunately, I'm not sure the doctors are familiar enough with long-term lexapro side effects.

The lexapro taper was AFTER I had suddenly discontinued, then realized the error of abrupt discontinuation, and reinstated at 10mg. There was a time during the prevous year that I had taken Lexapro and discontinued with no physical problems, maybe short temper, etc.

I would try to go back on the lexapro and taper even more gradually, but I had these same symptoms the entire time I was tapering, so I don't think it would help to start over.

Any advice on this, Erin or anybody else?

Thanks so much.

[anti-drugs]

Hey Aeroman,

I find it so fascinating that you and I constantly have the same symptoms at the same time. I know we are just a week apart with our quitting date, but it just goes to show you that what we are experiencing is definitely Lex withdrawals.

My appetite has diminished also. I just eat small meals and snacks throughout the day. My anxiety is not as bad as last month, so that's promising. I actually laugh a lot now, which feels nice. I still have my slow days though, like today. But over all I can say things might be looking up :0)

Anti-Drugs

[anti-drugs]

Hi Erin,

I just wanted to let you know that, I'm 35 and am currently applying to nursing school. I'm kinda scared to go back to college (graduated from college in 1995) especially while still going through Lex withdrawals. But I figure I need to control my life now and stop letting my withdrawals control it.

I'm currently studying for my LPN/LVN entrance exam. It's funny how much Algebra and science you forget over the years :0) Forget about Chemistry and Physics!

Well I though I would let you know that there is a fellow 35 year old out there thinking of the same thing.

Anti-Drugs

[mims]

Originally Posted by anti-drugs

I can so relate to the sleep thing. I can sleep for 10 hours and not feel rested because it's a fitful sleep.

Month 4 has been a really bad month for me emotionally, physically, and mentally. Somedays it seems like I'm right back where I start with the withdrawals. The depression and anxiety are HORRIBLE! The headaches and muscle twitching are back along with the nausua. Somedays it's a real struggle. Is this how it's been for you? I'm sooooo looking forward to month 5. How sad is that, the only thing I look forward to is the next month of withdrawals.

Well keep your chin up and we will all make it through together!

Anti-Drugs

I went back and looked at your old posts, and saw that you had symptoms that left and then came back, like headache and twitching. Those are two of the symptoms I am having, so I wonder if those problems have gone away now that you're a month or two down the road? Yesterday, which is about week 5 for me, I had a big muscle jerk, which temporarily relieved the tremor vibrations, but the twitches and jerks had almost gone away, so I was discouraged to have it return. The strange thing for me is that when symptoms come back, they have actually "mutated" into something slightly different than before, sometimes worse. Very frustrating.

Are your physical problems almost gone now?

Congratulations on your decision to go back to nursing school!

[Hopeful 285]

Hope for the Best,
I am one of those who was bit by a tick, got Lyme Disease...was already on Lexapro...blamed neuro symptoms all on Lexapro...quit Lexapro cold turkey...with doctor saying ok..I went through major major withdrawals and at around maybe 7-8 months seemed a little better...even went back to work. I was still having falling episodes and difficulty walking at times...then my symptoms started getting worse again and I hurt so much...I had to take another leave from work.
Thanks to Aunty who saw me on this forum and saw I wasn't recovering from Lexapro and was getting worse suggested that maybe I had Lyme. I went on line and I had almost all of the symptoms.
I went to a Lyme Literate Doctor and he has me on antibiotics and I have improved.
I was diagnosed on May 2nd of this year and I am not having as many falling spells and a lot of my symptoms have improved.
I am still struggling, but I now have hope. This is a very nasty disease and you have to be very aggressive to beat it, but I plan on being a survivor.
I pray your daughter is cured. God Bless You for being a good mother.

Hi Aunty,
I am so sorry to hear you and your daughter are still suffering.
I still have some pretty rough days, but feel I am improving over-all.

I have been spreading awareness...talking to everyone.
I am to go on a local christian radio station to tell my story.
I went on a tour in Italy and met others that have loved ones that may have Lyme, they have the symptoms and all tests are negative..one of them is a hunter.
If it weren't for your help, I would have never been able to go on this trip. It wasn't easy, but I kept up for all 10 days. I had falling spells and chronic fatigue, but I pushed myself to get back up and carry on.

I was able to share my experience with 34 strangers from the USA on this trip.
With 20,000 new diagnosed cases and an estimated actual of 200,000 a year, I am sure they will come in contact with someone that needs help with getting a diagnosis.

I will make sure that your sharing with me has a pyramid affect. I am so thankful!

I have been thrilled lately with all the media coverage. I also am seeing more and more articles on the web and more and more videos on youtube.com and google videos.

Take Care and God Bless You Aunty!

p.s. I will be trying MMS. I will let you know if it helps....also currently taking high doses of vitamin C. I have been feeling worse (hopefully it is a really good herx)

[Aeroman]

Originally Posted by anti-drugs

Hey Aeroman,

I find it so fascinating that you and I constantly have the same symptoms at the same time. I know we are just a week apart with our quitting date, but it just goes to show you that what we are experiencing is definitely Lex withdrawals.

My appetite has diminished also. I just eat small meals and snacks throughout the day. My anxiety is not as bad as last month, so that's promising. I actually laugh a lot now, which feels nice. I still have my slow days though, like today. But over all I can say things might be looking up :0)

Anti-Drugs

Yeah, isnt it interesting? Oh yeah, my appetite isnt the same anymore. Lately, I have been experiencing some mild nausea. It comes and goes.

I also am dealing with the lightheadedness and I dont know what else to do but ride it out. Its not vertigo but this annoying lightheaded feeling, mainly when I walk. I've been losing weight and I wonder if that has helped with the drop of blood pressure readings (113/70 last time) which has contributed to the lightheaded thing. I am planning an making an appt with my doc to re-evaluate my medications for bp.

Depression is so so I guess, not as bad as before I can say. The anxiety isnt as bad but it still provokes me. The restlessness has subsided compared to August. So, I pray that these coming weeks bring some more improvement instead of new or persisting symptoms.

Oh yeah, my sleep still sucks. Isn't restful. I wake up groggy and open my eyes around 4am. All in time I believe!