[skactor01]

I recently sent an e-mail to forest industries, the makers of Lexapro, regarding my annoyance with the drug. I think it states all my complaints pretty accurately:

To anyone who is in charge of customer relations,

I was recently put on Lexapro 15 mgs for panic disorder regarding a specific phobia. I would like you to understand my dissatisfaction with this medication. Since this medication started to really work after about three weeks of usage, I started to feel very odd. I couldn’t put my finger on it exactly, but I knew something was wrong. Then for two days I forgot to take my medication, and when I resumed taking it again I realized what the “oddness” was. When I take Lexapro, I don’t feel anxiety and panic, but I also don’t feel any strong emotions. This is because I am out of it all the time. I feel like I am continually going through the motions of everyday living, but am never truly “there”. When one of my closest friends died, I knew I should have been upset to the brink of tears, but I couldn’t bring myself to cry. I didn’t even really feel that bad. In a sense, this medication has turned me in to a zombie. It is true that this feeling is better than the awfulness of panic attacks, but at least with panic attacks I didn’t feel that way all the time. I believe that you should market this medication only for extreme cases of depression and anxiety where a person really feels like they cannot live feeling the way the do. In a case like that, feeling nothing at all would be better than the depression/anxiety. I also feel that you should encourage all would-be users to work out their problems with intense therapy before making the decision to start medication. In my mind, a true “anti-depressant” would get rid of only the anxiety/deprerssion—not all other strong emotions as well.

Does anyone feel this "emotional numbness" and tiredness on Lexapro, or any other SSRI? Are there some SSRIS that don't carry this feeling as a side effect? I really am considering just quitting cold turkey and taking ativan or another benzo to deal with the panic attacks.

[debbie724]

skactor01, there are many of us that feel/felt exactly as you described. Go to the Lexapro Withdrawl Discussion Board and you will find a LOT of information and a LOT of caring people there... that will and can sympathise with you.


debbie

[debbie724]

by the way... that discussion board can be found in "featured conditions".


debbie

[bluglass2]

Are you still on the drug and how long is it now. I'm at week seven and the wrapped in cotton wool feeling is just starting to lift. It takes at least 6 weeks to reach a loading dose and then you have to see how you adjust so I think your reaction is premature. I would be curious to know how it was explained to you how going up on this drug would work. If you were not told that there would be a long period of adjustment where your body would have to work though some possible side effect then I would complain to the appropriate authority over the doctor(s) who prescribed for you. And to dump you on 15mg immediately... I started at 5mg and that was weird. I know if they had put me up on 10 or more I would have had to be hospitalized. I would have been unable to function. Even though each brain & body reacts differently, there isn't a weight factor in metabolism. But of those in the group therapy I did in the beginning we all experienced a similar starting effect but it wore off quickly. Unfortunately I don't have long term followup. I know there are a great many unhappy people on this board and they have good reason. As one with a positive going experience, so far, I urge you to be patient and see if there is more adjustment in a couple of weeks.

Good luck.
Blu

[mandymcj]

I agree with Debbie- you should check out the Lexapro Withdrawal section; there are lots of people just like you.

I also feel a numbness and apathy to everything and that I'm going through the motions. I don't like it at all. It's one of the main reasons I'm getting off of Lexapro.

15mg sounds too intense. Look to lowering your dosage. Whatever you do, don't quit cold turkey. That will make things worse in the long run.

[auntybiotic]

Skator,

Lexapro will take you to hell with no emotions good or bad, just apathy.It will rob you of your creativity and you ability to love. This and all SSRI are not good for the general public yet are prescribed like asprin by the doctors.

Visit the Featured condition Lexapro withdrawal and you will find many others who will help you to understand what lexapro is doing to you...............please do NOT stop cold turkey..................you could be in the depths of hell for a LONG time if you do.

[bluglass2]

I've been thinking about this topic a lot lately. I was reading a study about the number of creative people who suffer from some kind of psychological issue and how scientists are trying to discover if it is the chicken or the egg. Are they artists because of the level and intensity of their passion and creativity and have issues because of this or do they have these levels because of the issues. They don't know.

But as an artist and in thinking about all my peers from art school and where they went with their lives and in thinking about the many artists we studied who had tremendous issues I can't help but wonder...

We have issues, we have tremendously intense emotions -- more so than most people yet to us this is normal and we gravitate to those who are like us and this is the norm. Plus you don't really notice to what degree others are bothered by things because passion doesn't have to be intense it can be shown though actions. So there are those who are not overwhelmed emotionally and their intensity is channeled into their actions. Now what happens when you get an artist who is not only intense emotionally and driven in actions like say, Van Gough? Well you not only cut but you cut your ear off! If it weren't for the protection and wealth of his family they guy would never have lasted a minute. Given when he lived, he self medicated and was for all intents and purposes an addict. He was barely functional outside of his painting and were he not brilliant or supported by a wealthy family he would have starved to death or ended up dead in some gutter.

So where does that leave the rest of us moderns? We take the Lexapro because we are so negatively affected in the quality of our lives. But it turns our perception of the world to a more normal level and to us that feels, well it doesn't feel. We say we are numbed, we are divorced from our selves, we are outside ourselves, we can't get a full head of steam up, or be truly angry. Everything feels flat. I submit to you that to a degree, for some people they are misunderstanding what they are experiencing. And in those for whom this is really true, still to a degree they are misunderstanding what is happening.

I too am having this experience. I get angry, sometimes quite quickly, or feel sad, or happy but there is not the same level of burn or intensity and it makes me wonder if I am feeling anything at all. I feel blunted. But you know what, I am also not nearly as tortured by things as I was. The tapes don't run in my head. I don't dwell on things endlessly. I don't stay up at night because I can't make my mind quiet. I choose to believe I am experience intensity at a more common level. This is what most of the world experiences. I miss feeling things more. But I don't miss what I now know are the inherent drawbacks which I coudln't recognize before being medicated. I actually fear that this will return should I cease to take the drug. So I decided to give the drug a long time, as my doctor suggests. I have experienced the world in one way for a long time. I is a mistake to think that I can begin to understand and appreciate my new point of view in a few days, weeks or even months. I think it really will take years to build up new habits and burn new pathways in my brain to get the true hang of what life is like when I am not imbalanced. I can't say that this is a correct balance but its benefits are so far outweighing its drawbacks and I am willing to keep it.

I know there are still times when I can feel deeply. I have experienced them. Perhaps they do not persist as long as I would like and so I have to work at my emotions. It is like learning to flex a muscle that has been damaged by overuse. I have to get a sense of what it can do at its new level of ability and it will be a long time before I can let go of the old ability still remember.

I keep wanting to go up in dosage to get back the euphoric feeling I had for the first couple of weeks. But the honeymoon is over and I am not willing to say it isn't working any more. It is but I am back to my old self; or am I?

We want everything to be quick but this is a long process. At work it is expected that I will be all better and changed entirely. All the old bad habits gone. At home it is expected that I should be changing how I can function at home. But really I am taking baby steps with my new level of experience. I want to see how much more I change and how I experience new difficulties. I had some recently that I know would have stressed me to the max before or had me in tears. Now I am upset but far more functional and a little dispassion is actually a lot healthier all round and making it easier for me to deal with others and others to deal with me as well. This is new, different and not such a bad deal. Sure I would like to be REALLY UPSET, but it wouldn't really help.

So, am I not an artist any more? I don't know. My heart of hearts says yes, so I think I reaching a point where I'm not going to be an artist who dies young or horribly. But one who stays alive to make wonderful art for a long time and can finally really explore pouring my soul into my work instead of bleeding it out from every pore.

Blu

[tiger]

Hi. You have ever right to feel angry. I feel so distant from my husband, I can't enjoy sex which i used to LOVE, nor do i even want to do it.
I can't feel. Once in a while a tear will fall during PMS. once in a while i get horny. I have no passion anymore. I'm in a constant state
of monotone.I really hate this lexipro, but i feel trapped. it's hell going on and going off. i tried to get off, but it's just hell. i mean, has anyone been able to success get off it and stay off it happily?

quote:Originally posted by skactor01

I recently sent an e-mail to forest industries, the makers of Lexapro, regarding my annoyance with the drug. I think it states all my complaints pretty accurately:

To anyone who is in charge of customer relations,

I was recently put on Lexapro 15 mgs for panic disorder regarding a specific phobia. I would like you to understand my dissatisfaction with this medication. Since this medication started to really work after about three weeks of usage, I started to feel very odd. I couldn’t put my finger on it exactly, but I knew something was wrong. Then for two days I forgot to take my medication, and when I resumed taking it again I realized what the “oddness” was. When I take Lexapro, I don’t feel anxiety and panic, but I also don’t feel any strong emotions. This is because I am out of it all the time. I feel like I am continually going through the motions of everyday living, but am never truly “there”. When one of my closest friends died, I knew I should have been upset to the brink of tears, but I couldn’t bring myself to cry. I didn’t even really feel that bad. In a sense, this medication has turned me in to a zombie. It is true that this feeling is better than the awfulness of panic attacks, but at least with panic attacks I didn’t feel that way all the time. I believe that you should market this medication only for extreme cases of depression and anxiety where a person really feels like they cannot live feeling the way the do. In a case like that, feeling nothing at all would be better than the depression/anxiety. I also feel that you should encourage all would-be users to work out their problems with intense therapy before making the decision to start medication. In my mind, a true “anti-depressant” would get rid of only the anxiety/deprerssion—not all other strong emotions as well.

Does anyone feel this "emotional numbness" and tiredness on Lexapro, or any other SSRI? Are there some SSRIS that don't carry this feeling as a side effect? I really am considering just quitting cold turkey and taking ativan or another benzo to deal with the panic attacks.

[all2007]

ive been on lex for 13 days. i had never been on anything before, for depression that is. hahaah
anyhow my dr is known for giving anyone what they want. so i had 10 vanity lbs to lose and he prescribed me adipex. which is basically phentermine. it worked but funny, the stuff is supposed to make you high as a kite all day ( it does to my friends) and me it makes sleepy after 2 hrs. i actually had to wait till 2pm to take it! or else id fall asleep in the day! so i stopped..anyhow about my lexapro. for marital reasons ie- i married a insensivitve butt head and am stuck here for the rest of my life , i wanted actually the numb feeling, so his comments would rolloff my back and i wouldnt be depressed about my life all the time...i told the dr, he walked in the back and came out with about 4 months worth of lexapro sample packs, didnt even tell me how to take em, when to take em, what to aoivd etc. so..its been 13days. i started taking em in the am. but they made me sleepy i thought. i thought i felt sleepy...so i figured id take em at night. well i still feel sleepy hahha even during the day!horible headaches too.. im in a constant sleepy mode. like i want to be on my couch watching tv alllll day! isnt that *****ng crazy? i do have better moods. but i was expecting to just be normal/happy not happy/comatose hahahaha well..im on the 10mg so ill stick to it for a month see how it goes.......
why does stuff make me so sleepy .. maybe i should just use meth or coke it gives me energy and makes me happy too..ya know.
i swear i honestly have considered it! and coke isway better than those stupid diet pills made me feel WAY worse , coming down of the phentermine made me feel ****tier than comming off coke. granted im not a big user i have recreationally in the past but its starting to sound like an option hmm anyhow
love reading all your posts! all the best
mary
busy.b@sbcglobal.net[xx(]

[snowjob69]

Hi, New to form. I have been on lexapro for 7 years now. Decided to try and go cold turkey off the drug. I am just plain fed up with the drug. I don't think I have been angry for 7 yrs. now, that's not right. I am now on my 5th day, I have a little confusion, sweaty palms. I cried for the first time in a long time the other day. I have tried to tapper off this drug in the past and got back on because of the bad thoughts I was havin, about my worthlesness, and wanted to die. Well noe I compleatly understand dying is not an option. So thats helpful. Last night I got agitated, it was not unexpected. I printed out the withdrawl symptoms so I can remind myself alot what is what. As far as sleeping I have been taking walgreens sleep aid, that helps me get a good night sleep. If my heart starts racing as in high anxiety, I take a small dose of Lorazepam. And that helps too. I will keep you informed as to my progress. And I am also going through full tilt menopause. So the symptoms overlap each other. Wish me luck and I will keep you abreast of things going on.

[needunderstanding]

Originally Posted by bluglass2

I've been thinking about this topic a lot lately. I was reading a study about the number of creative people who suffer from some kind of psychological issue and how scientists are trying to discover if it is the chicken or the egg. Are they artists because of the level and intensity of their passion and creativity and have issues because of this or do they have these levels because of the issues. They don't know.

But as an artist and in thinking about all my peers from art school and where they went with their lives and in thinking about the many artists we studied who had tremendous issues I can't help but wonder...

We have issues, we have tremendously intense emotions -- more so than most people yet to us this is normal and we gravitate to those who are like us and this is the norm. Plus you don't really notice to what degree others are bothered by things because passion doesn't have to be intense it can be shown though actions. So there are those who are not overwhelmed emotionally and their intensity is channeled into their actions. Now what happens when you get an artist who is not only intense emotionally and driven in actions like say, Van Gough? Well you not only cut but you cut your ear off! If it weren't for the protection and wealth of his family they guy would never have lasted a minute. Given when he lived, he self medicated and was for all intents and purposes an addict. He was barely functional outside of his painting and were he not brilliant or supported by a wealthy family he would have starved to death or ended up dead in some gutter.

So where does that leave the rest of us moderns? We take the Lexapro because we are so negatively affected in the quality of our lives. But it turns our perception of the world to a more normal level and to us that feels, well it doesn't feel. We say we are numbed, we are divorced from our selves, we are outside ourselves, we can't get a full head of steam up, or be truly angry. Everything feels flat. I submit to you that to a degree, for some people they are misunderstanding what they are experiencing. And in those for whom this is really true, still to a degree they are misunderstanding what is happening.

I too am having this experience. I get angry, sometimes quite quickly, or feel sad, or happy but there is not the same level of burn or intensity and it makes me wonder if I am feeling anything at all. I feel blunted. But you know what, I am also not nearly as tortured by things as I was. The tapes don't run in my head. I don't dwell on things endlessly. I don't stay up at night because I can't make my mind quiet. I choose to believe I am experience intensity at a more common level. This is what most of the world experiences. I miss feeling things more. But I don't miss what I now know are the inherent drawbacks which I coudln't recognize before being medicated. I actually fear that this will return should I cease to take the drug. So I decided to give the drug a long time, as my doctor suggests. I have experienced the world in one way for a long time. I is a mistake to think that I can begin to understand and appreciate my new point of view in a few days, weeks or even months. I think it really will take years to build up new habits and burn new pathways in my brain to get the true hang of what life is like when I am not imbalanced. I can't say that this is a correct balance but its benefits are so far outweighing its drawbacks and I am willing to keep it.

I know there are still times when I can feel deeply. I have experienced them. Perhaps they do not persist as long as I would like and so I have to work at my emotions. It is like learning to flex a muscle that has been damaged by overuse. I have to get a sense of what it can do at its new level of ability and it will be a long time before I can let go of the old ability still remember.

I keep wanting to go up in dosage to get back the euphoric feeling I had for the first couple of weeks. But the honeymoon is over and I am not willing to say it isn't working any more. It is but I am back to my old self; or am I?

We want everything to be quick but this is a long process. At work it is expected that I will be all better and changed entirely. All the old bad habits gone. At home it is expected that I should be changing how I can function at home. But really I am taking baby steps with my new level of experience. I want to see how much more I change and how I experience new difficulties. I had some recently that I know would have stressed me to the max before or had me in tears. Now I am upset but far more functional and a little dispassion is actually a lot healthier all round and making it easier for me to deal with others and others to deal with me as well. This is new, different and not such a bad deal. Sure I would like to be REALLY UPSET, but it wouldn't really help.

So, am I not an artist any more? I don't know. My heart of hearts says yes, so I think I reaching a point where I'm not going to be an artist who dies young or horribly. But one who stays alive to make wonderful art for a long time and can finally really explore pouring my soul into my work instead of bleeding it out from every pore.

Blu

Thank you. My husband was prescribed Lexapro 2 weeks ago, and I have heard good and bad stories. I was worried because the last few nights he has been sleeping- a lot- 10 hours or more. In his really bad times he was lucky to sleep 2 hours. I am not him, and don't know what it is like to be that passionate, but the bad times are just SO BAD, that this evenness has to be better. Can you send an update on your progress with this drug after nearly 3 years?