side effects vs "reaction"
I know it's kind of banal in general to hear about people and medicine but it's the biggest thing on my mind right now. Sorry ;)
Lexapro did not work for me from day one. Most of these types of medications, I am told, you have to try to stick it out for two weeks of major body adjustment and might normalize around four weeks which is when the follow up appointment is. I saw my doc yesterday to talk about other options and what other members of my family have taken in the past and she asked me to choose whether I wanted a trial of Paxil, which is in the same drug family as Lexapro but my family has had luck with, or Pristiq, which is a newer drug used as an alternative to Effexor which is in a different drug family and works a little bit differently than the pure seratonin manipulators, dealing with another chemical called norepinephrine.
I decided that even though I had a reaction to Lexapro that it was not severe enough to keep me from trying Paxil since it has a family history of success and has been on the market for a while and that if I had a similar reaction in the first couple days I could just stop taking it and try the Pristiq instead. If I have a reaction, I will be done with that drug family and categorically be 'sensitive' to it from now on. I started taking a half pill for five days in case of reaction before bumping up to the 20 mg tablet.
It's the middle of day one and as you can see, it's about 2:30 in the morning on a day I work and I'm used to being out cold this time of night, and generally a sleepy person, always able to curl up anytime and snooze. Nauseated and upset stomach. My throat feels thick despite lots of water like there's a lump of peanut butter or something, which seems to be the only thing so far like a similar reaction to the Lexapro. I'm really not sure if this is a reaction or side effects. I've decided to take the second half tablet in the morning and make a decision tomorrow evening.
Aside from a natural concern about how I'm feeling physically, I'm feeling okay and it's nothing at all like the scrubbed-out, lifeless stares from day one of Lexapro.
Also, my thyroid test came back and while I'm in the normal range again, it's the high end of normal and I have no change in symptoms so I'm bumping up to 50 mcg. I'll let you know how it goes.
Now, what to do about sleep tonight....
Lexapro did not work for me from day one. Most of these types of medications, I am told, you have to try to stick it out for two weeks of major body adjustment and might normalize around four weeks which is when the follow up appointment is. I saw my doc yesterday to talk about other options and what other members of my family have taken in the past and she asked me to choose whether I wanted a trial of Paxil, which is in the same drug family as Lexapro but my family has had luck with, or Pristiq, which is a newer drug used as an alternative to Effexor which is in a different drug family and works a little bit differently than the pure seratonin manipulators, dealing with another chemical called norepinephrine.
I decided that even though I had a reaction to Lexapro that it was not severe enough to keep me from trying Paxil since it has a family history of success and has been on the market for a while and that if I had a similar reaction in the first couple days I could just stop taking it and try the Pristiq instead. If I have a reaction, I will be done with that drug family and categorically be 'sensitive' to it from now on. I started taking a half pill for five days in case of reaction before bumping up to the 20 mg tablet.
It's the middle of day one and as you can see, it's about 2:30 in the morning on a day I work and I'm used to being out cold this time of night, and generally a sleepy person, always able to curl up anytime and snooze. Nauseated and upset stomach. My throat feels thick despite lots of water like there's a lump of peanut butter or something, which seems to be the only thing so far like a similar reaction to the Lexapro. I'm really not sure if this is a reaction or side effects. I've decided to take the second half tablet in the morning and make a decision tomorrow evening.
Aside from a natural concern about how I'm feeling physically, I'm feeling okay and it's nothing at all like the scrubbed-out, lifeless stares from day one of Lexapro.
Also, my thyroid test came back and while I'm in the normal range again, it's the high end of normal and I have no change in symptoms so I'm bumping up to 50 mcg. I'll let you know how it goes.
Now, what to do about sleep tonight....