I took 1 lexapro and it has ruined my life..

[KLG79]

I was suffering from alot of stress and then I started to get depressed so, I went to the doctor 9 years ago and he prescribed lexapro and vioxx due to a knot that had come up on my neck ' thinking back on that I believe it was caused from all the tension headaches I was having" anyway that night as usual I put my daughter to bed took the meds. then I went to bed. I woke up about 2 hours later, I jumped strait out of my bed with my mind feeling as if it was a million miles away and racing thoughts and very I was confused, but yet I could feel a cold sensation like ice being run through my viens, I ran into the living room screaming and crying to where my husband was. I remember not being able to stand still I had to be moving constanly in a fast pace my heart was racing I put my hands on my chest it felt like my heart was actually coming out of my chest I felt like I was holding it in with pressure from my hands. Then next I started burning intead of being cold I looked for holes in my body because  It hurt so bad. My husband called my mom and she came and seen me and said it was probably an allergic reaction. I was begging to go to the hospital, but instead she called the doctor at the office she worked at. He told her to give me benadryl. My husband left to go get some during that time I started shaking uncontrolable I was going from being ice cold to burning feelings going through my body like waves.I started getting bad cramps so I ran to the bathroom and had direahha and throwing up at the same time.I just knew I was dying I remember my husband giving me benadryl thinking it would stop everything, but it did hardly nothing! It use to knock me out, but nothing would stop this crazy feelings and the pain I was having. My mom called the doctor back and he said it should wear off by morning...Well it didn't I was took to the hopital 24 hours later still with all these symptoms and was told it was serotion syndrom and sent  home..I lost all kinds of weight I went for almost 2 weeks without eating and barely drinking and walking constantly day and night I was wired up. I was scared to be left alone I didn't shower for 3 days I was told. I didn't realize that at the time that's how messed up I was.I finally went back to the er they ask if I was on crack and I have never had any kind of drugs in my life! They said it was aniexty and sent me home and told me to act normal it was the only way I would get over it. I started to clear up enough to find a new doctor he gave me xanax it is the only thing that helps with the symptoms. I was taking 6 a day and still needed more just so I could sit down. There is so much more I could go on and on, but I just want to know if anyone knows what could be going on I do get better sometimes,but this has never went completly away and I am going on 9 years of this:( I pray everyday for an answer for the right help to come along I just want to be a normal mother and wife again I hate to suffer ,but mostly it kills me to know what my daughter has seen and been through.

[wdtony]

Yes, that was my old alias and had a problem, couldn't get back into the old account, created a new one. Sorry for the confusion.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have an opposite effect on nerve cells than xanax does. Google GABA for more ino on nerve cell receptors. I think this is why xanax works so well after nerve cells are damaged by SSRI's.

My ears are actually ringing right now....... If I could only go back and not take that 0ne pill, life would be so different.

[Iscah6]

I know this is years old. How are you doing?

I was prescribed Lexapro for anxiety. I took one 5mg dose, and only two hours later I started having violent thoughts about hurting others. The thoughts came out of nowhere. They involved hurting/killing people that I love. I immediately stopped taking the Lexapro.

I thought that after taking it, the thoughts would subside, and they did for a while until recently. Its like the Lexapro gave my brain a new way of reacting to anxiety, and it's affecting me months later.

Im scared that that one dose has permanently messed me up. It is pure hell having these thoughts, and when they get really bad I wish I was dead so I didn't have to deal with them anymore.

I'm going to be seeing a therapist soon and I'm now on 10mg of Prozac which so far hasn't affected me like the Lexapro, thank goodness. I'm still scared that it might.

I've researched and think that I have a form of OCD which results in these thoughts. I recently just went through a very stressful period, and that's when the thoughts flared up again.

My heart goes out to everyone dealing with the aftermath of this drug. May God heal our brains and give us peace. I pray everyday for God to heal me, and I'll be praying for all of you too.

[Kayledg]

It seems that most people's opinions are based on their own experience.  "Paxiled" said, "Side effects start right away with these drugs, but effects don't, so the original two days of feeling better was most likely a placebo effect, not the drug. " I am an intelligent  person (valedictorian, though chose not to be a physician because of pressure from my physician father) and very educated on these drugs and if I hadn't had such a bad experience, I might not believe some of the things I've read; but I do believe. Like "Shortylee18," I felt good -- energized, the 1st few days on Lexapro, but the more it got into my system, the more the difficult side-effects took hold.  Yes, it is true that after a few weeks, the side effects lift for most people (and I had that experience on a previous antidepressant), but they never let up during my first 2-3 months on Lexapro and only minimized, never stopped, after discontinuing Lexapro   To say that it was "Probably placebo" is based on one's own experience and  not fair.  As someone who has been told MANY times that the side effects I had weren't real (and this wasn’t the end of my journey with debilitating effects of psychotropic drugs), being told were imagined, and couldn’t be continuing, I believe anyone's “rare” report.  I have had so many tests done and nothing can be found.  While I know many people who have responded well to certain medications, I have not.  But my RARE symptoms are real and my reports of how I was feeling and what was caused by the drug are valid as well.  There is absolutely no doubt!  People should be believed!  There's  nothing wrong with encouraging further testing, but be very careful about casting doubt on a victim’'s report of what happened to him/her -- no matter how far-fetched it seems.  I believe EVERY reported reaction and timetable given on this forum.  I also feel I have had some level of permanent brain damage (though I'm doing quite well at this point) and may decide to donate my body to science in the end. If more people are taken seriously, maybe there can be help developed in the future for the sufferers.

[specialmom]

One thing I know, people have a unique experience when taking a medication and stopping it. There are no absolutes. I agree that what someone reports as THEIR story or situation is their truth, their facts and that deserves to be respected.   And let's face it, when we've had a bad experience and it's devastated us, other's opinions or stories of their good experience really don't matter much, do they?
Thanks for sharing your story and experience.  Share here more often. We need people around who can tell us all the different sides to treatment.  

[Paxiled]

Just to say, I'm one of the biggest proponents on here that everyone needs to trust their instincts.  There are a lot of people who have been on here over the years who have told people (including me) that their experience can't be true, but I'm not one of them.  I'm not sure what I said that offended, because I did say that side effects begin right away.  But it does take time for the brain to adjust to working in an artificial way.  That's why it takes 4-6 weeks for most people to experience the beneficial effects they're hoping for.  But the drug starts disrupting the natural way the brain works right away because the brain has to start working in a different way, and that's hard.  How hard depends on the person.  If the good feelings only lasted a couple of days and then went away, that's evidence of a placebo effect.  That's one way we can tell when clinical trials are done whether or not a drug works, because these drugs don't beat placebo by much in trials.  Drugs for mental illness are notoriously poor performers in trials.  But one difference is, those who are on placebo don't keep the good feelings.  Those on the drugs do.  Another sidebar to this is that a lot of people on the placebo get side effects and drop out of the trials.  All this proves that the mind is very powerful.  It's why the only cure is changing the way we think; drugs don't cure, they at best tamp down symptoms.  Lucky people abound who have literally talked themselves out of their anxiety or depression; that's what therapy does.  But I'm sticking to what I said, if you feel good right away, and it doesn't last, it's a placebo effect.  If it were truly working you'd keep feeling good. I"m also not sure it's accurate to say most people get over the early side effects.  I don't think we actually know if that's true or not, because drug companies aren't talking.  They're selling.  Neither are psychiatrists.  And nobody's really counting -- every seen anyone audit your psychiatrist to verify his or her results?  I thought not.  The best we can say is that some people get over early side effects and some don't.  It is wrong to say we must believe everyone -- we must only believe facts.  Otherwise we're just practicing another religion here or spreading propaganda.  I think what we're all looking for on here and why we come here is to look for support, yes, but also to try to cut through the muck and find some truth.  Peace.

[Kayledg]

I appreciate what you are saying and am very familiar with research studies, trials, and placebo effects.  My husband is a college professor and actually teaches a class on research methods.  My only contention is when comments sound like one KNOWS what is going on rather than  posing one's belief as a possibility (not necessarily a probability).  I'm sure you meant no harm and your intention was to to be helpful, but I can only say from my own experience that I felt good after the first few days on Lexapro, but got worse the more it got into my system.  It was NOT a placebo effect.  Lexapro made me feel more "energized" at first and does confirm what you said about the drug starting to disrupt the natural way the brain works right away and side effects starting right away with these drugs.  At first the drug caused me to feel more energized, and that felt good.  But as the "energized" feeling got stronger with each pill, it was too much and turned into terrible anxiety, tremors, burning skin sensation, and more.  It was the comments of “so the original two days of feeling better was most likely a placebo effect, not the drug,"and “If the good feelings only lasted a couple of days and then went away, that's evidence of a placebo effect,” I would be more comfortable with saying that it COULD BE the placebo effect (but doesn’t have to be) if one expects the drug to work right away -- which we know it doesn’t.  I agree that it appears to be evidence of something, but we can’t be certain it was her talking herself into or expecting to be feeling good.  The start of the medicine could have altered something that felt good at first -- like me -- but as the drug built up in her system, it didn’t feel good anymore.  We can’t know for sure, so I am always more comfortable with proposing that it could be something the drug did or it could be imagined and be a placebo effect.  We as hearers of the situation can’t know for sure or even know what is probable.  I always like to leave room for effects we don’t understand though I agree with the point I think you were trying to make, that generally speaking, it takes awhile for the lasting, intended good effects of the drug to be felt.

[Paxiled]

I guess I see your point a little clearer now -- many people find taking an antidepressant stimulating.  That can make the depression part of it, the sadness of it, lighten, but the stimulation also makes anxiety worse.  This is less true with ssris like Lexapro, but it can happen with any antidepressant.  That's a factual statement.  The drug building up in the system?  Doesn't do that.  The drug leaves the system in a matter of hours.  It's the brain getting used to working articially that happens as the drug is taken over and over again to keep it in the system at the same levels.  That's also what makes stopping these meds so hard -- because they force the brain to work in an unnatural way, the brain gets used to doing it that way and shuts down some of the receptors that it would otherwise keep engaged.  They have to go back to work when we stop the drug, and that can be difficult or impossible.  There was a time when Prozac first came out when people had all kinds of theories about ssris, but they've been around a long time, been studied a long time, been litigated against a lot of times, and the FDA has fined their manufacturers over and over again for putting false info out there and hiding negative info.  Everyone can just Google this stuff now and find out how they work and how they don't work.  So yes, your point is clearer to me now, but I'm not going to agree that there is no such thing as a fact in the world.  I'm saying this very seriously -- we have a political party and a President who now are trying to make that point a matter of fact, that facts can't be found.  That's the part of what you said that I have to disagree with -- most facts we don't know yet, but we try to find them, and those facts we do know through hard suffering should be honored.  But truly, you do not have to accept anything I say as factual and I have no personal stake in that.  When it comes to medicine, and especially mental health, it's all still up for grabs, and your point of view is as valid as anyone else's.  And that's a little bit sad, because we'd all be doing better if we just knew more in this area than we do.  All the best to you.

[Shortylee18]

A few weeks ago I was prescribed Lexapro by my doctor for depression and anxiety, however the first 2 days went by well.  It seemed to have a positive effect on me,  I was quickly out of my depressive state and happy.  I felt great.  But on the third day I quickly went from being happy to spiraling  depression and a major panic attack.  I was able to calm myself down and finally able to fall asleep.  On the 4th day,  that day was the worst. In the early part of the day I felt terrible physically, I was drained, no energy, I  felt sick,  I had a headache and it was hard for me to concentrate. Later in the afternoon I was starting to hallucinate but I tried to struggle through it convincing myself that it was just a side effect. It got increasingly worse once night came and I was in a full blown panic attack while also hallucinating. I was unable to control myself and felt like I was going to faint so I ended up going to the emergency room. Luckily they took me serious as my blood pressure was incredibly high and my heart rate out of control. Ever since that night I've been struggling with anxiety and panic attacks, I literally feel traumatized by my experience with Lexapro. I'm afraid of going crazy so I've been stuck at home, physically I've been having a hard time doing anything since I feel weak all the time. I know my reaction to it wasn't as bad as the others but I feel like this pill ruined me. I'm trying really hard to get back my freedom and independence, as I can't drive without having a panic attack,  I hate nighttime now,  I battle with mild panic attacks that pester me every day.  I've been seeing a therapist now, I exercise, do yoga,  and only drink water as to keep myself together and for the most part it's a process I'm trying so hard to fight. I won't discourage anyone  from Lexapro  if it helps but my experience was awful and if I could do it over again I would have NEVER taken it in the first place.

[Shortylee18]

I know the major problem for me is anxiety making the whole thing worse that's my own issue to work out. But the hallucination just really messed with me,  I know it was the pill that caused it but because of it I suffer from panic attacks. Which I never did before,  I pray every day that I can overcome my trauma but sometimes it's hard.

[Paxiled]

Here's the thing -- this drug doesn't start working until you've taken it for a few weeks.  Side effects start right away with these drugs, but effects don't, so the original two days of feeling better was most likely a placebo effect, not the drug.  You also say you were put on the drug for anxiety, so the question is, were you suffering panic attacks before going on the drug and was the reason for going on it or only since you started the drug?  I'm assuming you're not longer on the drug, and if that's true the drug wasn't in your system long enough to affect your brain much -- it takes time to get the brain to work artificially, which is what these meds do and why it takes some time for them to work.  Side effects start right away because drugs are toxic and the body fights them and tried to keep working the way bodies are meant to work -- this is true of all synthetic drugs, and how hard the body fights the drug has a lot to do with why different people have such different experiences.  With such a short duration of taking it, side effects should have gone away as soon as you stopped taking it -- this drug leaves the body in a matter of hours.  What can happen is a sort of PTSD reaction, which is something anxious and depressed people are prone to -- once we suffer something traumatic, such as your reaction to taking this particular medication, we tend to continue to think like we did when we were having the experience.  We don't adapt well.  Your reaction seems like a condition that has happened to me, but only happens to people who take an antidepressant or an addictive drug for a long period of time and try to stop taking it -- the brain just can't deal with the drug not being there and they go into a withdrawal that doesn't stop.  But this is clearly not your situation, even though it sounds like it.  When you're life is that broken, usually medication is the only thing that helps, and the fact this drug had this reaction on you doesn't mean another drug will.  Only one drug ever did me in, but it did me in for life.  In your case, I think you'll find that time takes care of this, but it won't take care of your underlying anxiety and depression that is making you more prone to the reaction lasting so long.  Saying that doesn't make it go away, but I hope it at least gives you some optimism that your brain will adapt to whatever normal is for you.  

[wdtony]

The first week or two of taking an antidepressant is sometimes difficult for most. It has been reported that this reaction is the brain reacting to what it believes is a poison and the drug is basically rearranging the normal way the brain communicates. This is complex abnormal and entirely experimental. The response by the brain is to change the amounts of neurotransmitters to battle the disproportionate arrangement of neurotransmitter fluctuations. This “balancing” by the brain to fight the unbalancing caused by antidepressants is why people start to feel good after a couple of weeks. It’s not the drug causing a good feeling, but the body fighting the drug that improves people’s feelings.
But some of us can not tolerate antidepressants, which are basically poison. I was one of the unlucky ones who suffered permanent brain damage from an antidepressant. The drugs do change the way the brain adjusts chemical communications. And this can lead to toxic amounts of neurotransmitters similar to when someone suffers serotonin syndrome. This can harm and kill nerve cells in the brain.
In time, the toxic effects can wear off or the brain can heal and rewire around the damage. Some never heal. Some recover completely, and some heal partially. It typically takes a lot of time.

[Paxiled]

As someone who was permanently damaged by Paxil, or by stopping it I should say, there's a big difference between how well we tolerate them, which is a question of how an individual responds, and the question of "damage," which is from long-term use and the inability of the brain to go back to working naturally.  The drugs work not by altering the amount of neurotransmitters but by stopping the process the body uses to break down used neurotransmitters and evacuating them.  The body naturally prefers fresh, not used, so the drugs force the brain to isolate, say, serotonin in a couple of targeted receptors, or with the SNRIS, just prevent the breakdown of them by blocking the enzyme that does that from working.  The brain's response is to shut down the receptors that are no longer needed as the serotonin, for example, keeps washing around in a few receptors.  When you stop taking the drug, the dormant receptors have to wake up, and that causes some discomfort, such as brain zaps, but most people do recover.  Some don't because their receptors just don't get going again or for some other reasons -- nobody really understands this stuff.  If you research some of these meds, not even the manufacturer knows exactly what they're doing.  As for serotonin syndrome, that's not the body doing that, it's an overdose of drugs that does that, or theoretically an overdose of supplements that affect them.  I'm not sure about the killing of brain cells -- how would you really know? -- but what many researchers believe is that a drug that does a certain unnatural thing for a long time makes the brain incapable of remembering how to do it the natural way if you take the drug away.  All drugs are poison to larger and lesser extents because the body didn't evolve to take these things, they evolved to eat food.  Aspirin, the first known pharmaceutical product, tears apart the stomach lining and has possibly killed more people than anything other than old age because it's been used for so many centuries.  Drugs are always a gamble, but so is living, and so we balance reducing our suffering in our short lives vs. the harm of tampering with nature.  Hard choices.

[Kwmccabe]

Your symptoms sound like serotonin syndrome. He probably gave you too high a dose. You're lucky because left untreated serotonin syndrome can cause death.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin_syndrome

[Paxiled]

Serotonin syndrome is incredibly rare, and you'd have to give a huge dose of Lexapro to cause it just one time.  Rereading this old post, it very well might have been the vioxx, which has had a lot of problems including causing heart problems.  No way to know, but again, if anyone is still reading this really old post, I just wanted to reassure you that getting serotonin syndrome when taking just one drug that affects serotonin almost never happens.  It is always very rare, but when it does happen, it's generally in people who have been given several drugs that affect serotonin.

[Colitis123]

Lexapro had nothing to do with it . change the way you think . anxiety is telling you all those bad thoughts .