anxitey medince

[kl42]

can lexapro.  help with nervousness. internal shaking   lack of appetie, tension, obsessing on health  problems sleeping,  how long till you start see results? just started on meds 2 days

[J T Junig, MD PhD]

Lexapro is an SSRI, and SSRI's are the 'drugs of choice' for most anxiety disorders-- which is what you are describing.  Some people call the medications 'anti-depressants', but the term SSRI is preferred, because they are useful for things other than depression.

There is some evidence that Lexapro works a bit faster than the other SSRIs.  The symptom resolution on an SSRI actually doesn't come directly from the increase in serotonin, but rather from the growth of new neuronal connections, primarily in a part of the brain called the 'hippocampus', that occurs in response to the serotonin.  I write about the actions of antidepressants and have a link to a related article on my 'other' blog, Patient Times, at http://fdlpsychiatry.com/blog .

The actions of Lexapro START after about 3 weeks.  For most SSRIs the response BEGINS after 4-6 weeks.

Take care,
JJ

[kl42]

1 month later on lexapro. much better i sleep normal now. every night. much less tension, don't obsess as much , not as intense. appetite is back. probable too good. lol. much better at dealing with people. im still a little tense, but i think it improves all the time.  sometime still fell a littel sahkey inside, but less intense. still get pulsing feeling in back of head at night., but less intense. overall. much better . hoping these last symtoms fade a way. soon. doing exersise relation  techniques, chiroprator., streaching. lots of walking. i also notice that now im calm enough to be able to watch tv sit  i couldn't do that a month ago. so overall i think this is going away. Kevin

[kl42]

yes im trying to stay busy during the day doing  alot of walking . chiropractic, phisotherapy. taking long rides in the car. basically tryinhgto keep moviong ..plus it  gets the energy out of me so i can sleep better at night. Kevin

[Jaybay]

Listen to your doctor.  He's right.  These things can sometimes take over a month before you notice a difference in how you feel, so please try to hang in there.  I'm so glad to hear the nausea is finally backing off - it's so miserable and makes it too tempting to just quit the medication.  It also sounds like you're paying so much attention to every little symptom that you're getting hammered with yet more anxiety.  Do you have any little tricks to distract you when you start thinking about these things?

Has anyone ever taught you some relaxation and deep breathing exercises to help you cope with the anxiety?  In my personal experience, you have to treat the entire body - mental and physical - to get the best results.  There is no one magic pill that will "cure" anxiety and it's associated physical symptoms.  Something worth looking into anyway - can't hurt; might help. :-)

[kl42]

thanks.. the nausea seem to have gone today, still have that weird headach in friont of face,  i feel sahking inside in my chest espesially at night . and alot of tension. hard to relax, concentrate, sit in the same room and have a relaxed conversation wioth someone,  plus my hand and arms and a little bit of my legs will start to sahke as the day go on. like 6 pm.   the doc say its all anxiety realted. ive had a ton of test., so im hoping this will kick in start to help it out. ive only heard good things about it. ive got 2 frinds on it now, both had postive things to say about.. just saiod side effects for 1st week then you adjust.  kevin

[Jaybay]

If you call a full-blown panic attack "physical" then the answer is yes.  :-)   I had periods where I couldn't breathe, experienced chest pain and actually fainted once.  That's what finally drove me to see my doctor, and I'm so glad I did.  I don't have that feeling of being on another planet and being an outside observer of my own life.  Mentally, I feel better than I have since before hitting puberty which is when the depression and anxiety kicked in for me.  Since I was born in the Stone Age, those things were seen as a shameful character deficit: "pull yourself up by the bootstraps and get over yourself" attitude.  At least that much has changed since I was 12!

[kl42]

thanks. were you having any phyical symtoms .. did it help for that also/

[Jaybay]

I was so lucky to feel a huge difference in my thinking after only a couple of days on lexapro.  The same thing happened with my brother.  Interestingly enough, I recall reading a newspaper article a few months ago about a lexapro study.  It don't remember the purpose of the study itself, but an incidental finding was that if lexapro was effective in one family member, it was also effective in other family members with anxiety and depression.  Among siblings, if lexapro was going to help, it kicked in very quickly without the usual month-long wait with other SSRIs.  Looks like my brother and I have the same chemical issues in our brains.  :-D

As a side comment to anyone who might be prescribed SSRIs and is afraid of them, please have no fear.  The label "anti-depressant" is something of a misnomer.  So many people think these meds will make you sleepy or "drugged" or become "addictive" like valium.  Absolutely not true.  When these meds are effective, the best way I can describe it is like clearing the cobwebs from your brain so you can think clearly.  No pill can take away your problems, but it sure makes dealing with those problems a whole lot easier.