Posted by Racer on December 6, 2008, at 11:33:17
In reply to Advice Needed!, posted by Donzi on December 4, 2008, at 13:07:41
Welcome to Babble!
I'm going to echo Nadezda's very good advice: let your doctor know that Lexapro was not your friend.
Lexapro is often the first drug prescribed, especially by general practitioners. It's the newest of the SSRIs, and it was formulated to provide the most benefits with the fewest side effects -- in theory. And that theory is good, and it works very well for many people. It simply does not work for all people. For some reason that no one fully understands yet, people can respond very, very differently to these medications -- even within the same class, some people will have wildly differing responses. (I get far worse on Lexapro, and have fewer side effects with Zoloft, for example, which many other people cannot tolerate -- mileage really varies.)
The advice I'd love to see you take is to see a specialist. A psychiatrist skilled in psychopharmacology will have far more experience in prescribing medications, and can shave a lot of time off the search for the optimal medication. A good relationship with your GP, though, is often enough to get a good result. The key is to ask questions -- "Why are you choosing this medication?" "How long should I be on it before we decide to make a change?" "If it doesn't work, what's the next choice?" etc.
It's hard to say, from what you've written, what exactly is going on. If you were someone close to me, I'd offer the following advice, in this order:
Find a good psychopharmacologist.
See a psychotherapist to try to get a better handle on what's going on -- any environmental or situational factors involved, helpful behavioral interventions, etc.
Have a complete physical, complete with full blood chemistry. (This is my own soapbox -- I've told my doctor, "When one of my animals develops a new behavioral problem, the first thing I do is take him/her to the vet to be checked nose to tail. I don't assume it's behavioral until I've had the physical ruled out. I think I deserve the same level of care I insist on for my animals -- even though it's harder to get into vet school than med school. And I've chosen doctors who aren't insulted when I say that, so it works out nicely!) Make sure there's not something physical going on.
And just a personal observation: I've found that forcing myself to get out of bed and get dressed helps me a lot. I may get up, get dressed without a shower, and then spend the rest of the day lying on the sofa under a quilt -- but the psychological benefits I get from getting out of bed and into clothes every single day really help.
I wish you the very best, and hope this has been helpful to you.
poster:Racer
thread:866673
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/newbs/20080507/msgs/867004.html