Cipralex and Anxiety

[KaoticKutie]

Hi.. my profile is new here but I used to come to this forum before. I have forgotten my last username and entered my email to retrieve it, but havent gotten it. Anyways. I have panic disorder, anxiety disorder and some OCD. Yeah. My anxiety has been very minimal the past few years, and as been under control. My panic has gone up and down... but not as bad. Because my anxiety was down, so were my OCDs. BUT I have had a lot of major life stressors that seem to have triggered my anxiety and it will be consistent from the time I wake to the time I sleep. I use Ativan as needed, and the past couple of months was finding myself taking up to 4 times as much as I have the past few years. I have two young children and am starting to feel like I am losing control... and have been needing my Ativan and a couple glasses of wine just to get rid of the tightness in my chest and anxious thoughts racing in my mind. SOOO I went to my family doctor... and feeling very ambivalent on going on daily meds again told her the situation. She gave me Cipralex to try, seeing that it was meant for anxiety and OCD.. and apparently has less side effects then other meds... I was on Paxil then Effexor but have not had to take a daily med for 5 years!!
So.. one question I have are the side effects as I have heard about some. The two big ones that bother me is weight gain.. as since having children still trying to lose 30 extra pounds that got packed on me. The second is I heard people getting cravings for wine. I don't want to start drinking more.. my hopes on my anxiety going down was to drink less at night (I dont hardly drink during the day.. and wait for my kids to go to sleep). Others I heard that bother me are increased heart beat and tremors.. as I already get that with my panic attacks and anxiety. SOOO is Cipralex an appropriate medication for my conditons?? Can anyone suggest another med just in case Cipralex doesn't work out for me??
My plan is to take daily meds temporary until my life and my anxiety are unnder more control again... as I would prefer to take my mes when needed.
Thank you for reading this

[dabrucru]

hi there, i had taken cipralex for 4 months, and i found them really good, i suffer from anxiety, and i wasn t eating cause of my anxiety, i was against meds, but i am really gratefull i took them. as to side effects, the thing i noticed is that the first 2 weeks i had to pee a lot ( maybe only me) but that was the only 'side effect ' i felt. but i m no doctor

good luck... o and welcome back ;)

[KaoticKutie]

I can handle peeing a lot... thats not a big deal. Really really worried about the weight gain. It has been so hard to loose all the weight I put on after having kids. I am not obese.. just 35 pounds over my ideal weight. I hate it, and have been exercising.. not as much as I should though, and tried various diet supplements to aide. I have been slowly losing some weight, and I would be very upset if I starting to put it back on. These thoughts certainly don't help my anxiety.. I know that.
But thanks for the feedback.. I am really hoping that Cipralex helps me.

[dabrucru]

I did nt have any weight gain issues, try to exercise more. Exercise helps a lot against anxiety, i use my bike for work, and also i do some jogging. Meditation also helps a lot.

Good luck.

...a healthy mind leads to a healthy body...i think

[KaoticKutie]

Yes.. I was exercising quite a bit for a while, then slowed down, so I know I need to do that again. Is it just my imagination or am I feeling side effects the first day of this med?Just feeling a little agitated, my head a little cloudy and dry mouth...yuck.

[dabrucru]

yes my doc told me that i might feel 'worse' before feeling better, i didn t want to tell you because there is the tendencies that we 'anxious' people start to worry about somthing someone tells us , even if its not there, well, that s me. but don t give up on them , i felt really good after 2 weeks...

good luck :D

[KaoticKutie]

Thats me too.. I have been trying to be positive. I feel very out of it.. I hate it. I will forget things more than usual.. like leaving the milk out on the counter after filling my sons bottle.. my head feels a bit cloudy. My appetite has gone down which I have no complaints about as I have been trying to lose some weight, and my mouth gets dry, and I have had some bouts of being tired. Its my 5th day being on the medication.. so its still new. I just hate having to be on daily meds.
I also think that I am not enjoying the taste of foods right now.. like I will take a bite and not want more because the taste does not seem right or texture. So weird. But if I eat less and lose some weight that will make me happy.. and losing weight will mean that I will lose an anxiety of mine- my extra weight.

[KaoticKutie]

Day 6 on Cipralex and I feel awful. I feel bad because I am not spending as much time with my kids.. my GAD is really high today. Normally I am very outgoing and social, but when I get panic attacks or my GAD is really high I become more withdrawn, and sometimes to the point of being agoraphobic. I become completely opposite. I am feeling very overwhelmed today.. and just want the medication to start working.. not just side effects. Ok Anxiety you can go away now...

[dabrucru]

its the first 1, 2 week, than they start to kick in, hang on in there, you know you can do it, do things like reading or sports, have you ever try meditation? i can send you some good tunes if you like.:)

[KaoticKutie]

I have been trying to write and working on a project which as helped and trying to exercise more too. Its now been a week. Today was not so bad. I actually had some points where I had no anxiety which was nice. Come on Cipralex start working.

[KaoticKutie]

THe Cipralex seems to be working most of the time now.. and side effects are not as strong, but still feel nauseas a lot.. and will even dry gag sometimes. I have to lie down a lot while working because of my upset stomach and feeling tired a lot. Now I just got a new symotom: blurred vision. Most days are better now, but I hate the side effects. And my short term memory is still not that good. Still, I can say being on Paxil, and Effexor previously ( a few years ago.. tried Paxil a couple of years .. horrible.. then Effexor.. still ugh).. this seems to help me more and work better and with less side effects.

[dabrucru]

I Started cypralex today, i tried to do everything to help myself, but anxiety won t go away, let s see how it goes, last time they helped a lot....