cipralex, terrified

[funkymonk]

hi all, i just signed up to try and get some courage or encouragement or something. i am 25 years old and i have been suffering from agoraphobia and panic attacks for 2 years now. when i first started i took ativan and they tried me on efexor, but the dose was too high and gave me crazy side effects, dreaming while im awake, insomia, severe headaches. to say the least after that i developed a huge fear of all forms of medicine. stopped taking my ativan which helped me so much. so now 2 years later i am beyond sick of this and want to do something to try and get over it. i saw my doctor today and told him i want to try meds again with the lowest possible side effects and whatnot. so he presribed me mroe ativan and 5mg dose of cipralex. so heres the situation. i dont think i can take it, my brain wants to but at the same time i just cant seem to take the pill. i read all the serious side effects than my brain convinces itself that they will happen to me, like i will die if i take these pills. i want to take them so bad and try to piece my life back together. idk if anyone can help or anything but maybe just some encouraging words would be nice. Or if i could post how im feeling each day and sjust someone to say thats normal. i dont want to be a bother im just really scared and want to get back to having a life. thank you so much ion advance if anyone can help me.

much love and sorry for anyone else who experiences this.

[Horace]

I understand your fear...I'm the same!

However I can say, don't worry, I've just started Cipralex myself. All is well. 5mg is a tiny dose and IF you feel a bit odd it will pass and you will see the benefits.

Be brave and take them...you know you want to :yesyes:

[karenp]

I was terrified too but decided I wanted to get well so just go for it darl...it may be a bit rocky at first but you will soon start to feel the benefits and we are all here for you if you want to talk or need any advice or encouragement. Escitalopram has been the easiest SSRI I have ever started up on (:

[funkymonk]

So yesterday I tried the ativan and it made me xtremely depressed for some reason, normally i dont get depressed but yesterday was horrible, felt unwanted, like nobody cared, just overwhelming sadness. Now i was going to start the cipralex today but now i am really scared, yesterday was horrible, and on top of that my gf doesnt even want to talk to me, so im already upset and angry this morning, Should i still start them when im like this? Before i was just nervous of gettiong more anxious, now im already sad and nervous of becoming ore depressed form the pill. i dont have depression...

[karenp]

I feel for you, I really do and hope you sort things out with your gf. It's so hard for people to understand this horrible illness if they haven't suffered themselves.
I take Lorazepam too and have always been fine with it though I will admit, the initial start up of Escitalopram did give me some real flat days but they soon passed. I tend to suffer with anxiety too more than depression but then often think do I get the anxiety because I am depressed and that's how it surfaces for me?
I really hope you feel better soon xxxx

[darline]

I have been on escitalopram for three months and have never experienced severe side effects from it. I started at 5 mg for a week, then went to 10mg. As it has not been as effective at controlling the anxiety as my doctor and I had hoped, he had me up the dose to 15 mg, doing it by quarter-pills. I was on it for six years previously, then for insurance reasons, switched to citalopram, and I had no problem with that drug either. I then decided to taper off my meds because "I was well". After a miserable year of trying every natural remedy under the sun, I willingly went back on escitalopram, and I am very glad I did. I have had a surprisingly difficult time adjusting to it this time, because I was in pretty bad shape when I went back on it, but I feel a lot better than I did a year ago! I am also in counseling, which I should have been in before, but wasn't. I take the esciptalopram in the morning (when I took it at night it gave me insomnia), plus I take 50 mg Trazodone as a sleep aid. I also take a half-pill of generic Klonipin in the late afternoon after work (I do take a whole pill occasionally, but it seems to give me depression afterwards). I would really encourage you to try the medicine. I think medication phobia is pretty common, but I have never heard of anyone dying from a therapeutic dose of an antidepressant. Perhaps starting out at a half or even a quarter-size dose would help you to gradually adjust to it, and when you see that nothing drastic happens, it would hopefully alleviate your fears, and you would be able at your own timing, to increase the dose little by little. Good luck to you.

[jayjoe18]

This is exactly me! I'm terrified! About the side effects, long term effects, just scared to actually take the medication in general. I've wanted to start taking it but just can't seem to get myself to take the first one. I'm not good with tablets in the first place either so that doesn't help things. I know this is an old post now, did you ever manage to take them? If so, how is everything, how did it go?

[Sparkle1984]

Hi Jayjoe,

It looks like the thread starter (funkymonk) hasn't logged into the forums since the 5th of June, so I'd hope that means he managed to successfully start the medication and is doing well. I've often found that people don't visit the forum any more once they're feeling better. You could try sending him a PM or email and see if he answers. :)

Has your doctor prescribed you Cipralex? I remember for a long time you were unsure about which med to ask for. If so, what dose did they give you? I think 5mg is the smallest dose, but you can try cutting the tablets in half for the first week to help you get used to them. That's what I did when I needed to increase my citalopram dose last month, and I didn't get any side effects that way.

[jayjoe18]

Hi Sparkle, sorry for the late reply, I didn't notice you had commented, this forum would be perfect if we could add tags and get notifications! Ha ha.

I hope that does mean he's doing well on the medication, fingers crossed! The problem sometimes is you tend to read many more scary posts about meds than good ones as once people start feeling better they don't tend to feel the need to come back on the forums, totally understandable though!

No I haven't been back to my doctor yet but I can honestly say hand on heart this time I am going to! It's taken a long while but I think I'm finally ready to start taking them, hopefully they will give me Cipralex, I feel less nervous about this one for some reason. Thanks for the tip, I will definitely be posting and let you know how I get on :)