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icicledreamz
24-05-09, 05:51
Just been prescibed this today by my doctor,
im supposed to start off by taking a quarter a day of 10 mg dosage for a week, than onto a half a day for a week, than whole one for a week.
I told the doctor that i was extremely worried about side effects, as i have emetophobia, (fear of vomiting) and some health anxiety that makes wierd symptoms freak me out.. Im rly scared to try this but i know i have got to, because the anxiety is ruling my life right now and i need to feel better somehow. Anyway i just wanted to know if anyone has had any expierences with this perticular drug? And maybe some tips for me would be great.
I have ativans to help me out if it gets bad at first. I forgot to ask my doctor though if i can take these while taking the escitalopram. Can i even take ativan with it? Please any answers would be appreciated.

magpie girl
25-05-09, 15:10
hi i have been on this for a week now,and i have very low tolerance for medication!!!!!so far i have been fine no sickness at all which im very shocked at as my GP thinks im a nightmare to treat as i am intolerant to most things and suffer horredus side effects.I was on citalipram before this and i was so ill they had to take me off it,so so far so good for me

alias_kev
26-05-09, 22:25
Hey icicledreamz. Nice alias by the way although it gives me shivers - a very cold image.

Anyway your GP is being very careful by phasing you slowly onto the Escitalopram. That's a good pace since it takes about 6 days (mathematically) for each dosage to stabilise in the body. Personally I went onto 10 mg is one hit. I didn't do too badly for side effects as I felt really terrible in the first place - you can only feel so bad right!

On the whole (from experience and reading) Esc' does seem to have a more body friendly nature than many of the SSRIs. Remember though that some of the side effects will happen as it causes your serotonin to increase. The brain/body has a lot of reactions to that - some of which we want! Some of which we don't.

I recommend taking the Esc' after food, usually at the end of breakfast. My theory is that its friendlier on the stomach/digestion that way and I read something that said the dose was more effective that way too. Most people who've described taking the dose in the evening/bedtime have worst nights which is not suprising as serotonin is normally low & falling at night and taking the pill then would push it up. Possibly its worth taking at night if your sleep is already very poor through active anxiety.

Although nausea can appear as a side effect I have not read of anyone on here actually saying it has made them ill. So don't let those fears beat you.

Take care, and if you need to know/ask more keep posting.

PS: Just remembered you asked about the Atavan. It ought to be OK as its one of the benzodiazapines which are very different to the SSRIs. So there is no direct interaction. Strictly you should check with your GP or pharmacist. The main thing with all the 'azepines is to use as little as possible for the shortest time possible. They work so well & easily they are generally considered addictive AND habit forming. The goal would be to wean off the atavan as the benefit of the Esc comes in.

icicledreamz
27-05-09, 11:44
Thanx so much for replying.Your post made me feel much more at ease.
I still haven't taken the meds. I tried to the other night, but i couldn't cut them properly. I'm supossed to be taking quarters of the tablets and the dang things would just crush when i tried to cut them so i ruined 2 of the pills:nonono:They would cut in half fine cause they are scored, but when i tried cutting them in half again,nope, the dang things would crush. So i dont really know. I'm gonna look into getting a proper pill cutter instead of the knife method...

Do you think i'd get really low side effects from it since im starting off on such a small dosage? Im 20 yrs old, Female BTW.

Also what kinda side effects were most prominent for you?
I keep going to take them, but i keep chickening out:unsure:

reallyfedup
27-05-09, 12:49
You can get liquid escital. You would have 5 drops in water. (20 drops is equiv to 1 ml which is 10 mg i think) Tastes disgusting but you can eat something straight away to remove the bitter taste from your mouth .I have the liquid. Its accurate in measuring small amounts. I now take 30 dropsx good luck:yesyes:

Dawnio87
27-05-09, 16:31
Hi Icicledreamz,

I have been on cipralex for six weeks now. My doc just started me on 10mg straight away, to be honest my panic attacks were so bad at this time that i was happy to be getting something to help so didnt worry to much about the dosage! At first the main thing i noticed about them was extreme fatigue, i could barely lift my head all day so from the next day on i began taking them at night after a small snack, which has worked brilliantly and improved my sleep too. The initial side effects i had over the first 4 weeks were nausea (especially when travelling), the odd headache, runny nose and some muscle aches/twitching especially in my legs. It sounds a bit yucky n difficult and it isnt pleasant but for the past few weeks iv been feeling much better, havnt had a panic attack in 15 days now so they are definitely helping. You just need to get on them pet and let them do their job. All pills have side effects but anythings better than constant panic eh.

Good Luck!

alias_kev
29-05-09, 01:53
Some versions of some meds do come in more splitable shapes but I'm not sure about quartering. You could ask your pharmacist as they might be able to source a different format/size or as reallyfedup said the liquid form. If you cannot fix the tablet/dose then really your GP needs to agree to you starting on 5mg (half a tablet) anything else is crazy as you won't be able to control the daily dosage and your won't get the aclimatisation anyway. Similarly do not take these every other day as that probably just gives 48 hour cycles of adaption/withdrawal/adaption/withdrawal.

To be honest I started straight on 10mg. As a middle aged male (and only a little overweight honest!) that's not necessarily useful as a comparison. Like dawnio87 my anxiety (GAD in my case) was so bad and I was already so anxious/stressed with secondary depression that I hardly noticed the initial side effects. I think I made some posts back then - you could search. I wrote a summary of my final ongoing side effects in by thread "Journey from Escitalopram to Buspirone" that you can find too. As I recall there was at the start mainly headache, fatigue, night sweats. I had a little of the nausea I think but not that much and I was never sick.

Its easy to say but don't let health anxiety about side effects stop you taking the meds. Especially starting on a low dose Esc' seems to have a good reputation.

icicledreamz
29-05-09, 07:53
Started taking them tonight, took it about 4 hours ago now, no bad side effects to report.. other then feeling tired, eyes are heavy, and im also more sweaty than usual.

alias_kev
29-05-09, 13:56
Well done. Know it must be hard with HA as well!. :hugs:And the thing about most of those effects is that its nighttime, you should be tired anyway and are probably still a bit anxious about the meds - and have whatever night time anxiety you used to get!

So in some ways the meds have trouble finding room to give other effects...

Take Care. :hugs: