Hi guys,
I've struggled with anxiety for many years, but until now I've resisted taking medication. I've tried CBT and exercise which have both benefitted me greatly, but I'm having pretty severe anxiety at the moment and I feel like I can't manage with just that anymore. Yesterday I starting taking Lexapro (10mg).
However, I was reading up on it last night and I'm concerned about some of the long term effects - specifically tardive dysphoria - where long-term SSRI use may actually induce depression, even in people who are taking it for anxiety and do not have a history of depression. Most of the evidence for it seems to come from a single meta-study (attached).
Since the evidence implicates long-term use and high doses, I decided to cut my dosage to 5mg and see how that goes, and to stop taking it after a couple of months (one of the major factors in my current anxiety level is an upcoming external event and some other short-term life stuff). I just need the medication to get me through this period. I also feel like my anxious thoughts and negative self-talk are now so routine and habitual, that I just need to break the habit a little through medication and weaken the neural pathways that access those negative thoughts.
However, I am concerned about doing this as it goes directly against the instructions of both my doctor and pharmacist when I was given the drug - that I should not stop taking it when I am feeling better. Does anybody have any advice, thoughts, experience?
Thanks in advance,
Heather