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Thread: How long before you felt better on 10mg for anxiety?

  1. #1

    How long before you felt better on 10mg for anxiety?

    Been on 10mg for 3 weeks now, mostly for anxiety. First week was really bad as the anxiety seemed to get worse but back to baseline now. I知 hoping I値l notice a benefit on 10mg and not have to increase the dose. For anyone whose anxiety is better, how long did it take? Thanks

  2. #2
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    Re: How long before you felt better on 10mg for anxiety?

    It varies depending on the person.
    You can't put a time limit on it unfortunately.
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    Re: How long before you felt better on 10mg for anxiety?

    Quote Originally Posted by Candle18 View Post
    Been on 10mg for 3 weeks now, mostly for anxiety. First week was really bad as the anxiety seemed to get worse but back to baseline now.
    Antidepressants (ADs) will often make anxiety (also depression) worse at the beginning by increasing serotonin activity. After a few weeks bio-feedback mechanisms usually kick-in to reduce serotonin synthesis and expression and anxiety/depression will then return to about pretreatment levels, but both may again spike for a short while after dose increases.

    I知 hoping I値l notice a benefit on 10mg and not have to increase the dose. For anyone whose anxiety is better, how long did it take? Thanks
    It typically takes 4-12 weeks for ADs to kick-in. They do not directly treat these disorders in the way say aspirin does for headaches where you take a tablet and it has an immediate effect. Anxiety and depression are the emotional symptoms of atrophy of parts of the two hippocampal regions of the brain caused by high brain stress hormone levels killing hippocampal cells and inhibiting the growth of new ones. ADs (also therapy) reverse this by encouraging the growth of replacement cells (neurogenesis) and it is these cells and the connections they form which create the therapeutic response. Unfortunately, this isn't a quick process. It takes about 7 weeks for brain cells to grow and mature, however, some improvement in mood may begin earlier. For more on this see: Depression and the Birth and Death of Brain Cells (PDF) and How antidepressant drugs act.

    Was already worrying a bit about vivid dreams that seemed very real and a bit unsettling but these have got worse. Is this a side effect that will go away over time?
    Maybe, maybe not. Vivid dreams can be a side-effect of all ADs. Whether they cause dreams to be more vivid, or they just allow our usual dreams to flow into consciousness is a matter of debate. I used to get some real beauties when on a previous AD. Real Hollywoodesque extravaganzas in widescreen Technicolor. I've missed them.

    If you're disturbed by the dreams then you could try switching to citalopram (Celexa). It and escitalopram share the same active chemical, the 'S' isomer of citalopram, aka escitalopram. Citalopram also contains an 'R' mirror image isomer which is a poorer fit biologically so is mostly inactive. Escitalopram has only the active 'S' isomer. While the 'R' isomer isn't active it can produce subtle differences in side-effects between the two meds and while there are guarantees there is a chance the dreams will cease. As they have the same active chemical there are usually few issues with switching overnight between equivalent doses of the two meds.
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