Wonderful.Cheese Posted April 19, 2022 Share Posted April 19, 2022 (edited) I have a Dr appointment today. I take 40 mg Prozac daily. I have no side effects except a bit of jittery nerves and it helps mood a little. But I feel it does not help my anxiety. I did have breakthrough depression on Prozac too hence the dose increase to 40 mg. I am thinking about asking to swap Prozac to a more calming AD to help my anxiety. Either: Lexapro or Paxil. I fear gaining weight the most for side effects. But my anxiety is really out of control so I am willing to take a risk. Which AD of those 2 is best? Or do I just stick to Prozac? Oh. And I don’t need to worry about a possible mania switch anymore because I’m on Zyprexa zydis. Edited April 19, 2022 by Wonderful.Cheese Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyRedhead Posted April 19, 2022 Share Posted April 19, 2022 2 hours ago, Wonderful.Cheese said: I have a Dr appointment today. I take 40 mg Prozac daily. I have no side effects except a bit of jittery nerves and it helps mood a little. But I feel it does not help my anxiety. I did have breakthrough depression on Prozac too hence the dose increase to 40 mg. I am thinking about asking to swap Prozac to a more calming AD to help my anxiety. Either: Lexapro or Paxil. I fear gaining weight the most for side effects. But my anxiety is really out of control so I am willing to take a risk. Which AD of those 2 is best? Or do I just stick to Prozac? Oh. And I don’t need to worry about a possible mania switch anymore because I’m on Zyprexa zydis. These are just my personal experiences, because I have tried all 3 (Prozac, Paxil, and Lexapro)....Keep in mind this is just me: For me, Prozac was too stimulating, and did not help my anxiety at all. For me, Paxil was so sedating that I had to take at bedtime, and I did gain some weight on it. For me, Lexapro did cause a some sedation, but I didn't gain any weight on it. So, to sum it all up, I found Paxil to be too sedating for me, plus the weight gain wasn't fun on that one......Lexapro was somewhat sedating for me, but without the weight gain...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonderful.Cheese Posted April 20, 2022 Author Share Posted April 20, 2022 (edited) 22 hours ago, CrazyRedhead said: These are just my personal experiences, because I have tried all 3 (Prozac, Paxil, and Lexapro)....Keep in mind this is just me: For me, Prozac was too stimulating, and did not help my anxiety at all. For me, Paxil was so sedating that I had to take at bedtime, and I did gain some weight on it. For me, Lexapro did cause a some sedation, but I didn't gain any weight on it. So, to sum it all up, I found Paxil to be too sedating for me, plus the weight gain wasn't fun on that one......Lexapro was somewhat sedating for me, but without the weight gain...... Thank you so much CRH. In your experience, did Lexapro help you with anxiety or mood at all? And in what ways if I can ask? I’m pretty nervous to start it. I’m glad to hear you didn’t gain weight on Lexapro. I should mention I have severe generalized anxiety disorder. I also take 1,200 mg gabapentin for it and I was previously on 3 mg klonopin for a many years until my anti-Benzo NP took me off of it. Anyway, my NP thought Lexapro is a good med for me and wants me to switch to it. I’m to stop Prozac for a full 3 weeks and then I can start Lexapro. I worry about being without an AD for 3 weeks. I hope nothing bad happens. Edited April 20, 2022 by Wonderful.Cheese Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonderful.Cheese Posted April 20, 2022 Author Share Posted April 20, 2022 I’ve sent my NP an email with a request to start the Lexapro right away and not wait 3 weeks without an AD in my system. I’m very worried I’ll have a huge setback. I can’t risk that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morpheus Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 For me Lexapro (30mg) helped with mood,but not with anxiety. Paxil (40mg) helps with both and i take it in morning, initially it was sedating,but that wear off. Also no weight gain, at least for now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyRedhead Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 (edited) 5 hours ago, Wonderful.Cheese said: Thank you so much CRH. In your experience, did Lexapro help you with anxiety or mood at all? And in what ways if I can ask? I’m pretty nervous to start it. I’m glad to hear you didn’t gain weight on Lexapro. I should mention I have severe generalized anxiety disorder. I also take 1,200 mg gabapentin for it and I was previously on 3 mg klonopin for a many years until my anti-Benzo NP took me off of it. Anyway, my NP thought Lexapro is a good med for me and wants me to switch to it. I’m to stop Prozac for a full 3 weeks and then I can start Lexapro. I worry about being without an AD for 3 weeks. I hope nothing bad happens. I have to be honest, and say that Lexapro didn't make much of a difference in anxiety or mood for me...............But keep in mind that I'm very treatment-resistant, so you could have success with it.......If your NP thinks it's a good med for you I would say go ahead and try it.....It had very few side effects, if any, for me. It's possible that the reason your NP wants to wait 3 weeks between meds, is that Prozac has an extremely long-half life, so takes awhile for the Prozac to completely leave your system.........According to this article, it can take 25 days or more for Prozac to leave your system after stopping it: https://khealth.com/learn/antidepressants/how-long-does-prozac-stay-in-your-system/ Edited April 20, 2022 by CrazyRedhead 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonderful.Cheese Posted April 22, 2022 Author Share Posted April 22, 2022 (edited) Thank you both for sharing. @morpheus @CrazyRedhead That really helps me. I am starting Lexapro next week. I emailed my NP and she said she wants me to wait one week off Prozac then start 10 mg Lexapro then 20 mg Lexapro after two weeks. (This isn’t what she said at the appointment) She said to rely on my clonazepam PRN more during this switch to help with the anxiety. I am very worried I have made a bad decision to try Lexapro. I worry it’s not a very good medicine and not strong enough. I worry that it might not work well for me. I mentioned both Paxil and Lexapro to my NP but she seemed to think Lexapro was a good medicine. I had thought Paxil was stronger? I’m so worried and anxious. Edited April 22, 2022 by Wonderful.Cheese Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Complicated toad Posted April 23, 2022 Share Posted April 23, 2022 I can attest to two people I know that have found Lexapro very helpful, one for depression and one for anxiety. The hard thing with meds is that it's different for everyone so you really don't know until you've tried and seen what happens. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonderful.Cheese Posted April 23, 2022 Author Share Posted April 23, 2022 1 hour ago, Complicated toad said: I can attest to two people I know that have found Lexapro very helpful, one for depression and one for anxiety. The hard thing with meds is that it's different for everyone so you really don't know until you've tried and seen what happens. Thank you so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts