Getting a two for one on Lex?

[Lucky21]

Hello,

Currently I seem to be having some mild seasonal depression and have started taking Lexapro. I went with Lex due to the fact a few years ago I had a sever depression with anxiety episode and the Lex jerked me right out of it. A curious thing though. Back then before I had the major depression episode I was having a strange lower back pain. It was never consistent nor felt in the exact same place. I went to a few doctors to have it checked out and nothing ever showed up. When I started taking Lex then as my depression lifted the back pain went away along with it.

Fast forward to now and right before this depression came on I started to get a back pain again. never bothering me in the same place. The worst it felt was when the depression set in last week. I have now been on Lex at 10mg for almost a week and each day the back pain has become less as well as my depression has improved. I've read that low serotonin can manifest itself in ways other than depression or anxiety. Anyone else had a similar occurance while on a AD?

Also, what has anyones experience been taking the same AD a second time? Lex didn't poop out on me when I took it the first time. I was on 20mg for just a year. I can say that this time the intial onset of side effects seemed lesser....mainly dry mouth and throat which to my memory went away after about a month or so, the foggy head feeling lasted like 2 days, and the difficult to orgasm thing. There was a lift in my depression about a few days in...right now I'm just feeling blah.

Lucky 21

[Loon-A-TiK]

yeah, depression manifests itself as physical symptoms as well as psychological ones. i've read that what takes most people to their gp and later gets them DXed with depression is physical symptoms. it makes sense that as your depression lifts, your physical issues will subside.

as for the drug being less effective, i guess that depends on your body. if you're already feeling the physical symptoms going away then i think it is likely that the psychological ones will too, it is only a matter of time. some people do have the experience of the drug not working anymore, but i've never heard of it happening with lex. paxil seems to be the main culprit there, though i've started and stopped paxil a million times and it always works.

ADs are supposed to give you some feeling within around 2 weeks, and a much bigger benefit at 4-6 weeks. it will take several months to feel the fullest benefit.

[lemonflavor]

Depression affects my digestive system and my lower back in addition to other things. When I get an anxiety attack my digestive system goes into turmoil and my lower back tightens up. For a while I was having diarrhea in the morning and my lower back hurt all the time. I raised the Lexapro from 10 to 20mg and this pretty much went away. I have read from others that depression affects them in this way. It's like a whole midsection thing. Or like you are about to have an anxiety attack all the time.

Did it affect your digestive system along with your back? Maybe this isn't the case with you but thought I would bring it up.

[Lucky21]

A few years ago when it first happened I was having digestive issue. However I was making several lifestyle changes particularly with eating (cutting out sugar, cafffine and other bad things we consume). The back pain existed for months before I emotionally felt bad. When looking back I can see I was showing other symptoms of depression I just wasn't feeling it emotionally. It was when I finally started taking the lexapro that my depression went away and the back pain as well. The back pain was a tight, sore stiffness mostky but it would gravitate around. It wasn't consistent. I was affected by this for a few months before and when the depression set in it hurt worse. I read back then about how low serotonin can show up in other ways....physical pain being one of them.

Several weeks ago before I started feeling depressed again I was having a similar pain in the back. When the depression set in it got very painful to where standing up and walking were difficult. I started the lex Sunday before last and each day the pain has been less and less. There has been moderate improvement in my mood but still feeling blah and down. I just went up to 20mg today. Hopefully the AD effects will start kicking in stronger soon. This time around though no stomach/digestive issues but that is pretty common with depression/anxiety.