Lexapro vs Celexa

[Guest swanson]

I'm looking for some inspiration here.  After three months of being off ADs altogether, because I moved towns and because I took myself off effexor which wasn't working for me (bad idea, I know, but it's not like there were any withdrawal effects to make me remember to take it..), I'm so exhausted and fatigued that I really need to go back onto meds.

I finally worked up the courage to see my GP, introduced him to my depression and drug history, and he prescribed me Lexapro.  Problem is, I'm a huge cynic and I am unhappy with his decision, and I'm not sure I'm going to bother filling the prescription.  I'd love to hear your input and whether you would bother in this case.

So far I've had almost zero effect from ADs, except for side effects.  I was on celexa for months with absolutely no effect.  I did effexor with no effects, no side effects (aside from having to peel myself out of bed every morning with a cymbalta due to severe mental exhaustion), and no withdrawal effects - all of which are probably good signs that the drug did nothing for me biochemically.  I did paxil with no mental effect, but it did mess with my heart rate so my docs took me off.

I've tried enough different drugs to have an idea that SSRIs might not work for me.  My psychiatrist basically figured he'd explore the non-SSRIs rather than trying months and months of nothing again... and after Effexor didn't work, he was thinking of augmenting with or switching to Wellbutrin, but then he closed his practice on me so nothing happened with that.

I've explained all this to my GP, and yet, rather than trying the non SSRIs, he went straight to lexapro.  Now my question is: if celexa does absolutely nothing for you, why bother prescribing lexapro?  Now I'm no pharmacologist, but I thought the only difference was one chemical group, basically making celexa and lexapro mild alterations of one another.. .helpful for dealing with side effects and tolerance, but pointless for further exploring the biochemical waters for something that will actually work.

If you were in my situation, what would you do?  I just don't have the social stamina to debate this further with my GP.  My drug plan runs out at the end of August, so I don't have time for a second opinion, and I'm not going to fill a useless prescription and have to buy refills at retail price when I don't even have a job and my credit cards are nearly maxed out just because I have to "explore" whether lexapro might maybe someday have some tiny little effect after we let it simmer for 3 months and gradually adjust the dose.  Yeah, there's a tiny chance it or another SSRI might be the one, but given that I have such a small window of opportunity to test it out, it's too much of a waste to try it on Lex.

What do you think?

[zsandoz]

well some would disagree, but id tend to agree that the lexapro wont do too much more than celexa.  supposedly half the dose of lexapro is more powerful than the full dose of celexa, but i thought they were about the same.  some people are saying something like 5mg celexa = 20mg lexapro but there is no scientific evidence for that. 

if effexor and celexa didnt work then you should try something like remeron or wellbutrin, or a tricyclic like nortryptaline.  some of us dont really do too well on these SSRIs and effexor.  cymbalta might be another option

I'm looking for some inspiration here.  After three months of being off ADs altogether, because I moved towns and because I took myself off effexor which wasn't working for me (bad idea, I know, but it's not like there were any withdrawal effects to make me remember to take it..), I'm so exhausted and fatigued that I really need to go back onto meds.

I finally worked up the courage to see my GP, introduced him to my depression and drug history, and he prescribed me Lexapro.  Problem is, I'm a huge cynic and I am unhappy with his decision, and I'm not sure I'm going to bother filling the prescription.  I'd love to hear your input and whether you would bother in this case.

So far I've had almost zero effect from ADs, except for side effects.  I was on celexa for months with absolutely no effect.  I did effexor with no effects, no side effects (aside from having to peel myself out of bed every morning with a cymbalta due to severe mental exhaustion), and no withdrawal effects - all of which are probably good signs that the drug did nothing for me biochemically.  I did paxil with no mental effect, but it did mess with my heart rate so my docs took me off.

I've tried enough different drugs to have an idea that SSRIs might not work for me.  My psychiatrist basically figured he'd explore the non-SSRIs rather than trying months and months of nothing again... and after Effexor didn't work, he was thinking of augmenting with or switching to Wellbutrin, but then he closed his practice on me so nothing happened with that.

I've explained all this to my GP, and yet, rather than trying the non SSRIs, he went straight to lexapro.  Now my question is: if celexa does absolutely nothing for you, why bother prescribing lexapro?  Now I'm no pharmacologist, but I thought the only difference was one chemical group, basically making celexa and lexapro mild alterations of one another.. .helpful for dealing with side effects and tolerance, but pointless for further exploring the biochemical waters for something that will actually work.

If you were in my situation, what would you do?  I just don't have the social stamina to debate this further with my GP.  My drug plan runs out at the end of August, so I don't have time for a second opinion, and I'm not going to fill a useless prescription and have to buy refills at retail price when I don't even have a job and my credit cards are nearly maxed out just because I have to "explore" whether lexapro might maybe someday have some tiny little effect after we let it simmer for 3 months and gradually adjust the dose.  Yeah, there's a tiny chance it or another SSRI might be the one, but given that I have such a small window of opportunity to test it out, it's too much of a waste to try it on Lex.

What do you think?

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[Guest swanson]

Yeah - I was really hoping for Wellbutrin, but even when I thought maybe I'd misread the scrip and it perhaps could have been Cymbalta, I got excited reading about that one too... (unfortunately, my memory did serve me correctly: it definitely is a scrip for Lexapro).

I think I will end up visiting a walk-in and getting a different doc to prescribe Wellbutrin.  It (Zyban) worked for my dad to quit smoking (at least, when he was actually taking the pills) - so that's a good sign that my biochemistry might be well-suited for Welly B.

[Ocracoker16]

My sense would be that if Celexa didn't work for you there would be little chance that Lexapro would be effective.  It has fewer side effects, but if you stopped it because it didn't help and not because of physical symptoms that doesn't matter.  Good luck pursuing the Wellbutrin.

Katie

[Greenyflower]

Now my question is: if celexa does absolutely nothing for you, why bother prescribing lexapro?

That was my experience. When the Lexapro did not work, my doc tried the Celexa. No go.

Most general docs are very unsure about prescribing anything other than first line SSRIs and maybe Effexor. Similarly, they don't like to go much higher than the standard dosages. That's what finally got me to make an appointment with a psychiatrist rather than a GP. It has made a huge difference for me and I highly recommend it.

Greeny