Stress Center Peer Support

Hi

I've been taking 300 mg effexor and 150 wellbutrin for a while now but was still experiencing moderate depression, so my doctor has switched me off wellbutrin and onto 10 mg cipralex (aka lexapro, I think?). It's only been a week, so these may just be transitional effects, but I'm feeling like an emotionally flat bundle of nerves -- jumpy, tense, irritable and flat! Can anyone else relate? Is this likely to be temporary as I adjust to the new combination?

While I'm asking questions, is anyone else taking this amount of medication? From reading other posts, I'm on a huge amount -- that's one thing in itself, but it doesn't really seem to be helping much. My doctor keeps insisting that it's just a matter of finding the right medication/combination and dosage, but we've been through zoloft, paxil, paxil and trazadone, effexor on it's own, wellbutrin on it's own, wellbutrin and remeron... I'm losing confidence that we'll ever find something that works, and I'd be interested to hear other people's experiences.

"For all patients, 10 mg/day is the recommended starting dose of LEXAPRO. 10 mg/day is also the maintenance dose for many patients. If the dose is increased to 20 mg/day, this should occur after a minimum of 1 week. "

Your dosage is fine. I used to take Lexapro and started and 10 mg then moved up to 20 mg. As you are probably aware, it takes a few weeks for you to feel the full effects of the drug. Be patient! (I know this sounds easier than it is!).

I am no longer on anti-depressants, but over seven years I was given: Prozac, Paxil, Wellbutrin, Paxil and Wellbutrin, Lexapro, and finally Celexa. No matter what medication I was on I still had anxiety.

But that is my case, not yours. Maybe you will eventually find a drug or combination of drugs that will work for you. It just takes time and a lot of trial and error.

Thanks theresa2008. I know that there are no hard and fast rules and they everyone is different (sigh), I just get frustrated. But as well as the 10mg cipralex, I'm still taking 300mg effexor -- that's not a lot?

It's been 10 years since I first went on anti-depressants (except for a couple of years in the middle when I went off them and found a family physician who had a speciality in naturopathy -- we ran through the gamut of vitamins and other natural supplements but still no joy). It was one thing when I was working for someone else and had corporate health coverage -- I've been working for myself for the past 4 years, and although I have health insurance, all psychotropic drugs are excluded because they're related to a pre-existing condition, so I'm paying about $200/month for drugs that don't seem to help much.

Hmmm... I just had a thought: I wonder if I could make a deal with my doctor that she can monitor me as closely as she likes and I spend the $200/month on a personal trainer instead of on the drugs? It feels like a really positive idea to me -- my doctor may not think so, but worth suggesting, I think?