# Not Everything The Doctor Orders Is A Good Thing



## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

I want everyone to know about a horrible drug that I have been for less than a year. When I was going a very stressful time early this year I started to have chest pains so went to the Doctor right away. Well tests showed everything was OK but the doctor said it was due to my stress. So the doctor said he would give me a prescription for a pill that would take the edge off he said it was mild, not additive and had no side effects. Well those pills really relaxed me the chest paints went away and life was good, or thou I thought. Well it did make me tired, I yawn all the time but no really bad side effects until I decided to get off the stuff.

What he put me on was Lexapro this stuff it for people who are depressed and I'm never depressed, if I'm a little down I go camping. Well after the stressful situation passed I decided to it off it and I'm finding out that it is not that easy. I first tried to go cold turkey and felt like I had a bad case of the flu so went back on it. After doing a lot of research on the internet I find out how hard it is to get off of it and how bad this pill is. So I try to ease off of it. I took 1/2 pills for 2 weeks then 1/4 pills for 2 weeks and then this last Monday I stopped taking it all together. Well I was up and down for a couple days no big deal then yesterday it hit me I was dizzy, had a headache and felt bad. I though it was because I was tired or maybe the diet I had started the week before. Last night I went to bed a 8pm to make sure I had a good night of sleep.

Well today it was even worse, was so dizzy, the headache was disabling almost went home. It was dangerous every time I had to go on a roof. I would lose reality then snap back in this would all happen in a split second I would then get vertigo. I felt like I wanted to die. It dawned on me I had quit taking Lexapro on Monday do I googled the withdrawal symptoms and I had most of them. When I got home I took a 1/2 pill and within an hour all my symptoms were gone. So now I have to ween myself off this crap even slower it might take several months to get off it and I was taking the smallest dose they offer.

I'm so mad at my Doctor right now and think I will find a new one that doesn't give you a pill every time you don't feel good.

So people if your Doctor wants to put you on something do your home work before you do it don't take his word for it. Sorry about the long winded post I just want people to know how horrible this drug is and not be so stupid like me and research it.


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## Camping Fan (Dec 18, 2005)

Full disclosure before reading my response: Yes, I am an M.D. Yes, I do prescribe Lexapro when appropriate. Yes, I tell patients on Lexapro and similar medications to not stop them cold turkey because they will probably have side effects if they do so. Yes, I do wean patients off Lexapro when they no longer need the medication.

Lexapro is from a family of medications that are used to treat symptoms of both depression and stress/anxiety. It is not a drug that you can actually get addicted to, but it is also a drug that you shouldn't just stop cold turkey either - if you do you will most likely have side effects as you described (BTW, the same could be said for several blood pressure medications - the "withdrawal" symptoms are not because of addiction but because of how the medications work, suddenly stopping them can get things out of kilter and it takes your body time to adjust). Most people are able to be weaned off Lexapro in just a few weeks, without having the prolonged type of symptoms that you are having. Unfortunately for you, it seems that your body/metabolism is very sensitive to the medication, making it more difficult to stop it completely. Have you talked to your doctor and let him know that you want to get off the Lexapro, but are having difficulty doing so? If not, I would recommend that you do so, he may have suggestions to minimize symptoms while you are getting off the medication. It would also be a good idea to get a general check up to be sure there is nothing else physical that is causing your symptoms. If you don't want to go back to that doctor, then get in with another doctor and let them know you want to get off the Lexapro and need their help.

It is true that you don't want to have a doctor that always say "take this pill for that". Regardless of what medical problem you are dealing with, you need to be able to talk to your doctor, learn about treatment options (medication and non-medication) and possible side effects of each, then together decide on the best treatment for you. For you, obviously, Lexapro wasn't the best choice. However, Lexapro and similar medications are very helpful to many people, without the severe side effects you have experienced. As with any medication used for any medical problem, there will always be some people who just can't take that medication because of side effects. For those particular people, that particular medication could be described as a "horrible drug". However, when used for appropriate reasons in most other people, it will actually be a very good drug.

Hopefully you will be able to work with either your current doctor, or a new doctor, to successfully get yourself off the Lexapro without further problems.


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## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

Camping Fan said:


> Full disclosure before reading my response: Yes, I am an M.D. Yes, I do prescribe Lexapro when appropriate. Yes, I tell patients on Lexapro and similar medications to not stop them cold turkey because they will probably have side effects if they do so. Yes, I do wean patients off Lexapro when they no longer need the medication.
> 
> Lexapro is from a family of medications that are used to treat symptoms of both depression and stress/anxiety. It is not a drug that you can actually get addicted to, but it is also a drug that you shouldn't just stop cold turkey either - if you do you will most likely have side effects as you described (BTW, the same could be said for several blood pressure medications - the "withdrawal" symptoms are not because of addiction but because of how the medications work, suddenly stopping them can get things out of kilter and it takes your body time to adjust). Most people are able to be weaned off Lexapro in just a few weeks, without having the prolonged type of symptoms that you are having. Unfortunately for you, it seems that your body/metabolism is very sensitive to the medication, making it more difficult to stop it completely. Have you talked to your doctor and let him know that you want to get off the Lexapro, but are having difficulty doing so? If not, I would recommend that you do so, he may have suggestions to minimize symptoms while you are getting off the medication. It would also be a good idea to get a general check up to be sure there is nothing else physical that is causing your symptoms. If you don't want to go back to that doctor, then get in with another doctor and let them know you want to get off the Lexapro and need their help.
> 
> ...


I agree it is a good drug for the right person but my point is do your own research before you start a new drug regiment. Had I done the research before I took my first pill I would have never started it in the first place. I take full blame for that it is your body so you and the doctor should talk about it. Unfortunately my doctor never spend much time with each patient. The last time I saw him I a couple of months ago he asked me if I wanted to stop it and said I could stop at any time I felt I no longer needed it and that was that. I really don't think that the majority of the Doctors who prescribe it have the real knowledge about side effects and withdrawal symptoms. I don't think the drug companies want them to know. But after going to a bunch of Medical and health forums there is hundreds of threads from people who have the same symptoms or worse and some who have had them for month after stopping it. Most are stopping under the guidance of a Dr and still can't get off. I didn't read one post where some said they had no problem getting off this drug.

I just don't know how you can say it is not additive when you have such a bad reaction quiting and some people end up in a hospital while quiting. I Smoked for many years until one day I said I quit and threw them away and never smoked again that was 18 years ago. It was not easy but I never felt this bad after I quit smoking.

I think Doctors over prescribe or abuse ssri's and statins My next pill I'm dumping. Look at how many drugs were thought to be good and later found to be horrible. i have a good friends who's days are now limited because she took Fin Fin to lose weight. Now she caries medication in a bag with a pump that pumps it directly into her heart.

So again I just want people to do the research and if you don't agree with your doctor get another one but make sure it's what you need before toy take it, it's OK to question your Doctor. Be proactive and not get into something like I did for something that could have been taken care of with some counselling or Yoga something I plan on learning how do to.


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## Doxie-Doglover-Too (Jan 25, 2007)

I have one of the those systems I guess that can get used to a drug very easily. Years ago after one of my arm surgeries was taking Percocet. After several days I tried to quit and it was awful, my brain was zapping, scared the heck out of me. It was bad. At the E/R they gave me IV for a few hours and all was well.

I have taken anti depressant for years. I take it every morning. If I forget, then at about the 30 hour mark since the last one, my brain starts zapping. Weird huh?


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## hautevue (Mar 8, 2009)

I understand your frustration at the side effects. But you encourage folks to do research on prescribed medications before starting them. In most cases, the patient is not qualified by reason of education or experience to judge the research he/she reads.

Your physician is highly trained (and for the record I am not a physician)-- 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, 1 year of internship, 1 year of residency, and then advanced specialty training. Thus the doc has upwards of 12 or 14 years of training beyond high school. How many of us can say we have that amount of training?

Yes, Web-MD and other sites can be a help, especially for side effects. But I'd make sure that after reading Web-MD stuff, I asked my doctor about the side effects. Often the prescribed drug may indeed have side effects, but the side effects are far less harmful than the disease being treated.

You mention the statins: Lipitor, etc. They can have side effects, but the reduction in heart attacks due to lower cholesterol is so spectacular that the drug is prescribed heavily.

It's a real issue that you bring up, but I wanted you to be aware that we non-physicians are usually not well qualified to determine which drug(s) we need to treat ourselves, and should depend on the physician for professional advice.


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Bill,

I hope your doctor is able to find a better way to reduce the side affects of stoping the medicine.








I always hate taking pills of any kind because I'm always worried what the side effects could be and want to get off of them as soon as possible, so it sounds like we are alike there.


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## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

hautevue said:


> I understand your frustration at the side effects. But you encourage folks to do research on prescribed medications before starting them. In most cases, the patient is not qualified by reason of education or experience to judge the research he/she reads.
> 
> Your physician is highly trained (and for the record I am not a physician)-- 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, 1 year of internship, 1 year of residency, and then advanced specialty training. Thus the doc has upwards of 12 or 14 years of training beyond high school. How many of us can say we have that amount of training?
> 
> ...


I agree with you 100% the doctor knows a lot more than most of us but his way may not be the only way to do things and even when a TV advertises a drug they have to tell you all the side effects now is that just for the Doctor benefit? I don't think so. I believe you have a much right to decide what goes into your body as the Doctor even more so. With all the information on the Internet you can read up on what the Doctors want you on and with this info you can ask him the right questions and together you can make the right decision. With me I could have done a lot of things to relieve my stress instead of a pill right off the bat and I blame myself for that. I have never in my life been depresses but now I think I'm getting there knowing how hard it is going to be to get off this pill. I think now days we just don't get enough time with your Doctor I think MY last Doctor said the Hospital he works for wants him to only spend 5 minutes per a patient, that is just not longest enough. I believe everyone has a right to know what he or she is getting into.


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## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

Nathan said:


> Bill,
> 
> I hope your doctor is able to find a better way to reduce the side affects of stoping the medicine.
> 
> ...


I'm going to try and get a appointment with my Doc this week and see what I can do to get off this stuff. I've read that you can get it in liquid form and it is easier to measure out smaller doses and I will lower my doses until I can get off it even if it takes me a year I will get off of it. I want to talk to him about my diet I just started and also getting off my other meds. You are right I don't like taking meds but I got lazy ate what I wanted and didn't exercise enough or not at all. So my goal is to lose 55lbs, get off my meds and keep off the weight.

BTW for any of you who have Type II diabetes a diet does wonders for it, my DW lost over 100lbs on the last 10 month and she no longer has diabetes, High blood pressure or high cholesterol. I'm pre-diabetic and since I started my diet my blood sugar has been running from 83 to 103 and I test it all times of the day, this is really good for me. Exercise and diet is the best drug toy can be on but one of the hardest to stay on.


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

I remember reading this article a while back. http://www.newsfirst5.com/news/colorado-marijuana-registry-applications-hit-1000-per-day/

If this keeps up we wont need docs. Weed fixes everything, lol

But seriously I have a friend who was on Lexapro and got off of it and went to Med Weed. Says it works way better, lol Its legal in your state too, Bill. Just having fun. I agree. I wish docs would think of the future when they prescribe many of there so called fix alls.

Carey


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## clarkely (Sep 15, 2008)

You are right, you really do need to research everything these day's, It is not like it used to be with the "Family Doc", i personally do not believe they mean any harm, but they are under restrictions from insurance, being force fed drugs to prescribe from the Drug Makers.....having to take on so many patients to earn the money they are accustomed to earning..... etc.

You really need to stay on top of what they suggest....

I have used Physical Therapy/Massage from my Chiropractor's office to manage Stress, i personally have seen the benefits of this and acupuncture as a less invasive way to manage thing's..... It will take an open mind to try it, but it does work, and involves no drugs....

Glad to hear you pinpointed whats happening and good luck as you continue to get yourself off it.

Clarke


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## OregonCampin (Mar 9, 2007)

Ok - full disclosure here - No, I am not a Dr and I don't play one on TV!

I do however have serious issues metabolizing most medications....OK - every medication that I have ever taken - everything from hives to blurry vision - if the drug has a side effect I will most likely have it plus they usually discover some new ones along the way! So, I obviously question EVERY thing the doctor tries to prescribe and since he has been my Dr. for the last 10 years, he expects me to. It took the poor guy 30 minutes to convince me that a steriod shot in my shoulder for a severe case of buscitis was going to be OK!

With that in mind, remember that doctors are only human and can't possibly know every treatment for every ailment out there. I try to learn as much as I can about whatever it is that I am dealing with and then I ask my Dr about what I have read. I try to make it seem like I asking his opinion rather than trying to tell him how to do his job. This way we both have more knowledge! I have even been known to pull out my Droid and look things up right then and there! Of course there is probably some sticker on my file that tells everyone that I am a know it all!









Guess my point is - ask questions, do research and then ask more questions.


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