A wonderful member of this forum advised me that perhaps Lexapro is the cause of my present reactions with rages and violence. I looked googled "Lexapro rages" [no "quotes" marks] and got a zillion hits. My violence is against property -- usually my own. I hammered my cell phone to death, after attempting to kill it by throwing it against the wall, hard -- twice! It would not die. So I smashed it over and over with a hammer. Three other times I have had to seriously restrain myself from doing it again. I squeezed the land line hand set phone as hard as I could with my hand. Rudeness in public. Mild violence at the grocery store the other day, when they had stopped stocking things I used to buy -- I threw the wrong products to the back part of the shelve as hard as I could (no damage, but I didn't care, and wold have preferred damage.)

The other day, my intelligent, devoted and observant sister reminded me that I had not previously had rages for a very long period of time. I remebered, when she told me that! I remember how happy and grateful I wa that they were gone! At that time I only had 1-2 rages a year. Now I hage 2-3-4- a WEEK. Sometimes one every day for two days in a row. She knows I grew up with them, and she witnessed this of course when she was a child -- also as we were adults until I got major, competent medical help. I have a pdoc appointment in a few days -- Goodbye Lexapr o -- I hope! But another med I take has a rare side ef fect for rages, too. Sigh.


Anger with murderous impulse induced by lamotrigine.
Saito S1, Shioda K2, Nisijima K2.
Author information
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
To report two cases of major depressive disorder in which lamotrigine (LTG) induced anger with murderous impulse.
PATIENTS:
Case 1 was a 22-year-old man with symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder who developed major depressive disorder with antidepressant-induced hypomanic episodes. Case 2 was a 23-year-old woman experiencing an antidepressant-refractory depressive episode for whom remission was achieved by switching to a mood stabilizer and antipsychotics. In both cases LTG was started to treat the depressive episode.
RESULTS:
Case 1 manifested with anger and murderous impulse when taking 125 mg/day of LTG. A reduction to 75 mg/day calmed this anger. Case 2 manifested with the same symptom when taking 25 mg/day of LTG, and the symptom immediately disappeared upon stopping LTG.
CONCLUSIONS:
Use of LTG for epilepsy in intellectually disabled patients was reported to be associated with onset or exacerbation of aggressive or violent behavior. The two cases would suggest that LTG may cause anger so severe as to be accompanied with murderous impulse when administered to patients with mood disorders. Physicians should be cognizant of this possible, albeit infrequent, adverse effect even in use of LTG for mood disorders.
Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
KEYWORDS:
Anger with murderous impulse; Bipolarity; Lamotrigine; Mood disorder

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[Sunflower123]

I hope your pdoc appointment goes well. I know it can't feel good having those rages. Good luck with a med change if that's what it takes. They really need to listen to you. Best wishes.

About 17 years ago I took my grandfather to exchange a car battery at Sears. He's 98 now so was in his early 80's at this time. They would not take the malfunctioning battery back for a refund and my grandfather threw it to the ground and began stomping on it. My grandfather lived through the Great Depression, was in WWII and lost his mother when he was a very young child. He has terrible rages. I don't know if he has some bipolar , I don't suspect he does but he has lost it several times that I can remember and probably more that I don't know about. If a medication is causing this for you, I sure hope they can ween you off. I've had rages a few times in my life. It's embarrassing to look back on how I reacted and behaved because it's so out of character for me. If you know deep inside that this behavior is not your normal and has increased since beginning the med, please talk to your doctor ASAP. Good luck.

[Wild Coyote]

It's entirely possible a med might be setting off rages, whether or not you have a predisposition.
I sincerely hope this gets sorted out quickly.
You have been suffering with these episodes which have an impact upon your life, your relationships and your self-esteem.

You've been very dedicated to finding the cause(s).
You deserve a break from this.

(((((( flowerbells ))))))


WC