[*Laurie*]

I am very depressed. I used to have decent success with various ssri's, but a couple of years ago the ssri's I tried caused severe anxiety/panic. I currently dare to take only 5mg Lexapro (10mg would be a starting clinical dose).

Has anyone else here on PC experienced such a reaction to an ssri and, if so, what did you do to treat depression?

Hi Laura. Do you think that all SSRIs would cause anxiety? The only ones I have taken are Prozac and Zoloft. I remember that I found Zoloft to be noticeably more calming than Prozac.

I started taking SNRIs around 10 years ago, so I'm not up to date on the newer SSRIs.

I find Remeron/mirtazapine to be a calming antidepressant. I started off on a low dose just for sleep. When I went to 30 mg (a "therapeutic dose" for depression), I noticed a significant calming effect.

I would call mirtazapine a miracle drug if it didn't make me have to "fight the food".

[kecanoe]

There are meds other than SSRIs for depression. Tricyclics such as nortriptylene, amitriptylene, protriptylene. Buspar (an anxiety med) can help with depression. There are drugs called MAO inhibitors as well. And there are the newer SNRI drugs as well. Lots of options-a good pdoc should be able to help you figure out what works.

[jbuttz]

Hello Laura! I'm on 20mg cipralex and I find it doesn't work for my anxiety issues. I'm not sure about my meds causing the anxiety because I had anxiety before my medication but it is not taking the anxiety away (prescribed for root cause depression)

[gayleggg]

I've been taking Fetzima and blaming it for my anxiety but have recently changed to Brintelilx and was hoping that the anxiety at least would be better. It's a little early yet to tell how it's going to work on the depression and/or anxiety.

But when I've taken others anxiety wasn't an issue.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[*Laurie*]

Originally Posted by jo_thorne

Hi Laura. Do you think that all SSRIs would cause anxiety? The only ones I have taken are Prozac and Zoloft. I remember that I found Zoloft to be noticeably more calming than Prozac.

I started taking SNRIs around 10 years ago, so I'm not up to date on the newer SSRIs.

I find Remeron/mirtazapine to be a calming antidepressant. I started off on a low dose just for sleep. When I went to 30 mg (a "therapeutic dose" for depression), I noticed a significant calming effect.

I would call mirtazapine a miracle drug if it didn't make me have to "fight the food".

Hi jo, I feel like a freak. Two ssri's and Remeron have caused me to become noticeably, uncontrollably anxious. So many people find mirtazipine very helpful...why can't I be one of them? I'm so glad it's helping you, though - except for the food thing...I know, that's a bummer.

[*Laurie*]

Thank you all. I'm having such a struggle with fighting off the depression...I have to believe that, like you said kecanoe, there MUST be other meds that will help ease my depression without causing the terrible anxiety. I realize, too, that I am diagnosed bipolar, meaning that AD's can often cause anxiety. BUT I haven't had any "good" mania or hypomania for ages. Just the depression and hellish anxiety.

The appointment I've been waiting for for 7 weeks - a new pdoc - is coming up on January 5th. I would just like to walk in there with some ideas for an AD.

If anyone else has experience with this, please share. Thanks.