Regarding Lexapro

trying to do research on how much percentage of anxiety did Lexapro help with. Right now I'm out Effexor and most of the time I feel like it helps 80% of my anxiety. And I have severe extreme anxiety that doesn't stop. I'm afraid if I go on a Lexapro that I will be shocked because right now I'm in the middle of a storm and I need a lot of my anxiety help with. So that I can try to deal and be patient and wait out this hard. I need something that's good with anxiety to do that with. Of course there is benzos but I don't want to take those everyday. I'd really rather only take benzos until something else hits or in extreme emergencies. So how much of your anxiety does your med take care of or help with? I don't like the side effects of my Med.

maybe stop looking at drugs to control it and try mindfulness instead? it takes awhile but i promise you it DOES help. drugs just for anxiety are a leash...we have enough leashes.


being able to modulate our anxiety ourselves is a freedom (for me anyway.) i try hard to stay off these drugs except in extreme emergencies.


Heres one of my favorite mindfulness cds. its for kids and uses fairy tales and i love them.


Dropbox - Magical Meditations For Kids - Simplify your life

and heres a few more:

Dropbox - Mindfulness - Simplify your life

also...why are you off your effexor? bc of money? or your dr took you off?

I took Buspar for anxiety for a while and it helped. It's also not a benzo. Might be something to look into.

Lexapro helps my depression and outward anxiety but seems to increase my ocd problem so I'm going to ask to go on something else. Thinking of pristiq or remeron.

I also have the same attitude about benzos, and my PDoc understands that. Alprazolam has helped me until Lexapro kicks in. I'm now on Lexapro 30mg in the morning.

I had anxiety quite a while ago, but now it is very well under control. I too have been to a mindfulness program and it has helped a lot too.

Escitalopram (and Citalopram) are off label for OCD. Venlafaxine and pristiq can trigger more anxiety because of short half life and binding to norepinephrine neurotransmitter so in theory they wouldn't be #1 choice for OCD even though there are small studies showing successful OCD resistant treatment with venlafaxine. It seems SNRI really do work for people with anxiety issues but not all times. You could switch to desvenlafaxine and see how it compares to escitalopram, however be careful of withdrawal and talk with your doctor about the pro and cons of switching between anti depressants