# Anyone out there currently taking cipralex. Need feedback



## bflats (Jan 9, 2012)

Is this medication helping anyone? Were there any bad side effects or mild or none at all ? How many mg.'s do u take? Any personality changes?

I was supposed to start taking these about two months ago , but am still staring at the bottle. It's funny....... I have anxiety about taking anxiety medication. 

Just have alot of questions still.


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

It seems to be helping a bit but the effect is subtle. No side-effects whatsoever after 2 years of use. I take 10 mg daily. No personality changes but feel a bit more relaxed, especially at work where my major anxiety occurs.


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## Porterdog (Sep 17, 2010)

I used to take it, and its probably the best medication out of all the ones ive tried.
But they are all pretty much useless.


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## gilmourr (Nov 17, 2011)

Was the first medication I tried to take away both depression to a large degree, like 80% of it, and about 30-40% of the debilitating anxiety.

It is one of the best medications I have tried, if not the best. 

Only side effect was insomnia, which became really bad once I maxed out at 20 mg. Went to bed at like 5 AM.


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## bflats (Jan 9, 2012)

*Thanks guys finally tried it yesterday*

Well I found it sort of subtle but a little strong at times. Only took 5mg but might go to 2.5mg for a week then back up to 5mg. Do you think 2.5 mg is too small a dose to take. Slept pretty good last night , but my stomach is a little upset. A little hungry but don't feel like eating. Also feeling a little tired today but not to bad. Funny while working didn't really notice it at all which was good that it doesn't screw up cognitive function.

Your feedback helped alot in getting the guts to finally give it a shot.


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

You might need 10mg too get the full therapeutic effect, start with 5mg for a week or 2 bump it up too 10mg after that. from my own personal experience i can say stimulants effect lexapro big time nicotine,caffeine Smoking makes the drug less effective caffeine make it more effective more insomnia and side effects higher blood pressure for both.

Alcohol good on it you get 50% drunker sleep longer just chasing a beer with lexapro makes the anxiety effect amazing i wouldn't recommend binge drinking with it tho i had 2 beer's on the lex when first starting and i felt like going too the club like right now lol.

Specially when first starting up as your body getting used too the drug i wouldn't recommend to do any of those thing's untill your body get adjusted.

Everyone different tho these are just from my experiences.

This med weird tho it made me more intelligent made me wanna go back too school improved my eye sight and memory made me wanna work and work hard.


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

This could explain why it not a good idea too smoke on an ssri.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19850105

Anti depressant's increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor smoking decreases it.


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## bflats (Jan 9, 2012)

Was wondering how long it took before noticing a change with sa. And how did it affect the sa. I am a heavy smoker and drinker but have only had couple beers in the last two days. The smoking is another story. 

Did you have insomnia just when you had caffeine? What time do you take your doses at ?


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

Yeah mainly caffeine but chain smoking can make it occur too the drinking should be fine it just the binges drinking you should be worried about, make sure you take the pill same time everyday i was taking mine exactly at noon everyday and i didn't notice insomnia problem's when i was doing that my sleep was getting better when taking it on schedule

Well i quit taking the lexapro i wanna try and do without antidepressants for abit and see how well i do.... it seem's like im reverting back into a cavemen socially on the lex it was easy too carry on a conversation there was no awkwardness talking too women seem's to come easy strangers would come talk too me and i'd have a conversation with them.

About 2 week's after being on 10mg you should notice some improvement i always notice it working after the first pill smoking dampen's the effect tho too get the full advantage of it you shouldn't smoke.


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## peril (Jan 7, 2012)

Bottle? There's a generic for Cipralex? :eek I've been taking Cipralex for 7 months now. I took 10mg for the first week and have been taking 20mg since then. Nothing major happened but I do feel better than when I was taking Effexor XR. 

I do find it hard to fall asleep so I take Imovane or Ativan at night. :/


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## bflats (Jan 9, 2012)

Thanks for the reply's people. Also wondering when you stopped taking them were they hard to get off. Any withdrawls or brain zaps everyone talks about?


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## bflats (Jan 9, 2012)

How long did you take them for.


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## peril (Jan 7, 2012)

I quit it cold turkey for 1 week a couple of weeks ago (yeah I'm stupid like that) just because I was too lazy to go to the pharmacy. 

Anyway, I was relatively fine except on the 3rd day when I felt a little crazy and things look psychedelic to me. I actually gave up and went to a pharmacy because I felt soooo crazy, but the pharmacy was close (it was around 9pm) so I went back defeated. 

I tried to psych myself that the withdrawal effects are just all in my mind and I can beat it because I'm better than that. I watched some funny tv series, ate chocolates and took Imovane and Ativan and eventually fell asleep. I told myself I'll just go back early morning but then laziness took over (lol) and I was feeling better the next day so it took me 4 more days to get my prescription refilled.

Anyway, the point of my post is...don't let the withdrawal side-effects scare you from taking it. I think I was anticipating the side-effects that's why I felt that way on the 3rd day... :b


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

Lexapro has some of the mildest withdraw's all i felt was slow and sluggish and eating more probably caused from low serotonin with the right plan in place it should be easy too overcome.

lot's of exercises nutrition and some supplement's.

I may go back on it i wanna see if i can make it without drug's for now. but when i did come off of it for the first time i did retained some of the antidepressant effect's for 6 month's it musta repaired some kind of damage.


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## bflats (Jan 9, 2012)

In response to man on the moon - I would love to do this without meds and told my doctor i would like to do cbt but lack the confidence and nerve to go there. I need a boost basically to be able to go there talk to people and learn other ways to cope with this stuff. I also did alot of mind altering drugs in high school (acid, extacy, shrooms) but got completly turned off of them and swore I would never take them again.

Well now i'm taking cipralex. So much for that. My girlfriend says if they will help you, you should try them. The doctor also said that people with diabetes have to take meds every day in order to keep them going.

I would like to get married one day, but could never make it through a wedding. I have trouble going to other peoples weddings. They make me super nervous, and I have two to go to this year.

The best is when your at a table with complete strangers and i'm like **** this is gonna be horrible.​


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## bflats (Jan 9, 2012)

That's another thing to. Always wanted to join a gym and get back in shape again, but get too anxious about going and talk myself out of it.


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## bflats (Jan 9, 2012)

*Thanks*

Well guys on day 4 of cipralex and i've gotta say i'm surprised. I was completly freaked out to take this medication. I've never been on an andipressant before or really any anxiety medication. I thought this stuff would be too powerful to take but it's actually very soothing and subtle. You feel exactly like yourself and feel the medication at times. I've had maybe three beers this whole week as oppesed to at least 6 - 10 every night. Mind you i'm only taking 5 mg dose to start. On Tuesday might try the 10 mg dose which is what i'm supposed to take.

If anyone is wondering i've had zero side effects so far. I take my dose at lunch time and have slept pretty good so far. Eating is not a problem. No nausea or headaches to report. Hasn't helped my sa yet but it's way to early for that. I do feel every so slightly a little bit calmer overall. First day was a little wierd because i did feel something happening and guess I was worried how strong the med might be but it was ok.

I thank the people on this site for giving me the courage to actually try it from all their positive feedback. Thanks guys.

Overall if your like me and freaked out about taking this medication from my experience it's not as bad as you think it will be. Looking forward to finally battling against my sa.


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## bflats (Jan 9, 2012)

Of the people taking cipralex did it help with the feelings of people looking at you? Did it make you feel less ackward just walking down the street ? How high would you rank (out of 10) it's effectivness against social situations? 

On day 7 and haven't noticed to much improvment with the sa yet.


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## debbievassel (Mar 2, 2013)

*re: cipraliex*

Hello,

I just saw a new psychiatrist three days back. I saw one twice in the fall but he diagnosed me with generalized anxiety and depression for whcih Im on Ontario Disability but the new psychiatrist has diagnosed me with bipolar disorder. I was on cipralex six years back while on interferon for hep c and the interferon made me pick at my skin and i would pick to draw blood it calmed me down and i also went on a spending spree where i rakced up twent thousand in debt which is totally out of character for me and i thus filed bankruptcy but the new psychiatrist said that cipralex made me do crazy things


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

Not a couple of bad posts from my early days.

Gonna uses these as inspiration and guidence from my former self.


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