Question About Lexipro (sp?)

[Guest Villanfam]

My friend has been diagnosed with Panic Disorder and is currently taking Lexipro (SP?) to help with her attacks. She was also taking birth control pills but is terrible about remembering to take them and has not taken any for an entire month ! She and her husband were very careless the other night and they did not practice any form of birth control (if you know what I mean) and now she has a dilemma. She called her Dr. the day after the incident and asked her what she should do. The Dr. told her that she should immediately stop taking the Lexipro and that all she can do is wait to see if she gets pregnant. She asked if maybe she could just take the morning after pill as she needs her meds, and her Dr. said that they don't believe in that. She was able to get the morning after pill from their pharmacy (she lives in Arizona) to reduce the chances of pregnancy, but she still wont know if it worked until after she gets her next period (about 16 days from now) She already is having panic attacks and desperately wants to take her med. And she feels that her Dr. did not have her best interest in mind when she told her to stop taking the medication.

Her question is to anyone who has taken this before or knows about Lexipro. What will happen if she keeps taking the Lexipro and she is indeed pregnant? What can it do to the baby? Does she have to stop completely or can she wean herself off of it?

There is no literature out there that she has found, in regards to the effects of Lexipro on the unborn baby. They only thing she has found, is that Manufacturer does not recommend to cold turkey off the meds!

Thanks,

Courtney

[Sweetfudge]

NO! Don't go cold turkey! It makes you nuts! I did that once! My doctor had me reduce my dose over about 4 months before I could get off it. I had serious withdrawals, and was so sick!

[Lisa]

You are a good friend to care so much.

I strongly recomment that she NOT stop taking Lexipro cold turkey. I weaned myself off of Lexipro in a week and it certainly was not long enough.

She will get strange withdrawl effects like the feeling of little electrical shocks all over her body. And she will feel very strange.

Advise her to start taking one every other day for a week (or cut her daily dose in half), then every third day for a week and so forth.

Until she is completely off Lexipro, she should use other means of birth control. Her partner should be responsible as well.

I don't know if I have answered all you questions, but it's a start.

[Guest Villanfam]

Thank you

[Lisa]

Thank you

[celiacgirls]

I weaned off from Lexapro pretty quickly when I went gluten-free. I was taking 10mg and started taking 5. I did that for a few days, maybe a week and then tried to go to nothing. I felt dizzy from nothing so I took 2.5 mg for a while, then 1.25. Eventually, I did take it only when I was dizzy until I forgot about it. I was completely off in probably a month which is quick by the recommended standards. Now I had the whole gluten-free thing making me feel better and not needing it anymore which probably helped.

My daughter is slowly weaning off and her doctor recommends decreasing by 5mg at a time and waiting 6 weeks between decreases. He said that Lexapro is one of the faster metabolized ones and it would bring on withdrawal symptoms if you cut your dose by skipping days. When we forgot to give my daughter hers, it did cause a terrible reaction in her. We haven't been able to do it as quickly as every 6 weeks but I think it is more to glutenings than withdrawal effect.

[Lisa]

Everyone reacts differently and would strongly refer to a medical consultation.

[celiacgirls]

Everyone reacts differently and would strongly refer to a medical consultation.

I agree. Another thing my daughter's doctor said is that the risk of suicide (a possible side effect of taking the a/d's especially for children but adults, too) is highest when changing the dose of the a/d. It's always best to be supervised by a doctor at this time.