5mg Escitalopram/lexapro Effectively Cured My Anxiety

ReSTART

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After a couple weeks of 5mg escitalopram my anxiety was effectively gone and this continues after months of treatment.
Placebo? Don't think so because I didn't really have much hope in it in the first place

I know it's anti-anxiety medication so this effect isn't exactly amazing but it's worked better than any other medication for anxiety (obviously apart from stuff like benzos but that can't be used long term)

Yes I know SSRIs are frowned upon here, I'm not recommending anybody try or use SSRIs, just sharing my personal experience, not medical advice, etc.
 

Gone Peating

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SSRIs have effects other than increasing serotonin.

They also drastically increase allopregnenolone.

I would not take an ssri long term though. I would get off of it, and if symptoms come back just try high dose pregnenolone
 
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metabolizm

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After a couple weeks of 5mg escitalopram my anxiety was effectively gone and this continues after months of treatment.
Placebo? Don't think so because I didn't really have much hope in it in the first place

I know it's anti-anxiety medication so this effect isn't exactly amazing but it's worked better than any other medication for anxiety (obviously apart from stuff like benzos but that can't be used long term)

Yes I know SSRIs are frowned upon here, I'm not recommending anybody try or use SSRIs, just sharing my personal experience, not medical advice, etc.

Pretty much anyone I know that’s taken them has said the same thing. My only concern is that they’ve also said the anxiety returned when they stopped taking them.

I’ve avoided SSRIs for so long, and my anxiety persists. Maybe it’s time to give it a shot.
 

Kingpinguin

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I did use it. It was effective. But after quiting anxiety returned. Only used it for 6 months. Initially anxiety is worse when you quit just like the first week when you start them. Then it just goes back to baseline how you where previous to using ssri. I think if you’re gonna use it long term i would advice experiment with different dosages. Imo lower doses for me at least was just as effective but with less side effects. Less is more. I took half of the lowest dose and that worked really well when i used it even though the doctor said that it is not an active dose. And that the lowest dose is the lowest active dose. He was totally wrong and I think most doctors tend to overdose ssri.
 
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ReSTART

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SSRIs have effects other than increasing serotonin.

They also drastically increase allopregnenolone.
Really? Haven't heard of that.

Pretty much anyone I know that’s taken them has said the same thing. My only concern is that they’ve also said the anxiety returned when they stopped taking them.

I’ve avoided SSRIs for so long, and my anxiety persists. Maybe it’s time to give it a shot.

I did use it. It was effective. But after quiting anxiety returned. Only used it for 6 months. Initially anxiety is worse when you quit just like the first week when you start them. Then it just goes back to baseline how you where previous to using ssri. I think if you’re gonna use it long term i would advice experiment with different dosages. Imo lower doses for me at least was just as effective but with less side effects. Less is more. I took half of the lowest dose and that worked really well when i used it even though the doctor said that it is not an active dose. And that the lowest dose is the lowest active dose. He was totally wrong and I think most doctors tend to overdose ssri.

Yea one time I forgot to take them for a week and my anxiety was slightly worse than baseline, would go down to baseline if I stopped completely I'm sure.

Same experience with dosage... doctor started 10mg and had side effects, FDA says 10mg is minimum dose for therapeutic effect but went to 5mg and side effects are drastically less while anti-anxiety effect is pretty much the same. Might try 3mg/4mg sometime.
 

boris

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Anyone I know who takes SSRIs is in a terrible state. They say it helps them, yet they regularly get psychotic episodes.
 

Jbird10

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I have tried SSRIs for off and on for 20 years and not helped at all but added headaches and other negatives. On Peat diet for 10 months which helped but not perfect. Then tried Diazepan and knocked it right out.Upset I did not try sooner but doc never suggested it. Peat on emaqil said his diet's higher calcium and vitamin D amplified the calming effect of Diazepan.
 

sladerunner69

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Anyone I know who takes SSRIs is in a terrible state. They say it helps them, yet they regularly get psychotic episodes.

Yeah it increases serotonin Which lowers anxiety but has bad effects. They also increase ALP which lowers anxiety too.
 

Kingpinguin

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I have tried SSRIs for off and on for 20 years and not helped at all but added headaches and other negatives. On Peat diet for 10 months which helped but not perfect. Then tried Diazepan and knocked it right out.Upset I did not try sooner but doc never suggested it. Peat on emaqil said his diet's higher calcium and vitamin D amplified the calming effect of Diazepan.

i assume you mean diazepam/valium? Yeah diazepam is great for anxiety and likely the safest of benzos since it has sucha long half life. But be careful. Its still a benzo and can make you addicted if you raise the dose goes to high. One day you wake up and the dose you are on is not enough anymore you need to increase. Thats a warning sign. 5mg per day should be enough and never more than 10mg specially for long periods. You cant just quit them any day you like. You have to slowly lower dose or you might risk a seizure.
 

Mito

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SSRIs have effects other than increasing serotonin. They also drastically increase allopregnenolone.
Really? Haven't heard of that.

Abstract
The pharmacological action of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants may include a normalization of the decreased brain levels of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and of neurosteroids such as the progesterone metabolite allopregnanolone, which are decreased in patients with depression and posttraumatic stress disorders (PTSD). The allopregnanolone and BDNF level decrease in PTSD and depressed patients is associated with behavioral symptom severity. Antidepressant treatment upregulates both allopregnanolone levels and the expression of BDNF in a manner that significantly correlates with improved symptomatology, which suggests that neurosteroid biosynthesis and BDNF expression may be interrelated. Preclinical studies using the socially isolated mouse as an animal model of behavioral deficits, which resemble some of the symptoms observed in PTSD patients, have shown that fluoxetine and derivatives improve anxiety-like behavior, fear responses and aggressive behavior by elevating the corticolimbic levels of allopregnanolone and BDNF mRNA expression. These actions appeared to be independent and more selective than the action of these drugs on serotonin reuptake inhibition. Hence, this review addresses the hypothesis that in PTSD or depressed patients, brain allopregnanolone levels, and BDNF expression upregulation may be mechanisms at least partially involved in the beneficial actions of antidepressants or other selective brain steroidogenic stimulant molecules.
F5BBBC89-E54E-4394-8B37-CE98DAB62382.jpeg
Neurosteroids Reduce Social Isolation-Induced Behavioral Deficits: A Proposed Link with Neurosteroid-Mediated Upregulation of BDNF Expression
 
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ReSTART

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The pharmacological action of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants may include a normalization of the decreased brain levels of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and of neurosteroids such as the progesterone metabolite allopregnanolone, which are decreased in patients with depression and posttraumatic stress disorders (PTSD). The allopregnanolone and BDNF level decrease in PTSD and depressed patients is associated with behavioral symptom severity. Antidepressant treatment upregulates both allopregnanolone levels and the expression of BDNF in a manner that significantly correlates with improved symptomatology, which suggests that neurosteroid biosynthesis and BDNF expression may be interrelated

Interesting... any way you could get these effects without SSRIs?
 

Kingpinguin

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Interesting... any way you could get these effects without SSRIs?

likely not an option since we dont know enough of the long term effects of low dosing but SSRIs imo are hugely overdosed. Usually the higher the dose the more side effects. I think the side effects are a consequence of the serotonergic effect. When I was using SSRI I did experiment with mich lower doses than the supposed active dose. A bit like microdosing LSD. You get an effect. But you dont get the hallucinogenic effects. Low dose SSRI imo works just as good for anxiety/depression like a high dose. Only difference is I had zero side effects on the low dose. Instead of numb libido I actually had improved libido on the low dose. And many other positive results without the negative. So I think its just some medical dogma SSRIs are being used the way they are. And that in the future we will learn that we been overdosing everyone for ages. Maybe on the lower dose you still get the BDNF and allopregnenolone boost. But not so much serotonin binding. Maybe in the lower dose it binds to more than just serotonin receptors. Possibly dopamine and noradrenaline aswell. Theres many studies already on ssri and dosing and while higher doses tend to be quote ”slightly more effective” for depression. The drop out rate was dramatically increased. What does that mean to you? Dose = side effects. We know many pharma drugs where more doesnt always mean better. Who knows maybe one day we find out SSRI is actually healthy. Just that it needs to be dosed correctly.
 

rei

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I have similar effect from cocaine. The problem is that it is only a subjective effect of intoxication, not an improvement in my condition.

And just like cocaine, also SSRIs cause serious long-term and even irreversible damage, often becoming visible only at withdrawal.
 
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metabolizm

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@ReSTART just noticed you were taking 5mg. That’s a very low dose right? It’s encouraging to see you can get such positive effects at that dose, presumably without the worst of the side effects. Is it still working for you?
 

ilhanxx

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Do you advice wellbutrin for especially persistent depressive disorder or similarly dysthymia? it sounds good for dopamin.
 
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ReSTART

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@ReSTART just noticed you were taking 5mg. That’s a very low dose right? It’s encouraging to see you can get such positive effects at that dose, presumably without the worst of the side effects. Is it still working for you?

Yes, it's effective for me but n=1 is highly susceptible to placebo... so who knows. 5mg is considered is a low dose, as FDA marks 10mg as the dose at which clinical effects begin, so 5mg is considered a sub-clinical dose.

No problem with the common side-effects listed for SSRIs (sexual problems, brain fog, etc) at 5mg but I did have problematic side-effects at 10mg, which is why I reduced the dose in the first place.
 

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