I took 1 lexapro and it has ruined my life..

[KLG79]

I was suffering from alot of stress and then I started to get depressed so, I went to the doctor 9 years ago and he prescribed lexapro and vioxx due to a knot that had come up on my neck ' thinking back on that I believe it was caused from all the tension headaches I was having" anyway that night as usual I put my daughter to bed took the meds. then I went to bed. I woke up about 2 hours later, I jumped strait out of my bed with my mind feeling as if it was a million miles away and racing thoughts and very I was confused, but yet I could feel a cold sensation like ice being run through my viens, I ran into the living room screaming and crying to where my husband was. I remember not being able to stand still I had to be moving constanly in a fast pace my heart was racing I put my hands on my chest it felt like my heart was actually coming out of my chest I felt like I was holding it in with pressure from my hands. Then next I started burning intead of being cold I looked for holes in my body because  It hurt so bad. My husband called my mom and she came and seen me and said it was probably an allergic reaction. I was begging to go to the hospital, but instead she called the doctor at the office she worked at. He told her to give me benadryl. My husband left to go get some during that time I started shaking uncontrolable I was going from being ice cold to burning feelings going through my body like waves.I started getting bad cramps so I ran to the bathroom and had direahha and throwing up at the same time.I just knew I was dying I remember my husband giving me benadryl thinking it would stop everything, but it did hardly nothing! It use to knock me out, but nothing would stop this crazy feelings and the pain I was having. My mom called the doctor back and he said it should wear off by morning...Well it didn't I was took to the hopital 24 hours later still with all these symptoms and was told it was serotion syndrom and sent  home..I lost all kinds of weight I went for almost 2 weeks without eating and barely drinking and walking constantly day and night I was wired up. I was scared to be left alone I didn't shower for 3 days I was told. I didn't realize that at the time that's how messed up I was.I finally went back to the er they ask if I was on crack and I have never had any kind of drugs in my life! They said it was aniexty and sent me home and told me to act normal it was the only way I would get over it. I started to clear up enough to find a new doctor he gave me xanax it is the only thing that helps with the symptoms. I was taking 6 a day and still needed more just so I could sit down. There is so much more I could go on and on, but I just want to know if anyone knows what could be going on I do get better sometimes,but this has never went completly away and I am going on 9 years of this:( I pray everyday for an answer for the right help to come along I just want to be a normal mother and wife again I hate to suffer ,but mostly it kills me to know what my daughter has seen and been through.

[Bubsbo]

I find this hard to believe, I started Paxil when I was 14 I had full
Body burning sensations I was sick as for a while but than it started working and was great now at 28 I'm on lexapro and getting body burning again and weird stuff but if I take anti anxiety med it goes away, I think u just had a panic attack from starting the Meds as is common and starting side effects, seretonin syndrome only happens with large doses 10mg is a small dose and usually only happens when takeing more than one medication at a time, plus the seretonin takes time to build up in ur system at one dose it would b hardly anything, I'm interested in what u were prescribed it for to begin with? I'd say ur ongoing problems r probly generalized anxiety panic that u actually need treatment for, ur fear of medication is keeping u sick, these medications save peoples lives , ur liveing in hell because of anxiety but ur scared to get the help ur symptoms r all probly from low seretonin , the thing that might help u u fear because of the starting effects

[bbxx]

To those who have suffered side effects from medication, please post on this site.

http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Side-Effects-From-Medications/show/1118?camp=msc

[R1016]

rikr at comcast dot net

please contact me

I took two tiny doses of Doxepin antidepressant one year ago and have been totally disabled ever since - I am in total hell!!

Anyone else like this please contact me - we need to support each other

[R1016]

I took two tiny doses of Doxepin antidepressant one year ago and have been totally disabled ever since - I am in total hell!!

Anyone else like this please contact me - we need to support each other

***@****

[wdtony]

I had an ischaemic stroke (my second), it was a lacunar infarct in the right nucleus of the lentiform corona radiata. I had total left side paralysis.  the first stroke I had was in my cerebellum and the third is unknown because I cannot get to the hospital to pick up my abnormal CT scan results. No cause can be found for these strokes even after extensive tests with exception to the Lexapro and the remnants of its damage. The cause is inconclusive at this time.

Clinical diagnoses are given every day based upon observations alone, I was diagnosed quite early after taking the pill with serotonin syndrome and subsequent impairments due to an adverse reaction to Lexapro. My inability to work, drive, stand still, listen to music or function in life were indicators that I had suffered an acute adverse reaction...having no history of anything like this happen to me for the previous 34 years. I am lucky to be alive. You are not required to believe me and I am not concerned with your skepticism.

Google: PETER BREGGIN and look at his work exposing dangers of psychiatric medications. I have researched this phenomenon and learned much. If you were to do more reading it will be possible to become better educated on this subject.

As a society we are NOT PROPERLY EDUCATED about the dangers associated with taking these psychiatric drugs. That is the problem. The dangers are not always unknown, but withheld from us by the very pharmaceutical companies profiting from our ill-informed gamble. And it seems the FDA does very little to protect the consumer.

Also, research GWEN OLSEN on Youtube, she was recently a featured guest on the Dr. OZ show speaking against over-prescribing of psychiatric medication and their dangers. She was a drug rep for several years and now she devotes her life to exposing the lies she was coached and trained to persuade doctors and all the dirty tricks she used to push known dangerous and experimental psyche-meds. She also became a victim of these meds herself.

[nursegirl6572]

"Experimental" and something based on theory are two different things.  MUCH of the causes and treatments of mental illnesses is based on theory.  MOST good doctors would be able to tell a patient that if they asked about the levels os serotonin.  

There are risks to taking any medication.  A person must weigh the risks and benefits for themselves. Doctors cannot possibly know the outcome a med will have on each individual person.  There is always new information coming to light about meds, even ones that have been around for decades.

How does one know they have "brain damage"?  Is that diagnosed or assumed?  If it is diagnosed, how?  And, how can it be proven that it was related to the SSRI?

I'm sorry to hear about your stroke...what kind was it?  Hemorrhagic?  Thrombolytic? Anoxic?  

I'm asking these questions because they are relevant to the discussion and I think it is only fair that people reading see the arguments on both sides.