[Mari]

Hi,

1. I called my pdoc's office. I left a message that I am very very depressed and he needs to call me. I might call back in an hour if I do not get a response.

2. I have an appointment with a new tdoc tomorrow Friday at 11:45.
She and I spoke for 2 minutes. She is under my health care plan (this means I get unlimited visits with a small co-pay.) She is 5 miles from my home.
She and I spoke a few minutes on the phone.
I asked how many years she has been practicing, what she does / what I can expect when I see her, and if she has worked with bipolar.
I am trying to be hopeful.

Dealing with insurance and setting up a new therapist is hard and I might need to cry this afternoon.
I told hubby to cut short his time he had planned having fun this afternoon and make sure than he comes home in a couple of hours. He said, o.k.


M

[waves]

Dear Mari

Celexa is citalopram. It contains two molecular "forms" in equal proportions. Only one is therapeutically active. The other was thought to be responsible for some of the side effects.

Lexapro is escitalopram, the therapeutically active component of citalopram.

20 mg Celexa contains: 10mg Lexapro + 10 mg inactive "stuff".

If your insurance covers Lexapro, I'd go with that. Otherwise, Celexa is a valid alternative. I took it before Lexapro was developed. I did fine with it overall.

I preferred Zoloft because I did get a bit of nausea with Celexa. For some, that goes away - I was given an add-on to treat the nausea and was fine. Fwiw, the rationale for the Celexa was that my then-pdoc felt it might be a bit less activating than the Zoloft.

MED SIDE EFFECTS - age - management:

The first few times I took Zoloft I had no major side effects starting or even making large dose adjustments quickly. I think with age my body has become more sensitive. In recent years, I started it on three occasions and had side effects during titration, including headaches and episodes of precordial pain. WHAT HELPED: More gradual titration, not just using smaller dose increments, but especially, more time between changes (2ce as long at each pretherapeutic dose).

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REGARDING "BABY DOSES" - would you consider the oral solution?

http://www.rxlist.com/lexapro-drug.htm

Lexapro oral solution contains escitalopram oxalate equivalent to 1 mg/mL escitalopram base. [...] natural peppermint flavor.

You can use doses and increments as small as 1 mg, if you can measure out 1 mL of product. If the product lacks an adequate measuring cap, you can get a calibrated vial or syringe from the pharmacy.

Celexa also comes in oral solution (2mg/mL) if insurance is an issue.

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i hope this reaches you in time. i saw the posts late d/t migraine. then got dinner summons before i could answer. throw in a browser crash....

lots of hugs to you today. and good luck

waves

[waves]

I hope your pdoc calls back soon Mari

It was courageous of you to set up an appointment with a new tdoc. I hope that goes well.

It's ok to cry. It's perfectly natural under the circumstances.



waves

[Mari]

Waves,


Thank you.

I must have used up my mental reserves in phone calls.
I do not understand most of this.
I called the pharmacy. Lexapro is generic now and likely covered by my insurance.
Liguid doses sound too hard. What if I use too much?

Celexa is citalopram. It contains two molecular "forms" in equal proportions. Only one is therapeutically active. The other was thought to be responsible for some of the side effects.

Lexapro is escitalopram, the therapeutically active component of citalopram.

20 mg Celexa contains: 10mg Lexapro + 10 mg inactive "stuff".

If your insurance covers Lexapro, I'd go with that. Otherwise, Celexa is a valid alternative.

I read this a few times.
Now I see. They are almost the same drug. Lexapro is newer.

I got paresthesia 10 hours after taking 12.5 mgs Zoloft -- so that is not going to work.

M

[Mari]

Hi,

I had my phone in front of me and I did not pick up. I had too many calls and texts today while I was focusing on hearing from the pdoc.

He called. I did not answer even though I had the phone 6 inches from me. I had it on vibrate.

Arggghhhh!.
What was I thinking!!!!

He only has office hours from 9 to 12 tomorrow.
I probably have to wait until next week to talk to him.

Mari

[Pamster]

Originally Posted by Mari

Hi,

I had my phone in front of me and I did not pick up. I had too many calls and texts today while I was focusing on hearing from the pdoc.

He called. I did not answer even though I had the phone 6 inches from me. I had it on vibrate.

Arggghhhh!.
What was I thinking!!!!

He only has office hours from 9 to 12 tomorrow.
I probably have to wait until next week to talk to him.

Mari

Oh crap, that's too bad Mari, but you are having a bad patch right now, don't be too hard on yourself over having the phone on vibrate. How are you doing now?

[bizi]

did you get some sleep?
((((HUGS)))
bizi

[waves]

Originally Posted by Mari

Liquid doses sound too hard. What if I use too much?

In truth it occurred to me you might be worried about measuring it. i wonder if you could enlist hubby as a med-buddy to measure this out for you, and perhaps even record the dosage, nightly, . his OCD-proneness would make him a reliably meticulous and accurate measurer and recorder.

you could use the solution just for titration. you will probably work up to 5 mg - and then could switch to pills.

Now I see. They are almost the same drug. Lexapro is newer.

the part that "works" is EXACTLY the same drug. the other part in celexa is non-therapeutic. Lexapro simply lacks that non-working part. I tried to be precise without using chemical terminology. I was afraid that would have been gobbledygook if you aren't familiar with the terms.

I got paresthesia 10 hours after taking 12.5 mgs Zoloft -- so that is not going to work.

yuck. ok. i wasn't sure if you'd tried it. i may have missed it in your post.

mostly, since i've taken it many times over a couple decades, i was relating my experience as to:
-- absence of side effects when i was younger
-- presence of bothersome side effects in recent years, during titration
-- what i found helpful to reduce discomfort during titration.

I posted that because in the past when you've tried AD's, i've seen you start out slow, and then get impatient about having the drug work yesterday, and decide to ramp it up and either "deal" or chuck it. the result so far has been the latter. in some cases a drug still may not be tolerable, but it is well documented that faster titration = more likelyhood of s/e, and increased likelyhood of drug d/c. my recent issues when i started zoloft were sort of a testimonial to that.

i hope you manage to talk to pdoc tomorrow. sorry you had your phone off. stuff like that happens.

waves

[Dmom3005]

I don't know that much about the difference between the two.

I do know that my son Devin took Lexapro for depression and
panic attacks. And it worked.

I take Celexa for anxiety and depression. That started the depression
after my husband got laid off, and has started the money issues so
much stronger.
It works for me.

Donna

[Mari]

I cannot do this.

Everything is too hard.
I would like to cancel the appt.

I remember about 10 or 12 years ago going to a new therapist for two sessions when I was in major sleep fog at both visits -- I could barely sit up. She asked questions about my sleep and I told her I did not want to talk about it.

Mari