How should lexapro be used properly?

Escitalopram (Lexapro) comes as a tablet to take by mouth. It is usually taken once a day with or without food. To help you remember to take escitalopram, take it around the same time every day, in the morning or in the evening. Follow the directions on your prescription label carefully, and ask your doctor or pharmacist to explain any part you do not understand. Take escitalopram exactly as directed. Do not take more or less of it or take it more often than prescribed by your doctor. Your doctor may start you on a low dose of escitalopram and increase your dose after 1 week. It may take 1-4 weeks or longer before you feel the full benefit of escitalopram. Continue to take escitalopram even if you feel well. Do not stop taking escitalopram without talking to your doctor, especially if you have taken large doses for a long time. Your doctor will probably decrease your dose gradually.

What are the common uses for lexapro?

This medication may be prescribed for other uses; ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information.

What special precautions should I follow when using lexapro?

Before taking escitalopram, tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are allergic to escitalopram, citalopram (Celexa), or any other medications. do not take escitalopram if you are taking an MAO inhibitor such as phenelzine (Nardil) or tranylcypromine (Parnate) or have stopped taking them in the last 2 weeks, you should know that escitalopram is very similar to another SSRI, citalopram (Celexa). You should not take these two medications together, tell your doctor or pharmacist what prescription and nonprescription medications, vitamins, nutritional supplements, and herbal products you are taking. Be sure to mention anticoagulants (’blood thinners’) such as warfarin (Coumadin); antihistamines; carbamazepine (Tegretol); cimetidine (Tagamet); ketoconazole (Sporanox); lithium (Eskalith, Lithobid, Lithotabs); medications for anxiety, mental illness, or seizures; metoprolol (Lopressor, Toprol XL); other antidepressants such as desipramine (Norpramin); sedatives; sleeping pills; sumatriptan (Imitrex); and tranquilizers. Your doctor may need to change the doses of your medications or monitor you carefully for side effects.
Tell your doctor if you have recently had a heart attack and if you have or have ever had bipolar disorder; seizures; or liver, kidney, thyroid, or heart disease.
Tell your doctor if you are pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are breast-feeding. If you become pregnant while taking escitalopram, call your doctor. If you are having surgery, including dental surgery, tell the doctor or dentist that you are taking escitalopram. You should know that escitalopram may make you drowsy. Do not drive a car or operate machinery until you know how this medication affects you. Remember that alcohol can add to the drowsiness caused by this medication.

What special dietary instructions should I follow while taking lexapro? Unless your doctor tells you otherwise, continue your normal diet.

What should I do if I forget a dose of lexapro?

Take the missed dose as soon as you remember it. However, if it is almost time for the next dose, skip the missed dose and continue your regular dosing schedule. Do not take a double dose to make up for a missed one.

What You Should Know About Lexapro

Lexapro, also known by its scientific name Escitalopram, is a very popular antidepressant used to treat depression associated with mood disorders. It is also used in certain cases to treat Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and anxiety. If you have never used Lexapro before, you need to familiarize yourself with the medicine interactions and the side effects associated with it.

The recommended dosage of Lexapro is 10-20 mg a day. The elderly should take smaller doses and pregnant women should avoid taking the medicine altogether. However, the effectiveness of Lexapro over an extended time period has not been sufficiently studied. So, if doctors are prescribing Lexapro to a patient over a long period of time, continuous evaluation of the patient is necessary.

Citalopram and other SSRIs have been shown to cause sexual side effects in most patients, both males and females. Although usually reversible, these sexual side effects can sometimes last a very long time after discontinuation. This disorder is known as Post SSRI Sexual Dysfunction. Weight gain is another possible side effect associated with Lexapro.

Discontinuation from antidepressants, especially abruptly, has been known to cause certain withdrawal symptoms. One possible discontinuation symptom from Escitalopram is a type of spontaneous nerve pulse known as paresthesia or “electric shock sensations”, described by some patients as a feeling of small electric shocks, which may be accompanied by dizziness.

Lexapro withdrawal symptoms can occur at any dosage. Lexapro withdrawal symptoms can begin within eight hours of a missed dose and can last from one to eight weeks. Some patients have reported hallucinations as a side effect experienced from the withdrawal.

If already using Lexapro, the best advice is to taper off slowly instead of quitting suddenly. It is important to develop a specific tapering schedule with your health care provider to minimize Lexapro withdrawal symptoms. Anyone discontinuing Lexapro runs the risk of suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

Other discontinuation symptoms include extreme sensitivity to loud sounds and bright lights, chills, hot flushes, cold sweats, reddening of the face, abdominal pain, weight gain and extreme mental fatigue. Also possible is severe irritability and sadness/depression like symptoms.

I hope you have found this information helpful. Be sure to disclose to your physician any other medicines you might be taking before requesting a prescription for Lexapro. Although the aforementioned side effects do not occur in some people who take the medication and may be mild in those who do experience the effects, they can happen to even the most healthy individuals, so you should be cautious when using this medicine.

“This is very good data,” said Keith A. Young, co-director of the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System Neuropsychiatry Research Program. “One of the things that is very clearly delineated by this study is that there truly is an association. This association has been seen with other anxiety disorders before, and there were some hints with PTSD, but this is the best. This kind of sets it in stone.”

The challenge now is to find out whether this is a cause-and-effect relationship.Previous studies have indicated a more general link between anxiety disorders and asthma, but this study focused specifically on PTSD, a disorder that involves nightmares, flashbacks and panic attacks linked to “triggers” that develop after exposure to combat or other extremely disturbing events.This study looked at 3,065 male twin pairs listed in the Vietnam Era Twin Registry.The twins were either identical (meaning they shared all the same genetic material) or fraternal (sharing only half their genetic material). Such twin studies are useful to science, because they can help tease out genetic and environmental influences.The twins in this study had all lived together as children and had all served on active military duty in Vietnam. There were no significant differences in history of combat exposure or cigarette smoking. The overall prevalence of asthma was 6 percent and was about the same in identical and fraternal twins.

Twins who suffered from the most PTSD symptoms were 2.3 times more likely to have asthma when compared with those who suffered from the least PTSD symptoms. The increased risk was about the same for both fraternal and identical twins, suggesting an environmental underpinning rather than a genetic one.”If there had been a strong genetic component to the link between asthma and PTSD, the results between these two types of twins would have been different, but we didn’t find any substantial differences between the two,” lead researcher Renee D. Goodwin, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New York City, said in a statement.No one knows what the mechanisms are behind the association. It’s possible that some sort of traumatic stress could trigger both PTSD and asthma, or one condition could contribute to the other.”In my mind, the most likely thing that would relate these two is childhood stress,” Young said. “It’s very well-known that children who are a under a lot of stresses can grow up to have a different mental health outcome than their twin.”

LOSS OF PATENT protection on Pfizer’s Zoloft last year caused analysts to raise warning flags about the whole class. But the surprisingly strong performance of Forest Labs’ Lexapro brought reassuring news. Forest said last month that Lexapro earned $545.9 million for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared to $480.7 million in the period a year prior. That’s a 13.6% gain for the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI,purchase cheap generic lexapro,order right now), which is indicated for the initial and maintenance treatment of major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder.

MIAMI — Escitalopram is as effective as paroxetine, but is better tolerated, for long-term treatment of generalized anxiety disorder, Dr. Robert J. Bielski said at the annual conference of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America.Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs,purchase lexapro) are increasingly being prescribed for generalized anxiety disorder, according to Dr. Bielski, a researcher at Summit Research Network in Okemos, Mich., which conducts clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies, including Forest Labs Inc., the maker of escitalopram (Lexapro).

In a rare direct comparison, he and his colleagues assessed the efficacy and tolerability of escitalopram and paroxetine (Paxil), two agents approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating generalized anxiety disorder. (Extended-release venlafaxine is also FDA approved for this condition,cheap generic lexapro.)

All participants met the DSM-IV definition for generalized anxiety disorder: a baseline score on the Hamilton Anxiety Scale of 18 or more. Mean age was 37 years. There were 60 patients randomized to escitalopram and 61 to paroxetine. The study began with a week of single-blind placebo treatment, followed by 24 weeks of double-blind, flexible-dose treatment with either 10-20 mg/day of escitalopram or 20-50 mg/day of paroxetine. After an additional 2 weeks to titrate participants down, their Hamilton anxiety scores were compared for mean change from baseline.

Efficacy was similar; both agents improved anxiety symptoms. The mean baseline Hamilton anxiety score was 23.7 in the escitalopram group and 23.4 in the paroxetine group. At the end of the study, the mean reduction in scores was 15.3 in the escitalopram group and 13.3 in the paroxetine group.

“The SSRIs are a family of antidepressants that are really revolutionary. They are so much better tolerated than their predecessors,” Dr. Bielski said at the meeting.

A representative of GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of paroxetine, declined to comment on the findings.There were differences in adverse effects between the two treatment groups. The researchers noted the most frequent adverse events in 10% or more of patients. In the escitalopram group, diarrhea (21%), upper respiratory tract infection (15%), and fatigue (12%) were most common. In the paroxetine group, ejaculation disorder (30%), anorgasmia (26%), and insomnia (26%) were most common.There was a statistically significant difference in the numbers of patients who withdrew from the study because of adverse events, Dr. Bielski said. A total of 6.6% withdrew from the escitalopram group, compared with 22.6% of the paroxetine group.

Storage

Store Lexapro at room temperature away from moisture and heat.

Overdose

Seek emergency medical attention. Symptoms of a Lexapro overdose include nausea, vomiting, tremor, drowsiness, dizziness, sweating, and a fast heartbeat (cheap price for medication,online pills).

More Information

Do not take Lexapro if you: You have a known sensitivity or allergy to any component of Lexapro.

Disclaimer

This drug information is for your information purposes only, it is not intended that this information covers all uses, directions, drug interactions, precautions, or adverse effects of your medication. This is only general information, and should not be relied on for any purpose. It should not be construed as containing specific instructions for any particular patient. We disclaim all responsibility for the accuracy and reliability of this information, and/or any consequences arising from the use of this information, including damage or adverse consequences to persons or property, however such damages or consequences arise. No warranty, either expressed or implied, is made in regards to this information.

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The antidepressant Lexapro is a member of the family of medications known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Lexapro offer advantages in the treatment of depression and generalized anxiety disorder.

How Taken

Lexapro comes as a tablet and a liquid taken it orally(order cheap lexapro). It is usually taken once daily and may be taken with or without food. Take Lexapro exactly as directed. Do not take more or less of it or take it more often than prescribed by your doctor. Continue to take Lexapro even if you feel well. Do not stop taking Lexapro without talking to your doctor. This drug must be taken regularly for a few weeks before its full effect is felt (low cost pills).

Warnings/Precautions

Before taking Lexapro, tell your doctor if you have liver disease, have kidney disease, suffer from seizures, or suffer from mania or have suicidal thoughts. You may not be able to take Lexapro, or you may require a dosage adjustment or special monitoring during treatment if you have any of the conditions listed above. Lexapro should not be taken during treatment with citalopram (Celexa,buy cheap,discount price). Also, if you have had an allergic reaction to citalopram (Celexa,buy cheap,order online,worldwide shipping), you may also have an allergic reaction to Lexapro. Do not take Lexapro without first talking to your doctor if you have had an allergic reaction to either medication in the past. Lexapro is in the FDA pregnancy category C. This means that it is not known whether Lexapro it will be harmful to an unborn baby. Do not take Lexapro without first talking to your doctor if you are pregnant or could become pregnant during treatment. Lexapro passes into breast milk and may affect a nursing infant. Do not take Lexapro without first talking to your doctor if you are breast-feeding a baby.

Missed Dose

Take the missed dose as soon as you remember. However, if it is almost time for the next regularly scheduled dose, skip the missed dose and take the next one as directed. Do not take a double dose of this medication unless otherwise directed by your doctor.

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