permanent problems after lexapro and alcohol? - Panic Disorders Message Board

krispie · 04-13-2003, 10:45 PM

Hi. I've been experiencing panic attacks since january of this year and i finally got to a doctor who perscribed me lexapro. I had been on paxil for about 6 mos. a year earlier for depression, and I drank often while on it with minimal problems. (even binge drinking - college student.) I took it for 4 days starting on a Monday. On Friday, I drank heavily and as I was trying to go to sleep and pass out, I started to feel ungodly anxiety and panic. I knew what a panic attack was like, but I thought this one was a heart attack; I just felt like I was going insane, so I went to the ER, and they just came to the conclusion that I drank too much. The next morning, I was feeling this woozy feeling with headaches and pressure on my temples and all around anxious feeling, and it eventually subsided. Later in the day I took Lexapro, (10mg by the way) and i had this wierd feeling in my head, i couldn't function, i felt pressure inside my head, and severe anxiousness and dizziness. I went to the ER once again the next day because I thought i was having some kind of reaction, and the doc told me to stop lexapro and gave me some ativan to deal w/ any possible w/drawal symptoms. for the next week i took ativan about 1 to 2 mg a day, and felt mostly relaxed but still dizzy. I went back to my doc to tell him what happened and he said we still have to address my panic. So we discussed things and i decided to go on paxil cr and he advised me to taper off the ativan. While taking the paxil cr I felt the dizziness and pressure inside of my head. I would also get headaches most of the day. These symptoms did not happen to me when i took regular paxil for 6 mos for depression or in January when i took a week sample of paxil cr. Now I decided to quit everything, and these symptoms of dizziness and pressure inside my head still persist. I'm irritable and i get headaches during the day. The worst part is when i tried to have a beer the other day, I feel like i'm really drunk after a small amount of alcohol. I begin to become depersonalized, feel sicks, anxious, and just ver indescribably odd. I don't this could be SSRI discontinuation sydrome, because i only took lexapro for about 5 days and paxil cr for 3. Plus, after i took paxil for 6 months before a year ago and i know what SSRI DS feels like, and this is much different. Any similar experiences, suggestions? (Sorry about the length of this post, thanks for reading.)
Mike

[This message has been edited by krispie (edited 04-14-2003).]

[This message has been edited by krispie (edited 04-14-2003).]

trainboxer · 04-21-2003, 11:53 PM

I get panic attacks but am not under any medication. I will tell you one thing. I have been getting panic attacks for over a year and it seems sometimes I get more anxious and scared after drinking alcohol. Like oh no, I might not be able to breathe, i might get a heart attack etc. It just makes me nervous when I am under a somewhat drunken state. And when I have no food in my stomach I get pretty buzzed and stuff off of one drink. So for me alcohol can work two ways. If I am already very anxious and feel attacks, I drink just a little of alcohol to get rid of that feeling. Yet when I feel perfect and I drink a little too much, I sometimes get an attack or nervous. And usually these attacks would happen around nighttime because of all of the stress from the whole day and being worn out. So I sometimes get racing thoughts about my health and can't go to sleep. The worst part is that it is extremely difficult to get them out of my head at night if I have been up too late especially. The best medicine for me is a nice long relaxing sleep. I notice when I dont get enough sleep, it really affects my panic.

Janik · 04-22-2003, 11:19 AM

Call me crazy, but I never had panic attacks until I was put on Zoloft. The doctors I've had have always dismissed this concern of mine.