One Thing After Another

MagicSunshine · 04-01-2006, 07:23 PM

I was feeling so much better, but here I am again. Feeling so tired, all I want to do is sleep. I have noticed a lack of energy for about a week, but yesterday and today, it got so bad that I had to lay down fast, and I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. I sleep about an hour or so and then I am awake and feeling a little better.

As some of you know, I'm withdrawing from fentanyl transdermal pain patch. 75/hr mcg. I went from 75 to 50 and have been there for two weeks. My symptoms have been very slight, but I was wondering if his could be one of them.

I don't think it's the lexapro because I was only tired from them the first week or so and then I was fine. They made me feel so much better. The confusing thing is that on the higher dose of fentanyl, I didn't feel sleepy.

I just don't know what to do. I will call my Dr. on Monday, and probably get into see her the same day.

This is not painful, but it's extremely scarey. I don't know what to make of it. Any help or advice would help. Thanks and TC.....Connie

Spin444 · 04-01-2006, 07:40 PM

Hi Connie, Sorry to hear about your problems. How long did you say that you've been on Lexapro? I've learned many truths about SSRIs over the years and one big one is that their side effects are not constants - you can have them at any point in time. Just because you didn't experience the listed side effects of sleepiness and insomnia after the first week you were on it, that doesn't mean that you wouldn't in the future. This is true for all of the side effects. Sleep disturbances can come and go. Maybe you'll be feeling better soon. I hope so. Good luck!

MagicSunshine · 04-01-2006, 08:23 PM

I think you misunderstood. I have been on lexapro for over a month. I'm taking 10 mg's a day. I have never had insomnia in my life. The only thing that helps me when I feel the urge to sleep, is taking my lex. I have been on amiltrptyline for 20 years and that's a tricyclic. It's worked very well for the majority of the time since I was dx'd with depression and anxiety. I also have taken xanax for many years.

I will talk to my Dr. and my psychiatrist Monday. I keep in close though with both. I have blood work done once a month, also. I am staying on my lexapro and have no intentions of changing. I know the bad stuff going around about meds may have a bad effect on some people, but not me. I choose to listen to someone with a medical degree. A person that can show me everything from the molecular structure of the drug to all the side effects.

I'm sure this is related to the surgery I had last July. It's taking a long time to wean off the pain patch. My Drs. didn't put me on it. The place I went for rehab did it. It's a very strong med and I should never have been put on it. My Drs. are upset. I have been wearing it since the first week of Sept. until Dec. 7, 2005 when I got home. It's a dangerous drug in my opinion, but if someone was using it because their Dr. put them on it, I wouldn't say anything.

Spin444 · 04-01-2006, 10:57 PM

Connie, Doctors aren't infallible. Sometimes the warnings from other users can be invaluable. For instance, my sister was put on Zocor in November. She lives in a different state, so I didn't know about it. After just a few weeks on Zocor (for high cholesterol), she started having a great deal of pain in her right leg and lower back. She finally went back to the nurse practitioner, who gave her yet another prescription for an anti-inflammatory. It didn't do any good. It was only when we visited for Christmas, that I saw her take some pills (she was in a wheel chair by then!). When I asked what they were, she told me about being on Zocor. My immediate reaction was to get on the internet. Low and behold, THE most common and serious side effect of statins is myopathy - painful muscle wasting! Doctors are supposed to be told by the manufactureres of statins, to first put patients on a cholesterol lowering diet and if that doesn't work, to then try drugs, but to warn them about the risk of myopathy because they have to get off the drug the very day it presents itself. My sister was never warned and the nurse pracitioner didn't even recognize the condition when she complained about it. If it hadn't been for me getting my sister off the drug immediately, she'd still be in a wheelchair and suffering. It took a couple of months, but she's walking again, with a cane. From what I've read and heard, most doctors don't warn about myopathy and don't recognize it, even though Baycol, another statin, was banned for that very reason!

There are countless stories of doctors making mistakes and not knowing enough about the drugs they prescribe. Often, what they do know, is only what drug reps tell them - only what drug companies want them to know.

It's fine to respect doctors, but we simply cannot put blind faith in them. Knowing the molecular structure of a psychiatric drug will not tell you what it will do to you. It really tells you nothing at all that you need to know.

You said that you think your pain drug is dangerous. You learned that from experience, right? If they were to put your child or other loved one on the same drug, would you not be concerned? Would you not feel the need to warn them about the possibilities? We are all, in some ways, family and I hate to see any other human, not warned about drugs that hold potential harm. It's just that simple. I see your side of things, but truly, we need to have ALL of the information about drugs that we need, not just drug company published stuff.

I hope that you're feeling better soon. You've had a rough time of it, it seems.

macadamiaNUT · 04-01-2006, 11:50 PM

Hi Connie,

Gosh, "girl", I'm sorry for the downturn. No wonder you've been turning in early lately! I sure hope whatever the docs and you figure out on Monday gets you back on up and about again quickly.

I know you're taking amitryp and Lex for depression, but I don't know if those have anything to do with what is going on with you. I don't know a lot about the amitryp as the primary a/d, so will keep my lay-opinion quiet. Actually, I don't have an opinion on this, being as I don't know a chunk of it. All I know is I hope you're feeling better real soon.

hugs!!