Ok, I started out taking Adderall XR.... and was on 30mg for a good 8 months. When I got to College, There wasnt any kind of "sleep Routine" (Monday class at 8 at night... Tuesday - Class at 9 in the morning..... so I was having trouble with sleep. )

this being said - I switched to Adderall Regular tabs and almost found my self "crashing" OR having the so - called  "Dips" .... Plus Anxiety kicked in. This Anxiety?? Why is this starting to happen. Adderall has helped me in so many ways, and I want to find a good way to fix the problem. 

My Podiatrist is switching me BACK to Adderall XR and he said I will have to get used to this again. He said maybe putting me on Lexapro for a couple weeks with the XR to get ahold of the Anxiety..... Is this move right? I dont want to get on a bunch of meds and be that person who is living just on drugs? Any advice???? I trust this forum more than anyone!

   Lexapro is an antidepressant made by Forest Labs.

   It carries an FDA "Black Box Warning" about increased SUICIDAL THOUGHTS.

   In Canada, the warning is "May cause periods of SEVERE AGITATION resulting in SELF HARM OR HARM TO OTHERS.

    It is very difficult to estimate just how severe your withdrawal symptoms will be after just 2 weeks on it. Hopefully not too bad.

    The general consensus is that antidepressants take up to 6 weeks to "kick in". Why is your doc claiming you only need it for a couple of weeks ?

    Check out www.drugawareness.org and click on "experiences".

My Podiatrist is switching me BACK to Adderall XR and he said I will have to get used to this again. He said maybe putting me on Lexapro for a couple weeks with the XR to get ahold of the Anxiety..... Is this move right? I dont want to get on a bunch of meds and be that person who is living just on drugs? Any advice???? I trust this forum more than anyone!

     ... This includes Lexapro...

Antidepressants under scrutiny

By MARGARET LEVRA

Globe Staff Writer

Experts agree that withdrawal from antidepressant medications must be done under a controlled environment, or it could result in tragedy.

Mark Laguna, 40, of Pence, Wis., is currently lodged in the Iron County jail, facing a first-degree intentional homicide charge for the March 16 shooting death of his wife Brenda.

Laguna is taking two well-known Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, Celexa, and Wellbutrin, along with Ceroquel, for schizophrenia, and Xanax.

Defense attorney Fred Bourg from the public defender's office in Ashland, Wis., is attempting to have Laguna transferred to a mental health facility to be evaluated and weaned from these medications before his February trial.

For withdrawal without complications, the dosage of an SSRI must be decreased over a period of time, said Karen Barth-Menzies, with the Baum Hedlund Law Firm in Los Angeles on Thursday. Barth-Menzies is the lead attorney for withdrawal cases involving SSRIs.

SSRIs are "extremely powerful drugs, designed to alter a person's brain chemistry. They can cause a person to completely change behavior -- change their way of thinking and cause them to become psychotic." The drugs cause "severe agitation and suicide to some, and it causes others to commit acts of violence against others," she said.

She noted side effects "can occur on any dosage fluctuation."

Having dealt with the violent side effects of SSRIs, Barth-Menzies said, "Sometimes they do not even realize what they did. It's basically a psychotic break. They have no control of what they are doing at the time, followed by disbelief. What happened? Who did that? How did that happen?"

Barth-Menzies said there are millions of people in the country on these medications.

"From what we can tell, 3 to 5 percent of the population will have suicidal or violent reactions, either harm against self or harm against others," she said.

Dr. Joseph Glenmullen, a clinical instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, said withdrawal from SSRIs should be done under a controlled environment.

On Tuesday, Glenmullen said he could not comment on possible effects on Laguna from SSRI withdrawal without more in-depth information.

Glenmullen recently testified in a Federal Drug Administration hearing that resulted in the recent warning that antidepressants make patients, including children and adolescents, suicidal.

The warning covers 10 of the current popular antidepressants, Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Effexor, Celexa, Lexapro, Wellbutrin, Luvox, Remeron and Serzone.

Safety of Drugs

In his publication, "Suicides and Homicides in Patients Taking Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft: Why They Keep Happening -- And Why They Will Continue," California author Jay S. Cohen M.D. wrote from almost the day that they were introduced in the late 1980s and early 1990s, sudden, unexpected suicides and homicides have been reported in patients taking serotonin-enhancing antidepressants such as Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft. "I'm not surprised this problem hasn't disappeared, nor will it unless we look deeper," he wrote.

Cohen said the selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors help millions of people, but, "any drug that can cause positive changes in people's brains can also cause negative ones, unless care is taken to avoid it."

SSRIs could create a unique combination of side effects that might severely impair judgment and impulse control, Cohen noted. SSRIs can also cause a severe degree of agitation or restlessness that may become intolerable and reduce impulse control, he wrote. Impulsive behavior, especially if coupled with impaired cognitive functioning, can be dangerous, he added.

Any psychiatrist will tell you that excessive doses of antidepressants can cause brain dysfunctions, including disorientation, confusion, and cognitive disturbances, Cohen said.

Antidepressants can also trigger similar, manic-like symptoms in people whose depression is part of a manic-depressive syndrome, which often gets overlooked when people are given SSRIs.

"Some of these individuals may have serious adverse reactions to antidepressants, including irritability, aggression, and mania," wrote Dr. Ronald Pies, professor of psychiatry at Tufts University.

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I generally agree with countrygirl. she is a better source than either balanced or myself,

 sorry about the cut and paste

General Concensus is that Prozac takes up to 6 weeks to be effective. It has an insanely long half life, so it takes longer to reach steady state. Lexapro tends to be at least partially effective in the first 1-2 weeks, and the anxiolitic properties often kick in ahead of the antidepressant properties, so taking it for a few weeks may have potential benefit, though it's a little unorthodox.

However, there have been rare cases of serotonin syndrome associated with the concurrent use of serotonergic antidepressants along with amphetamines. Many people, including myself, do just fine on the combination, but it's something you should be aware of when you're just beginning the combo.