Missing your meds

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For those of you who take medications (particularly psychiatric ones)... What happens to you when you miss a dose? Yesterday I missed my Lexapro, and today I feel very light-headed/dizzy. When I miss any one of my three doses of Xanax, I'm prone to panic attacks, and when I miss my Risperdal, my thoughts get really weird and my mom says I say and do things that don't make sense.

How about you guys?

well, when i miss taking my prozac, i get really suicidal and depressed... when i miss my sleeping pills... i get really tired the next day...

I wish I still had my Klonopin. I can't sleep. I don't miss my Lexapro, since the side effects just made me feel awful.

I think it's the matter of autosuggestion... It's the same with the lables and side-effects they list. They are programming us and our responses... That is why I do not read lables Oh, and I have recently stopped taking the medicine I was prescribed by my psychiatrist for my anxiety - and I feel brilliant!

I also used to get horribly dizzy when I missed a dose of Lexapro. Word of advice: if you decide to get off it at some point, wean yourself off *very* carefully.

Not for me- I had had no idea that dizziness was a possible side effect of Lexapro until after I had experienced it a number of times and brought it up with my doctor.

As a side effect when I was taking Lexapro regularly (rather than as a side-effect of withdrawal), I also used to get muscle cramps. I also had no idea this was a possible side-effect after I researched it *after* I had started experiencing it.

Last edited by LostInSpace on 06 Dec 2008, 2:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yup, exactly the same problems I had when I missed a dose of Lexapro. Your body is simply used to functioning with the substance present, and messes up a bit without it. (When you stop taking Lexapro, incidentally, you need to do it slowly or you will be dizzy for a MONTH. Seriously.) What you're experiencing is the effect of physical tolerance, and why if you take psychotropic medications, it's important to take them at the same time every day (or on a regular schedule, anyway), so that you keep the level of medication in your blood steady.

Autosuggestion can indeed cause side effects, but they are usually weak and fade quickly once you are not thinking so much about taking medication. You would have to be very frightened or obsessed to suffer any serious problems from these side-effects. (Official term: "nocebo effect"). Anyway, there are the positive effects, too: Any medicine you take will be bolstered by your hope that it will work, so that even given only sugar pills, you would probably improve.

I have in the past experienced side-effects through suggestion. Generally it is something like a stomach ache or a headache--both of these things easily resulting from physical tension. A "real" side effect generally starts out severe and then improves as time goes on.

Last edited by Callista on 06 Dec 2008, 2:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Oh well, if You say so...

Hmm, that's very interesting! I had wondered for a long time if the dizziness and lightheadedness I felt if I missed/was late with a dose of Cipralex (Lexapro's name in the UK) was just my imagination... but the accounts here seem to tally with mine! I'm only on a 10mg dose, but I can always tell when I've forgotten to take it because my head gets all disoriented and woozy.

You know, Lexapro isn't coated; so if you wanted, you could even split the pill and take half twice a day. That keeps the dose even more even, and keeps you from getting the "wearing off" dizzy effect.

It's not a huge effect, but it's annoying, and enough to slow you down.

I remember when I came off Citolopram (also called Celexa or Cipramil) I had terrible withdrawl symptons, like really bad deppresion even though I only had a 10mg dose.

It was difficult for me. After 2 years of withdrawing from it, I still have some of the side effects.

Odd... I've never heard of two years; no more than a couple of months, at most. Are you sure it's not something else that coincided with your withdrawal, or some long-term damage from something or other?

I'm on no medication right now, and I still feel like I SSRI side effects, the ones I experienced when I first started Lexapro.
I was on it pretty long. It could have caused 'injury'.

if i dont take my ritalin its very likely i get meltdowns whic is not fun

i was taking 100mg of imipramine a day up until a few days ago then i quit taking it, didnt even wean myself off just stopped. i guess it really wasnt doing anything because i didnt get withdrawals.