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Lexapro and Rexulti. Plus Klonopin
Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: Oct 28, 2022 | Replies (10)Comment receiving replies
Currently I’m on 40 mg of celexa (for years I was on 20 mg of celexa and I stopped taking it in 2020). Also on Xanax at 3.5 mg a day. This is what psychiatrist has me on. Some confusion last week on how to taper. We thought he wanted me to remove 0.25 mg away a day. My primary dr said that’s too fast. She thought 0.25 a week. The psychiatrist wanted me to go up on 60 mg of celexa or add Buspar. My husband and I don’t want me to take Buspar. Or really go up on Celexa. The nurse practitioner wants me to change from celexa to Lexapro 20 mg and rexulti 0.5 mg and to take 2 mg of klonopin instead of Xanax and eventually wean off klonopin. But there’s no weaning from my meds I’m on now to the new ones that the nurse practitioner suggested. A pharmacist said there’s no issues going from one to the other. Primary dr thought it was all ok to try. She doesn’t know anything about rexulti. My husband and I want me to be off of Xanax. My body built up a tolerance to it. Everyone in my family thinks these symptoms or withdrawals/built up tolerance I’m having is easy to control. Thank you for your help.
Replies to "Currently I’m on 40 mg of celexa (for years I was on 20 mg of celexa..."
Oh my gosh! Too many cooks spoil the broth! A pharmacist, physchiatrist, husband, nurse practitioner and a Primary?
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@flow65 Thank you for the explanation. That helps me to understand your initial questions.
Adjusting meds isn't easy and you have to work with your doctor or medical provider to get them right. I can understand why your psychiatrist wants to you to try Buspar as it's prescribed for anxiety and I don't think people build up a tolerance to it and need more to get the same effect like you said you've experienced with Xanax. If you do wean off Xanax as you'd like to then you will want an antidepressant that targets depression and anxiety really well. I'll give you my own thoughts based on my experiences for myself and my family members.
Buspar didn't work for anxiety for anyone in my family however that doesn't mean it won't work for you. It is worth a try which I did at the time. What did work was finding an antidepressant that worked better for anxiety as well as depression and for us my brother and I both found that Cymbalta (duloxetine) worked. We talk on the phone every week as we don't live near one another and when one of us is going through something tough (we've both been diagnosed with cancer over the past few years) we talk about how we are feeling. That's how we both figured out that medication that works for one of us is worth a try with the other one of us.
May I ask your age? Some medications like Rexulti (it's a newer medication and acts very much like Abilify) should be used carefully with anyone over the age of 65. I read up on Rexulti and it's used to "boost" the effects of antidepressant medication and can help with anxiety. I'm posting below what I read so it will help you know more about that medication.
-- https://www.rxlist.com/rexulti-drug.htm#description
I'm 70 years old so I don't think my doctor would suggest Rexulti for me.
You wrote "Everyone in my family thinks these symptoms or withdrawals/built up tolerance I’m having is easy to control". It's a personal choice. You decide what is best for you and what your body tells you. Working through tolerance and withdrawals is not an easy path so I'm going to be really up front here and say listen to your doctors and not your family about this. You figure out what's good for you.
One other suggestion. You can get a third opinion too. Would you like to do that?