At my October 22 appointment I reported symptoms of severe agitation and physical restlessness to my psychiatrist. After discussion, he told me to reduce the dosage of the new medication Lexapro from 10 to 5 mg per day. Because Lexapro is a newly released medication, and because my reactions have been pronounced (both good and bad), I decided to keep a daily record of my mood and physical symptoms.
October 23 - Wednesday
Today was my first day on just 5 mg. (This would be equal to 20 mg of Celexa, the antidepressant I was taking before.) The physical restlessness and twitchiness were greatly decreased today. The day went fine, and most of the evening was okay, too. I didn't come home with the intense mid-back pain that had afflicted me every evening after work for the last ten days. This suggests to me that the agitation I was experiencing affected even the muscle fibers. However, around bedtime some back pain returned, and at the same time I experienced some diffused anxiety. Took two Ativan and went to bed.
October 24 - Thursday
I was fine today until late afternoon, when I tackled a very difficult project and couldn't get anywhere with it. Then right before closing I took a tough telephone call. These two incidents left me feeling tired and stressed. This evening I have felt agitated and anxious again. My back began to hurt around 9:00, bad enough that I'm going to take Naproxen for it.
October 25 - Friday
No notes! Sorry!
October 26 - Saturday
Except for the time spent this afternoon getting my hair done (where I entertained everyone - I hope - by singing snatches of opera arias during the cut and blow dry), I spent today immersed in a single project - organizing all the essential information about my web design clients in one place. This job was not even on the (fairly long) list of things to do I had made first thing in the morning - but I lost the list not long after making it. I'd describe my dedication to this task as deeply determined - even though halfway through I started over after deciding to store the records in a binder instead of file folders!
October 27 - Sunday
After attending a Halloween breakfast at a friend's house, I took advantage of the weather and tackled some work that needed doing outdoors. I put some potted plants in the ground, emptied out other planters, then started cleaning up the deck, sunroom and garage for winter ... heavy work in some cases! I probably lifted more at one time than is good for me, and am a little worried about how I'm going to feel tomorrow. Finally called an arbitrary halt to that work to keep from overdoing it any more than I already had, and changed clothes for the third time.
Is it possible Lexapro is (a) giving me more physical strength, or (b) making me able to exert more strength than before? Because today I lifted - and carried for about 12 feet - the heavy pebbled-concrete base of our broken birdbath. Last time I tried this, I could not even move it. It felt like the thing was welded to the ground. This time it moved and I could pick it up. I'd guess that thing weighs at least 40 pounds. Maybe 60. So this is very strange.
October 28 - Monday
As expected, I'm pretty sore this morning, especially upper back and shoulders. I have a nice bruise on one arm where I knocked a block of wood out of the garage rafters and it fell on me, and some patches of skin gone from my hands from carrying the birdbath base without gloves.
The change off of daylight savings time has bothered me more than usual. I stayed up till my usual bedtime - by the clock - last night, figuring the best way to adjust is to go by the clock. But it didn't work. I woke early and was tired all day. It was a hectic day, too, and I had to come home and do some difficult computer work in the evening. By 8:00 I was whipped, and by 9:30 I was in bed.
October 29 - Tuesday
Going to bed early didn't help - I just woke up at 5:30 instead of 7:00 this morning. After a second consecutive night of poor sleep, I didn't have a good day - though perhaps it would have been worse without Lexapro. This evening I'm having severe mid-back pain again; is it Lexapro or fibromyalgia acting up because I'm so tired?
Week's Summary
Cutting back to half a pill has helped. I'm more in control mentally, and the physical agitation is greatly reduced. The best part is, I'm still eating less - I've kept off the five pounds lost in the first four weeks. But it's too soon to tell whether this is the right medication for me. I'll have to give it more time, especially to see whether Lexapro is aggravating my fibromyalgia. There are many things I like about the effects of Lexapro - the question is whether I can live with the negatives.
