I am hoping to find out what antibiotics that Lexapro users are taking for lyme disease and not experiencing any interactions with the lexapro.

My daughter is tapering off of 20 Mg of Lexapro. She had interactions with Biaxin XL causing her Lexapro serum levels to rise. The P 450 system interacts with many medications and Lexapro.

I need to know from personal experience what antibiotics that others have safely taken with their Lexapro and the dose of lexapro you are on.

I know that Cedax and Ceftin are two safe antibiotics (they are metabolized by the kidneys not the liver) but they are usually combined with a macrolide to get inside the cell to fight Bb and that is where the confusion comes in.What macrolide can be safely taken with Lexapro??

Anyone taking Zithromax and Lexapro? Pfizer said Lexapro interacted with their drug Zoloft but that no specific studies had been done in regards to lexapro and zithromax and the pathways in the P450 system..

Can anyone share what they have been able to take with their lexapro without getting drug interactions of mania, restlessness, mood sings etc. (These are signs of Serotonin Syndrome).

Thank you, I will share this information with our LLMD. The P450 system is so knew that many doctors are unaware of drug interactions so I was hoping personal experiences would prove helpful.

My daughter is having a hard time tapering off the lexapro, seems that lexapro is as hard as Paxil to stop taking with just as severe of withdrawals. Any personal experiences would be appreciated with Lexapro and antibiotics.

so to answer your question, while on lexapro 10mg i was also on bicillin, rocephin injections every 4 weeks, along with oral suprax (liquid), mepron (liquid), and doxy. before the doxy it was ceftin.

i personally don't like biaxin -- i think it interacts with too many things -- i stay away from that antibiotic if i can.

this is just my own personl experience and doses. but i didn't like the 20mg of lexapro so i weened back to 10 and now nothing -- so far so good.

Hope everything works out.

Good health,

Cigi

Before being DX'd, my neuro upped my Lexapro to 20mg to try to help my headaches. (As if the Bb population would be impresseed by THAT.)

Result: I kept falling asleep at my desk.

So I bumped myself back down to 10mg, and there I've stayed.

All things considered, I thought Zoloft was a more effective med. But that was a LONG time ago, LONG pre DX, and like many things when I figured out that wasn't fixing my headaches I weaned myself off of that TOO.

Michelle M

Thank you for the posts. Just to warn you that this reply is long.

Can those of you that tapered let me know if you went thru any withdrawals during drug reductions and how did you taper, by what amount Mg reductions?

The information regarding Biaxin and Lexapro is in the Biaxin insert that comes with the Biaxin from the pharmacy. You will need a magnifying glass to read it.

Digirl, How did you freak out when your dose of Lexapro was upped to 20MG. What symptoms? My daughter gets mania, exhaustion, anxiety, moody outbursts and cannot sleep....were these your symptoms? Also now weight gain after initial weight loss.

What dose of the liquid suprax are you taking? They will be reintroducing the pill form of Suprax in January.Did you take all of the meds together? The Bicillin, the doxy, the Mepron and the Suprax? How is your lyme doing?

Cigi,

Sorry to hear of the herx from hell with the IV Zithromax, is your depersonalization getting any better. Did it start immediately after you went to the IV Zithromax or after they stopped the Zoloft.(I know many that have depersonalization as a Zoloft withdrawal, it lasts for about four months if it is from the Zoloft withdrawal).

How is the 15 Mg of Lexapro working? My daughter was put on it for anxiety and jaw clenching. Is it helping your anxiety, do you take it in the AM or PM?

My daughter takes it at night but it seeems to energize her and she is not sleeping. I may have to switch it to the morning until she is weaned off of it.

Michille,

My daughter is also getting sleepy and exhaused(during the day) while on the higher dose of Lexapro. How long were you on the 20 MG? Did you have any negative reactions when you bumped it down to 10? My daughter was on it for over a year so it is so much harder for her to taper down, almost impossible due to horrible withdrawal effects, Do you get vivid dreams or nightmares or sinus congestion as side effects of tapering the lexapro?

Lemonhead,

You sound like you had a similiar reaction that my daughter had, except for my daughter they kept blaming the reaction on the lyme when all along it was the Lexapro interacting with the Biaxin, no one knew. Actually I found out myself on the internet when she got so bad............... I was searching for answers..Lexapro interacting with Biaxin was the reason.

hwilson,

If you Google Lexapro Biaxin P 450 Cytochrome drug interactions it should bring you up to several articles where you can read the interactions. My pharmacist found the information in the Biaxin insert that I had not been given when I got the medication, instead I only recieved a typewritten paper from the pharmacy that had nothing on it regarding the interaction. It states Lexapro in the generic name in the Biaxin insert.

Anyone having vivid nightmares on Lexapro?? The first six months my daughter lost weight, then it turned around and she gained a great amount of weight on Lexapro and began craving carbs. She also started not caring about things, almost like her emotions were blunted. Anyone having similiar symptoms.Less disinhibited in her actions also.

I am curious, we were not told that Lexapro was addicting and that she would have to be slowly weaned off. Was everyone else made aware of this? I would have never allowed her to take it had I know the bad side effects and the physical addiction to it.

Thanks for your help. I will let her doctor know the info.
How did you manage to taper from the 20 to 10? Did you have any withdrawals like insomia, sweating, weight gain, mania? My daughter even now gets jaw clenching as a effect of weaning. Let me know how you manage to get from the 10 Mg to zero. I am so worried that it may be impossible for my daughter because she is having such a hard time tapering off of even 1 Mg a month.

One last question, do those of you on Lexapro notice that your lyme symptoms are getting worse? I have just been reading that Lexapro supresses the immune system and should not be prescribed to those with chronic health conditions.

I just had my daughter tested by the new Bowen Bb dilution test. She is now second to the higest rating in lyme severity.

My mom is also on a SSRI, Remeron for depression. I have noticed that after being on the Remeron for about a year many of her Igenex tests that were previously improving over the last three years have all increased in severity in numbers. Her lyme symptoms that had seemed to been in remission are now active again since being on the SSRI, Remeron.

In my own mind I am wondering if SSRI's action of supressing the immune system, making those with lyme much worse off? SSRI's have seemed to do with my mom and daughter but that is just my own thinking based on my family's reactions.

There is a great sight Google in: SSRI Drug awareness Dr. Tracey..............that has much information by Dr. Anne Blake Tracy on the side effects of the SSRI's. After reading this and seeing the ill effects the SSRI's have made on my family..........I can't wait to be able to get my daughter off of the Lexapro.

Not eveyone experiences the bad effects of SSRI's, it has to do with liver enzymes and how your body metabolizes the lexapro or other SSRI's. The more medications one takes the more chance that one will no longer be able to metabolize the Lexapro (or other SSRI's).

Thank you again for your experiences and antibiotic information............I trust those that have experienced taking medications together other then just guessing. I realize everyone is different but it gives me a basic understanding.

Anyone know a good LLMD that is up to date on the P450 system and drug interactions.

Thanks a million.

Aunt y

my mom took me to california for a week, but on the plane ride over i told the stewardess to get out of my way and open the frickn plane so i could get out (yep, in mid air) -

i was carefully taken back to my seat - crying histerically to get off/clostraphobic (?) guzzled two glasses of wine and popped an anti-anxiety pill and zonked.

it was weird i had no effect on 10mg - it actually helped tremendously with the mood swings and the anxiety and the depression.

doc said next month we might be changing some things again...... ugghh

but yes i was on all those at the same time. actually no more mepron (YELLOW PAINT) is what the kids call it since i tested negative for babs this time - keeping my fingers crossed.

for the 1st time in 3 years, i'm not saying this outloud, i am feeling better. i do have a couple outstanding sytmptoms that just won't give up - back burning needle pain, some hand/face numbness, eye migraines, headaches, fatique, blurred vision.

hopefully the suprax is working for the hearing.

Thanks for the info, how DID you wean off of the 10 Mg. By how much each week month??

Did you notice an increase in the symptoms as you weaned. I am noticing that on day 6 symptoms get real bad and stay bad till day 14 then start to get better until the next taper.
Nightmares, how about those and how about weight gain? Have you lost any of the weight if you gained?

Do you think there is any permanent damage such as memory loss or loss of sex drive from the Lexapro??

One last question, does your insurance pay for such a large amount of the suprax?? I know it worked the best for my daughter years ago and then it was taken off the market. What state are you from??

(A'course, my disposition pre-DX was pretty surly anyway with 24/7 headaches, so who knows how much it was halping!!??)

The depersonalization is unreal. I'm on 15 mg of lexapro that I take in the am,but I feel like I have no feeling at all. I want to go back down to 10. My psych wants me upto 15 because of ocd - repetitive thoughts of not being myself, all obsessing and believing because of the depersonalization that I don't know who I am - sounds sick for a 42 year old mother of one and wife of 11 years. I didn't know about the zoloft with the depersonalization with withdrawl. I was on zoloft 100 mg for about 5 mos. I went off it in january because of the low sodium -I was cold turkeyed from zoloft, xanax, toprol for heart, levoxyl for thyroid in the hospital for 3 days - to see what was causing the sodium to drop - then they came across the ssri's that can cause siadh (sodium hormone deficiency) but I was drinking ALOT of water before that to flush out the toxins, was on flagyl right before and had the runs for a week. February was a mess and with the grace of God I felt much better, except for physical stuff in March, April and half of May. Started lexapro in beginning of February or end of January - around there. I don't know what causes the depersonalization to be extreme, rocephin, zithromax, the disease, the treatment? All in one or did I just crack? I have to keep some humor in this nightmare. I don't know interactions chemically, I just know how I feel which is the farthest from my personality. I'm me on the outside, identityless on the inside. I know a friend that takes lexapro and she's on 10 and it makes her just not care. I tell her about being numb and she says its the lexapro. Maybe God gave me the depersonalization to deal with all this with me and my son. My 10 year old just got off of 2 1/2 years of meds for lyme, cat scans, catheters, water in knee drained...there's been much stress.
I wish I could help more, that's just my experience with lexapro. I really want to take it down to 10 because of my identity state - I take xanax also to deal with this. I'm not an addict, just take a .25 as needed when I get nervous with this stuff but I hardly get nervous anymore on the lexapro. Just numb. Gotta go now. I 'm having my gallbladder removed tomorrow because of the gallstones from the rocephin and to me, I feel like I could be at a party. Nothing sinks in - just open the book and do what I have to do until the "me" comes back. No fear - nothing and that's the farthest from me, but we all have our cross to bear with this disease and treatment. Thanks for letting me know about the withdrawl from zoloft. Maybe it was that and not the zithro. What's so sad about this is that it's peoples lives that are affected with this,mixing and matching until we hit the right combo and its scary as you know. We're all trying just to get by - nothing glorified, just everyday life. Maybe one day we can look at this and say, thank God this is over.

Good luck with the surgery, my brother just had his gallbladder removed last week and he walked out of the hospital hours after the surgery and went to work the next day. He had no pain or any problems with the surgery.
His stone was as large as an orange!
I know you will do well.

I can relate to what you are going thru with your son and lyme. My daughter has been thru the same amount of treatment and still has high concentrations of Bb thru bowen's dilution test. I am sick because with this Lexapro I am afraid that the Zithromax will
interefere with metabolism as the Biaxin did.

My friend has terrible deprersoalization after stopping Zoloft. At first she thought it was from the lyme treatment. She was not just numb but would drift in and out in a type of psychosis. It did improve in time.

Will you reduce the Lexapro to 10 or remain on 15 MG. I will try and reduce my daughter by another milligram next week but it is so scary because I never know how severe her withdrawal will be. The mania is the scariest because she has NO FEAR!!!

The headaches and severe stomach aches are also the pits.How about nightmares. very terrifying.

Just a word to you regarding the lexapro. If you notice that you are clenching your jaw or that your jaw is locking and releasing please look into speaking to your doctor about reducing. This is a sign of Serotonin Syndrome. Many drug users gets this same exact symptom from overdose of exstacy (spelling??)

Also signs of serotonin syndrome are sweating followed by chills and a euphoria drunk like feeling similiar to mania. you may akso notice jerking in your muscles.

It is easy for some on SSRI's and other medications to have a toxic build up and get Serotonin Syndrome which is very serious. This is caused by pathways in the liver being overworked by medications that use the P 450 system.

Also I have found out thru the Mayo Clinic that Lexapro increases the level of xanax ( or valium). So instead of it being .25 of xanax it could be doubled.

Whereas most of the macrolide antibiotics increase the levels of the Lexapro (or SSRI's) in the body due to interactions with the P 450 system. So those of us with lyme and on antibiotics along with the SSRI's are more prone to the serontonin syndrome with medications that are netabolized by the P 450 system/

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond with all that you have on your plate. I will keep you in my prayers for a safe recovery from the gallbladder surgery and the depersonalization.

Curiously, did you feel the depersonalization BEFORE you started the Lexapro and after you stopped the Zoloft??

For my own knowledge I am trying to figure out if it is from withdrawal from the Zoloft or side effect from the Lexapro.