Irritable Bowel Syndrome Medicines

Question by Joe D: Can Lexapro treat anxiety and OCD?
About two years ago, I was put on Lexapro for depression. I was on 10 milligrams. It wasn’t working very well, so I was moved up to 20 milligrams about two months later. Once I was moved up, I felt so great. The medicine really made me feel the happiest I’ve ever been in my whole life. The only problem is that it didn’t help very well with my anxiety or OCD. I was then switched to Zoloft in April of 2007, and was put on 100 milligrams. Zoloft didn’t help very well with anything, so I was raised to 150 milligrams in June of 2008. By that point, the Zoloft finally began to work very well with my anxiety and OCD. Almost all of my fears went away, and I seemed to not be constantly washing my hands, checking the locks on the doors, checking the sinks, or checking the stoves as much. It did not help very much with depression, though. In fact, it made me feel slightly suicidal. I was then moved up to 200 milligrams in October of 2008, to see if it would finally help my depression. It only made me feel controlled and I felt more moody on Zoloft. It also made my IBS worse, as I was constantly have diarrhea, while Lexapro helped my IBS symptoms. I gained nearly sixty pounds while taking it for the past two years. I finally stopped taking the medicine in February of 2009, when I finally told my psychiatrist that I was sick of the side effects, as I felt that it wasn’t helping me as much. When I was on Zoloft, I constantly complained to my psychiatrist and asked him if I could be switched back to Lexapro, because it made me feel so much better, unlike Zoloft. He said that he would rather me take Zoloft because it helped with my anxiety and OCD. After constantly looking on Lexapro’s site and reading message boards about Lexapro, I have read that Lexapro does indeed help with anxiety and OCD in higher doses. My question is, why didn’t my psychiatrist just raise my dose instead of switching me to Zoloft if Lexapro worked so much better for me? Thank you so much for reading all of this. By the way, I am not currently on medication. I am wondering this because my depression and anxiety has came back.

Best answer:

Answer by Paul A
It sounds like the Lexapro helped with the depression and anxiety, and not the OCD, and the Zoloft is helping the OCD and not the anxiety as much, if I read it right.

I wonder if you could take both Lexapro and Zoloft, in lower doses of each. Maybe between the two, you’d take care of the depression, anxiety and the OCD.

What do you think? Answer below!