# Levsin, what (side effects) should I expect from taking it?



## Cherrie (Sep 1, 2006)

Hi ~ I apologize if this question has been asked before... I'm too tired today to do a search and read all that come up to see which one applies to me... so, please forgive me and bear with me... I just saw my dr. today and he prescribed levsin. He said it would help control my pain. The pharmacist said that it will make me dizzy so I should avoid driving or opperate heavy machinary. I read somewhere that it will make people constipated, but my dr. said that it won't.And someone else said that it will make the heart race very fast...Anyways, I've been getting conflicting and scary info (which is why I've been so resistant to any prescription drug up until this point where I don't feel I can cope without anymore), and the more I hear about it the more confused I am... So, please help... What effects and side effects should I expect from taking it? Does it generally work well with people?







Thanks a whole bunch!Cherrie


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## Cherrie (Sep 1, 2006)

LOL... I thought I got an answer... it's from google







...Hehe, not a very good hour to ask Qs on my part... anyways, I've taken it already and I'll see how I react to it shortly... Just hope it'll do something to my pain so i can sleep 7-8 hours straight.


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## Screamer (Aug 16, 2005)

He he, I just googled it for you! Anyway, good luck! And don't listen to the scary stories! I heard and read SO much terrifying stuff about Effexor XR side effects (eek! Try googling that one! Horrific!) and all I've had is a tiny headache and a bit of nausea when I started and some extra gas (okay, well that sucks but you know, it could be a whole lot worse, it has a pretty hefty list of scary side effects). I've had some anti deps that have made my heart race. It's uncomfortable but not really scary and it does wear off. It sort of just feels like you've had too much coffee.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Most people tolerate it pretty well. It works pretty well for me.The biggest side effect most people here report is dry mouth. The main "danger" of this class of drugs is not only does it slow down the saliva, but it slows down your sweat. So you need to be a bit more careful in the heat (putting a wet bandanna on your neck will take care of the sweat issue and is something I did in the heat long before I had IBS because I've been in a lot of heat that was dangerous to healthy people who weren't on any medications).They can cause mild increases in heart rate or blood pressure, so if you have tachycardia or blood pressure problems already you want to monitor that to see if bothers you or not.I haven't seen a lot of reports of dizzy although a few people feel a bit drugged out on it. It never interfered with anything I had to do, but you might want to try taking it when you are not about to do something where you could kill yourself on a good day until you know how it effects you. Often those types of side effects can fade as you get used to the medication.K.


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## Cherrie (Sep 1, 2006)

Amy ~ LOL... I was referring to the "reply" from "Mr. Google Bot" right under my first post







... Thanks for the reassurrance! I was also prescribed an anti-depressant (lexapro), haven't taken it yet cos it's supposed to be taken in the morning -- and oh boy that one sounds scarier Kathleen ~ Thank you for the info! I do feel my mouth is very dry, which makes me drink a lot more water. Thankfully I don't have high/low blood pressure. It did happen to me before though some years ago I had hives and the Zyrtec the dr. gave me made my heart race REALLY fast (very uncomfortable!), which was why I was kind of scared by that side effect. Luckily last night this didn't happen. ... I do feel very drugged up... but the stupid thing is that I just couldn't fall asleep until 4 a.m. and then I woke up again at 7 (it's like I'm sleepy but also wide awake, and I can't think very clearly -- duh, who can with that little sleep) and to be honest at least for last night it didn't do that much to my pain -- I'm wondering, is all this normal? Will the sleeplessness go away and the pain improve as I get more used to it?And speaking of insomnia, I went to the dr. also for a solution to that, but it seems that both this and the Lexapro he gave me has "may cause insomnia" written as a known side effect. I mean, huh???







Or maybe he thinks that if I take care of my pain and anxiety, my sleep will just come back? But now that's tricky -- I've been feeling really depressed lately because I haven't had a decent night's sleep for a long time And oh, yeah, how come the antidepressant label also says something about "may cause depression and suicidal thinking" -- I mean, that doesn't seem like what I need, I'm already feeling depressed... I may not be thinking straight for lack of sleep, but I'm pretty sure that I don't need to feel more depressed and definitely don't want to be suicidal














... Should I be worried about this?Thanks a million...


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

A small percentage of people can have what you might call a "paradoxical" reaction to medications.So they for some reason get more of what the drug should prevent. You see this with tranquilizers. A very few people (like one in 10 thousand or so) react like you gave them speed rather than a calming medication. One of my Dad's friends was like that. They gave him something to space him out for an endoscopy and came back to check on him and he was bouncing off the walls. Needless to say they had to let that wear off and try something else.A few people on antidepressants either get more depressed or get suicidal on the meds. It is rare, but you want to be on the look out for that when you start them and get back with the doctor about something like that immediately. I don't think at this point we know why some people respond in the opposite intent of the drug. It may be something we will figure out with some of the research into why people respond to/metabolize drugs differently.


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## Cherrie (Sep 1, 2006)

Thanks, Kathleen! Oh, gosh, it doesn't feel good to belong to the small percentage of people







... i wonder why i have to be so odd all the time, i just want to be with the majority at least once (sorry about the venting!) ... And given this, I think you're absolutely right about the on the look out about the antidepressant, since how I realize i do seem to tend to react to meds in strange ways... I'll see how they both work and will call my dr. if need to... Thank you SOOO much!


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Yep, no one likes to be the odd ball,







It would be lovely if drugs worked the same way in all people. Too bad reality just doesn't work that way







K.


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## Screamer (Aug 16, 2005)

Oh! Now I feel dumb!!! He he. Yes, I'm one of those one in a million people too. Aropax (paxil) actually made my body think it had given birth and I started to lactate, my GP took me off that one quick smart. Even with the Effexor the gurgling and gas I have is listed as one of the most rare side effects with it and yet it's the only one I get! Very frustrating. I just came off Lexapro. I have to say that other than the Effexor it's one of the top one's I've taken in terms of side effects. Initially it gave me terrible insomnia but that wore off after a couple of weeks and I slept a bit better. Mostly I went off it cause when I took enough to stop my anxiety and depression I got such bad leg cramps my GP was worried I might be getting clots or something (and the insomnia came back). But everyone is different and had the Effexor not worked I would've gone back on the Lexapro without a 2nd thought, give it a go. It might just be the answer you're looking for! The Effexor has like the biggest list of scary side effects as I said and yet it's the one I get the least side effects on! You might be the same with the Lexapro


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## Cherrie (Sep 1, 2006)

Thank you both, Kathleen and Amy!LOL, Amy... Sorry, I don't mean to laugh at your discomfort -- it was just the way you described it, I found very humorous -- forgive me!I totally hear you -- there's a list of meds that I react strangely to, too (they're not ibs/depression related, 'cause that was before). One of the meds when I was diagnosed with appendicitis (but the dr wanted to try meds instead of surgery first) gave me very very strange physical reactions that I felt like "I" (or my ghost, or whatever that is) is shaking out of my own body -- I mean, I was actually shaking and looking down at myself (not sure if the looking down at myself part is halucination, though







).Anyways... I just took half of a 10mg pill for the first time as instructed by my dr -- he was afraid that one whole pill was going to upset my stomach, so we're trying this first. I'll keep updated about how it works... ugh, insomnia... that's what got me down this road in the first place... And last night I finally tired myself out and got some sleep (not very high quality, but hey it's better than hopelessly staring at the ceiling) -- actually, if I do get the sleep I need, things really don't feel half as bad... So I really do hope lexapro won't further do that to me... We'll see...







Thank you both for sharing your knowledge and experience -- made me feel a lot better than if I had no one to talk to about it.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Yep, lack of sleep is a physical stress, and it can be just as problem causing as mental or emotional stress (and it can also be mentally or emotionally stressful on top of it depending on the situation).A few things that I learned when I had a breathing sleep problem to try to get better sleep that are drug free (so hopefully won't cause problems) You may be doing some of these already.Make sure the bedroom is dark enough, cool enough, and quiet enough for you to sleep well.Don't do other activities in bed. If you decide to read or do something quiet for awhile to wait until you are sleepy get out of bed. Sometimes if you lie there too long you might as well get up and do something. Basically it is conditioning the body that bed means sleep, not reading or writing out the bills or any other work. (sex is OK in the bed, but ban the other stuff).Try to get up at about the same time no matter what time you really did go to sleep. It can be tempting to sleep late since you finally got to sleep but that gets your clock out of whack for the next day.A warm bath or shower shortly before bed can help. One of the normal things that happens around the time you go to bed is the body temperature drops a bit. Sometimes causing the drop artificially by getting all warm in the shower and then cooling down can be as good as if your body did it on its own.Hope you get some sleep soon.K.


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## Cherrie (Sep 1, 2006)

Thank you, Kathleen!And thanks for reminding me of these! I think I fell out of the wagon since we were finalizing our house a month or so ago -- I followed all of these when last time I had sleep issues and even bought Mike's insomnia CD... It just seems that this time's "falling out" messed me up more than I expected and the usual things that I do to get back on track don't work anymore... I'll begin to follow these good ideas starting tonight and see how they work together with medication...And speaking of medication, I started taking Lexapro this morning and haven't felt like _me _ever since... Especially late this morning (I took it early in the morning), everything I saw was a little bigger and sharper than usual and slightly distorted. And then I found myself raising my voice to poor hubby who didn't have a clue why I was upset. And when he ignored my odd behavior and asked me what we want to cook for lunch, I broke into tears... Then I got a little lightheaded and nauseated and still irritable after lunch (I had no appetite whatsoever, but just thought I should eat) and oh the lexapro and levsin together do make my pain better but now my D's worse... I feel kind of better this aft. in that my head feels a little cleared up, but every time I try to speak or do something like folding the laundry, it feels so weird and I get REALLY tired very quickly. And I just somehow feel like I can't FEEL anything... ... I mean I could easily let my feelings show, but all those above? That's NOT me -- NOTHING above is me!! Are all these normal? I mean, I don't have suicidal thoughts or anything, so I'm not sure if these are just something that'll go away as I get more used to the meds, or some of the above means I should call my dr. (I really don't want to call him if it's not necessary)? Any thoughts are very very much appreciated!


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## Guest (Jun 3, 2007)

Oh bless - to be honest Cherrie - I'm not sure - but I think it is fair to say that starting any anti-depressant can be a daunting process and yes, I think you can get some strange side-effects - I was chronically dizzy and had wierd tingling sensations in my limbs when I started taking prozac. When I started taking the meds I'm on now - Mitrazapene - I could hardly keep my eyes open and apparently spoke in a strange, slurred voice - like I was drunk or something - these side effects obviously lessened with time.I think the best advice I can offer is - keep the faith but obviously be aware of any strange side-effects - maybes give them a week or so and then run them by the GP. I hope you have a decent, sympathetic doctor who you see weekly (at least).I wish you well - its not easy - and I'm sorry you are having a rough time.Sue xxxxx


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## Screamer (Aug 16, 2005)

Yep, give it a week or two. I drove Kahlea to school one morning on day 2 and on the way home I started driving on the wrong side of the road, I honestly couldn't remember which side I should have been driving on







I also got tired in the afternoon at first, so bad I could hardly hold my head up and everything kinda seemed like I was in a dream or something. Those do wear off though!


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## Cherrie (Sep 1, 2006)

Thank you, Sue and Amy!I'll give it a week and see how it goes... It's just that some of these side-effects were not in the drug description -- what an odd person I am, LOL... But then like you both said, everyone's reaction to meds is different...LOL... the Lexapro definitely is giving me insomnia tonight, as I'm still wide awake, not sleepy in the least! So I thought, well, h**k, I'll be on the BB... Thanks again


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