ladyamalthea

I have been on Lexapro for a few days now (since Tuesday), and I have also been on a couple of other things that I am not used to taking. The other meds are mostly for physical reasons... metformin for my blood sugar and insulin levels b/c I'm prediabetic and bisopropol (sp?) for my blood pressure. I've been supposed to take the Lexapro and the metformin for a long time now, and I've been dropping the ball on it, I don't know why, I just couldn't make myself take them.

So now, I'm fully medicated, and I'm having terrible headaches. They are a sharp, stabbing kind of pain in the front of my head, and they tend to last for about 30 minutes to an hour at a time, but come back several times throughout the day.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

shutterbug

i get stress headaches like that a lot.
Know any stress-relief techniques like deep breathing, meditation or muscle relaxation you could do?

ladyamalthea

Hmm... no, never thought of it just being stress headaches. That's entirely possible, if not likely... glad you pointed it out.

What kind of stress-relief techniques do you use when that happens? Thanks so much!

shutterbug

There are a lot of deep-breathing excersizes that are simple to do. Basically, taking in deep breaths gets more oxygen into your blood stream and the oxygen helps.....well everything just about. LOL

For a while i was having panic attacks and lots of anxiety...during a panic attack i would always start doing deep breathing and it would help pull me out of it.

Now...anytime i get stressed...i remember to take a few deep, calming breaths.

I also am about to start back on my nightly ritual of progressive muscle relaxation. I came across a wonderful CD while in day treatment a few years ago and it starts out with a short, guided progression of relaxing all your muscles throughout your body...by that time you feel so relaxed and calm...and then it has a 5-10 minute guided mind relaxation. It's wonderful, but took me about a week or two of doing it every night to get use to it and to realize how much it was helping me. It just made my whole life easier to handle (I did that every night for a year and only stopped because my CD player quit working and i couldn't afford another onefor a while....and never got back to it till now).

historyteach

There are many types of stress relief and Jenna has certainly named some good ones with the deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation.

If you are of a spiritual nature, here's another, provided by the Mayo Clinic:
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...onnection.html

And I just found this on music therapy. It looks interesting!
http://www.revolutionhealth.com/cond.../music-therapy

Meditation is a long known help for stress:
http://www.revolutionhealth.com/cond...itation-stress

As is relaxation techniques:
http://www.revolutionhealth.com/cond...ion-techniques

And finally, getting a grip on our sources of stress can help reduce it, simply by understanding it. Take a look here:
http://www.revolutionhealth.com/cond...sources-stress

I hope these help and don't overwhelm you. I got carried away!
But, there is much good information there and I know I will go back and review it.

Shalom!

ladyamalthea

Thanks so much guys! I will try some of these the next time I get a headache.

cinderellawkids

They do sound like stress headaches. A few more weeks on the lexapro and they should get better as Lexapro also treats headaches and migraines

maintainin

Headaches are one of the side effects in a long list of side effects you may get when starting an SSRI like lexapro. If they started occuring about the same time you started taking the lexapro then its probably safe to say thats what causing it. They should subside as your body gets adjusted to the AD.

shutterbug

(((Teach))) Even tho i haven't done the progressive muscle relaxation CD at night for more than a year...something i have done is put on the same music each night.

Repeated bedtime exposure to the same soothing music kicks on sleep hormones and helps with insomnia. I use to have really hard time going to sleep. not now...unless my CD player brakes.

There are studies showing it conditions the mind and body to sleep at the sound of the music. It works in the same way as the Pavlow's dog thing. The dog was conditioned over time to come running at the sound of a bell (as Pavlow had conditioned the dog by giving him food everytime he rang the bell). Even long after he stopped giving the dog food....the dog continued to come running at the sound of the bell.

doesn't matter what kind of music...as long as it is comforting to the person listening to it.

these days i don't even make it through a single song before i'm out cold!!! A stark difference from before i started the music routine at bedtime.

Thanks for the links!