Lexapro and Polycystic Ovary syndrome

[Dr Steve]

Love your contribution to 202 and how professionally you can make a prostate exam on a homeless guy sound. I was wondering what you thought of Lexapro. My Dr prescribed it because I have a lot going on between work and studying for my graduate school entrance exam that I just can't seem to concentrate and retain anything at all and the stress gets to me and I can't seem to be able to finish anything that I start. I am concerned about the weight gain and other side effects of Lexapro such as the insomnia at night and the run down feeling I will get at least 3 days out of the week. I am just not sure that it's right type of medication for me, especially the weight gain part, I am overweight right now and I don't want to gain any more weight, on top of the stress I also have polycystic ovary syndrome and since there isn't a cure or treatment for that I don't want to do anything to contribute to weight gain becuase it is very difficult for me to lose weight. Any ideas on the PCOS would be beneficial, I have already seen an endo and nothing helpful came out of that.


thanks for the kind words!

Lexapro is an antidepressant and it's good for anxiety, depression, and OCD. it's a pretty "clean" drug as far as those go. My main question would be...is it actually helping the problem that your doctor started it for? You said " just can't seem to concentrate and retain anything at all and the stress gets to me and I can't seem to be able to finish anything that I start. " ...is that any better? If so, it may be worth continuing with the Lexapro to see if the side effects go away. If not after an adequate trial (2-4 weeks at least), then it's worth a trip back to your doctor to say "this stuff isn't working for me".


Regarding the PCOS, it most certainly is treatable, in the sense that certain medications and dietary adjustments can improve the situation, especially with regard to fertility and male-hormone effects. What did they try you on? Someone very close to me has PCOS and she did great on Metformin (a drug usually used in diabetics).


Let me know if this helps at all.


your friend,



Steve

[Dr Steve]

As far as the PCOS goes the only thing my doctor has done for me is putting me on birth control pills (Seasonale) to eliminate the painful periods which was a problem so now I generally only have a period every three months and after being on this for over a year I may have a one day period if any at all. I would like to try Byetta because a family friend as done this (she is diabetic & has PCOS) and she lost around 50 pounds and the PCOS symptoms have improved for her. My doctor gave me metformin and it didn't really help much, however it was a low dose, he won't give me Byetta because I am not diabetic even though my insurance may not cover it

<snip>

It is just frustrating, I am considering finding a gyno that may be more considerate of the condition because I don't think my family doctor really understands it. I will let you know how that goes, it's nice to know that there are more women that struggle with this than I previously thought, I really wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.



A lot of docs don't know how to treat the disease, so they throw "homeopathic" doses of medicine at it (doses too low to do any damage, but too low to do any good).

Definitely go find a GYN who knows how to treat the disease. I didn't mention that my friend is also on BYETTA and it rocks (for her), though you're right, it is not specifically indicated for use in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome by the FDA.

This is a good point to talk about FDA approval and use of drugs for things they weren't originally approved for. Health Care Providers can write a medication legally for "off label" uses like this, and often do, but you have to be aware that it's not an "approved" indication. Having said that, "approved" just means that the company can MARKET the drug for that indication. There may be tons of reasearch on a specific use for a drug (as there was for Neurontin for nerve pain, which wasn't approved for years for that indication even though we used it all the time) but if the company doesn't submit an application for that particular use, it won't be "approved by the FDA". It costs a ton of $$$ to submit an application for a new indication; if a company already has the drug on the market, it takes a lot to get them to resubmit for a new use that they didn't originally think of. The big problem is that insurance companies will use this as a reason to deny coverage for a drug, so you end up paying full price for it.

Go forth, find a doctor who knows PCOS, and let me know how it goes!

your friend,


Steve