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Escitalopram Research Paper

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Escitalopram Lexapro is a widely prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor that is used in the treatment of depression and anxiety. Lexapro is also known by its generic name of escitalopram or s-citalopram. History Escitalopram is an enantiomer of a drug called citalopram. Citalopram was discovered in 1977 and is a highly powerful and selective serotonin inhibitor. Citalopram has a chiral center due to its central atom being surrounded by two non matching arrangements of atoms. These surrounding atoms are called enantiomers and are classified as either r-enantiomers or s-enantiomers (Schatzberg & Nemeroff, 2013). It was discovered that many of the positive properties about the drug lie in the s-enantiomer, which is 30 times more potent than the r-enantiomer (Braestrup & Sanchez, 2004). Scientists removed the r-enantiomer, and s-citalopram or escitalopram was created. Some studies have shown that escitalopram may be more effective than citalopram due to the inhibitory effects of histamine of the r-enantiomer (Cipriani, et al., 2012). Escitalopram was discovered in 1997 and submitted to the Food and Drug Administration for approval in the United States of America in 2001. It was approved for the treatment of major depressive disorder in 2002 and for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder in …show more content…

The reported side effects include nausea, vomiting, increased sweating, dry mouth, headache, insomnia, and ejaculatory disorder (Schatzberg & Nemeroff, 2013). The authors report that it may also cause hyponatremia in elderly patients or discontinuation syndrome if usage is stopped abruptly. Discontinuation syndrome can present as dizziness, lethargy, nausea, vomiting, or flu like symptoms which can be prevented by titrating down under the supervision of a professional (Schatzberg & Nemeroff,

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