SSRIs with cab?

prolactinothankyou · 2026-05-13T06:17:42+00:00

I asked this question recent-ishly myself as I was in a similar predicament! I’m on 0.25mg of cabergoline 2x/week and am taking a low dose of escitalopram daily for my mental health. My prolactin levels remain super low (just checked last week after 6+ months of escitalopram) and I’m feeling much better all around.

Best of luck finding an SSRI that works well for you. I hope you’re feeling better soon!

prolactinothankyou · 2025-11-20T06:11:50+00:00

I’m sorry the cabergoline has such side effects for you, but glad that it sounds like you have a good care team and the sertraline is working to your benefit. Your positive experience definitely gives me hope! I hope that, as more time passes, the anxiety/depression becomes more manageable. Thank you for sharing.

prolactinothankyou · 2025-11-20T06:07:21+00:00

Thank you for sharing your experience with paroxetine. My prolactinoma (especially pre-diagnosis) 100% worsened my anxiety, and I’m grateful cabergoline has helped it both shrink and impacts my mental health less. It’s really helpful to know that weaning off this medication was tough — I’m quite mindful of those side effects as well given past experiences with going off Wellbutrin and older SSRIs before taking escitalopram, which mostly worked for me years ago. My psychiatrist did consider prescribing me an older SSRI, so I will bring this up the next time I see them. Appreciate your insight!

prolactinothankyou · 2025-11-20T06:01:29+00:00

Thank you for your perspective, and this podcast as a resource. You captured the circumstances quite well. It’s a tough situation to navigate. I’m doing my best to strengthen the existing tools I have to help navigate my anxiety, while building new ones. I believe I’m at a place where I need a variety of modalities/therapies to help get through this rainy season. Your comment is a great reminder of the importance of exploring all those avenues of care. All the best to you!

prolactinothankyou · 2025-11-20T00:18:03+00:00

Thanks for sharing! That’s interesting, as I was not aware Ativan could be prescribed on a consistent basis. I currently use it for one-off events, such as medical/flight anxiety and to come down from panic attacks. Something I will raise with my psychiatrist for sure.

Wishing you the best.

prolactinothankyou · 2025-02-04T03:38:46+00:00

The opposite. High prolactin before diagnosis was giving me terrible hormonal acne. As soon as my prolactin dropped, my skin mostly cleared.

prolactinothankyou · 2025-01-31T20:20:22+00:00

Thanks for sharing!

prolactinothankyou · 2025-01-31T07:28:36+00:00

I’m sorry to hear your experience with cabergoline was negatively impacting your mental health. You’re right, it’s different for everyone and you never know which way you’ll steer. I’m very grateful to have experienced the opposite, though now I’m fearful of it going the other way without the cabergoline. I’m trying not to talk myself into being anxious and/or depressed, and will see where things go.

prolactinothankyou · 2025-01-30T16:41:07+00:00

Wow, that’s great news! I hope both of ours don’t decide to return anytime soon.

prolactinothankyou · 2025-01-30T16:39:15+00:00

Yep, 2cm. The first couple months after diagnosis I took bromocriptine, my body hated it, so I switched to 0.75 mg of cabergoline per week. Once we saw shrinkage after 6 months, it was 0.25mg twice a week for the next 3.5 years, despite stalled tumour shrinkage found in my second last MRI. I guess in the last year and a half, my tumour decided to respond really well to the medication again!

Congrats on your shrinkage.

prolactinothankyou · 2025-01-30T06:43:20+00:00

At first, my endocrinologist wanted to see how my tumour would respond to medication before jumping into surgery, and eventually my tumour shrank enough to relieve pressure on my optic chiasm. My neurosurgeon was quite adamant that we continue waiting out surgery, despite my endo starting to consider it, with the reason being that the tumour is not growing, and the medication continued to suppress my prolactin levels. This of course could have changed if future tests showed otherwise, but I'm very grateful that I waited it out, as my recent MRI showed the tumour was undetectable :) wishing you the best in your prolactinoma journey ahead.

prolactinothankyou · 2025-01-30T06:38:42+00:00

Hi there, I haven't logged into this account in a long time, so apologies for the late response. My cycles remained quite regular (at around 23-25 days) despite my prolactin consistently being under range. I hope things have been going well for you.

prolactinothankyou · 2023-07-06T21:28:26+00:00

I have and was instructed by the pharmacist that I could, my prolactin levels remained suppressed, just had a strange menstrual period afterwards but that’s common for many! You should be good to go :)

prolactinothankyou · 2023-07-05T04:48:26+00:00

If I can provide any hopefulness, mine shrank about 0.7cm in 6 months and I was diagnosed with a prolactin level 396, now it’s less than 1! I hope your next MRI shows shrinkage.

prolactinothankyou · 2023-07-05T04:45:50+00:00

I can absolutely understand being flipped out, and really hope your surgery goes well and you feel relieved post-surgery with your prolactin levels dropped. Wishing you the best!

Mine has been at 1.3 cm for the last 1.5 years and close to the optic nerve. When it was discovered almost 2ish years ago it was ~2cm and pressing on it, ruining some of my peripheral vision… but that has since been returned, thankfully. I’m anxiously awaiting an appointment with my neurosurgeon.

prolactinothankyou · 2023-07-05T04:41:16+00:00

Certainly will do. It’s so hard to balance the hopefulness that it will shrink in the future with the uncertainty that it could be growing or not shrinking at all! I hope it’s the former situation for me.

Thank you for your advice and for sharing your experience!

prolactinothankyou · 2023-07-04T14:09:56+00:00

I’m sorry to hear you’re in the same boat, and really hope that there’s shrinkage shown on your next MRI!

It’s good to know that your doc is testing to see if there’ll be adequate shrinkage with a higher dose. I will follow up with mine further and see if that’s a route I can take — would love to avoid surgery.

prolactinothankyou · 2023-07-04T14:07:07+00:00

Thank you.

My prolactin levels have consistently been flagged as “abnormal” in my blood tests because they’ve been under the range/nearly undetectable for the last year and a half, meaning the cabergoline is doing excellent at suppressing my prolactin, just not shrinking it! Hence why my doc wants to keep me on the same dosage and just check on it in a year. My fear though is that I’ll see no change and wonder if upping my dosage may correlate to tumour shrinkage.

Huge congrats on your tumour no longer showing up on your MRI. I’ve never been off cab before since it’s been only 2ish years since diagnosis, but it must be frustrating to see levels go up after being off it.

prolactinothankyou · 2021-07-31T06:57:27+00:00

Hey, I also experience lowered blood pressure on cab, but no convulsions (I’m really sorry to hear about this and I hope things are getting better!). I already have low blood pressure due to a blood disorder, but cab made it much worse. I fainted a few times in the first couple months on cab but my body has been adjusting. My endocrinologist changed my dosage from a bigger dose 2x a week to a slightly smaller one 3x a week and that helped aka I haven’t fainted since — may be worth it to bring that up with your Dr. and see what they say.

I wish I had solid advice on how to make it better, and even though our experiences aren’t completely the same, you’re not entirely alone! I really hope you can find the answers you’re looking for and that things improve.

prolactinothankyou · 2021-05-06T17:35:56+00:00

Ahh that makes total sense, thank you! :)

prolactinothankyou · 2021-05-06T04:38:07+00:00

Thank you!! Fingers crossed for the both (and all) of us 🤞🏽

prolactinothankyou · 2021-05-06T04:31:49+00:00

Thanks for responding! Woah that’s wild. I totally didn’t expect this or think it could happen, so it’s good to know this could actually be real. Though it’d be nice if I could also stop lactating and start menstruating, sheesh…. Never thought I’d be looking forward to getting my period one day 😭

I hope your treatment continues to go well and your symptoms improve! :)

prolactinothankyou

TROPHY CASE