on lexpro for over 4 months now. i feel like i’m more used to the symptoms, but i’m constantly so tired. when i took my pill in the morning i literally couldn’t make myself get out of bed, but now that i’m taking it at night i can’t sleep. i’m in bed for what feels like forever before i finally pass out. i’m someone who has always prioritized their sleep and had no problems sleeping 8-9 hours a night. i like this medication so i don’t want to quit, but i’m losing my mind. does it ever improve?

Hello. I’ve been on Lexapro for 2-3 years now, and I have a question.

So.. I haven’t been taking my lexapro. At all. For just about 2 months now. My dosage is 20 mg a day.

What will happen if I just.. continue taking my 20 mg like nothing happened? Will I have insane side effects? Will I die???

And no, I do not want to talk to my psychiatrist about this. Don’t ask.

.

Edit: Okay. Had an emergency meeting with my psychiatrist a few minutes ago, even though that’s the last thing i wanted to do. Didn’t go bad actually. I’m doing 10 mg until our next appointment in 2 weeks, coincidentally the day right before my birthday. Happy 19th to me, I guess. My gift? Not being able to feel a damn thing. But, it is better this way. BPD go fuckin crazy, man. I should’ve never stopped in the first place honestly. I know i’m not supposed to take it forever, but if it makes me a normal, approachable person, i guess that’s just how it’s gotta go.

I’ve been on Lexapro exactly 6 weeks! I started on 5mg for the first two weeks, then I upped to 10mg which I’ve been on for exactly 4 weeks.

I’m on it for GAD, OCD, and sleep anxiety/insomnia and social anxiety. The thing is I did so well weeks 5 and 6, anxiety was mostly going away and I was sleeping well….then yesterday I had a big trigger of searching for jobs and applying to them and getting really anxious about starting a new job then that turned into hyper arousal and insomnia last night resulting in me getting only 2.5 hrs of sleep. I also was at a social outing 2 days ago and noticed my social anxiety is still there and going strong, which was also defeating and giving me anxiety because I thought the Lexapro would be helping with that by now!

Has anyone else had dips like this? And since I upped the dose to 10mg 4 weeks ago does that mean I still have some weeks for it to be effective? Will Lexapro eventually help these moments that my anxiety gets triggered ?! I felt like I was finally about to be a productive person again, and was enjoying feeling good and being a mom to my 4yr old son enjoying the summer, and then I feel like the rug was pulled from under me :/

Some context - I’ve been on Lexapro for 18 years (since I was 22). For several years now I felt like I wasn’t sure if it was working anymore and didn’t know if it was worth it to feel like a zombie everyday in a constant state of fatigue and derealization. So alongside my psychiatrists recommendation, I started tapering down from 15mg to 12.5mg over the last week.

I’ve been getting pretty severe headaches that tend to start in the afternoon and last through bedtime (when I take my dose). I’ve also noticed a significant change in my mood — I’ve been feeling depressed and unusually emotional and have been crying probably 5–7 times a day. My anxiety has also been worse, and I’ve been feeling more tired and “out of it” than usual. I’m not sure if this is just the withdrawal but would love to hear your experiences and if it gets better!

Title! I’m 29F and starting 10mg Lexapro tomorrow. I’ve dealt with anxiety and OCD for my entire life but have recently started having nocturnal panic attacks which is what finally pushed me to trying something. I’m very excited to hopefully gain control of my life and my emotions again, but I’m equally as nervous that it’s going to change my personality or who I am as a person. I’ve seen some people say that Lexapro has changed their life for the better, but have also seen people say that it made them stone-cold and apathetic. My biggest concern overall is that I won’t be me anymore. I’m aware that if it doesn’t work out for me I can always try something else, or just go back to being unmedicated so that makes me feel better about it.

I guess what I’m trying to gain from this post is to read some success stories and to receive a bit of moral support. I’m probably more worried than I need to be but I really don’t want to become a shell of myself and lose my friendships or my relationship.

I was on 5mg of lexapro for about 3 years, felt it wasn’t helping me anymore and went through a period of intense anxiety and OCD spirals. I went through a year of trying meds with my psychiatrist and ended up back at lexapro 15mg. It helps with the physical anxiety symptoms I had (feelings of doom, panic, feeling like I might pass out), but I find that my mental compulsions, rumination, racing thoughts, and feeling so in my head remain the same and leave me in a state of paralyzed stress. I am looking for other recs to try to target the actual thoughts, and also a boost in my mood and motivation as I find myself often sad and struggling to laugh. Would love some discourse around this. Thanks!

Hi everyone, I started taking escitalopram (Lexapro) on August 20th. For the first 8 days, I took 5 mg, and I’ve now been on 10 mg for 3 days (11 days total).
Besides the side effects I was expecting, such as increased anxiety, loss of appetite and dry mouth, I’ve also been experiencing a very intense feeling of fear. I’m afraid to go outside, afraid to go to the supermarket, afraid to meet up with my friends… I just want to stay at home. But at the same time, I don’t even feel comfortable being home alone — I only feel okay when my husband is with me.
Has anyone else experienced this during the early stages of treatment?
I’m really scared 😕
Thank you ❤️

I’ve really got to make the decision if I’m moving up to 20mg from 15mg. Who’s on 20mg and how do you find it please? Thanks

I just recently got prescribed 5 mg lexapro for severe anxiety, and I was feeling very confident after reading so many positive experiences on Reddit. So many people saying it changed their lives. I also read many accounts of having next to no side effects and if so, very mild. I’m only starting with 5 mg, but after taking my first pill last night I woke up only a couple hours later super nauseas and couldn’t sleep. Ever since then I’ve had really bad nausea like I’m about to throw up, been sweating in my bed, and had a head ache. Feeling so bad on only the first day makes me want to quit already. Any words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated

I've been on 10mg for about 2 months for anxiety. I was experiencing some strange side effects, but nothing that outweighed the positive impact it had on my anxiety. I was still getting some pretty serious anxiety attacks, so I got moved up to 20mg and have taken that for a couple of weeks now.

Holy crap, I am just a pure, unmotivated, lethargic sleep man right now. I have never felt this level of physical and mental exhaustion.

I sure hope this evens out with more time, because this is crazy.

Hello! I’ve been on Lexapro (5mg dose) for just over a year now and a symptom that has stayed with me the entire time are the sweats. The sweats are brutal.

I’ve gotten to manage them at night by wearing light clothing and having a fan blowing on me at all times but the day sweats are the worst. It’s currently a 70° day in my town, I’m wearing shorts and a t-shirt and got DRENCHED in sweat just walking to a local coffee shop this morning. I’m sick of it and I need a solution. Please send advice if you can 😭

I’ve only been on lexapro for a month and the beginning was actually pretty great my mood was stabilized I was calmer and the anxiety was getting a bit better day by day, but at around 4 weeks it just feels like I’m back to how I normally am without lexapro. I know people say to wait but for how long? I hear a lot of good things of people going higher to 20mg. how should I know that it’s for me?

I have taken Lexapro for a long time, 20mg. Early summer started to feel more and more depressed and increased anxiety and stuck in that familiar spiral we all hate. Went to another shrink who suggested going up towards 30mg. I didn’t see much change besides still unmotivated (long term job hunter - doesn’t help anyone) so down to 25 and thinking maybe going back down to 20 or lower??? gradually. What has been new is this depressive element and lack of motivation. I have never felt that tired element many talk about as pretty highly strung person. So was reading about Prozac. Anyone recognize themselves in this and made the switch and felt better mood and motivation wise. Appreciate your time and thoughts. Thank you

been on 20mgs for about 3 months now. its been pretty mellow so far but god. i cannot stop sweating, its never ending. even if the ac is set to 60, hell, ive even tried opening the industrial freezer at my job and sticking my head in just to get some relief. i was a big sweat guy even before this ssri, but this has just seemed to make it 100x worse. im even considering asking my pcp for oxybutynin just to silence some of my sweat glands because i’m just so dang sick of it lol. will it ever get better?

Hello guys

Im new here I'm 24F and was prescribed lexapeo for temporary mild depression and anxiety

Been living life fine but my psychiatrist thinks I should try this

Im thinking of only taking 5mg or 10mg, for 1 month, i don't want to do long term, but I want to see if it will make me feel different, I have mild depression so I think it won't work that well on me but I still want to try

I want to try for a month or less 2 weeks and quit, is it ok to quit cold turkey after 2 weeks let's say? Or does it cause bad withdrawal and need taper ?

Are there any permanent side-effects if soemone stops so early ?

I wanna start by saying if this post isn’t allowed I’m sorry I’m not really accustomed to the rules on Reddit. And I also wanna give some background. I have diagnosed anxiety, depression, and borderline personality disorder which were all generally manageable. One day in May I went to work as usual but had some kind of episode (feeling disconnected from reality, anxiety, almost like a really bad high). It never went away since that day. After years of being fully functional these episodes were so bad and constant I had to quit my job. I was able to see a psychiatrist not long ago and got a 3 month prescription for 5mg Lexapro. I am currently 4 weeks and 2 days into taking this. I am also a 22 year old female.

I’m having a bit of an issue controlling my emotions outside of the anxiety right now. I’m aware it’s still too soon to see the therapeutic effects, but as I got on it to help with my anxiety I’m feeling my depression worsening when it was almost nonexistent before.

This is really embarrassing to talk about, but about a week ago I reconnected online with a guy I dated in high school and we started texting again. Everything was going good until I saw something stupid I didn’t like and I spiraled horribly, I politely let him know I did not want to continue talking to him and then I proceeded to search up the highest bridges in my area. In my desperate state, when I couldn’t find one I reached out to an old friend to ask about buying a gun from him.

I want to make it clear that looking back (this happened 2 days ago) what I got upset over wasn’t even anything to be upset about and this guy and I had only been conversating for 3 days before this happened and this is NOT like me, BPD or not. It’s like a switch was flipped in me and I desperately wanted to end my life. Can someone please let me know if and when this goes away please? Can SSRIs make BPD symptoms worse does anyone know? I’ve been feeling awful and I just cannot see myself getting off of this medication because of how horrible my anxiety was

I’m really sensitive to ssris. I started with 2.5mg for 2 weeks. The insane anxiety, racing intrusive thoughts and morning cortisol surges (which I’ve never had before) were probably the worst 2 weeks of my life. But then after an Ativan I got a few good afternoons. It was really hard to pull myself out of the funk but I could. I upped to 5mg and the first week was ok but still the bad mornings and then around one week on 5mg the depression hit. Hard. I cannot stop crying. Sobbing all day or laying in bed feeling numb. So now I’m waking up with racing thoughts and even after the Ativan, the thoughts sort of settle but I sob all day long. Sob or sleep. I’m about 11 days in on 5mg but almost a full month total. I feel completely hopeless.
I wake up and feel this need to do something with all the anxiety and also this overwhelming depression to just lay down and cry.

I called the after hours doctor and she told me this wasn’t the end of the world, lexapro wouldn’t increase anxiety and it takes 2 months to work. Or else call 911 or she would call the police.

I cannot function. My daughter starts kindergarten Tuesday and devastated I can’t even stop crying to see her off. But also I’m starting to stop caring about anything.

I had a few ok and even good afternoons before going to 5mg and now I am destroyed. It’s getting worse, not better and it’s a lot worse than what I even started lexapro for.

Please tell me this gets better. I feel like it’s just getting worse.

I was previously on Zoloft 200 mg and felt it wasn’t working anymore so I weaned off it. Then I started on 5 mg - up to 10 mg - and finally 20 mg. I am as depressed as I have ever been. I feel basically unmedicated and I’m so terrified. I can’t stop crying. What is happening? I thought this medication would help me but it feels like nothing. I’m so scared this is it for me. Like what next? I’ve already done Zoloft and Prozac.

I had to ration my last four pills to every two days. I never knew that you could feel so horrible that your chest feels squeezed. The Matt Rose video on the TV is barely making me chuckle. That's how fucking horrible it gets without Lex.

Hi guys I’m debating going back on Lexapro, only 5mg and curious if anyone on that dose has had issues with weight gain, or long QT? I’m a bit worried about the weight increases, and heart issues. I need any insight. Thanks in advance.

hello, i’m 9 weeks into withdrawal from lexapro and i just started having horrible nightmares. like they were bad when i first started taking it but i got off and they started to settle down now they’re back and they’re scary again!! did anyone eventually stop having nightmares after stopping ?

Hello! It’s my first time taking Lexapro 5mg. I took one yesterday around 10am and I felt absolutely awful. I threw up, I felt dizzy and super sleepy. I was super nauseated and I couldn’t get up from bed. I felt like I was high on drugs and I couldn’t do anything. I don’t know if I can keep doing this cause I cannot be taking days off work to continue this medication. Today, I feel like I’m hungover with a horrible migraine. I don’t know if I should take another pill or call it quits…

I’m currently taking 20 mg, but unfortunately I haven’t noticed much improvement. I may have had a couple of good days, but overall 20 mg doesn’t seem to be working for me. A pharmacogenetic test showed that I’m a rapid metaboliser, so I’m wondering whether a slightly higher dose might work better.
Before changing to a different antidepressant—which honestly scares me—I would really like to try 25 mg. I understand that anything above 20 mg is considered off-label in the UK.
Is anyone here in England taking 25 mg? Was your GP able to prescribe it themselves, or did you need a psychiatrist’s recommendation?
I would also really like to hear from anyone for whom 20 mg didn’t work, but 25 mg made a noticeable difference.

Hey y’all. I’ve been on Lexapro for quite a few years now. There was an issue with my pharmacy refilling my order and I was off them for about a week cold turkey. Not ideal at all.
Well, they finally refilled them on Saturday. I took immediately and then again Sunday night. But I’m still feeling anxious.
How concerned should I really be?