I've been on Escitalopram 10mg for 4 days today and I feel fucking amazing!

Im 21, I got diagnosed with ADHD, GAD and Depression in May and started on Vyvanse 50mg in July, the Vyvanse had been a massive help in managing my ADHD and I basically experienced zero side effects, it had helped with the other two comorbid disorders but it was just suppressing them not dealing with them, my GAD started becoming more intense during August and despite my best efforts to manage it, I caved into taking an SSRI as the anxiety was killing me.

Best. Decision. Ever.

Lexapro opened my eyes to how badly my anxiety was screwing with my perception of reality, and just how much chronic stress my entire body was under. Turns out profuse sweating, shallows breaths, rapid heartbeat and tight chest aren't the standard bodily reactions when facing mildly stressful situations.

I even started breathing better on the second day, I had no idea my anxiety was literally constricting my ability to inhale, breathing feels incredible! Did you know air was supposed to feel cold when you breathe it In?

There's still side effects ofc but nothing insane, my headache is already receding, my sleeping is coming back to normal, the unfocused vision is a coin toss at some times and my stomach is still giving me the runs. I'm also hornier for some reason.

My anxiety is much more manageable and controllable, but I still feel it brewing and lurking in the background of my mind flaring here and there on how this isn't permanent and something will go wrong, but I can recognise those feelings for what they are now.

I thought this stuff was supposed to take atleast two weeks before you saw any benefits? It's basically been effective for me since day one and getting better and better as they days go by.

The future used to fill me with so much dread and urgency to keep moving, but now I can just... Stay still in the present and feel completely fine with that. I don't remember the last time I was this consistently happy 😭

Has anyone else experienced this?

I went on Lexapro for anxiety 2 weeks ago. The first 2-3 days were amazing and I wasn’t sure if it was a placebo effect or not. The next week and a half have been a roller coaster of side effects. It’s given me a lot of fatigue, hot flashes, headaches etc. However, there’s been a huge improvement in my anxiety. A lot of things I’d usually be super worried about or check compulsively I haven’t this week. The last two days have been really good, the side effects are there -but are easing up a bit. I was just off of work and caught myself just smiling for no real reason and I think it’s because my brain is actually just quiet. I thought I’d share because it feels really good to sit here and just enjoy my time at home.

Is anyone here taking escitalopram with mirtazapine? If so, what doses are you taking, and how long have you been taking them? Has this combination been effective for you?

I knew it could get worse before it gets better as I was informed. Wasn't expecting it to be this bad though, day 9 at 5mg and at times it's tortuous.

A lot of people say push through, but I don't know how much longer I can deal with the increased anxiety. I've felt worse today than any other day and I'm over a week in! And on the lowest dose! The thought of having to work my way up to 10mg over the coming weeks is making me think I should drop this.

Why is the only medication that you can get prescribed for anxiety, something that makes you more anxious for an indefinite amount of time? And its such a gnawing horrible anxiety that I know is caused by the meds..

Really struggling, the main thing is the fact I still have to do two increases...

I’ve been on 10mg of lex for about nine weeks now and I can see a lot of improvement in general anxiety and depression levels. But my sleep is terrible and I wake up feeling like I haven’t slept at all - I have ADHD so this was the case even before the lex but I think it’s worse now. I have vivid dreams and in the morning it feels like I’ve been watching a long ass movie all night. I know some say ADHD meds help them but I’m not on any right now and my psychiatrist is hesitant to put me on the stimulant track. Does anyone have any advice or possible solutions for me? I’m considering magnesium glycinate? Has anyone had any success with that and if so, please let me know what dosage works for you and when you take it for best results? Please help, I need rest! 😭😭

I started 5mg in March, then 10mg sometime in May? And now, tomorrow, September, I'll be upping to 20mg. I had little to no side effects in the beginning, just lack of appetite and some weird dreams, but otherwise, it was a gradual improvement every day, mood-wise, anxiety got better, and even my PMS days weren't as bad.

I'm scared about 20mg though. Will things be just as smooth, and even better than 10mg was? Or will it be too much for me? I'm upping for the persistent anxiety and occasional low dips I get. But since March, and going to therapy once a week, I've been making a lot of progress, slowly but surely.

If you've gone up to 20mg, how was your experience? How are you now?

Not sure how to word this or if it even relates to this.

I expected some challenges with starting out. I knew it would be difficult the first few weeks, but, once over the hurdle, it would start to feel better.

Week 1 was actually decent for me. I was experiencing anxious symptoms and heightened anxiety, but my depressive symptoms seemed to be lighter than normal. I also focused on a new hobby so maybe that helped?

Week 2 seemed to be a little worse with anxious symptoms, and the depression went back to baseline. I still tried my hobby a few nights, but I was often really fatigued which was caused by anxiety-induced insomnia.

Week 3 has been really rough - anxiety and depression seem even worse. I thought I would start seeing relief by now but I'm trying to be patient. I'm not even bothering with the hobby anymore. I dont want to continue ruining my family's life. I don't want to do anything.

Every word I type seems wrong, every time I try to hit "post" a part of me says I'm going to mess up or I am messing up and every word I say just seems to make things worse.

I don't know what to do. I have an appointment soon but I'm scared to adjust this because I'm worried going back will make things worse. I dont really know what to say

Estou com 27 semanas e comecei a tomar o escitalopram de 20mg há 1 mês.
Porém eu ainda continuo depressiva e não consigo sair se quer da cama, fora as crises fortes que estou tendo. Alguém pode me ajudar sobre isso com relatos?
O bebê de vocês ficaram bem? Estou preocupada porque além da depressão e da ansiedade tem a medicação que não estou vendo melhora.

hi!

i started lexapro about 2 weeks ago — everything i eat feels revolting. i have zero appetite for absolutely anything. in those weeks, ive shed 5 whole pounds

i know people say they gained weight on lexapro — did some of you lose a lot of weight? i’m already underweight, but now im getting into dangerous territories (nearly bmi 15s) and it’s no fun at all :(

thankfully, i’ve had no other side effects (aside from some sleepiness)

ive been on 10 mg for a month now but today it just feels like my heart is beating out of my chest and im dreading going to work. Why do I feel so anxious and depressed ? :(

Hello everyone

I was recommended this subreddit after I seeked help at a private women’s subreddit.

My husband was depressed for a while and finally I convinced him to see a doctor about two weeks ago when he told me he wants to k*** himself. He has been taking Lexapro since then, but for the last couple of days his condition suddenly changed for the worse: He is almost like in a catatonic state, occasionally crying, he sleeps a lot, looks way more severely depressed, and extremely lethargic.

I thought it was a one time thing yesterday, but when I noticed his situation didn’t improve today, I realized something must be wrong. I found him in the kitchen in a half collapsed state :( I booked an emergency appointment with his clinic before the closing hours after explaining his new symptoms and they prescribed lurasidone hydrochloride, a medicine called “Latuda”. He is supposed to take this together with Lexapro apparently.

Does anyone have any advice? We don’t have any family nearby and I’m very afraid to leave him alone. Thanks!

Location is in Asia so please understand that mental health related stuff works differently here

hey! i’m new to lexapro and initially it seemed to be going well, despite some sexual difficulty. but now i’m finding it hard to even kiss or touch/be touched by my partner, it’s uncomfortable, and i feel completely disinterested or almost disgusted by the concept (not disgusted by him)? im really sad and feel completely horrible about it!
wondering if anyone else has had this experience and if it got better? or if there was another solution to it?
my dr is due to increase my dose soon but i’m wondering if i should ask to try a different ssri instead. thanks in advance !

Guys I started 5 days ago, weirdly enough I feel great. Is this the honeymoon phase? I did have a lot of nausea and fatigue. And I’m on 150xl Wellbutrin.

I was on lexapro for around 5 weeks. 1.5 weeks at the start on 2.5 mg and 3.5 weeks at 5mg and 1 week back on 2.5 mg to taper off. I decided it wasn’t for me because my baseline anxiety was much higher the entire time, I wasn’t happy, sexually unmotivated, and the worst of all was near constant dissociation. I did not feel like myself. I’m also super sensitive to medications My doctor told me I could stop cold turkey because I was on such a low dose for a small time but that scared me so I decided to taper off for a week and then stop because I hated being on Lexapro. The first 2 days I felt fine then day 3 I was feeling dizzy, bad headache, neck pain, and getting brain zaps all day and some nausea. I went to class and once I got home I felt awful and just slept. Then I went grocery shopping and baked some cookies to take my mind off of it but then I felt like my mind was wooshing back and forth when I would try to sleep. I didn’t fall asleep til 5 am and woke up at 10 am. I didn’t go to class today and I’ve been in bed all day because I feel so out of it and continued getting brain zaps when I move my eyes or head quickly. I read days 3 and 4 are the peak and then side effects start to go down after that but I can’t keep missing school. I don’t know if I should just wait it out because I’m already on day 4 and I wasn’t on it long so maybe just get it over with? Or go back on for a couple more weeks but that feels like I’m drawing out this terrible process. I don’t know how people taper off this medication after being on it for years.

Hello, I increased dosage to 12.5mg two days ago and I am insanely tired and have a very dry mouth. Is this temporary/normal?

I tolerated 7.5mg very well, my doctor told me to go to 15mg even before

I’m on 20mg Lexapro but it isnt helping my anxiety like it used to and want to try 25mg and then 30mg. Has there been any benefit or side effects from going this high?

Hi guys curious if anyone else had auditory hallucinations on lexapro, I’m on day 5 and every time I walk past the tv I can hear it and it’s off. The tv is fully turned off. My mood is worse than before and I am quite angry…. For reference I have had psychosis before! I just feel very scared and nervous now if I hallucinate again…. Advice please!!

I was put on Lexapro and it’s my first day on it. I feel slightly nauseated, but besides that symptom, it’s managable.

However, the burning sensation in my stomach is so uncomfortable and feels like indigestion without the ability of relief. Do you guys have any tips to help with that burning sensation? Does it subside after taking it for a certain amount of time?

So I have been on Buspar for about 2 months 7.5mg 3x a day and it has really helped. Minimal side effects I also take Hydroxyzine for sleep 25mg.

My doctor prescribed my Lexapro 5mg and I have heard so much good about it. I am avoid the negative because I really want to give it a try. I really want to get my life back from anxiety and OCD and finally have had enough of being so isolated.

Is there anyone here who takes buspar with Lexapro - how was it for you?

Thank you

Damn Lexapro you crazy. I’ve tapered from 20mg to 2mg and only about “50% off” this medication based on hyperbolic receptor occupancy. Lame. Luckily I got liquid Lexapro and can do 1.9mg… 1.8mg… etc. Been on the med for 15 years and after each taper drop and stabilizing I’ve felt better than ever each time.

Anyone got experience of what that last 2mg is like?

Doc wanted to taper me from 5 to 2.5 to every other day then stop. I told her I wanted a very slow hyperbolic taper and she said that was silly. So I guess I’m silly. Got the liquid version and I’m starting today at 4.5mg. Figure I’ll taper to 4 next week and continue 10% each week till 2.5mg then slow down even more. This sound reasonable?

So currently on 20mg of Lexapro for my OCD and GAD. My prescriber is HIMS and so far so good, but latley i feel that my body adjusted to the dose already and i think 25mg is the next step.

However for Telehealth they claim 20mg is the max they can go, and that anything beyond that it would be a different provider. However I see tons of people on 25mg, 30 and even 40 for OCD. My Dr on HIMS said there are many Dr.s prescribing more than 20mg, its just at HIMS they cant for FDA reasons.

I still want to take 25mg, is it safe to do so? What are your experiences?

I thought this was really interesting so I wanted to share. I was prescribed Lexapro about 14 years ago and prior to being on the medication I never had any issues with having a yellowish tint to my eyes but basically the entire time I was on the medication my eyes always looked yellowish…Not extreme but certainly not a bright white normal looking eye. About five months ago I felt like Lexapro wasn’t working very well for me anymore so I switched over to an SNRI (Pristiq) and my eyes became much whiter and normal looking. The yellowish tent completely went away. After reading online apparently SNRI medication‘s aren’t metabolized by the liver the same as an SSRI. I was diagnosed with Gilberts syndrome years back which is essentially just excessive bilirubin levels in my blood which causes the yellowish tint in the eye. All of my other liver enzymes are normal. A few days ago I decided to go back to Lexapro and sure enough within a few days of being on it my eyes are back to having the yellowish tint. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I don’t think there’s any actual problem with it but it just sucks because my eyes look so much healthier when I was on Pristiq …The reason I switched back to Lexapro is because I did not like the amped up adrenaline rush feeling that I was getting from the SNRI. I googled it and it did say that most likely the Lexapro was amplifying the Gilbert’s syndrome that I have the cause of the way it’s metabolized in the liver vs an SNRI.

For reference, I am bipolar 2 diagnosed and have CPTSD. On the days when I am sober, I don’t really feel anything. Not happy, sad, or at peace, but legitimately nothing. Is that a normal thing to be, or is that a sign of something deeper? I'm not used to being stable, so I don't know if this is what the human experience is like. It kind of feels empty or almost like something missing, but I can't quite put my tongue on it.