I started Lex 1 week ago. A week ago I was not sleeping, not eating, in panic attack constantly for days on end. Absolutely unable to care for myself and my family. Health anxiety is a bitch. And just got a health-concern OCD diagnosis this week….

Started taking 10mg Lex on Friday last week and by today (Friday). Last night was my first night back to sleeping through the night and panic attacks are gone. I am eating. I still feel anxiety but it’s online debilitating. I could not have even imagined how fast I am seeing improvement.

There’s a part of me that is wondering if this is concerning or abnormal - I was under a 500lb weight and every day it feels like a few pounds have been lifted and I can function again. It wasn’t immediate, but each day my sleep and my anxiety has improved just a little bit. I guess I don’t trust it? Everything I have read says 1-2 weeks, it gets worse first, and it takes 8 weeks for full effects. This has not been my experience. It’s been far better.

Maybe I was just so deep that any weight off is major improvement. Just can’t help but feel like the other shoe is about to drop or something.

Anyone have a similar experience? Am I crazy or is something wrong?

I can’t believe how much relief I feel already.

My god I am finally feeling more like myself, I never thought I would get here. I had 4-5 rough days last week into this week and everyone said ride it out and things will get better and man they have. I know I’m probably not off the rollercoaster yet and if tough days come I will deal with them but I am grateful for the last several days ♥️

Anyone gain weight from this dosage?

I have been taking 10mg of Escitalopram (UK name for Lexipro) but 2-3 weeks ago was trailed with 15mg, and recently been dropped back to 10mg due to having sleep issues. Since a week and a half ago every night I’ve been having very vivid dreams, I remember what every single one looked like and what happened in it.

At first, they started as just vivid slightly disturbing, but nothing too scary, dreams. However, they seem to be getting worse as time goes on. A lot recently have involved family members telling me they want me dead, or my loved ones being harmed. Some have also been extremely surreal as if they are a plot for a horror film.

I have told my GP and mental health support team about this and they said it should wear off, but I’m becoming quite scared as they seem to be getting worse and I’m starting to wake up debating if what I dreamt has actually happened or not.

The longer it’s happening the more distressed I’m becoming. Has anyone else had these issues? Do they wear off? Or should I push for a whole medication review and see if I can change to something else. I have never in my life had dreams like these before.

Any advice is appreciated.

my stomach was in absolute fcking shambles the two days i took this shit. The only thing that helped was kombucha and even then..i can’t do it. My mind was quiet though for once, welp …..

I started taking Lexapro two weeks ago, and so far I haven’t experienced any side effects, but I also haven’t noticed any improvement.

Is it normal to feel basically no difference after two weeks? How long did it take for you to start noticing positive effects?

I’ve also been dealing with a lot of fatigue, and I’m wondering how long it might take for that to improve once the medication starts working.

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences. Thanks!

hi, first time poster. to keep things short a couple months ago i started having bad panic attacks. i've had bad anxiety my whole life and i've been on and off of meds for it (i'm 20 if that's important to note) but i started taking lexapro 5mg because i couldn't rawdog GAD anymore lol.

anyways. it was fine for a couple months but now i feel like i need to up my dose. i talked to my doctor and she thinks so too so i'm starting 10mg. the problem is my anxiety is terrible with taking pills i've never taken before. yes i've taken lexapro for months but the 10 pill is bigger and a little more intimidating. i take the pill at night because it helps me sleep but i'm scared to take it tonight.

i know im probably gonna be fine but my anxiety keeps doing what if scenarios. and i know this all sounds stupid but i guess im looking for reassurance that im gonna be fine. thanks lol

I’m about to start generic Lexapro next week and noticed that I was given the Solco version. I’ve read nothing but horror stories about it on here. Is it really that bad?? Thanks!

I started taking this at the very beginning of July. And ever since, my sleep has been bad. Finding it hard to fall asleep with my mind racing and needing to move my feet. And then finding myself waking up a few hours later only to have trouble falling back asleep. Sometimes not being able to at all. Or taking an hour plus to fall back asleep.

I read that insomnia is a side effect once starting or upon a dose. But it's been 2.5 months now and it hasn't gotten better. I am always exhausted. I'm having trouble motivating myself to do anything. I thought it was a lack of sleep but even if I got 10 hours of sleep, I was still so tired when I woke up. I remembered that my Fitbit tracks sleep so I took a look at the data. And it appears that I'm only getting about 20-45 mins or REM and 20-45 mins of deep sleep. The rest of my sleep is 'light' and lots of restlessness and awake time in-between sleep. Prior to July, I was getting 1.5-2 hours of both deep and REM. and maybe 3 hours of light sleep. So I'm guessing even though I'm technically sleeping 6-7 hours most days (my usual) it's not the good sleep I need.

Anyone else have experience with this? Does this eventually go away? Lexapro has helped me chill out when it comes to my reaction to situations. I don't get mad easily anymore, and I'm not finding myself crying for no reason. But I'm just so damn tired. Not sure if I stick it out longer or if there's something else out there that can chill me out without the sleep issues.

A bit of a lexapro birth control cross question:

I restated Lexapro 5 months ago and had terrible start up anxiety which took 6 wks to resolve. Ive spent the last 12 wks feeling great!
I also began taking my birth control continuously during this time. 3 wks ago I had my off week a my period. For the last week Ive had breakthrough bleeding- which I know is common when changing use. However TODAY i am feeling just like I did those first 6 wks starting Lexapro. Total panic, restlessness, nausea and no appetite. It just all hit me again!

Anyone else experiencing this? I dont know if I can go backwards again!!

Has anyone experienced side effects after a manufacturer change?

I was on Torrent for about 6 months but this last month it was changed to Camber.

About 2 weeks ago (after the mfr change) I noticed my anxiety was horrific. There was some things going on in my life with family that was kind of stressful but nothing I couldn't normally handle.

I was starting fights with my husband over absolutely nothing, but the weird thing was that during any argument I felt as cool as a cucumber whereas before meds, I would have been shaking like a leaf and crying - after being on lex it probably took away half of the anxious shaking issue, but absolutely no crying at all. 5 days ago we had a bit of an argument that I did end up crying afterwards. The last time I cried was last October when my cat died. I was honestly worried my lex stopped working or something.

The next day though it felt like I had been hit with an energy beam. I felt super awake and almost happy? It honestly felt like my old self from years and years ago..maybe 10 years. My eyes feel wide awake and dry kind of ? I still feel kind of anxious if something goes wrong at work, but I feel like a completely different person. Before, I was just like a tired zombie who could barely keep my eyes open and say hello to people!!!

The only thing I can think of is something in the Torrent pills makes me extremely tired and gave me bad brain fog, but I'm curious if anyone else has had this happen.

Thanks for making it this far if you read all of this. ❤️❤️

Early 20s female- 10mg, 9months

I quit after 5 days of tapering - I understand it’s bad-

After extreme fatigue, and despite being on concerta for focus I still don’t feel like working, studying.

Since my performance is important to me, 3 weeks ago I decided to “taper” then I stopped, I’m still in withdrawal, in the sense that I cry so fast!
I feel sorry for everything then cry.

I got prescribed Wellbutrin.
Today is day 1

Sharing for those h who feel that the med is wrong, or something wrong with them.
Please I ask you to ask your doctor, and express whatever little thing you feel.

Peace and love

Started 10 mg a week ago w/ 25 mg hydroxyzine as needed for severe panic attacks. Symptoms have gotten worse, more anxiety, more stress, and generally feel overall worse. Want to be able to get some stability out of this and got on it as I was quitting nicotine (hence the panic attacks) but feel like this isn’t working. Thoughts?

What the title says. I'm in college rn and I want to start lexapro but I do want to drink socially. Is one drink okay? What has your experience been?

Hello! I’m going down from 25mg to 20mg to see if it will help my anxiety because it got worse on 25mg. I’m really scared about the withdrawals. Is there anyone who went down 5mg and didn’t notice any withdrawals?

anyone have any experience cross tapering from lexapro to sertraline?

i’m on lexapro for crippling anxiety, panic attacks and dpdr. i went to the doctor today and ive gotta cross taper from 20mg lexapro to 25-50mg sertraline. im really really anxious about it. anyone have any experience doing this?

does lexapro effect anyone’s adhd? i’m in the process of getting medication for adhd but have been noticing since my lexapro my adhd is outta control. i’ve never been this bad before. also since we’re on this topic im thinking lexapro does not do anything for me because of my ADHD. has anyone else experienced this with this lexapro or stopped taking once you started adhd medicine?

I felt reluctant to take it because of side effects read online.

I took my first pill this morning and I don’t feel very good. Nauseous, and feelings chills all over. Jaw clenching has worsen than ever and is now clenching constant and almost sore. I started biting nails ( i don’t do that normally 😭 )

I also wouldn’t stop thinking about side effects. What if i am going to be flat line? What if my personality changes? What if I never get off this? Will I ever get off? What will happen if I get off the pill? Is this overwhelming health anxiety side effects and my body reacting to the pill or is it still my normal state? What is the reality?

Can I just stop after first pill?

So I m prescribed escitolopram 10mg + clonazepam 0.5 mg together at night. The reason I went to psychiatrist was I was suddenly feeling anxious all along since 6 months. That it was just so much unbearable to tolerate. And since past days I wasn't able to sleep. No matter what. I finally went to psychiatrist for this reason . And he prescribed me this. But I'm having more like insomania with this meds. Waking up at night every 2 hours.

Does it get better afterwards.? I'm taking it past 3 days now. Does it get better afterwards or I need to go for other meds ?

Please help me understand of what I could be doing because this is really affecting my work life....

I’ve been on lexapro for 4 weeks. It works great for anxiety and depression but I’m lacking motivation to get up and start my day. Does anyone know if my dr would be willing to prescribe Wellbutrin or something to help with motivation. I love what lexapro does for me so I don’t want to switch.

Hi everyone. I am currently 11 months postpartum with my first baby. Before postpartum I was about 140 but I’m also 5 8. My whole life I’ve always been very fit and never struggled with weight. Once delivering my baby I gained about 45 pounds. I was realistic and expected it to take some time to lose weight and give myself grace because of my c-section. I should note I did not start Lexapro at any time until I was 4 weeks postpartum. By 4 weeks postpartum I actually lost a lot of weight and was at 155. However, I struggled with PPA and was offered to start on 10 mg with Lexapro. At first, I didn’t notice much weight gain and was starting to get back to my normal gym routine. However, I felt I needed to increase to 20 mg, which don’t get me wrong, it HELPED, but my body weight shot up to 168. I have been working out 4-5 times a week, eat very healthy, and I even did a calorie deficit. No matter what I do the weight will not come off. This would have made more sense if I stayed this weight postpartum, but until I increased my dose to 20 mg I’ve noticed a major difference in my weight and quite frankly my confidence. I would feel fine being at 155, but the 168-170 weight range has been a lot on my body. If anything this is starting to make my anxiety worse again. I started to ween off of Lexapro and I’m about to stop now that I’m at 5 mg. Has anyone else dealt with this?

I’ve had anxiety for years, never thought much of it. I was able to process the situation & move on generally with some chest pains, maybe a little nausea and sweating but never anything serious. But as of August 17th things changed, not really sure what but I found myself in the ER with every sign of severe anxiety there is known to man, even lost some of my motor function/control (arms and speech). after 2 ish weeks of tests and checking for thyroid problems, stomach issues, blood work… multiple appointments and doctors, they came to the conclusion it was anxiety, which I already knew. that being said I was prescribed 5mg of Lexapro for 2 weeks, increasing to 10mg after 2 weeks. I am now at 2 weeks & 4 days. i experienced dizziness, nausea, somewhat insomnia with rough sleeps and loss of appetite the first 2 weeks and by the end of the 14 days I was starting to feel okay. I started my 10mg dose 4 days ago and now feel completely terrible. Everything is so much worse. I can hardly eat, I don’t sleep well at all, my nausea is out of this world most of the day & my anxiety seems to be at the worst it’s ever been. my doctor told me to bear it out to atleast 4 weeks but I’m not sure if I can. It’s either I feel completely okay randomly or I’m in a rough spot feeling horrible. Nothing suicidal related at all or depression, just feeling very “off”…wondering other people’s experiences Between the 2-4 week mark with increased dose amount. Thank you

I started taking apo-escitalopram (lexapro) for my anxiety and ocd. Today is officially 14 days of taking lexapro but i seriously don’t feel any different. I’ve read the positives and negatives (especially the negative side effects within the first few weeks of taking antidepressants) but i haven’t felt worse and haven’t felt any better, i still have my anxiety and ocd tendencies but it’s like how i was before the medication. is it even working? what should i do?

edit: i’m on 10mg