All about Lexapro

I wonder if any of you have had this experience. For some reason,
today I felt exactly the same as I did on the very first day I ever
took Lexapro. Which means I had a huge lump in my throat and felt, if
not exactly manic, seriously whacked out. So whacked out, in fact,
that when I got to my office this morning, I realized that I had left
my wallet at home, something I’ve never done in my entire adult life.
In addition, although I was ultimately able to perform, I had a
helluva time focusing.
I’ve been on 15mg/day for six weeks now and have never missed a dose,
or ever taken less or more than I’m supposed to. I’d especially like
to hear from any veteran Lex users here . . . is this phenomenon
completely unheard of, or should it perhaps be expected from time to time?
Thanks in advance for your input.
Brian

Howdy all,
I’ve started taking Lexapro about 1.5 years ago. Switched from a 10mg
dose to a 20mg dose and am still taking 20 mg. I’d like to taper off my
dosage. I was thinking maybe going from 20 to 10 for a week and then
down to 5mg for a week after that.
I’m a bit scared though. I’ve been on anti-depressants for a long long
while now. Began on effexor years ago and have bouced around from Paxil
to Prozac to Zoloft and finally to Lexapro. I suppose you could say I
am a bit of a anti-depressant epicurian of sorts. In the past when I’ve
tapered off I found that I started to panic a bit. It was almost like
my bodyand brain were thawing out and after a few days I would go back
to the full dose vowing to wait until I was good and ready to get off
the meds.
Think I am ready to kick the SSRI habit though. Anyone have any
experience with this?
cheers,

Hey guys and gals,
First of all I’ve been on 10mg of Lexapro once a day (still taking
it at the moment). I’ve been taking it for about 6-7 weeks. It took
about 2 or so weeks to kick in, but my anxiety decreased, and I
actually started feeling really good. Then I started experiencing:
-Insomnia (difficulty falling asleep)
-Fatigue, tired (likely due to the lack of sleep)
-Loss of appetite (can’t even eat within 1-2 hours of waking up, so
usually end up skipping breakfast and go straight to lunch. I also
get more full from less food, I’ve lost some weight, but my body fat
has increased)
-Loss of balance
-Mood swings (happy -
frustrated -
-Excess energy (although this could be because I stopped
exercising / surfing after I started getting anxiety problems, which
I will get into shortly)
-Occasionnal tightness in throat.
-mild Muscle spasms that come and go in one area - usually lasts a
few days and goes away, but may come back (stomach / left bottom
eyelid / right arm / left quadricep for examples) Although the
spasms were occuring before I started Lexapro.
-Rare hot flashes
-Depression (goes along with mood swings)
-Suicidal Thoughts - not actually planning it, but thoughts that
just come into my mind like, “you should kill yourself”. I highly
doubt I would actually act on these thoughts, but for someone with
anxiety you can assume thinking these things would make one uneasy.
When these thoughts do come into my mind, I just say they are
thoughts, and immediately say I would never do that. Also a fear
that I might get horrible symptoms / untolerable panic attack that I
would hurt myself in order to end such things.
Obviously, not all of these can be attributed to Lexapro, and are
common symptoms of anxiety. However, I feel a good amount of them
are because of the medication, and i’d much rather have anxiety and
panic attacks than these things.
I’m 17 years old, and my anxiety / panic problems started after
having a rather bad reaction to smoking marijuana. I smoked it only
a few times in my life, and this one time I smoked it I smoked more
than I usually do. I had a full on panic attack, I also felt extreme
feelings of terror and some odd physical / psychological feelings
during the ‘bad trip’. It lasted about 4-5 hours, and I was totally
WHIPED OUT the following day.
I had a panic attack a few days later and thought I was going to
die. Had 3 total trips to the emergency room, though none of them
were actually necessary besides for my peace of mind in knowing that
I was actually fine. I’ve been seeing a councelor to help me with
ways in handling anxiety (I started seeing him about 2-3 weeks ago,
so while I’m still on Lexapro) and I feel like I wish I had learned
some of these techniques for handling anxiety and panic attacks
before I started Lexapro.
Anyways, I would like to apologize for the long post.
I suppose I’m seeking some sort of refuge here so that people who
are experiencing similar things and are more familiar with the topic
can give me some guidance.
I want to stop taking Lexapro, I plan to talk to my doctor about it,
and establish a plan as to how I can ween myself off of it.
I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to handle
anxiety / panic attacks without the assistance of medication?
And if anyone can give me some advice about coming off Lexapro, and
what I can expect. Is it tough? are there any withdrawal symptoms?
Thanks a lot for reading!
Best,
-Brian

My son is on the coast and was taking Lexapro, but they switched him
back to Welbutrin, so I asked him why and he said that he had built up
a tolerance to the effects of the Lexapro.
I was wondering if anyone has any idea how often that happens?
I’m on 20 mg…..I have no idea for how long…..but I’m so depressed
the past couple days that I can hardly stand myself. It’s been
cloudy, windy, and I’m suffering PMS…but can I really just stay
laying in bed until it all passes? I’ve tried warm baths, indulgent
food, music, hobbies, nothing seems to matter. I don’t know what
miracles I expect from writing this.

Has anyone had low blood pressure on anti-depressants?
I usually have high bp…in December at my surgeon’s it was about 90/80,
and now at the Gyn’s yesterday it was roughly the same. Also, I fainted
once in March.
I haven’t seen my GP since all this started. I saw him in Nov. and it
was about 120/80 then. I suppose I’ll have to make an appointment.
I am on high blood pressure meds.
Vicki

I would like to know if anyone has CareSource as their insurance and if
it covers the cost of Lexapro 10 miligrams right now until April 1st I
am still on medicaid and it only covers Lexapro 20 and I have to split
the pills in half.

Hey everybody,
Well, I’ve read through a lot of the archives and it seems like you
all are a great supportive group. So, I think I’ll take some time to
more thoroughly introduce myself and write about why I need to take
Celexa/Lexapro in the first place. If nothing else, it’s therapeutic
for me.
In a nutshell: STRESS!
At 42, I am worrying about an 80 year old father who I only see once or
twice a year and I can see he’s really slowing down faster and
faster. My mom (who I see usually twice a year) was diagnosed with
Alzheimer’s one year ago; it’s getting worse and worse. It’s
very difficult to care for her 1200 miles away and the only way to get
her into assisted living, which she can’t afford, is to have her
committed. I have a very smart strong willed four year old son. I
remember a few years ago when a good friend of mine looked at me and
said, “Oh, Kev, he’s strong willed.” I couldn’t
understand why there was a touch of sadness in her voice. Now I
understand. Being a school teacher in Texas doesn’t help to lighten
the stress load, either.
I know, I know, what I’m describing is called life.
I have a couple more major problems; specifically marriage difficulties
and heavy drinking. The latter contributes to the former. After a
separation, my wife and I began counseling. A big part of the problem is
that I have distanced myself, I retreat into my own world and stew over
things. I’m agitated easily, feel like everything is a hassle, and
generally I haven’t been real fun to be around. Then I get drunk
every night.
The counselor believes there likely is some chemical imbalance causing
the alienation and my retreating into my own little world; I may be
unconscientiously “self-medicating” with the alcohol. He
referred me to a psychiatrist to see if meds could provide some
relief we’ve kind of ruled out bipolar, depression may be
something I’ve had my whole life and never known it, and he thinks I
may be hyper. The hope is with Celexa (Lexapro after my next appt.),
Xanax as needed, and Ambien CR I can calm down, relax and enjoy life.
I hope this doesn’t fall straight into the “more than anyone
needed to know” category. I know there are groups out there for each
one of the problems I’ve described and I’ll keep my future posts
related to Lex and how it’s helping with my symptoms.
There you have it - pleased to meet you,
Kev

Anyone feel that when they first started Lexapro they felt worse
before they felt better?
Thank you,
David.

Hi everyone,
I started taking Lex two months ago and for 4-5 days every day was a
different story - then things got really good - I had energy, felt
great, nothing bothered me much at all. Woo Hoo! After two weeks my
samples ran out and when I filled my ’scrip I found my ins. required
me to go on generic Celexa. By the end of a week or so, I hardly
noticed any of the feeling great I had with Lex. I’m trying to decide
if I am going to stay with the $10 a month Celexa or go to $50 a
month Lexapro. Here are my Q’s:
How long does that really GREAT feeling last after starting
Lexapro… in other words, is it possible that I’d be feeling the way
I do if I would have just stayed on lex for 6 weeks?
Has anyone found cheap on-line places to get Lex - I found one
claiming to sell generic Lexapro, but as far as I know there isn’t a
generic yet - I haven’t ever bought any meds online, any advice?
Thanks,
Kev

Hello,
I have been taking Lex for about a year, and recently in the last
few days have been experiencing physical anxiety symptoms… I get
lazy sometimes, and missed my medication for about 2-3 days…I can’t
really relate them with too much out of the ordinary in my life, the
physical symptoms usually occur after sleep, and it just feels like
adrenaline is running through my whole body and won’t stop… The
episode started after a night of really intense emoional dreams in
which I woke up in a panic state…
Has anyone else had these symptoms after missing doses, and how
long does it usually take to even out again… Just wanted to see if
anyone has some advice… I feel this urge to take 20 mg instead of
the 10 I usually take, and my Dr is out of town for another week…
thanks
Jonas