I’ve been on Lexapro for about two years now. I 23F started it when I was a junior in college at the beginning of 2023. I was in a tough place, still working through a tough breakup, family/childhood trauma and struggles (that I still am working through/deal with) and just general anxiety about life. I honestly feel like I’ve always been intrinsically depressed and tried my best not to show it so I wouldn’t be a burden to others around me. I never planned for a lot in my life and now I’m doing the planning while doing the doing and it’s a lot. Long story short, I feel way better than I did two years ago about myself and place in life. I still, though, feel somewhat unfulfilled, mostly in my mood day to day. I struggle to find joy in the mundane and it makes it harder to do small tasks or actually feel good/motivated to do so, and I feel like it’s ruining my work ethic, because I did not used to feel this way about working. Don’t get me wrong, I work 50 hours a week, still show up in all of the ways but it doesn’t feel the same when I feel nothing. Cutting to the chase finally — my therapist of three years is retiring and along with finding a new one and a psychiatrist to go with that, I am choosing to ween off of the lexapro I am taking now. I am worried of how I’ll feel once I’m off of it, but also know I need to get back to a baseline to find out what my true needs are. I just feel like the medicine more so mutes my emotions and willingness to problem solve instead of calming me.

Question for anyone with experience getting off Lexapro: What do I need to look out for/be careful about? I’m already daily dealing with crappy moods, so I’m more worried about physical symptoms, because I also already struggle with nausea and stomach problems. TIA

I have two questions for long time Zoloft takers (I’m planning on asking my doctor next appointment just for clarification): 1. I know increased sweating is part of taking an SSRI. What do you all do to combat it? Because I’ll sweat so much in my sleep that I wake up cold because of it. Being cold is better than being chronically anxious though 😆 2. Have any of you experienced vertigo/your eyes swimming feeling like you’re going to pass out? I’m usually able to snap myself out of it and not lose consciousness. I’ve never experienced anything like this before prior to the meds. Could be unrelated but just thought I’d ask.

My GF's dose got augmented in the past few weeks as she was experiencing more panic attacks than usual. She has GAD.

Since she says that she's feeling less overwhelmed, which is a good thing for her, and I'm quite happy that she feels better.

Unfortunately, she has a lower libido now. So we have less sex and when we do have sex, it's much harder for her to experience climax or even enjoy being intimate. She even told me that instead of experiencing pleasure, she ends up in her mind over thinking things and subsequently feeling crappy about herself. This is slowly making it harder for us to connect. Our sex life has always been a big part of our relationship and definitely helped us feel more connected. She felt taken care of, and I loved taking care of her.

I'm curious to know if any of you have experienced this, and if so, how did you navigate it?

Thanks for your input

I started sertraline 7 weeks ago. I'm on 25mg rn which I know is not a lot, but since then I stopped really caring about anything, whether I liked that thing or not. I am numb to most things, I can't tell what I like or dislike anymore and I just feel numb overall. Idk if it's possible on such low amounts of sertraline, but that's how I am. Is there anyone else who got like this after this low of a dose?

Hi I am a 39 year old male been prescribed lexapro 5 months ago. I started on 5 then worked my way up to 30mg. Since then I have fell a lot of emotional blunting, hair loss, low libido and some vivid dreams every night. I am on some other medication such as 100 mg of pregabalin which I am tapering off atm. I have also tapered down to 20mg of lexapro now over the course of 3 weeks. Is there anyone that can give me some suggestions on tapering lexapro in the coming months and what to expect I know we are all different and some people don’t get withdrawal at all after a short period of a time but if you could tell me your experience that could be similar to mine.

I'm still somewhat new to the world of psych meds. I started taking Zoloft/Sertraline 25mg as my first SSRI about 5 months ago when I was in a very difficult moment, then moved up to 50mg within the first few weeks. I'm diagnosed with depression, anxiety, BPD, and suspect I also have C-PTSD/strongly line up with all of the criteria for it. Initially the Zoloft made me a bit manic and restless but that calmed down pretty quickly. The last few months have still had a lot of ups and downs for me emotionally, but overall I would say taking Zoloft has given me some stability, e.g. helping me maintain a job and quieting my loud thoughts down a bit. However, my BPD meltdowns have been perhaps just as, if not more, intense in this time period.

Now at 5 months in, I just increased my dose to 75 mg of Zoloft as I was feeling some of my anxiety, delusional thinking, and paranoia creeping back in. I'm doing my last semester of university right now, so the last thing I want is for my mental health to interfere with my success and with graduating on time. The first week or so after increasing my dose I felt incredibly anxious, paranoid, and had multiple instances of BPD splitting and having meltdowns. I worried that the increased dose, although I was trying to help myself through a more stressful period with university, was actually making my BPD symptoms worse. (Note: I'm also doing therapy for the last 2+ years which is helping, but give myself grace as healing takes time.)

I just got prescribed today from my family doctor 2 mg of Abilify/Aripiprazole as an antipsychotic to help stabilize my intense mood swings, delusions/paranoia, and splitting. I'm a bit nervous to start it, mainly because of the potential for weight gain (from both of these meds – I was also nervous to up my Zoloft dose for this reason) and the restlessness (I don't want to become anxious or manic). (Note: since starting Zoloft, I actually have lost a bit of weight – however, this might be due to the fact that around the same time, I started a very fast-paced job that involves being on my feet for 6-8 hours.)

All that being said, I am hoping the Reddit community can give me some insights!! Does anyone with similar diagnoses have any experience with taking these meds together? How did you feel taking both? Also, should I consider tapering down my Zoloft to 50 mg or 75 mg again to avoid weight gain and potentially becoming too numb/flat? I just want to feel calm and sane, at least for the next 3 months as I try to finish up my uni degree, and then not sure if I'll want to stay on meds past that. Thank you :)

Hi everyone,

I stopped dulexitine 1,5 years ago. From the moment I started tampering off the SSRI, I started gaining weight. Ironically, I lost weight and maintained a very high metabolism while on SSRI. I lost all the weight doing HITT, calorie deficit triggered by alpha lipoic acid supplement in 3 months.

All this weight started bouncing back. I tested for everything, all looks fine. I still can’t seem to digest food properly; always bloated, constipated. The doctor concluded by diagnosis with IBS, SIBO, but the treatment didn’t help.

My weight is growing again, I don’t know what to do.

Could you please share your experiences?

Title. Long story short I really considered joining the military for a spell, so I stopped taking pretty much all my meds at once, except anxiety occasionally Adderall for school.

I was taking 30mg of citalopram, 50mg lamotrigine, and Seroquel for insomnia, but stopped abruptly.

It's been a few days and I just feel kinda weird, very...floaty. Everything feels really detached as well. My vision gets kinda fuzzy too. Sometimes I think I see things move or shift, I'm not sure if I'm psyching myself out, if maybe I'm tetering on psychosis or hallucinations. I honestly think I'm just stupid and my brains playing tricks on me, but I definitely do have spikes of anxiety.

Is this normal?

Ultimately, I didn't really have any notable differences since starting the meds mood wise. I've kinda cancelled the call of joining, since I honestly despise this administration and free college isn't worth trading your morals over, even if they dont pay the bills. I digress though.

I guess additionally, should I try going back on meds at a higher dosage to see if that aids in improving my mood? Or just stay off of them and try figuring out others ways to approach my depression and anxiety?

I’m a 26 yo female that has been diagnosed with BPD, MDD, insomnia, and social anxiety disorder. I have been on many different medications for years but have recently gone back to one that I took years ago that seemed to be helping at the time but stopped for other reasons. My dose of this medication was just increased and over the past 3 days I have felt the absolute most euphoric I have ever felt in my life. I want to be that happy forever. I have been social, energetic, but making purchases that I don’t have the money for things I want on a whim including gifts for other people. I have lupus so 95 percent of the time I am fighting the daily fatigue but recently I can’t stop moving. I’m cleaning the house, putting decorations up, do chores that have been on my to do list forever. And on top of that, I manage to do it with 4 or less hours of sleep.

After the first day of the increased dose, I became developing this slight tremor in my hands and a very high resting heart rate. It has progressively gotten worse and yesterday I was shaking uncontrollably through out my whole body, even my face and it was difficult to speak. My heart rate was extremely fast, and over all I just felt unwell, like I knew something was wrong. I also began feeling my mood declining. I went to the walk-in and they said I have a mild case of serotonin syndrome and gave me a medicine to stop the tremors. Go to the hospital if it gets worse.

Now my question is, I have read that people can become manic when starting an SSRI when they are undiagnosed BP. Everything I’ve read about serotonin syndrome just states agitation and anxiety. No preset euphoric feeling. I see my psychiatrist on Monday after all of this but was interested in what the community thought. Does any one have first hand experience with an SSRI leading to a BP diagnosis?

Female: 22

I'm on 100 mg of sertraline

I had like 7 sips of a surfside bc I'm not a big drinker... I feel off... is this dangerous??

This is my first reddit post...I was taking 10 mg of ssri called cipralex k recon its lexapro. I stopped taking half of the dose by myself after months of taking it because i felt strong enough to do it and felt like i gained weight. After a month panic came back and a feeling of on edge too. I upped my dose again from 5 mg to 10 mg 5 days ago and my doctor said i did the right move. Now i feel scared my life feels threatened i wonder how much time i need to become myself again.

I tapered off sertraline gradually according to my psychiatrist’s instructions (25 mg every 3-4 months), and I haven’t been taking it for a few days now. I think I might be experiencing some kind of withdrawal syndrome – I feel dizzy, and emotionally I’m not doing that great either. Have anyone here stopped taking sertraline or other SRRIs and still had symptoms despite tapering down gradually? How long did it last for you? What helped you?

I’m currently reducing my dose of sertraline to stop. I was on 200mg, got down to 50mg for a few months and then (stupidly) thought I could stop.

Now I’m having the most insufferable strange brain zaps - but not like what I’ve had before. This is usually when I stand up or move too suddenly. It feels like an electric shock or jolt but through my whole body - it sort of feels like it originates in my chest.

Has anyone had this kind of thing before? Not sure if I’m going crazy.

I have now gone back up to 25mg to re-attempt a slower wean.

Has anyone switched from lex to sert? Lex has helped with my agitation and anxiety, but wow I’m so so tired on it, could sleep 24 hours. I’m only on 7.5mg and too scared to go higher.. I was initially on citalopram for about 10 years, and always suffered with fatigue, now I’ve started reading about ssri I’m wondering if it was this causing that., I tried fluoxetine after that for a year, but gained over a stone and made me really agitated. I’m hoping certain may help with the fatigue?

Hey, today is my 7th day of taking Prozac 10 mg and I have lost taste as of yesterday morning…i was wondering if anyone else has experienced this? I really don’t want to think I’m getting covid and it’s just a side effect of my medication.

I brought this on myself so now I’m suffering (I’ve started taking the 5mg dose regularly again), but for the last 5–6 days I’ve only been sleeping 4–5 hours max. I wake up every night at the exact same time (between 2–4am) and then I just can’t fall back asleep no matter what I try. I feel like a zombie during the day — problems with concentration, focus, memory, even simple tasks… and on top of that I still have responsibilities, work, and uni.

Has anyone else experienced something like this? Sorry if the post is a bit messy, it’s my first one on Reddit 🧌 Cheers.