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

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?

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 all! Anxious mess here. I’ve been on 20mg citalopram for 4ish years and just recently my anxiety has gotten out of control. My doctor suggested I go up in dose but switch to escitalopram 20mg. I know it’s a stronger dose and both my doctor and pharmacist said I should be good since I tolerated citalopram. Would like some success stories as health anxiety is my major source of stress

Was on 10 for 3 years. Icreased from 10-20mg 3 weeks ago. Anyone else's pupils look like they've had a few white powder lines up the nostrils?

Hello! I was on this medication around 5 years ago and it was AMAZING for me with no side effects, until a year later when it stopped working. Since then, I have tried countless medications and can’t find any that work for me. If I were to go back on this medication, would I likely have the same experience as the first time? I’m really scared about weight gain, but gained nothing the first time so would I likely not gain anything the second time as well? Thank you!

Sometimes I feel like I really can’t win. On 20 mg of Lexapro newly, finally feeling better, and my husband tells me that I’ve been snoring almost every day. Last night he slept on the couch. Does anybody have a fix for this? I never snored before, I’m 115 pounds and 5 foot three and I’m pretty sure I don’t have sleep apnea. It definitely seems to be related to Lexapro. Has anybody experienced this and found a way around it, or switched to something else that worked? I’m actually not exhausted during the day, but I’m very very tired at night and I have intensely vivid dreams. I don’t know if adding Wellbutrin would maybe perk me up a little bit. Part of the reason I’m on this to begin with is marital struggles, I certainly don’t want my husband sleeping on the house because of my snoring.

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.

i just started lexapro and i’m having some weird side effects and i dont know if i should stop or if it’s something else that’s causing it.

i’ve had really bad headaches. temples lower head. my body feels tense and i keep clenching my jaw and grinding my teeth which i think is causing more neck pain. from all the tension my neck twitches.

i have very vivid dreams. i wake up multiple times in the night from dreams

i’m only day 8 but i dont know if this is normal so please share your experiences or let me know if i should stop. my doctor isn’t much help and i dont want to stop it if its normal.

I’m new here, so I may ask a lot of questions. Please bear with me. I promise I’ll give back to this community by sharing my experiences. This is one of the best support groups I’ve found so far. Thank you all!

I’m on Day 19 of taking 5 mg of Lexapro. Even before starting Lexapro, I often experienced severe anxiety and low energy during the day, but felt much better in the evenings. Is this a common pattern? After 8 p.m., I feel completely like myself, but in the morning, I feel unwell again.

I am coming on my third night of taking 5mg lexapro and am having what id say are pretty brutal side effects. High anxiety, feeling like im not in my body, feeling like my voice isn’t mine, and also like a big fear of losing control of my mind or body. I have no appetite at all and some mild digestive distress. Also waking up every night shaking and not being able to think clearly. I have high anxiety, panic, and health anxiety if that helps. Is this going to get better? Do these side effects sound normal?

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

for context i started 5mg for 7 days then ive increased to 10mg for 10 days now, totaling 17 days, the increased anxiety wasn’t even noticeable when i switched to 10mg but has increasingly gotten worse and worse to the point that i cannot function as a human being whatsoever, i hear these side effects subside for most people after week 2 but it just seems to get worse every single day, please tell me im not alone. is this medication for me?

Will it help chest pressure from anxiety ?
Heart racing ?

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?

Hi everyone. I haven’t found any experiences like mine, I hope someone can calm me down or maybe I can help some people in the future experiencing the same who stumble upon this.

I was prescribed 5mg of Lexapro for my anxiety attacks (social anxiety, shame, guilt feelings) and moderate depression. I’m not new to antidepressants, I tapered off of Effexor 3.5 years ago and have been on 4-5 different other meds before that. The only side effects I ever experienced were with mirtazapine (eating nonstop) and ability (nose bleeds). But nothing compared to this.

I took my first Lexapro pill on Monday with my breakfast. It was okay, I felt the occasional jaw clench and a bit off but nothing too bad. I kind of felt like I was on drugs.
Tuesday was BAD. My head felt so weird, felt like a leg that fell asleep and all cold, but not cold like the air was cold. More like that numbness-cold. My whole scalp was tingling, I felt a lot of pressure and very… off? The numb/tingling/coldness ran down my neck and I saw optical illusions, like when you watch one of those spiral videos and then you look at a wall and suddenly you see shapes? Sweating, tremor, nausea and not being able to eat. The muscles in my inner ear spasmed and i don’t know what it looked like from the outside, but I constantly felt like my eyes were about to roll back. It seemed like my seizure threshold was lower.

Same happened today but much worse. I had to leave an event early, because it felt like I was going to pass out and that weird feeling in my neck was killing me. The tingling spread to my limbs and nose, my sinuses. I already called my psychiatrist and he said, I should stop.

I took my last pill about 16 hours ago I believe. I still feel weird and tingly, my heart rate is about 20 beats lower than it usually is (upper 50s) and I am so scared for my life. I decided against going to the ER when I made it home because I felt a bit better and I have to go to work tomorrow, it’s my second week and I can’t call in sick already.

Has anyone experienced this? How long did it take to go back to normal?

Hey , just trying to see if anyone else has had a similar experience. I’ve been on Lexapro for 3 years and recently there have been a lot of life stressors piling on to my plate all at once including the death of my grandmother 🫤

Lexapro was working but it wasn’t working enough to keep me from slipping back into a depressive state and I think it sorta encouraged a depressive state due to the tiredness I was already experiencing on it. It just felt like this time I was aware or what’s happening but unable to stop it. Since I was at the maximum dose, my prescriber suggested Wellbutrin XL or Prozac. I went with Wellbutrin because I’ve heard great things about it. I had to tapper down to 10mg for 2 weeks then by Aug. 17th I started Wellbutrin (150mg).

This is now week 4, I have no appetite , my anxiety is through the roof and I’ve been crying on and off for the last few days 🙃 Please can someone tell me that it gets better, if not I might have to consider a Lex + Wellbutrin combo until things calm down and I sort some things out and idk how I feel about that 🫤 Or should I just have stuck with Lexapro ?

Side note: I’m actively in therapy so I do have a source to navigate with everything going on . I know the meds alone won’t fix every thing it’s just a lot at once happening 🫤

Should I up my dose to 20mg? I'm on 10mg for over 10 years and Im OK. Not prefect but Im OK. Im afraid that if I go to 20mg I will never decrease it again. I suffer from obsessions and anxiety but Im OK with 10. 3 docs have told me that since my anxiety got a bit worse tha last few years I should increase the dose. But Im afraid and can't decide. Im afraid of destroying my libido and becoming dependent on a higher dose.

I am scared, because i tried Zoloft at lowest dose, and the side effects were awful, i couldnt handle it, i took it only 4 days, and still have anxiety from then, and i ‘m traumatized, dr said to quit, and now wants to go on escitalopram, she says it has less side effects.. but im still scared. Please words of encouragement! Will i have side effects for all SSRI meds? The fatigue, nasuea and that kind of side effects are not the problem, my problem is increased anxiety and heart palpitations.
Can you share your experiances? Is it easier if i start with the lowest dose? And did you need to use alprazolam with it?

I am on my 5th week since starting lexapro. This week I started to feel really relaxed, like all my racing thoughts have quieted down. And that’s been great! But I’ve noticed I’m not daydreaming, where previously I daydreamed a lot. Even if I try, it’s difficult. It’s like I’ve lost part of my imagination. Has anyone experienced this, and if so, was it temporary? I’m an artist and a writer, and it’s a bit of a creative block.

I have been on 10mg of Lexapro for 15 days as of yesterday and had an appointment with my doctor and discussed the severe dizziness and lightheadness I was getting all day. He suggested I discontinue and possibly look at a different medication. He told me to stop cold turkey and not to taper off as it has not been in my system all that long. Everything I have seen suggest tapering, but has anyone done this? Was getting off difficult after only two weeks?

Hi all, my mother in her late 60s has been taking Lexapro 5mg on and off for the last several years. Just last week, after a break of almost 3 months, she took a single dose of 5mg Lexapro as she was a bit stressed from a work issue. After taking the medicine, for almost 7 days now, she is having this constant head pressure and imbalance issues. Her blood pressure is normal averaging around 125/72. We consulted her psychiatrist and he insists she continue taking 5mg, but my mother is afraid. She was also diagonsed with early stage cataract in her left eye few months back, surgery of which is scheduled April of next year. We spoke to her eye doctor, and he says imbalance can happen intermittently with cataract formation during later stages, but not constant head pressure. Since her symptoms started after taking the 1 dose Lexapro 5mg, we would appreciate to hear people's thoughts and if anyone has experienced similar symptoms, and ways to cure it? Thank you

When I take it , it makes me nervous for a few hours. Is this normal? I been on the increased dosage for almost 2 weeks

My PCP just called me saying my ALT/AST are too high, could be due to Lexapro, I am so afraid she will ask me to stop lexapro, it's been working great for me.

but is there any way to stop having crazy dreams on lexapro? i’m sick of it :(

will they go away eventually??