First week with Lexapro

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Joined: 2 Jan 2012
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22 Sep 2012, 10:56 am

I thought it worked at first, but I think it was a placebo effect. It didn't work for me after a few weeks. I began to call it Lexanoob lol. I quit it cold turkey and ended up getting brain zaps. I had some left over and decided to take three full doses at the same time ( even though you have to work your way up to the full dose ), and had a really bad time. I would compare it to a bad acid trip that lasted 8ish hours.

Greb
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23 Sep 2012, 6:27 am

marginalized wrote:

In my case it's not placebo effect at all. It comes and goes (yesterday morning I was in cloud 9th), but the experience, until now, is quite possitive. I'm even eating less. I'm feeling hungrier, that's true, but I'm not feeling the need of compulsive eating, and hunger is far easier to handle that compulsion.

Anyway, Lexapro is a drug. Quitting cold turkey is not a good idea. Drugs may be recreational or theraupeutic, they may or may not help, but no matter what, you have to deal with them with respect and carefully.

musicforanna
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24 Sep 2012, 6:15 pm

Sagroth wrote:

CrystalStars wrote:

Escitalopram has almost completely killed my libido. I honestly haven't noticed a difference since I've been on it, but it's nice to see it's working for you.

Lexapro killed my Libido, burned its corpse, pissed on the ashes, then kicked its dog for good measure.

kinda sounds like what Lexapro did to my libido.

Effexor didn't kill my libido at all.

The only other issue I can think of (other than nerve sensation issues I had on lexapro and the withdrawal issues I had with effexor), were sleep issues.

With Effexor, I was only able to get 2-4 hours of sleep a night.

With Lexapro, I slept 14 hours a day and was constantly fatigued.

Now that I'm off these medicines years later, I still have bad sleep disordered issues. I was in a thread on here and some people think that being on antidepressants as a teen has something to do with it.

Kon
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24 Sep 2012, 6:37 pm

I've been on it for over 2 years. No side-effects at all. Not much noticeable effect on anxiety. Although it rarely occurs, I experienced increased sex drive. Usually the opposite occurs.

Circle989898
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25 Sep 2012, 2:57 am

SSRI's are not chemically related to other antidepressants. It prevents the movement of the neurotransmitter serotonin into nerve endings. This forces serotonin to remain around nerve endings.

I'm on it and didn't really notice a change. I do feel really sedated though.

I know its prescribed for ocd and depression and many other things.

pensieve
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25 Sep 2012, 6:44 am

Greb wrote:

This is right now my 3rd day with Lexapro.

I have read quite a few discussions on internet about this drug (well, it's a therapeutic drug, but it's a drug) and the quorum was unappealable: first week is awful. No mood improving but lots of side effects: headaches, nausea, numbness, insomnia, weirdness and of course lack of sexual drive.

Well, my experience is quite the opposite. No headaches neither nausea. Some insomia, but not much more than before. A bit numb, that's true, but nothing terrible. Only bad thing is the increased frequency of self injury obsessive thougts (fortunately this is supposed to be temporary). On the plus side, sexual drive was only not decreased, but increased. And a great feeling of relaxation and wellbeing that I haven't been able to get before, not even doing meditation every day. In a nutshell, I could say that the first week is very positive and far from awful.

So, I'm wondering now? Is it normal? Perhaps only people with negative experiences discusses them on internet? Just curious...

Exactly! We were talking about this on an ADHD board and people often talk about the negative experiences with medication, usually to warn people off them. There's a growing population of anti-meds people out there because of side effects.

Sometimes the positive effects outweigh those side effects though. When I was on anti-depressants it was after I attempted suicide so I was kind of desperate for something. Less than a week and felt much better. Pity it didn't last. Now I have to fight through the hormonal depression.

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Greb
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25 Sep 2012, 11:59 am

musicforanna wrote:

Sagroth wrote:

CrystalStars wrote:

Escitalopram has almost completely killed my libido. I honestly haven't noticed a difference since I've been on it, but it's nice to see it's working for you.

Lexapro killed my Libido, burned its corpse, pissed on the ashes, then kicked its dog for good measure.

kinda sounds like what Lexapro did to my libido.
With Lexapro, I slept 14 hours a day and was constantly fatigued.

Kon wrote:

I've been on it for over 2 years. No side-effects at all. Not much noticeable effect on anxiety. Although it rarely occurs, I experienced increased sex drive. Usually the opposite occurs.

In my case I had an initial libido increase, but now it reached a low point. Not a big concern, anyway.

pensieve wrote:

Exactly! We were talking about this on an ADHD board and people often talk about the negative experiences with medication, usually to warn people off them. There's a growing population of anti-meds people out there because of side effects.
Sometimes the positive effects outweigh those side effects though. When I was on anti-depressants it was after I attempted suicide so I was kind of desperate for something. Less than a week and felt much better. Pity it didn't last. Now I have to fight through the hormonal depression.

Yeap. My experience is absolutely positive. And I have been using it only for a week, when this is suppposed no to work until one month or something. It's true too that just a couple of days before starting with Lexapro I found a self-help book that really rocked me as none has done in years -I read it in one go without stop-. So I think both things have combined.

But, basically, it's helping with the OCD -wow, it feels great not having your mind thinking over the same again and again- and feeling much more energy.

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25 Sep 2012, 5:00 pm

Good to see this med is treating you well. You are one of the lucky ones to have a positive experience on the first SSRI. It often takes a couple trials and errors before finding the right one.

As for how long it takes to work, the 4 weeks number is just a general barometer on when you will know for sure what exactly the drug is doing for you. eg, if after 4 weeks it's not doing anything, that indicates to your doctor that you should either increase the dosage or try a different med. You will start to feel the anti-depressant/anxiety effects by around 2 weeks, and full effect of your specific dosage by 4 weeks.

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