LEXAPRO - Is there any positive feedback?

I started taking Lexapro about 6 months ago. I started taking drugs when my problems started, when I was around 12. Depression, Anxiety, OCD, etc. I have tried Lithium, Prozaac, Clonipramine, Paxil, Cesamet, Celexa, Luvox, Wellbutrin, Dexadrin, Effexor, IV Anafranil and ECT treatments. Compared to all the other drugs I have taken, this drug is very mellow for me. The first few weeks starting were rough but from then on it's been pretty smooth. My Psychiatrist suggested taking my dose of Lexapro later in the evening so if I experienced any side effects such as drowsiness or sleepliness it would not have such an impact on my day. I take 3 10mg. tablets at 8:00pm each night. I also take Serequel, Ritalin (also used for OCD), Ativan, and more recently, Clonazipam. Lexapro has given me no side-effects that I am aware of. Drugs I have taken such as Lithium gave me uncontrollable shakes, weight gain, and pretty much any other type of side effect I can think of.

Expand this post...

Same pretty much goes for everything else I have taken in the past. At this point, I don't have much choice but to be on medication. I have nothing but positive things to say about Lexapro. Good Luck! :) Nicola

I've been on Lexapro for the last year and am now getting off of it. I've read a lot of negative reviews about it, but all I have is praise for Lexapro--it's been a lifesaver and saved me from anxiety and panic disorder. I was on other drugs before, such as Remeron (way sleepy!), Zoloft (extreme nausea), Buspar (no effect whatsoever), but none of them were as effective as Lexapro. I had hardly any side effects! But one was night sweats, which was only a slight inconvenience in my opinion. I didn't gain any weight at all, contrary to others' experiences--in fact, I lost weight! After withdrawing from Lexapro, I experienced brain freezes and dramatically increased appetite, but both have ceased after ~2 weeks or so. I am stopping Lexapro because things have gotten much better and I don't want to rely on drugs for the rest of my life. But I am very grateful that I took Lexapro at a time in my life when I needed it.

Expand this post...

The only thing is you have to take Lexapro for a couple of weeks for it to take effect. If you want something to take effect right away, take a drug like clonozepam which is a muscle relaxer but it is addictive.

I believe that I have experienced some anxiety for years. About 5 months ago I had my first panic attack and was unsure of what was happening to me I was for sure I was dying or something else terrible was going on. I was home alone & scared so I called 911 and was carried to the hospital where the doctor came in and said just an anxiety attack and no big deal try to relax and sent me away with xanax and said no worries most people at some time or another do have this happen. I was horrified and for several weeks felt like I had a rapid heart beat, was shaking, afraid to be alone, emotional, could not sleep & just thought I was going crazy. Prior to the panic attack I was feeling fine and laughing on the phone with a friend and then it hit with no warning this left me in a state of panic and terror of it happening again. I knew I needed help bad and made an appt with a physciatrist (sp?) she prescibed lexapro 10mg.

Expand this post...

Day one I felt mildly sedated, sorda numb to things and a little nauseated. Being in this semi foggy state was better than anxiety and panic so I would say I felt some relief immediatly. After about 5-6 days my head seemed to clear up and I had a general calm feeling. I have also suffered from IBS and 95% of those symptoms have gone away also. I highly recommend at least giving lexapro a try I feel like it has saved my life without it I am not sure what would of happened to me. I have read alot about weight gain being associated with lexapro but so far so good, in fact I have lost some weight and don't feel as hungry anymore.

Johnny,

Lexapro and SSRI's and all these meds help many people and they are definitely worth a try. What works for one, might not work for another but you owe it to yourself to find out for yourself. No one can tell you if you should or shouldn't try Lexapro or any other drug. And not all the SSRI's are alike. Some have to try all of them before they find on that works.

There are side effects for just about all meds. Many of them go away after a few weeks, if you can stick them out. Yes, the SSRI's are know to cause weight gain and sexual dysfunction but that is not the case for all, and even if it is, there are things that can be done and if they are too bothersome, you can always stop them.

Expand this post...

Lexapro is the newest of all the SSRI's, closely related to Celexa. It is touted as have the least amount of side effects of all the SSRI's. If nausea is a problem, some of the SSRI's come in liquid form, Prozac for one. I know several people who couldn't tolerate the pill dosage and they were switched to the liquid where you can take a very tiny dose and slowy up it over time and they all tolerated it just fine. When they reached the dose they needed to be on, they were switched back to the pill and did just fine. They swear by the liquid.

You can never predict how a drug will work for you. It is good to be educated about any medication you take and be aware of possible side effects and contraindications. Also you should never go off a medication with out your doctors instrustions as to the proper way to do that. Some drugs can cause bad withdrawal.

Now to give you some examples of my experiences with SSRI's. I started Luvox 10 yrs ago for OCD and augmented with Paxil for the first 5 yrs. Not only did I not gain weight, I lost weight. Go figure. I am glad I didn't let others persuede me from trying them, they worked very well for me. You just never know. I went off Luvox twice and never had any withdrawal. But when I had a toxic reaction which was life threatening, I had to stop Paxil cold turkey, I had no choice. Paxil is known to produce the most severe withdrawal if stopped cold turkey and I can vouch for that. I was in withdrawal for 2 months, it was like having 5 cases of the flu all at once. I thought I was going to die. The good news is you don't die from withdrawal, but it can be hell to go through.

But there are safe ways to come off addictive meds, you have to follow your doctors instructions and it has to be done slowly over time. I was on narcotic (which can cause bad withdrawal) 7 months last year with two major back surgeries. As soon as I got past the post op pain of the second surgery I wanted to get off of them. AS instrusted I reduced the dose slowly over time and did just fine.

I tried every one of the SSRI's for depression and none of them touched it. But I had no bad side effects from any of them, including Lexapro. You have to take them long enough to see if they will work and if any side effects you may have will subside. EVERYONE is different and repsonds to drugs in various ways.

There is no doubt that some meds will work for some and some won't. Some will cause xyz side effects for some and not for others. And if a drug is working for the reason you are taking it, you have to weight the benefits with the side effects, only you can make that decision. As for sexual side effects from the SSRI's there is now a medicine being used that is having a high rate of success in reversing that side effect. It worked almost instantly for me.

There are also other antidepressants that are not SSRI's that you could try as well that don't produce the weight gain or sexual dysfunction the SSIR's might. I have done great on Wellbutrin. If you sit on any board for any medicine or any medical condition or any form of medical treatment for anything, you will always find success stories and horror stories. You have to decide for yourself what is best for you.

The important thing is that you are working with a psychiatrist, not a PCP, and that they monitor you closely when you start a new med or make any changes in your meds.

I hope you are doing better,
Casey