[nakmachine]

It seems Lexapro is getting a lot of attention on these boards lately, but I can't find anything that covers abuse of Lexapro.

My family's MD started my 17 year old daughter on Lexapro, for depression and anxiety due to some trauma earlier this year. My daughter has a small history of abuse with medication (she has had multiple knee surgeries from sports, and we thought she abused her Vicodin prescription), and I'm wondering if Lexapro is able to be "abused" in the same way as medication like Xanax and general Benzodiazepine's, though it isn't one itself. I noticed the prescription bottle says "do not take with alcohol," which seems like it's trying to steer the user away from abuse...

Also I read on-line that a side effect of Lexapro can be weight gain, is this continuous through-out the time one would take the medication, or simply a side effect of "the body getting used" to it?

Any help is appreciated.

[wherethehellami?]

Lexapro cannot be abused but your body can become dependent on it. For example, since it has a short half life (~32 hours) after missing one dose you could notice a difference (trouble focusing is one). It's not a drug that you seek out in the traditional sense. As for the weight gain I think some people who start it have an increase in appettite. I did not have this problem but I'm also a runner.