Comparing Effexor vs Lexapro

For Depression I started this medicine in nursing school. Very much so needed. I started seeing myself with less worry, and a more of a "whatever" type of mentality. I figured that worked for me. However, my biggest problem has been the weight gain. Before I knew it I gained atleast 25 lbs. I'm a very active person and I do what wait I eat, especially since I am a cardiac nurse. Also make sure you NEVER miss a day of the medication. My side effects would be vertigo and shooting nerve pains in my head. I just upped my dosage to 150mg hoping it will increase my energy and help with weight loss. I was really bad off emotionally before so besides everything above, I have my life back.

For Depression I have been on this med for only 4 days after being on multiple other meds for general anxiety disorder for several years now. And I can already feel the difference in myself. Not exactly where I want to be yet but definitely positive results so far. It does make my pupils seriously dilated and at night when it's dark my vision seems like I'm on a merry go round if I moves my eyes to quickly. Other than that I feel much better than just a few days ago! Hopefully this med will work for me. I hate switching meds cause of the time I have to wait to start a new one. Sends me in a downward spiral of panic attacks and irritability. So far since being on Effexor EX I've not had even one episode!!!!!! And I was having them every single day!

For Anxiety I have just started my round of Auro-Escitalopram and I am on day 5 of my 5mg half-tab before going on a full 10mg tablet. I take my medication at night time. The first 3 days were sort of rough; I felt different. I could not put my finger on why but I felt a bit sedated, a little odd and definitely felt “drugged”. I had a mild headache, some dizziness and I felt like I was going to faint. My appetite has diminished, my stomach was upset, I am also gassy and had some dry mouth. The first 3 nights I was also met with mild restlessness and it was hard for me to sleep longer than 5 hours. I woke up at 3AM and was peeing like crazy. With that being said, the side effects have subsided somewhat after day 5 and I am starting to notice that I can start to control my racing thoughts. I get tired at bed time like a normal human being and I can finally wake up in the morning without feeling like a zombie.

For Anxiety I have been taking this a few months. The 10mg worked well for anxiety and depression but eventually the 10mg wasn't enough so I was moved to 20 which helped for a bit but stopped and my energy was extremely low on the 10mg and 20mg. So we moved in a SNRI which helped a lot and just upped the dose of that. I do have to say lexapro works very good for anxiety. No other side effects besides being tired but some people don't get that.