Lexapro People

[Nick Post]

Well, I'm Nick Post and I'm on 20 mg and it works really well for me.  I'm actually taking two 10 mg pills but have written to get 20 mg pills, but I'm using up my earlier prescrip since I have lil dreams of going off and 10 mg pills would be easier to taper.  But I'm not going off anytime soon.

I do get the jaw clench.  I'm always aware of those muscles, but it's not pain, per se.  It's just that "i've just worked out" feeling.  But every day.

I don't notice any more energy on the Lex, but I do more chores and stuff, because I'm not hiding from my family and stuff.

I have taken up smoking, and I know that Chimpmaster had this too.  Don't if you can help it.  I forgot how addicting these things are.

But, I give Lex a 4.5/5 with only a half star taken off for price and jaw clenching.

[Guest PinkToo2grrl]

20 mg once daily in the am, adresses my usual day to day GAD & Deperession, but makes me blah and kills my libido. 

so, we add welbutrin, 75mg once a day in the am now, to increase to 150mg this week.  gets rid of the blahs, and well, at 75 mg, have begun to THINK about sex again at least, hoping the 150 takes the ride the rest of the way.

I am having a few bad days here tho, and maybe the extra welbutrin will help days like these once we get the dosage up, but for now, I am adjuncting .5-2mg lorazepam for stress/anxiety that goes above and beyond the usual day to day level.

Jaw clenching only with Lexapro dosage adjustments.  Yeah it's pricey. I'll give it a 4 (out of 5 I am assuming) because what it does it does well, I just need to tweak a little above and beyond to avoid that lethargy it gives me)

[Thomas]

Hi, I'm Tommy.  I also take 20 mg. in the A.M. with 150 mg. Wellbutrin. 

Was on 40 mg. lex a year and a half ago, but was completely off it until last February. 

At 40 mg.,  sexual side-effects (anorgasmia), which reappeared during my first 3 weeks on lex this time around, but seems to have gone away again.  I have them now, but without the intensity that I vaguely recall    Only other side-effect seems to be a stiff neck, like I pulled the muscle, but every day.

My insurance coverage really helps with the cost of both lex and WB -- my wife has big concerns about what we'll do if I am still on them when I retire  (in another 20 years).

Tommy

[Silvs]

I've been on 20 mgs for two months after a week at 5 and a week at 10. By second week on 20 depression started to lift. I didn't have much ups and downs just steady improvement. My sleeping is back to normal as is my appetite. No weight gain, loss of libido or jaw clenching. Haven't had much of any sexual dysfunction cept for this past week that I'm suddenly having the anorgasmia which could come and go.

I was having a case of the blues before the depression kicked in prior to taking Lex. Now I feel perfectly normal. No flatness or hyperness. The only quirk/side effect that has been common is a slight twitch in my legs when im laying or sitting still. I think because I also excercise regularly and started to eat healthy (eliminating sugar and caffine) has been an added benefit to taking Lex.

Silvs

[CirclesOfConfusion]

I started at 5mg for about a week and have been on 10mg in the morning for almost 2 months now.

The only obvious side effect so far has been the mostly dormant libido.  I say obvious because theres so many things in flux in my life right now that I don't really know what is affecting what.  Its pretty hard to get interested and once interested, its takes forever to get anywhere. 

I also didn't start the Lex until I was already on my way out of my latest trip to the deep dark Abyss.  When I was floundering down there I was so fatalistic and illogical that I took forever to drag myself in to see a doc and then took forever after that to make the decision to try the Lex samples he gave me.

When I finally did start taking it the first things to improve were my weepiness (it was daily up until then) and my major irritability.  I'm finding that I can actually distract myself from the ruminations before they get overwhelming most of the time.  Molehills don't explode into mountains as often.

Definitly feeling mentally and physically blah a lot and not as interested in my activities as I know I can be but I don't know how much that has to do with the Lex or with the other major life changes going on right now.

Pdoc wants me to stay at 10mg for at least 6 months to see if things even out then maybe add some Wellbutrin to see if it helps with the libido if the Lex is working fine otherwise.  But no matter what he wants me to stay on something or another for at least a solid year since I have a history of Abyss-like periods at least once or twice a year every year for at least the last 10 years.

Yep, my Dx and Rx are about as vanilla as it gets.

[Nick Post]

Oh, and for me, as for anorgasmia, no, but I do have delayed ejaculation, which is actually kinda nice.  But my lebido is down some, but it needed to be downed some. I was just plain annoying to the wife.

[Bluemchen]

I've been on Lex since this year of Eastern, and take 10mg so far.

It's the only antidepressant I've ever been on, but I'll still give it a 5 on a scale of 5, simply because it helped a lot with my irritability, depression, anxiety etc..

I had a rough couple of days behind me, but I really feel better again, usually if I would've had a down it would take a week or more to get back to my normal self, but with the Lex it took only 2 days or so.

I also experience the jaw clenching, the lack of sexual desire, and no more multiple orgasms for me

The great thing about it, is that I haven't experienced any weight gain so far, don't take things to personal anymore and a whole lot more of energy.

Ginger

[Stranger]

2/5

It feels bad giving it such a low grade while everyone else here likes it so much. But pdoc said he read some some research saying that people in my part of the work react badly to Cipralex (Lexapro).

I was on 5 mg for a month. It multiplied my anxiety by 100, gave me anxiety attacks, and by the fourth week, I had my worst ever dip into the abyss of depression. Maybe it's due to the fact that it was prescribed by a GP who hadn't heard of that piece of research. I also lost more weight than I had already lost when depressed (a bad thing for me since I'm skinny).

The only good thing was that I could concentrate again, even with the anxiety.

[gretl]

Sorry, I can't rate Lexapro because I've never been on "just that".  I was on Trileptal and Wellbutrin for a year, and it increased my anxiety so I switched to Trileptal and Lexapro.  This has been a good combination, as long as I take at bedtime.  I have the usual lethargy and lack of motivation and low libido that all SSRI's have given me, so I can't take off points on Lex just for that  B) But at 10mg it's good for my anxieties and general agitation.  Oh yeah, and no depression, LOL!

Stranger, sorry you had that experience ... YMMV, as they say.  If you don't mind my asking, what does this mean:  "But pdoc said he read some some research saying that people in my part of the work react badly to Cipralex (Lexapro)."?

[Stranger]

If you don't mind my asking, what does this mean:

[StrungOutOnLife]

None of the studies found on a Pubmed search for "lexapro"--Pubmed doesn't let you direct link to searches unless they are found through Google--mentioned anything about ethnicity, much less ethnic differences in drug reaction.

[deet]

I'm on 10mg for five weeks.  Prior to that, I did four months of effexor, which gave me a few good days at each successive dose, then another crash.  I'm functional, I'm productive, I don't seem to need my xanax for the anxiety anymore......the question is where's the *%&$ JOY in life?  That little jazz you feel when the radio station plays your favorite song....the happy anticipation of taking your kid to the zoo....I know I'm suffering depression, and I'm a heluva lot better than I was (yay lexapro!) but I'm terrified that this is all there is.

No side effects, other than this is the heaviest I've been in five years (three months ago I was the lightest I'd been in eight years).  Should I wait another couple weeks, or go to 20mg?  Or is this all I can expect (hey, I'm not sobbing on my morning commute anymore).  Watcha all think?

[Guest PinkToo2grrl]

if 10 mg is effectively treating your anxiety and depression.  i wouldn't recommend increasing the dosage. in my experience, and that of some others i have seen, and heard of, lexapro can give you the blahs,  that absense of zest you are describing.  so i'm thinking more lexapro is not going to treat the depression/anxiety mo' bettah, but it could very well increase the blahs.  I am currently test driving an adjunct of wellbutrin to counteract the blahs.  started at a very low dose (75 mg)  and just today increased to 150.  average dose seems to be 300, so i am far off from knowing if this will work for me, but it is a possibility.  check the cocktail board for more info on WB/Lex combo.

When i tried decreasing the dosage of lexapro to get rid of the blahs, i was  very quickly reminded of how very effectively it DOES treat my depression and anxiety and how very lucky I am to have found it.  a little blahs, well, might be worth it in the long run compared to the alternative (life full of D&A)

Good Luck!

[Beck]

I've just been put on Lexapro, after going through effexor and Prozac.  My pdoc put gave me a prescription for 20mg., and I'm supposed to take 10mg. for the first week.  I've taken the 10mg. now for 6 days, but I'm thinking I should probably just stay at 10mg for the first month at least.  Right now I don't feel any joy towards anything, and I don't want to feel numb any longer.  I am hopeful Lexapro will work, and the good news is I haven't had any side effects yet.  Will update y'all in a few weeks.

[deet]

The Blahs.....yeah, yeah, the Blahs, that's it!!!!  Or maybe the Hopeless Blahs.  It makes me wonder if once again I'm on the wrong drug.  Like I'm trying to get from Minnessota to Florida and I wind up in Delaware.  Yeah, I'm closer, but am I going in the right direction?

[kthreekids]

I am going off of lexapro 10mg right now...four weeks out.

Ok...the jaw clenching...can someone explain this....I have it horribly now OFF of the meds.

When I went on the meds I got so much better...no neck pain, back pain, jaw clenching (I show my stress in physical ways).

Now that I am off of it it is horrible again.

oh...I went off bc of the weight gain.

Can you enlighten me on the jaw clenching? could this be a withdrawal symptom that will go away?

Kelley

[Nick Post]

I figure if the Lexapro gave the the clenchies, it'll take them away when it goes, but remember, this thing has a 36ish hour half life.  It'll take a while to go bye bye.

10 mg blahs, Hey, been there.  Now I'm on 20 and I'm much better.  10 was only taking the edge off.  Now that I'm on 20, I realize that 10 wasn't working that great.  And, as for that kicky feeling you get when you hear a good song, it's rare and far between, but had it today with some song off Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned by the Prodigy. 

But, I only upped because it pooped on me after two months.

I don't mind the jaw clenching, but my teeth match perfectly and I don't grind.

[kthreekids]

36hr ish half life?

I have been off of it totally almost a month...isnt it out yet? My Dr. is wishy washy with any type of answer.

HOw long should I wait it out before going back on something?

Kelley

[deet]

Went up to 20mgs last night.  Just didn't like settling for the semi-crummy feelings every day.  Nick Post's posts encouraged me to bump it up and see if I can get back to the Mr. Incredible that I was before.  Now we shall see what we shall see.

[igloo]

I was on 10, then 20 mg for MDD but after 8 weeks, didn't feel better - just very flat, no moods at all - not happy, sad, angry, etc...didn't even get irritated, even at stupid coworker or nosey neighbors.

Also not motivated enough to get anything accomplished.

Anorgasmic after getting over no libido at all. 

Jaw clenching was worst at change in dose and phasing off...not really better now as I'm on the way up on Effexor but not much grinding of teething, just clenching.

Hope it works for you,

Igloo