Lexapro

[Kathryn]

Well, I got started on 10mg of Lexapro yesterday. Hopefully this will help me. Shortly after I took the pill though, I got dizzy, really hot, tons of energy, lots of nausea, and then really really tired. Is this normal? It was liked I had a short time high, then I came down off of it. I have a two week sample pack and then if it works, I will fill the prescription, but if not, I'll be switched to Welbutrin (sp?) or Zoloft. What side effects have any of you noticed with Lexapro? My doctor told me loss of sex drive, weight gain, and fatigue are normal side effects. I don't really understand that I guess. I thought those were symptoms of depression?

[weebitty2]

i had the same side affects with lexapro .. but for me, they weren't tolerable. It raised my base body temp 2 degrees, and i got wicked cases of the shakes from it. Supposedly the affects go away after a couple weeks, but I couldn't function on it.

[Kathryn]

Why does it do that, do you know? What other medication did you end up taking, if any at all? I don't know if I'll be able to stand it or not. It'll take a couple days for me to tell.

[weebitty2]

I would guess maybe because there was a difference in serotonin levels in my blood after starting the medication and my body wasn't used to it. I just couldn't adjust to the changes in levels, and ended up back on Prozac afterwards. It may have worked well for me if I could have stuck it out, but I was uncomfortable with the fact that the "side effects" and symptoms of overdose/serotonin syndrome are pretty much one and the same.

[Jish]

Kathryn, I went on Lexapro right after it was put on the market a couple of years ago. I had many of the same things that you described. They are common side effects of many ssri's. I noticed that I had the side effects for a few weeks and they slowly lost their intensity in the weeks after I went on them and by a month after starting, I was fine. I couldn't tell that I was taking any mediction, other than the depression was under control. If you are finding that the side effects are too hard, you can try backing off to 5mg for a couple weeks then going up to 10mg when your body had adjusted to the smaller dosage.

Seretonin affects many different areas of our body, not just our brain. I recently read that much of our seretonin deposits in our gastro/intestinal system. One thing that I really noticed when I first went on was that it took away my hunger cues. I didn't notice my stomach growling, or feel hungry until suddenly I would feel hot, weak, dizzy and realize that I hadn't eaten in hours and hours. I had the fatigue at first too, but it went away. If that is a big problem, talk to your doctor about when you are taking the med, perhaps you can change the time of day that you are taking it. Perhaps switching to before bed would help if you are taking it in the morning.

Things that I didn't notice -- weight gain, no change whatsoever for me. My sex drive didn't change, nor did I find any difference in my ability to, well, you know (this is a family friendly site, you know. )

Try to give it at least a couple of weeks before you switch meds if at all possible. A month would be great because it will give you the time to see if the side effects start to wane. Meds like Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac, etc are in the same med family (Selective seretonin reuptake inhibitors -- ssri's) and list basically the same side effects, though they can be different and affect different people differently.

All this said, it sounds much like what I went through when I first went on it. It's easy for me to say that the side effects were worth it because I got so bad that I was hospitalized because I had lost so much weight and wasn't eating anything by the time I was correctly diagnosed. Though I wasn't suicical, I was about as bad as anyone should get. For me, the side effects were well worth getting myself back. I can see how the side effects could be daunting if you are still functional day to day. After all, the physical side effects can be a pain at first because it often adds things that aren't there with the depression for a while. In the end I was on it for 8 months and was very happy with it. I am contemplating going back on it again and see my doctor next week. Though I'm not looking forward to dealing with the side effects for a few weeks, I know that it pays off in the end.

Good luck, and feel free to PM me if you have any questions. Keep us posted on how you're hanging in.

[EllasMama]

I had similar side effects, also. My main ones were being hot/sweating, feeling spacey (things like losing my train of thought or not being able to find the right word for a couple seconds), queasiness, and trouble sleeping. They all began to decline within a week and went away within probably 2-3 weeks. Despite the side effects, I could begin to feel it working within a week, and within the 2-3 week time frame I felt basically like my old self again. It's worked really well for me. Hope it works for you, too.

Carol

[JessicaS]

Everyone reacts differently to anti-depressants. I was taking Zoloft and noticed many of the side effects you mentioned (except no weight gain..it made me nauseaus and I have a wuss stomach so I tend to just puke rather than be nauseaus)

Since I had so many side effects they switched me to wellbutrin and I noticed a huge difference in my energy levels and I was also a lot less spacy. I also noticed that although I am not sexually active (single mom) that I *had* been having sexual side effects, I just hadn't noticed, and my sex drive suddenly returned out of nowhere!! (GAH!)

I am much happier with the Wellbutrin. It is not an SSRI though..I forget the name of the family it is in but it works differently.