About to start taking Lexapro, scared :(

[30sumthin]

Hi everyone, hoping to get a little perspective from those who have been successful with meds. I'm about to start lexapro for anxiety and remember from having taken Zoloft years ago how bad the initial adjustment period can be - increased anxiety/ panic, nausea etc.
Can I please get some advice from people who have been through this and come out the other side - how long did the initial side effects last. The initial period is freaking me out so bad I have been procrastinating about taking this prescription for months. I'd love to hear from those who are on lexapro and finding it working for their anxiety, may help to get me going. Thanks

[Anne1221]

Don't be scared! Lexapro has a low side effect profile and is easy to get used to. It will take about six weeks, but after 3 weeks you'll be over the worst. Each day you will feel better and better...won't that be nice?! Don't be like me. I put off trying Wellbutrin for a whole year because I was too scared to try it. After one pill, I knew it was not for me (bad insomnia). What a waste of worrying about that for a year! Go ahead and start . I started lexapro in 2010 and still LOVE it!! But I have to take a small amount because it was making me tired (I get poor sleep so it makes me very tired).

[superchick22684]

I just went to my gp today (after stalling for months) about the possibility of going back on meds. My therapist actually had a part in getting me to realize that I might need to add medication to my treatment plan. I've previously been on Effexor, Paxil and Cymbalta (not all at once) but haven't been on meds for 7 years. My gp chose Lexapro and I'm supposed to start at 10mg but take it down to 5 if I'm having too many issues.
I'm concerned about side effects but don't want to google (web searches are never a good idea in this case). So I'm curious what other people's experiences have been. My gp kind of scared me because he said initially my anxiety may get worse.

[30sumthin]

Thanks Anne 1221 - you gave me the push I needed to get started, thanks :) Do you still feel really tired on your meds? I get to around 2pm and I could lay down and nap wherever I find myself!

Superchick - I'm on day 5 on 5mg and I'm feeling really tired and nauseous but not 'out of it' like I did when I started Zoloft (i felt like a complete zombie). My anxiety hasn't really gotten worse, I had one mild episode of panic but let it just wash over me without freaking out to much and it passed pretty quickly. I'm sticking to 5mg for the next couple of days and then upping to 10mg as per my GPs instructions, a lot of people start 5mg for a week and then up to 10mg to lessen the potential increase in anxiety, you might want to give that a go. Apparently Lexapro is the market leader at the moment for SSRIs so personally I would interpret that to mean that a lot of people find benefit while on it and can tolerate the side effects quite well. Keep me posted on how you're doing once you get started and we can help each other through this adjustment period.