Three weeks on SSRIs and side effects?

[hannah92]

Hi

Wondering if anyone has any advice or suggestions please. My doctor started me on Escitalopram (lexapro) almost four weeks ago - I've been suffering with bad anxiety and moderate depression. During the first week I felt like a zombie, the second week I felt better and now coming to the end of my third week/start of my fourth I've felt more anxious and also been experiencing palpitations which I know can both be a symptom and cause of anxiety. I'm just wondering whether this is normal for An ssri to have this and whether it's something I should try to push through or whether I should consider stopping it? I really appreciate any help or advice anyone can offer with this one.

[NixonRulz]

I have heard of a bunch of people here that have gotten more anxious before it settled it down but I never experienced that

So is it normal? Maybe.... I believe anxious people starting meds makes their mind wander all over the place about them and they get anxious because of their thoughts and believe it is the meds

If I recall, Lexapro is in that 6-8 week before full effect range. I would certainly ride it out and see how you progress over the next weeks

I have never heard of heart palps from a SSRI. Most palpitations are caused from shallow chest breathing, which all anxious people seem to do.

When you get them, a few normal breaths from your belly should stop them in their tracks

Oh, and welcome aboard, Hannah

[Ahlstrom]

I've been on Lexapro for around four years. I started out with a whopping 40mg daily, but now I'm down to 10mg daily and I have a lot more anxiety. It's difficult to tell whether or not your symptoms are being caused by the drug, every single person on Earth is bound to react differently to drugs, combine that with the fact that external stressors could play a part... kind of impossible to tell. Personally I can't remember having any palpitations, but I will tell you that a loss of sex drive is very common, happened to me.

[Kixxi]

Hi

Wondering if anyone has any advice or suggestions please. My doctor started me on Escitalopram (lexapro) almost four weeks ago - I've been suffering with bad anxiety and moderate depression. During the first week I felt like a zombie, the second week I felt better and now coming to the end of my third week/start of my fourth I've felt more anxious and also been experiencing palpitations which I know can both be a symptom and cause of anxiety. I'm just wondering whether this is normal for An ssri to have this and whether it's something I should try to push through or whether I should consider stopping it? I really appreciate any help or advice anyone can offer with this one.

I've been on a multitude of medications. I am no expert and every person is different, but for me it took about eight weeks to get stability from my medication. Heart palpitations was something I had major problems with when I started on Sertraline, after eight weeks it disappeared completely though.

My physician says to always come back after four weeks when my medication has changed. I need to tell you it is a bad idea to stop with your medication immediately. Even on 30 grams of citalopram I had to build down with alternate days and then halfing the dose, in short a real mess. What I would advise is going back to your doctor once your fourth week has ended and when the symptoms have not subsided.