Just started lexapro/celexa

[Zoot]

I've never taken any antidepressants before. Well, I tried starting Effexor last year and the initial 4 days were too much for me. My doctor started me on Lexapro 6 days ago, at a low dose of 5mg. The first few days were pretty awful as my anxiety really go the better of me--I felt like I was going crazy and started having suicidal thoughts. The doc did give me some Ativan to help with the increased anxiety in the short term and I tried one on the weekend.

My main question right now is: I'm increasing my dose to 10mg tonight. Should I expect the next few days to be just as rough as when I started the 5mg doses?

I feel considerably better now at Day 6 on 5mg in terms of the anxiety; obviously it hasn't gone away but it's at far more manageable levels (still somewhat elevated--situations that would normally not give me much anxiety are giving me some physical symptoms at the moment).

Oh, I also have been having terrible insomnia. I was already waking early (often 4:30am, one day 3:30am) prior to starting the Lexapro, though it was only really bad for a week before that. Once I started the Lexapro though, I fall asleep pretty quickly but wake up a couple of hours later and can't get back to sleep. The doc gave me Trazodone (5mg) for that, but it's only helping a littler. I've been taking it for a few days now.

I am seeing my doctor tomorrow about the insomnia to see if there is anything more I can do. Have any of you had this experience--is it likely to improve soon?

[superchick22684]

In answer to your main question, there's a chance that you'll have side effects increasing your dose and there's also a chance you won't. Everyone reacts differently to medication. Whatever you do don't google potential side effects.
I'm currently on a combination of Cymbalta and Buspirone and occasionally will wake up in the middle of the night (early morning hours) and won't be able to get back to sleep. As time has passed though this is happening less frequently.
Best of luck to you with your meds.

[Zoot]

In answer to your main question, there's a chance that you'll have side effects increasing your dose and there's also a chance you won't. Everyone reacts differently to medication. Whatever you do don't google potential side effects.
I'm currently on a combination of Cymbalta and Buspirone and occasionally will wake up in the middle of the night (early morning hours) and won't be able to get back to sleep. As time has passed though this is happening less frequently.
Best of luck to you with your meds.

That is certainly good advice. Google hasn't been my best friend these past few months.

[Zoot]

I did 6 days at 5mg and this is now day 4 at 10mg. I'm really starting to question whether medication is right for me. I started it because I was in a really bad situation and feeling awful. Now I don't know if I'm feeling awful because I was anyway or because of the Cipralex. Definitely the first couple of days were intense and I felt horrible. I got that feeling again yesterday. Today is okay so far but I'm starting to feel more anxiety again. And the insomnia is terrible. I had some insomnia before but nothing like this. I sleep for a few hours and then I'm up the rest of the night. The Dr. gave me a prescription for Trazodone to help with the insomnia, and it is helping, but I'm still waking up all the time. I feel like what I'm experiencing now is worse than what I was experiencing before starting the medication.

[Zoot]

The first three days on 10mg were okay, ups and downs but nothing too extreme. Had a lot of anxiety in the evening last night and took an Ativan. Today I hit a real low--it was like when I started and felt like I was losing control of everything. It lasted a couple of hours and then I basically came out of it and felt clear and level.

Is that normal?

I have to be honest, this kind of scares me.

I am worried that between my actual depression and all the side effects of the medication that I'm not going to be able to hold it together at work and lose my job.

[Zoot]

Okay, so I've been at 10mg for 3 1/2 weeks now (5 mg for 6 days before that). So total time on Lexapro is almost 4 1/2 weeks. There have been times when I've felt much better, but also times when I've had a lot of anxiety. Some of that anxiety I felt was caused by the Lexapro, but more recently it seems like it is probably just my regular anxiety.

My Dr. last week wanted to increase my dosage to 15 mg, but I wanted to wait to see how things go. At this point, sometimes I feel quite good and others I feel anxious or depressed, but not to the extent that I did before going on the medication (at least, I don't think so). I still get some side effects too (I was just having burning, tingling sensations in my arms and chest, which I thought I was finished with).

Anyway, at this point, given that I'm still feeling anxiety/depression, do you think the medication still might balance out. I'd like to stay at 10mg if possible. I don't mind experiencing some of these feelings if I'm functioning generally better. I expect it's impossible to get rid of those feelings entirely, and probably wouldn't be ideal anyway.

[Zoot]

It is really weird. I went from feeling pretty lousy and discouraged to feeling pretty good in about an hour. Not sure if this is due to the medication--I had wilder mood swings when I first started it. So I really wonder if things will even out soon at this dose but having never taken this kind of medication I'd love to hear whether anyone has had any similar experiences.

[abluerwhite]

I hated Lexapro. It didn't help my anxiety. And when I got off of it I actually had withdrawal symptoms. I think testing out a different medication might be beneficial.

[Zoot]

I hated Lexapro. It didn't help my anxiety. And when I got off of it I actually had withdrawal symptoms. I think testing out a different medication might be beneficial.

How long were you on Lexapro and at what dose? What kind of withdrawal symptoms did you have and how long did they last? Did you taper off? Have you found other medications helpful?

[Zoot]

Just to update anyone interested (because I searched online quite a bit to see others' experiences starting an SSRI): The past 5 days or so, I've felt great. Better than I have in a long time. I actually feel positive, in control, and optimistic. Part of that may be situational as things are going pretty well generally, but as I said, I haven't felt this good in a long time. It's possible I'll stilll need to adjust my meds, but at this point I'm going to stick with the 10mg. I haven't eradicated anxiety entirely, but it's much more manageable. In fact, I think it's good to have those experiences of anxiety, because I can work on other coping mechanisms with a better sense of perspective.

So, the initial start up was quite rough for me; the first week was pretty brutal. I continued to have sometimes heightened anxiety into the third and fourth weeks, but have been doing great since then. Things seemed to (so far) really settle in the 5th week.

[Zoot]

I will say that I've been having a lot of burning, pins and needles sensations that I really dislike. They contributed to insomnia last night, because I had them for most of the night. Also getting more frequent headaches, like I'm dehydrated and sometimes agitation, which feels different than anxiety. I had started to have some issues with insomnia just before I started the med, but they got significantly worse when I first started. It's improved but I still need to take trazodone to help my sleep (though it didn't help much last night).

All of these side effects are troubling. It's hard to know whether to stick with the med or not. I'm not sure whether I'd be doing better generally at this point even if I wasn't taking the med.

[Zoot]

Oh, today I'm experiencing a lot of anxiety. I guess I spoke too soon. This is really frustrating.

[Zoot]

Oh, today I'm experiencing a lot of anxiety. I guess I spoke too soon. This is really frustrating.

I haven't had anxiety like this in probably a couple of weeks. It's possible I took two 10mg pills yesterday by mistake, instead of just one. Could that account for it? I didn't have a lot of symptoms yesterday but I did have a lot more burning skin sensations, agitation and had a lot more trouble sleeping last night than usual.