So I started 5 mg Lexapro 2 weeks ago. I know it takes a while for side effects to get better and to start to feel better, but wouldn't there be some improvement in side effects at 2 weeks in? I feel dizzy and foggy and exhausted and just overall terrible. I have a weird burning in my chest off and on and feel like I'm constantly on the verge of a panic attack. I can't imagine going up any higher at this point. I would think I would feel at least somewhat better. The last time I tried an antidepressant it was Celexa and I felt like that then too. As soon as I went up on the dose I had a horrible panic attack at a restaurant and wound up laying on the bathroom floor so lightheaded I almost passed out! Maybe my body just can't handle these kinds of drugs. I always want to try because I would love to be like others who take them and have such good results, but I'm not sure how long I can feel like this.
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Cuchculan
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As a rule you are maybe talking 3 to 4 weeks before the bad side effects stop. Is the sort of medication that might hit you hard to begin with. That is all normal. Sadly it can be around the 4 week mark before that all stops. During which time most people give up on the medication. If after that time you notice no difference at all, have a word with your doctor. It is a low dose. A starter dose. Thing is some forms of medication can be hard on the body to begin with. I have always been lucky with medication. Most I take are for anxiety. But I do take Remeron. Some people find that hard going. I love it. Never had any side effects at all. Some of us are lucky that way. Others are not.
It's hard to believe it can make a person feel so lousy and then all of the sudden they feel better than they did before. I have never made it past 3 weeks, and that time I wound up in the ER for severe anxiety and burning in the chest like I have now. The ER doctor said I should stop it and that I would have noticed some improvement in my anxiety symptoms by that time. Not sure I can make it another week or 2. Every day I feel like just stopping it, but I shove another pill in my mouth before I change my mind! Oh well, I'm getting kind of used to feeling so physically ill. I don't know what I would do if I had a full day of feeling well.
Cuchculan
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I would say to see how you feel after about 5 weeks. By then it should be working. Even by the 4 week mark it should be working. Thing about side effects is that any new medication has it. Mainly to begin with as your body gets used to it. Though most people quit before the 4 week mark. It is up to the person taken the medication. Is their body. Not something I would ever argue with anybody over. People know what they feel like and how much of it they can put up with. Works better for some than others.
Yeah after yesterday and last night I don't think I want to continue. I was extremely anxious all day yesterday but tried to stay busy. I took my Klonopin last night expecting to sleep decently but woke up a couple hours later with my heart beating really hard and feeling super anxious. since I only take a low dose of Klonopin I took another half and my heart continued to beat hard and slightly fast and felt horribly anxious. I may have gotten a couple more hours of sleep but woke up with my heart beating the same way and my stomach burning and chest burning and now I feel lousy and still super anxious. There is no way I can keep feeling like this.
Cirqueme
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It took me like a month if not a month and a half for side effects to be gone
I called my doctor and they said to hang in there if possible for a month so I made myself take it again. I started feeling better as the day went on, so I guess I will take one day at a time.
So after your side effects went away did you feel a lot better? I'm just hoping it's worth it lol. I know everyone is different.
Cirqueme
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Yes, I did...much better....the only annoying part about taking an antidepressant is the gradual change. Hang in there. You got this
Thanks!!Yes, I did...much better....the only annoying part about taking an antidepressant is the gradual change. Hang in there. You got this
Cirqueme
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You will...I promise
Well I'm a few days away from a month on Lexapro and still feel foggy and anxious. Woke up this morning at probably 4:30 or so and laid there feeling super nervous for hours and finally got up. I think I've had enough of this. Not that I felt good before either, but I really think I would be noticing at least some improvement by now. I don't expect to feel great but why keep taking something if there is no improvement at all? I might take 1/2 of one for a couple days. I have a doctor's appointment on Friday so can discuss it with him then I guess.
Don't you guys think I should feel at least a little bit of a positive effect by now?
Don't you guys think I should feel at least a little bit of a positive effect by now?
bin_tenn
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There is no hard rule for how long it takes a medication to work. Everyone is different. Sometimes the med just doesn't work at all for certain people, which may or may not be the case for you. Yes, please do discuss it with your doctor. I agree, though, that taking a med is pointless if it isn't providing any tangible benefits at all.
Are you also trying therapy, or no? For some, therapy by itself works wonders, same for meds. And for others it takes a combination of meds and therapy.
Are you also trying therapy, or no? For some, therapy by itself works wonders, same for meds. And for others it takes a combination of meds and therapy.
I had been in therapy for a couple years and then a year ago switched to a psychologist and saw him until recently. It seemed like we ran out of things to talk about. All he kept saying was that I need to change my thoughts, and at our last visit he almost feel asleep, so I stopped seeing him. I guess I need to find someone else again, but it really didn't seem to do a lot of good. I have been in an anxious/depression for the last year - the second time in my life I've had this, and I've tried everything I know to do. I am still do some meditations twice a day and breathing exercises, a take 0.50 at night to help with sleep. The last time I had this it took close to 2 years to resolve. I was really hoping the Lexapro would help. I tried Celexa a few years ago just for anxiety at that time and it basically did the same thing. I wound up in the ER after 3 weeks with severe burning in my chest, and the ER doctor said it should have started working somewhat by that time and to quit taking it, so maybe I just can't tolerate SSRIs.
Cirqueme
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Give it more time....what is the dosage that you're taking? I'm also taking lexapro. It took me a bit for it to rant start working. I really notice the positive affect it had on my anxiety when I went to 20 mg