YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

Just got bumped up to 20mg, and the results are pretty good so far.. Anyone else have experience with this?

I"ve done so very well with Lexapro but I am on 40 mg. As I recall, I've been on Lexapro for about 4-5 years but only up to 40 mg for 3 years.

It works for me. No side effects. Heck, I don't even know what the side effects are for this med. It makes me normal.

I've been on Lexapro (and its predecessor, Celexa) for 10 years. I go between 10mg (doing well) to 20mg (depressive relapse). I didn't even know you could get 40mg! The doctors tell me 20mg is the max. Anyway, it seems to be the only thing that works for me. I have tried others, hoping for less side-effects, but they never help my moods like Lexapro. My side-effects are (and have gotten a little more noticeable over the course of 10 years, but are still not as bad as being crazy):

1. decrease sexual urges, which actually really sucks for my marriage but my husband is understanding.
2. deceased ability to orgasm, which mainly sucks for me.
3. short-term memory loss.
4. works well for depression, but as of recently, not helping so much with anxiety.
5. some trouble sleeping, so I use Melatonin on bad nights.

All in all, I'm sure this medication has saved my life, my marriage, and my kids' lives. It seems to be the best medication for me, having tried about 5 others over the course of years. Good luck!

Hey.. Update..

Got bumped to 30mg doesnt really help with my anxiety though. I my psychiatrist said that the manufacturer is doing away with Lexapro for the patient assistance program which gives me free meds. However I may be going back to Celexa which is only $4 at Walmart or Target . However the equivelant of the effectiveness of Celexa to my dosage of Lexapro is 60 mg which pharmacies will not fill , so we'd have to see.

Lexapro has gone generic finally, so maybe you can afford it? I'm not sure the price. My insurance covers it. Good luck!

I take 2 20mg tablets prescribed by my physician.

I do have generalized anxiety and it doesn't amount to anything, but isn't that just part of life? We all get anxious at times. I don't worry about it. I just figure it is part of life. Fortunately, with Lexapro, it has given me the courage to face my marriage head on. My child and I are in a better place and the divorce should be final in the next couple of months. Life is good.

I am new to Lexapro, just came off of Effexor XR. Am up to 30mg, but don't feel like it is doing the job. I also gained 10 lbs, which adds to my depression. Anyone have weight gain with this drug?
Thanks,
Elizabeth

I need some help... the doc put me on generic Lexapro a couple of months ago while we started to look at what else could be going on. After a 2 months, I wasn't really feeling any sort of benefit (still having depressive episodes). So instead of dropping the $80 a month for it (especially since we pinpointed low testosterone and a vitamin D deficiency), I just never refilled it.

Fast forward a couple of weeks to Monday, and out of nowhere, my brain starts feeling bizarre. A little like I'm drunk. I thought it was related to eating some bad meat, but it's now Wednesday and it's still coming and going. One of my co-workers mentioned that it could be a side-effect of dropping the Lexapro cold-turkey.

Does this sound about right? Anything I can do to minimize the effects while I wait for this to get out of my system?

It is my understanding that Lexapro depletes from the bloodstream quickly. I know I'm not explainging this properly but I was told by a pharmacist that unlike other anti-depressants, the affects of going off the med can be felt as soon as 2-3 days off the med no matter how long you have been off of it. In one of my less wise moments, I decided I would discontinue use of my 40mg dosage. Well, come 3 days later, boy was I feeling it... couldn't stop crying, became a recluse, etc. Fortunately, I had the sense enough to realize that I must need my meds. I took my dosage on day 4 and by day 6 I was almost myself again. So, a therapeutic dose does not stay in the system long, as so I found out.

The half life of Lexapro is supposed to be pretty slow, so Im not sure why you're feeling dizzy.. Drugs like Paxil which come on quickly and dissipate quickly have a tendency to give you tremors/dizziness/flue like symptoms while it metabolizes, but I never had that problem with Lexapro.