# back on lexapro with wonderful side effects...



## blueFsharp (Mar 18, 2008)

i've been off my lexapro for a few months because i had been feeling great (and continued to after i stopped) but i've started again because i have a study abroad trip coming up which i'm sure will set me off in some ways (i'm on it for depression and the anxiety). the side effects are killlllling me and its just been three days back on, ugh. everything makes me tired, i don't care about anything, headaches, and my sex drive is so dead i don't even enjoy kissing my boyfriend right now.

ugh, i just needed a place to complain to people who understand. 
i'm thinking about when i come back from my trip, switching to a medicine that doesn't kill my sex drive so much. anyone had to deal with that awkward conversation? tips? i'm nervous.


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## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

Most side effects go away within a week or two of sustained use except sexual side effects, they may take months to go away or just never go away for the duration of the drug treatment.


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## arthur56 (Jul 31, 2005)

may help to take it just before bed, I agree that the side effects shouldnt last long, you may need a higher dose to get it working again


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## Rob (Sep 25, 2005)

I heard 2 completely opposite schools of though with Lex.
One came from those who used it for a few days, said the sides were unbearable and couldn't hack it.
The other came from when I went through an intensive inpatient 10 day evaluation, saw about 7 different psychiatrists, and for once in my life put a little bit of trust in doctors.

I've taken MANY different meds (mostly ssri's, benzos, and betas) and as much as I've always wanted to lose faith in doctors I always find myself veering from side to side.

When I started Lex I was in a clinic (or "psychward", be careful with your judgements lol) And I was started on 5mg. In about 5-6 days I found myself zoned out, intensely serious, and closing in closer to suicide than before I got there.
Mind you I've never labeled nor considered myself depressed. Some people call it 2 different sides of the same coin, I don't. Anxiety/paranoia has always been my real issue.

Doctors kept telling me "its natural, its the meds, it WILL go away". I kept thinking "I'm here for a reason, a reason the meds you prescribed are only making worse, you have no idea what you're talking about".
And in reality they're not psychic, they don't have supernatural powers. BUT they DO see, treat, and experience MANY patients. They have gathered consensus's that you will most likely never be able to understand.
I stayed on the lex, 1 month passed, than 2.. than 3. And I still found myself questioning "what the hell is this med doing for me?".

I wasn't zoned out anymore, I was still anxious, BUT I noticed I could walk around public w/out having panic attacks. Even when I thought about them, they just didn't happen anymore. I went from my first week on Lex wanting to rid myself from this planet more than when I admitted myself to the clinic, to strangely noticing WOW, SOMETHING SERIOUS has changed in my brain.
On paxil I was fat and happy, & forgetfully stupid to the point of walking into a supermarket barefoot one day realizing a certain area of my memory just wasn't working anymore, it was very scary to say the least. Withdrawls had me vomiting for 2 weeks off of 50mg.
On zoloft I had about 9 panic attacks the first week and flushed the rest in the toilet, I was a paranoid jittery mess.
On.. well lets put it this way, I stopped everything for a good reason.

I can't tell you how your brain will react. 
All I can say is I've been through A LOT. I don't consider Lex some miracle drug. A lot of times I forget I'm even on it. I've gained weight, its annoying, but I'm about 4-5 months in and all I can say is that I can walk around this world w/out that snowball of anxiety expanding out of control.
I've had to lower the dose (not raise) to acccidentally discover a lower dosage actually relieved more anxiety than a higher dosage. I didn't discover that till I decided to VERY slowly ween myself completely off, than redecide I was making the wrong decision.

So what can I say? Finding the right med can be easy sometimes, other times it can be extremely difficult. Its like flipping a coin, you never really know.
But my point is, with Lex, I'm more than glad I listened to the doctors and decided to not get off of it. I was also in a different environement where certain things were much harder to accomplish (like suicide) but still no where near impossible, but today I'm very glad I went through that little sacrifice.
G/luck!
And NO, I still do have panic attacks, but they are predictable, far and few between, and a million times better than in the past.


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## blueFsharp (Mar 18, 2008)

yeah thats how i feel on it too. i'm still very aware of my anxiety, but its just not as crazy bad as it used to be. i just hate these first couple of weeks of side effects. and i have switched to taking it at night a while ago because of the tiredness thing. the tiredness tends to go away though, where the sex drive thing is pretty much throughout the duration of using it. not normally as bad as it is right now though. but my dose has been upped as of awhile ago, so maybe it is this bad now? oh noooo, haha.


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## Rob (Sep 25, 2005)

Ok about the sex thing. I'll put it this way. I have an abnormally high natural sex drive. I'm not sure exactly what that means. But for me, I can be on mostly anything, see a naked girl, and I'm up for the occasion. 
For me the sexual sides of all meds have gone away usually within the first few weeks. For paxil is was closer to 2 months, for lex after like the first 2 weeks. 
I actually LOVE anything that challenges my libido, and I hate the fact that my libido always wins. Itd be a gift to not think about sex for a whole 10mins of my life in a row.

About the dosage, after you raise the dose give it like 4 weeks untill you decide to lower it again or maybe even raise it more. Just remember how you respond to certain stimuli at each dosage as a reference point to what dosage was working the best.
I like the fact that for me Lex has been the "cleanest" ssri I've been on. I can still think, remember and act as normal. I still deal with anxiety but Lex keeps it much more "normal" for me. 
Like I get anxious about things now that I assume most other people do to. (not all the time though lol) And because the simple act of walking in public use to trigger panic attacks and now I literally can walk around and NOT CARE AT ALL about what people are thinking, plotting or w/e against me.
Like I cant tell you how many times I've skipped class because I was 5 mins late, knew I'd have to walk into to a full class in session and be the center of attention for an entire 3 seconds with was always panic territory for me.
Now I walk in and actually try to make myself have a panic attack. I'll stare people in the eye, won't race to my seat, I'll usually sit down and laugh in my head to myself, like "I own you panic attacks".
And its a nice little gift for me.
G/luck! Just play it by year and don't make assumptions about anything untill you have a solid reason to do so, like time & experience.


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