Hoi
I think Lexapro is the same is Cipralex, or Escitalopram?
I used it Norway, here in the Netherlands I can't get it so I have to take Citalopram instead. I liked it very much, it helped me get out of a mahor depression and helped me keep my chin up during a very turbulent time. I have struggled with recurrent major depression (endogenous) since I was a child, and this is helping me a lot. I am a bit surprised that it is also supposed to help you with possible bipolar though. Mt p doc was a bit reluctant to give it to me since I have bipolarness in the family. She said it could possibly trigger a manic episode. It has not taken away my anxiety totally, but most of it, and it has given me full control over possibly panic attacks. I had been working quite successfully through the worst of my anxiety and panick attack already, but I could now relax more about it. What I noticed most was the change during the first weeks. I got suddenly full of energy, and lost everything that can be called fear. After 2-3 weeks this stabilized, and now I feel very much similar to the normal me (with 10mg escitalopram/40mg citalopram)... That is, I have my ups and downs, but Im not crawling on my knees all the time. I have normal reactive sadness, normal feelings of anger, happiness and pleassure. I have had a few small cracks, but that was in a period where I could finally start caring for my wounds after a terrible time. I never cracked totally, and it didn't take me that long to get out of it.

I don't take anything else, but being a clinical psychologist I am also quite train in thought controlling myself when I feel something threatening approach me. Having gone through different types of psychotherapy, read so thoroughly about different clinical situations, and met so many people with different problems... I have many advantages to help me up and around. And of course, I am so lucky that I can feel that my daughter work as an antidepressive for me, with her caretaking kindness and artistic interpretations of music. She makes me laugh so often that my endorphine level probably shoots up.

Good luck on it, it doesn't work for everyone, but for me it was a very good one.

Sincerely, Charlie