[stuck1978]

Hello,

I'm on my 6th week of Lexapro at 15 mg. I started out with 5 for the first week, then went up to 10, and then 15 starting the 5th week. I'm honestly not noticing much difference in my anxiety.

I know it should start working between 4th and 6th weeks, but I've heard it might take longer for anxiety.

Just was curious if anyone can share their experience.

Thanks,

-stuck

[AnxietyMaster]

I have a friend who took it first for two months and it did nothing. Then she just went to benzos, then years later she tried Lexapro again and it worked wonders for her.

[Nike007]

Hello. I am on Lexapro. For me, it actually took like 3-4 months to notice things for my anxiety. It has helped me a lot. I have moderate social anxiety and talking to strangers before was impossible with major anxiety. I talked to someone about my problems and I was able to talk to people in general (probably could be considered selective mutism, a mild form. Not like my childhood). Then after being on Lexapro, I could talk to strangers the first day I met them. I still have major performance anxiety, but generalized is like 10x better.

If this is for GAD, the only thing that I have really noticed is less headaches and a bit less worrying. If it is a major thing to me, I can't concentrate at all. So it's really good for my social anxiety, okay for GAD.

I barely have any side effects too. Sometimes I am randomly shaking like today, which I think is the medication's fault, because it didn't exist before Lexapro.

Anyways, ask me anything else. This has been my experience.

Also, I am on 10mg. 15mg was too much for me. Had those shake episodes too frequently on 15mg.

Hope this helps .

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[stuck1978]

Hi,

Thanks for the information. I have GAD. There are just a lot of things around that cause me anxiety and serve as triggers even though technically they should't, but they're based on associations I formed between certain events and places, people, etc. I often have feelings of apprehension, doom and being trapped.

The anxiety itself is powerful in terms of making me unsociable, wanting to withdraw, and I'm unable to focus. I forget obligations, lose train of thought, etc.

I had side effects the first week. Dizziness and tingling, but they went away. Other than that, I haven't noticed much of anything really.

I guess I wonder what encouraged you to keep on taking it for months? For me, it was a big step to accept the possibility of medication, and I was beginning to think that if this didn't begin to work for a couple of week, I'll ask my dr to start taking me off it.

-stuck

[Nike007]

Originally Posted by stuck1978

Hi,

Thanks for the information. I have GAD. There are just a lot of things around that cause me anxiety and serve as triggers even though technically they should't, but they're based on associations I formed between certain events and places, people, etc. I often have feelings of apprehension, doom and being trapped.

The anxiety itself is powerful in terms of making me unsociable, wanting to withdraw, and I'm unable to focus. I forget obligations, lose train of thought, etc.

I had side effects the first week. Dizziness and tingling, but they went away. Other than that, I haven't noticed much of anything really.

I guess I wonder what encouraged you to keep on taking it for months? For me, it was a big step to accept the possibility of medication, and I was beginning to think that if this didn't begin to work for a couple of week, I'll ask my dr to start taking me off it.

-stuck

I understand. Being around people usually does it for me.

Yep. Some days I want to avoid everyone and curl up and a ball and sleep my anxiety away if possible.

I had a few side effects the first week. I forget what it was. It's been 6 months o I don't exactly remember.

Well, I found no result so I just waited to see if one happened. I didn't really want to switch too soon because my mom is all "mental health is fake" type of thing, and if I stopped this one, I believe it could be a lot worse than it is now.

I feel a couple weeks is too short. I noticed it after a while, but that may just be me I don't know. Don't expect immediately results. I suggest only taking it off if the side effects are terrible or forced. Yes, 3 months may be a long time, but I feel happier overall. A lot better than before that's for sure.

Hope this helps .

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[busgirl78]

Earlier this year I was prescribed lexapro, I think I was started at 10 mg. I took it at night before bed and on the third night I woke up with the worst panic attack I've ever had. My thoughts were racing like I've never experienced and was very nauseous. The racing thoughts, total loss of control, scared me so bad. I stayed in panic mode for days. Thought I was losing my mind. Asked dr and pharmacist about it. They both said I hadn't been on it long enough for it to have caused it. So, eventually, I tried it again. One pill and it happened again. I literally had a month long breakdown due to it. I think it scared me so bad because I thought, why would it do this with me? What's wrong with me? Thought I was losing my mind. Anyway.. The thought of taking any meds now freaks me out. I might take one Tylenol for a headache if I just can't stand it. Half a .25 mg of Xanax if a panic attack is really bad. That's as much as I can handle. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this??
I really hope lexapro works for you. I'm sorry to bring up my bad experience, doesn't seem to be an issue for you. Thank goodness.

[stuck1978]

busgirl, I read somewhere that Lexapro is likely to make your anxiety increase initially, and that die down after a while. It might be a matter of tolerating the side effects. I think if you try again, talk to the dr to start with 5mg, the way I did, and put yourself in a situation where most of the usual anxiety triggers are removed. I went away for a week. The side effects were scary for me too, as I had never had any side effects from medication, but I powered through it. By the end of the week they were gone.

I'm still wondering if anyone else had positive results with Lexapro for anxiety, and when they kicked in. I don't expect immediate results, but I need to make some changes in my life, and the anxiety is preventing me from moving on.

[PinkMermaid]

I am currently on Lexapro and it's been about 8 1/2 weeks. I would say for me it really only started taking some sort of effect about 3-ish weeks ago. It definitely takes time and I believe it's still working up to it's full potential. You've just got to be patient and see how it works. It's done good things in helping me with anxiety, I do have spurts. Sometimes I'm great and then other days it may not be so good but this medication has helped me a lot. I was really struggling for quite a few weeks when first starting the medication, it got worse before it got better.