[traveler79]

Newbie here. Family member recently diagnosed with OCD and start 10 mg for one month, bumped to 20 mg and after almost 3 months nothing. So doc bumped him to 30 mg 48 hours ago.

I have read SSRI take 2-3 months to work and also need high dosage. My question relates to side effects: up until 48 hrs ago, no side effects and of course no effect on OCD. Two hours after taking new 30 mg [takes it in the morning], he felt sleepy, took 4 hr nap. Same thing happened day 2.

1. Would this be side effect?
2. Would onset of this be so fast?

[sugahorse1]

I was prescribed an SSRI for depression. It was Lexapro too. I went up to 20mg and took it at night, because it does have the tendency to cause drowsiness.
Speak to the pdoc about taking it at night rather.
THe onset could have been because his body have had a tolerance up to 20mg, so he was not feeling any effects. At 30mg, the tolerance level may have been exceeded - causing him to experience the drug properly. Drowsiness is very common

[traveler79]

Originally Posted by sugahorse

THe onset could have been because his body have had a tolerance up to 20mg, so he was not feeling any effects. At 30mg, the tolerance level may have been exceeded - causing him to experience the drug properly. Drowsiness is very common

Thanks for your reply. Couple of follow-ups:

1. Did you feel the effect "immediately" after increase in dosage? The reason I ask is because it usually takes some time for the SSRI to take effect and kinda of surprised the drowsiness hit so quickly - 2-3 hrs later?

2. The 'good news' might be the tolerance level has been 'exceeded' so that means the drug is finally 'taking effect'?

[sugahorse1]

I think point 2 is what I was getting at. you should see an improvement if your friend is experiencing some side-effects. As ironic as it sounds, but I think that once a tolerance level has been exceeded, the drugs will start affecting the body. In this case, I hope positively.

I started off on 5mg, then went to 10mg, and then 20mg. I didn't notice a drastic drowsiness, but like I mentioned - I've always taken mine at night - I was being treated for depression.
You mention your friend suffers from OCD - could he also have underlying depression? When I'm depressed I get VERY sleepy.
I hope your friend feels better soon.

[flying_debris]

I was on 30mg of lexapro when I was 13/14 and I noticed that I was drowsy for the first few weeks of taking it. It went away for me, but I stopped taking it because it made me very drowsy.