Will someone please answer about Lexapro?

Is anyone on it? Does it help? Side effects? I'm just starting this one so want to know what others have experienced so i can be on the look out for things going wrong.

I took it in the past, and I'm back on, makes me a little manic but this time I know I have ciclothymia so Im taking it with topamax, in the past the wors thing that happened was that I coulnt not sleep but I use to take ambien every night. Now with the topamax doesnt seem like I will have to, I loweing my effexor dose which has been a nighmare for me, and increasing my lexapro to 10mg today, let's ee what happens.

I am a mental health doctor and also suffer from a recurrent major depressive disorder (among a multitude of other health problems). My major depressive episodes are usually melancholic. During my last major depressive episode, after consultation with my local GP, I tooke Lexapro 10 mg mane. It was rapidly effective. I had some insomnia during the initial days but this quickly resolved. The main side effect was a massive drop in libido.

Lexapro is the SSRI I most commonly prescribe to my patients when I think an SSRI is appropriate. It appears to have a more rapid onset of action and is generally well tolerated, other than its effects on sex.

Hi, ajneat,

I've been on lex for almost 3 years now and can't really remember what it was like before it, frankly. I'm pretty sure it was bad, at least my journals say so. I know the sexual side effects are horrible and almost broke up my marriage but eventually we learned how to overcome it. By now you should be either ecstatic about how wonderful you feel (like I did), or you feel like crap, of course.

I have not had -any- other side effects, so I guess this worked out incredibly well for me. No weight gain at all, no twitching, tremors, a little diarrhea but that went away after a few months, same for vivid dreams. Losing my libido was a real image buster, though...especially since if you're bipolar and your sexual side comes out to play, it probably was a big part of your life. The lexapro makes you feel repulsed by your partner and any sexual activity is about as great as watching someone peel potatoes - eventually it becomes completely pointless and is dreaded but you have to find a way to make your partner feel attractive and loved anyways.

In a way I feel like the effects of the lex are wearing off now. It may or may not have increased by mania but hard to tell. If you are not tracking your moods, start doing so now so you will know if the mania is developing and/or getting worse.

Like the books out there say, people rarely go to the doctor when they feel euphoria, so my ever-revolving band of nurses and doctors did not ask if I had manic symptoms along with my depression and I had never heard of bipolar at that time. It may have made me start cycling faster and faster, it needs to be watched since there is a chance that taking an anti-depressant can increase chances of developing rapid cycling.

How are you feeling now?

Good luck!

Lexapro is a solid drug with a good rep. Unfortunately if you are bipolar an anti depresant can sometimes make you manic. The way I was diagnosed was that I was SEVERELY depressed and I was put on Lexapro. For 3 weeks I felt good, the next three weeks I went into a mania like I had never experienced before, but I thought I was just getting better. Then in the next couple weeks I crashed into a horrible depression where I couldn't even get out of bed and go to work.

That is when they realized I was bipolar. I have been on Lamictal and Seroquel ever since. Turns out I just can't do anti depressants.

But one thing about this illness is that the meds are not one size fits all. Just track your mood carefully. Clearly people have success with it.

That was just my experience. I do have a tremendous amount of respect for the drug, it just didn't help me.

Lexapro is a spin off of Celexa. If you ever took Celexa, it is similar, according to my doctor.

I was not able to take it long enough to see a difference. It made me very sleepy mid-day.