Does anyone take lexapro?

Question

i have to start taking my lexapro tomorrow morning and im really scared its gonna do something to me if anyone has any good things to say about it can you please let me know

i have GAD and im scared its going to do something to me. please helppp!!!

Answer 1

I took lexapro for a little while. I've been on Paxil, Prozac & Zoloft as well. Lexapro was definitely my favorite, but it was too expensive for my single mother with a crazy teenager at the time lol. I gave up anti depressants and started smoking weed.

Don't take my example. I am now trying to figure out how to quit weed without having to take MAOI's to stay sane.

Answer 2

Well I took it for awhile and I was fine. I mean I didn't really even notice anything along the lines of negative symptoms. I think the only thing was that at first I had trouble getting to sleep. But I wasn't on it for that long.

Heres some info on it:

Lexapro® (escitalopram oxalate) is well tolerated by most adults. In fact, patients in clinical trialsA controlled study designed to test the safety and efficacy of medicine in a set population of patients who have a specific illness. who took 10-mg of Lexapro experienced overall rates of side effects comparable to patients who took a placebo (sugar pill).2,4 If you think you are experiencing side effects, you should talk with your healthcare professional about your concerns. A simple adjustment in dose may be all that is required.

The most frequent side effects reported with Lexapro are nausea, insomnia, problems with ejaculation, somnolenceProlonged drowsiness or sleepiness., increased sweating, fatigue, decreased libido, and anorgasmiaThis is the inability of a person to ever achieve an o****m while having sexual intercourse..2,4

Patients taking Lexapro typically have mild to moderate side effects which tend to go away with continued treatment. One study of patients taking 10-mg of Lexapro showed that these side effects usually do not cause patients to stop taking Lexapro. In that study, only 4% of patients stopped taking Lexapro due to side effects, compared with 3% of the patients taking placebo.2,4

Side Effects of Lexapro in Studies of Depression

In a study of patients with depression receiving either Lexapro or another antidepressant, Effexor® XREFFEXOR is used to treat depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and social anxiety disorder. It is an SNRI (serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor) and is believed to help treat depression and the associated symptoms of anxiety by affecting the level of two chemicals in the brain—serotonin and norepinephrine. (venlafaxine HCl), Lexapro was found to be not only as effective, but also better tolerated. In this study, fewer Lexapro patients stopped taking their medicine because of side effects (4% for Lexapro vs 16% for Effexor XR).5

In general, people taking Lexapro do not suffer from agitation, nervousness, or anxiety any more than people not taking Lexapro. Additionally, in controlled studiesA study in which a test treatment is compared with a treatment that has known effects. The control group may receive no treatment, standard treatment (which may be another medicine or another approach to care), or placebo (sugar pill.), clinically important changes in body weight were similar for patients treated with Lexapro and those treated with placebo.4

Side effects of Lexapro in studies of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

In clinical studies of people taking 10-mg a day of Lexapro for GAD, the number of people who stopped taking Lexapro due to side effects was low.3,6*†

A head-to-head trial was conducted to compare Lexapro and Paxil®PAXIL is a medicine used to treat depression, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Paxil is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) that treats the symptoms of these conditions by restoring the balance of serotonin in the brain. (paroxetine HCL) in the treatment of GAD. In this trial, patients taking Lexapro and patients taking Paxil® experienced improvement of their GAD symptoms. However, fewer patients stopped taking Lexapro due to side effects as compared to patients taking Paxil® (7% for Lexapro vs 23% for Paxil®).7

In addition, in this trial, clinically significant weight gain occurred less often in patients treated with Lexapro over 24 weeks (8% for Lexapro vs 18% for Paxil®).7

*Full antidepressant/anxiolytic effect may take 4 to 6 weeks.

† 8% for Lexapro vs 4% for placebo in the comprehensive GAD safety database.

Answer 3

I've taken it for a couple of months and no major complaints thus far.  You can read tons of Lexapro user reviews at WebMD.  It helped me when I had concerns about its effectiveness and side-effects.

http://www.webmd.com/drugs/drugreview-63...