I’ve been taking Lexapro (the antidepressant) since June, and I feel like it isn’t doing a damn thing to help me. The only major difference is I have a harder time getting out of bed in the mornings, which is probably just due to my never-ending feelings of dread and uncertainty. I used to take Paxil and Prozac at various times over the years (college, mostly), to no avail. Normally I’d just quit the Lexapro cold turkey, but I have been advised it is dangerous to do so, and I should just taper off. I don’t think talking to a doctor will make a difference, since I don’t go to a psychiatrist or anything, but got the prescription at my walk-in clinic when I went for a physical. Did anyone have better results with Lexapro, or possibly worse? And what happened when and if you stopped taking it?
My wife just stopped taking it, and all I can say is that her Doc titrated her of the med in 1 week. And that was horrible. She had tremors, a general feeling of being behind her brain, and horrible mood swings, accompanied with Anger and misery. Be very carefull titrating off it.
IANAD, IANAPsychiatrist.
Don’t stop taking any SSRI without consulting with your doctor.
You might want to see about getting a referral to a psychiatrist. Or just tell your doctor that the Lexapro isn’t doing anything for you.
Have you considered that you might have an anxiety disorder as well as depression? Anxiety is also a side effect that can occur from some SSRI’s.
I take Lexapro. I was told that it’s particularly good for anxiety, and that was certainly true the first week or so. Now I’m back to my med-normal. (That is to say, probably sadder than a non-depressed person, but normal for my standards.)
Before you go off entirely, perhaps a bump in dosage might be in order. Sometimes that makes all the difference in the world.
I definitely wouldn’t stop taking it cold turkey. Why suffer the side effects of suddenly stopping when you don’t have to? (BTW, I’ve titrated down from so many meds I’ve lost count. I’m a lucky one that never has a problem going off a med.)
And I know you didn’t ask for my opinion, but the meds are not a panacea. Talk therapy in combination with anti-depressants has been shown to be effective. Even a short six-week stint can be very helpful. If money is an issue, there are many therapists who will see you on a sliding scale. I’ll get off my soapbox now.
But if your current dose or Lexapro isn’t working for you, that’s not unusual. Finding a med that works is a pretty inexact science. It can be frustrating, but boy-howdy when you find one that works!
I turned into a newt!
I was on Lexapro for 1 yr, 1 yr ago. I had to bump the dosage up once, but other than that my only side effect was occasional insomnia. I was on it while the DepoProvera worked its way out of my system (can take up to 18 months).
It worked okay. I never felt euphoric or despairing, but I don’t know if that is normal for SSRIs. It did what I needed it to do, but I knew when I didn’t need it anymore.
IANAD or Pharmacist, and I wouldn’t recommend doing this, but I didn’t like the Dr who was prescribing it for me. He didn’t want me to go off of it (I saw him once every 3 months- he had no idea how I was doing). I titrated myself off over 2 weeks and had no withdrawal symptoms.
I am usually very sensitive to medications and can get caffiene withdrawals after two days of usage.
Also, If you do have problems with anxiety, you may need to find a different med. Lexapro did nothing for my anxiety.
If you take it at night and have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning, try taking it in the am. Might brighten your day a little.
I’ve been on it for like 3 years now. It’s been fine for me.
I’ve been to shrinks and they don’t help. If I wasn’t expecting to lose my job in a month, if I liked my career, if I got laid once in a while, I’d probably be feeling much cheerier about everything.
… oh, I got better.
I’ve been on Lexapro and Zoloft for a couple of years now. Of all the SSRI’s I have been on over time I find that Lexapro works the best for me, but that it made me sleepy. On the other hand Zoloft did little for me, but mad me fidgity and jumpy, a combination of a very small Zoloft dose and one and a half Lexapro tablets per day is my current regime and works very well for me. All this is through careful work with my psychiatric Doctor. What I have learnt through reading research and annecdotes from users of other SSRIs plus my own usage, is that all these anti-depression drugs work differently on different people, and that only through percervering through trying several differnt drugs and drug combinations are you likely to find the right prescription for your particular symptoms.
I’ve been taking Lexapro for about a year now, Lou and it’s helped me tremendously. I’d been chronically depressed for ten or fifteen years and had had, years ago, terrible experiences with Prozac, Paxil, and a couple of other SSRI’s. I was reluctant to try again with Lexapro and resisted it for months after it was recommended to me.
The first few weeks were hell – I never slept more than an hour and a half at a stretch, and consequently I was tired and irritable all the time. I’d wake in the middle of the night feeling as if I’d just downed a dozen espressos. I couldn’t rouse an orgasm to save my frustrated life. It sucked.
After three or four weeks, these side-effects subsided, and I still felt as if there were a dark cloud hanging over my existence, and everything was about to fall apart. I was underwhelmed by the lack of advertised benefits, but figuring that this was going to be the very last SSRI I’d bother with, I decided to keep taking it.
It took a couple of months or so, but gradually, I started to feel better about my life than I had in a number of years. After about eight months, I felt myself sliding backwards, and my prescribing doctor suggested doubling the dosage to 20/day. Again I was reluctant, but I agreed to try that, and since then (granted, only four months or so ago) I’ve been able to deal with a number of personal situations that might have freaked me out a year ago, with far less anxiety or sense-of-foreboding than I’d have thought possible.
Your mileage may vary, of course, but I’d tell you that overall my experience with Lexapro has been hugely beneficial. So I’d say, stick with it a while longer, to be sure that it isn’t working. I really hope it can do for you what it’s done for me. 
I’ve been taking Lexapro for 2+ years. When I started, I didn’t notice any effect. After 6 weeks, they increased my dosage from 1 tablet to 1 1/2 tablets. After another 3 weeks, things started to improve. I stayed on the 1 1/2 tab dosage for about a year, then went down to just 1 tab. Been on that ever since. My mood is markedly improved from before I went on the meds. I used to have trouble going to work, but haven’t had that problem for over a year.
I have been on Lexapro for 2 months now, and I think it has helped me out. It has helped with anxiety and depression, with no major side effects.
For me, it just makes the low days…less low? I still get upset at times, but I can come through the tough days much more easily than before.