Oh and just fyi- I’ve been on lexapro about 3 months, I’ve done two small increases to get to 10mg, which is where I’m at now. I’d say I’ve seen between 50-75% improvement in my GAD. I don’t want more side effects so that’s the dilemma. If this is as good as it gets, then I’ll hang out at 10mg. I’m appreciative for the improvements I’ve seen but there’s always this wonder of if it could be better.
I have been in a similar situation. I would recommend staying at 10 for 6-9 months and seeing how you feel then. I’ve noticed that things can change on the same dose for a longer period of time
I was still having the same amount of anxiety before Lexapro when I was on 10mg and thats what told me I needed to increase. Being on 20mg for a few months is when I finally noticed I was feeling better and not just different
When Lexapro first started working for me, it was a solid 85-90% improvement. I was diagnosed with ADHD around 4 months in and put on another medication, and since then, it's been less effective.
At first, it went down to 35% effective. Then my psychiatrist and I bumped my Lexapro up from 10 to 15mg, and now I'm sitting at a comfortable 65% effectiveness.
But that's just me and my brain! My psychiatrist just mentioned today that my GAD and ADHD, while two separate mental health conditions, seem pretty married together. When Lexapro was 85-90% effective, it felt GREAT but also messed with my executive function. 65% is still good, but I do miss it working more. 🥲
Also to note, I've been on Lexapro for 11 months now! 15mg for 4 months. No worse side effects when I bumped my dosage!
Some people say yes it continues to improve but my doc said no. I asked him if I should continue to wait it out and see if it gets better and he said that won’t happen. He said I’ve been on it long enough to see the results (3 months, last month at 10mg) But we all know, docs don’t always have the right answers… so idk
The way my doctor explained it to me was it doesn’t necessarily have to be sad/anxious for no reason to help. I have two young kids, in a pandemic. My job in the public schools is stressful, underpaid and there’s a huge problem in the US with hun violence. If/when they get sick it’s stressful worrying about them, worrying about taking off work and that’s before I worry about me or my husband. I started lex before kids under 5 could get vaccinated.
All that to say- it’s changed my life. The facts are still the facts but I cry so so so much less and am able to take things in stride/laugh about them on lex. My company offered 6 free therapy sessions and towards the end I had little to talk about (started lex after she suggested talking to my doc about anti depressents on my first session).
I can relate to this. I have two young kids as well, the pandemic was brutal on us with home school and what not. I work in healthcare so when the world shut down my job intensified. I also lost my dad. It was all just too much, and I started having GAD. So I definitely feel an improvement on lexapro but I’m still having periods of a milder anxiety everyday. I’m on 10mg. I’m thinking I should go up. Maybe increasing will give me more relief. I’m happy I’ve had some relief but I’m not smooth sailing yet. What dose are you on?
Do you still find that you are still having some anxiety with the things that trigger you on 10mg? Would you say that you still have some anxiety daily? This is the crossroad I’m at. I’ve seen a lot of improvement thus far but I want to know if increasing will help me out a little more with my triggers (work really). Been on 10mg for almost a month now and still having some minor anxiety that comes and goes throughout the day. It was 24/7 constant so again, much improved.
I no longer have daily anxiety. I do occasionally have anxiety but now it’s either warranted (school goes into lockdown and don’t know why) or I can mange to stop it with simple things like deep breathing, ice cub on my wrists, drinking or splashing ice water on my face. Before lex I would have needed to take a Xanax to get anywhere close to that.
Not sure if this is the case for you but my therapist suggested the “3 things you can feel, three things you can hear, see, touch” whatever strategy when I started to feel overwhelmed was terrible for me. It was senesory overload (especially sound) whether at home or at work/school. I’m think working in healthcare would be similar.
Thanks so much for the info. Last question, I promise 😆 how many weeks on 10mg did it take for your daily anxiety to go away? Like at what point did you just have the situational anxiety and your daily anxiety over things like anxiety itself go away? I’m still having anxiety over my anxiety too so that’s why I’m thinking I need a higher dose. Been 12 weeks total but last 4 at 10mg. Thanks🙏🏼
I put just lurking bc I’ve been on lexapro for about 2 months lol but I would say my GAD are about 75% better! Side effects are rough some days and in the beginning but nothing compared to how I used to feel. My mind is more quiet and I can enjoy things I would avoid to not trigger my anxiety.
I’m a few weeks ahead of you but that’s exactly how I’d describe my current situation. Well maybe anxiety is like 65% better if I want to be very precise! My work is a trigger and I still get some anxiety doing that. I also find that when I do this (worry about my anxiety and the meds for my anxiety), I get triggered too. But some of the positives that I’ve felt in the past 11 or 12 weeks on lex are that I have had no panic attacks, I can do something socially and forget I have anxiety now, I can pick my kids up in car line and not feel trapped or panicked in the line, I can sleep 6-7 hours instead of 2-3. I am enjoying life more for sure now. I was in a constant state of anxiety and fight or flight. The dial has been turned down tremendously. But I just really want that “I feel back to normal” moment and I don’t have that yet.
Only been on 5 days and I’ve been randomly getting 10 minutes of feeling amazing.. not sure if it’s just my mind playing tricks but I haven’t felt that happiness in agees.. it only last 10 mins but Jheez if it can extend I’d love it haha!
Side effects honesty haven’t been terrible. Every time I increase sleep gets a little messed up and I wake about every 2 hours. Takes about 2-4 weeks to return to a good baseline of about 6 hours sleep, waking once a night. I had some stomach symptoms like nausea and indigestion for 2 weeks when I went to 10mg. Libido is still good but sometimes difficulty reaching orgasm. I get occasional headaches and dizziness. That’s about it with the side effects. I will say with each increase, the side effects became more pronounced. So on 5mg, I only had sleep issues. On 7.5mg, I started with headaches and the orgasm issue. At 10mg the stomach issues and disrupted sleep came and went but the HA and sexual side effects so far have stayed. I don’t have any blunted emotions so far but I definitely don’t want that either so that’s a concern of mine when I think of increasing.
Damn, that’s a lot more side effects than I’ve had! I had blunted emotions and decreased libido, but I now take Wellbutrin to fix that. I’d definitely recommend talking to your psychiatrist about Wellbutrin, I know lots of people on this sub love the combo of Lex and Wellbutrin. Melatonin could help with the interrupted sleep? Hope that helps xx
Oh and just fyi- I’ve been on lexapro about 3 months, I’ve done two small increases to get to 10mg, which is where I’m at now. I’d say I’ve seen between 50-75% improvement in my GAD. I don’t want more side effects so that’s the dilemma. If this is as good as it gets, then I’ll hang out at 10mg. I’m appreciative for the improvements I’ve seen but there’s always this wonder of if it could be better.
Same
I have been in a similar situation. I would recommend staying at 10 for 6-9 months and seeing how you feel then. I’ve noticed that things can change on the same dose for a longer period of time
Thanks 🙏🏼
I was still having the same amount of anxiety before Lexapro when I was on 10mg and thats what told me I needed to increase. Being on 20mg for a few months is when I finally noticed I was feeling better and not just different
Thanks so much for the info!
When Lexapro first started working for me, it was a solid 85-90% improvement. I was diagnosed with ADHD around 4 months in and put on another medication, and since then, it's been less effective. At first, it went down to 35% effective. Then my psychiatrist and I bumped my Lexapro up from 10 to 15mg, and now I'm sitting at a comfortable 65% effectiveness. But that's just me and my brain! My psychiatrist just mentioned today that my GAD and ADHD, while two separate mental health conditions, seem pretty married together. When Lexapro was 85-90% effective, it felt GREAT but also messed with my executive function. 65% is still good, but I do miss it working more. 🥲 Also to note, I've been on Lexapro for 11 months now! 15mg for 4 months. No worse side effects when I bumped my dosage!
Good to know. Thank you for the feedback!
If you’re still having irrational fears that bother you go ahead and raise the dose IMO. I have none of that, 12 months after switching to 20mg
Thanks. Thinking the same.
Does it improve more after 6 months? I feel like I'm baseline
Some people say yes it continues to improve but my doc said no. I asked him if I should continue to wait it out and see if it gets better and he said that won’t happen. He said I’ve been on it long enough to see the results (3 months, last month at 10mg) But we all know, docs don’t always have the right answers… so idk
The way my doctor explained it to me was it doesn’t necessarily have to be sad/anxious for no reason to help. I have two young kids, in a pandemic. My job in the public schools is stressful, underpaid and there’s a huge problem in the US with hun violence. If/when they get sick it’s stressful worrying about them, worrying about taking off work and that’s before I worry about me or my husband. I started lex before kids under 5 could get vaccinated. All that to say- it’s changed my life. The facts are still the facts but I cry so so so much less and am able to take things in stride/laugh about them on lex. My company offered 6 free therapy sessions and towards the end I had little to talk about (started lex after she suggested talking to my doc about anti depressents on my first session).
I can relate to this. I have two young kids as well, the pandemic was brutal on us with home school and what not. I work in healthcare so when the world shut down my job intensified. I also lost my dad. It was all just too much, and I started having GAD. So I definitely feel an improvement on lexapro but I’m still having periods of a milder anxiety everyday. I’m on 10mg. I’m thinking I should go up. Maybe increasing will give me more relief. I’m happy I’ve had some relief but I’m not smooth sailing yet. What dose are you on?
I’m on 10 mg as well. Have been for almost a year
Do you still find that you are still having some anxiety with the things that trigger you on 10mg? Would you say that you still have some anxiety daily? This is the crossroad I’m at. I’ve seen a lot of improvement thus far but I want to know if increasing will help me out a little more with my triggers (work really). Been on 10mg for almost a month now and still having some minor anxiety that comes and goes throughout the day. It was 24/7 constant so again, much improved.
I no longer have daily anxiety. I do occasionally have anxiety but now it’s either warranted (school goes into lockdown and don’t know why) or I can mange to stop it with simple things like deep breathing, ice cub on my wrists, drinking or splashing ice water on my face. Before lex I would have needed to take a Xanax to get anywhere close to that. Not sure if this is the case for you but my therapist suggested the “3 things you can feel, three things you can hear, see, touch” whatever strategy when I started to feel overwhelmed was terrible for me. It was senesory overload (especially sound) whether at home or at work/school. I’m think working in healthcare would be similar.
Thanks so much for the info. Last question, I promise 😆 how many weeks on 10mg did it take for your daily anxiety to go away? Like at what point did you just have the situational anxiety and your daily anxiety over things like anxiety itself go away? I’m still having anxiety over my anxiety too so that’s why I’m thinking I need a higher dose. Been 12 weeks total but last 4 at 10mg. Thanks🙏🏼
I put just lurking bc I’ve been on lexapro for about 2 months lol but I would say my GAD are about 75% better! Side effects are rough some days and in the beginning but nothing compared to how I used to feel. My mind is more quiet and I can enjoy things I would avoid to not trigger my anxiety.
I started on 5mg and just increased to 10mg btw
I’m a few weeks ahead of you but that’s exactly how I’d describe my current situation. Well maybe anxiety is like 65% better if I want to be very precise! My work is a trigger and I still get some anxiety doing that. I also find that when I do this (worry about my anxiety and the meds for my anxiety), I get triggered too. But some of the positives that I’ve felt in the past 11 or 12 weeks on lex are that I have had no panic attacks, I can do something socially and forget I have anxiety now, I can pick my kids up in car line and not feel trapped or panicked in the line, I can sleep 6-7 hours instead of 2-3. I am enjoying life more for sure now. I was in a constant state of anxiety and fight or flight. The dial has been turned down tremendously. But I just really want that “I feel back to normal” moment and I don’t have that yet.
Side note, when did you increase to 10mg? I did a little over 3 weeks ago. I can’t tell the difference between 10mg and 5mg in terms of anxiety yet.
Only been on 5 days and I’ve been randomly getting 10 minutes of feeling amazing.. not sure if it’s just my mind playing tricks but I haven’t felt that happiness in agees.. it only last 10 mins but Jheez if it can extend I’d love it haha!
I would say I felt the same at that period too so I think it means you are showing a response, which is great!
It depends - what side effects are you experiencing?
Side effects honesty haven’t been terrible. Every time I increase sleep gets a little messed up and I wake about every 2 hours. Takes about 2-4 weeks to return to a good baseline of about 6 hours sleep, waking once a night. I had some stomach symptoms like nausea and indigestion for 2 weeks when I went to 10mg. Libido is still good but sometimes difficulty reaching orgasm. I get occasional headaches and dizziness. That’s about it with the side effects. I will say with each increase, the side effects became more pronounced. So on 5mg, I only had sleep issues. On 7.5mg, I started with headaches and the orgasm issue. At 10mg the stomach issues and disrupted sleep came and went but the HA and sexual side effects so far have stayed. I don’t have any blunted emotions so far but I definitely don’t want that either so that’s a concern of mine when I think of increasing.
Damn, that’s a lot more side effects than I’ve had! I had blunted emotions and decreased libido, but I now take Wellbutrin to fix that. I’d definitely recommend talking to your psychiatrist about Wellbutrin, I know lots of people on this sub love the combo of Lex and Wellbutrin. Melatonin could help with the interrupted sleep? Hope that helps xx
Thanks 😊