Lexapro Question

[Amos1993]

So I have been on 20 mg of Lexapro for two weeks. I am sleeping ok. I wake up around 5 am with anxiety. My stomach is all messed up and nothing sounds good to eat. My anxiety has not improved much in this time. My depression seems to be a little better. I also have ringing in my ears. I don’t want to leave my house for work or even go to the grocery store. Sometimes my legs feel weak and heavy if that makes sense. Has anyone ever had these side effects? Do they go away? I am getting so discouraged that I am never going to feel better.

[EtoE]

Hi Amos,

Starting a new SSRI always seems to be a weird business, I'm sorry you've had so many tricky side effects! The lack of appetite and nausea went away for me reasonably fast, probably around the 2 to 3 week mark.

The ringing in your ears I can really empathise with. It's a side effect I've had on every SSRI that I've taken, it always onsets after a couple of weeks and then i get nervous about it and stop taking the medication. I started escitalopram on 5mg and while I did get some slight ringing, it was significantly less than other medications I'd tried. I did then up the dose to 10mg, but found the ringing increased and became too loud, so I dropped back to 5mg fairly quickly. Its been a few months now and on 5mg I don't have much or any ringing. I'm not sure if it would have gone away after time on the higher dose as I never gave it long enough, maybe speak to your doctor about lowering the dosage?

I know of all the typical antidepressants, the only one that doesn't have tinnitus listed as a side effect is mirtazapine, if the ringing persists you could discuss going onto this medication instead. Mirtazapine is also more likely to increase appetite and thus weight gain, which put me off going onto it, but it might be worth looking into!

[Hydroplane]

On 20 mg Lexapro for more than 3 months now. Take it at 10 pm each night as it makes me a little sleepy. However I think it has been a great help leveling out my mood. I would guess it took at least a month before it fully kicked in. Have not noticed any negative side effects. Everyone is different make sure and report to your doc any negative reactions, had tried Wellbutrin before and that was not for me. Wishing you the very best!