Can Lexapro (Escitalopram) suddenly start to give you side effects, even if I’ve been on them for years without side effects ?

[brod59904]

I have been taking Lexapro for about 6 years and couple of years ago I have started to get nausea , stomach discomfort, tiredness and lightheaded which the doctors can not find out why . Could the Lexapro be causing my issues ?

[Bilabong]

Im aware the effects of the drug eventually wears off and thats when you need to upp the dosage. But this is evidently different. Ill follow this post. Hopefully someone will come by to offer an explanation.

[1uglychild]

I was on it for about 2-3 years (with a 6 month break in there somewhere in the middle). Around the point where I went off it for good I had that return to tiredness that you mention (and tiredness was the major side effect I had when starting), and a sort of apathy. Have you had a recent refill of your prescription? Any time a pharmacy changes the generic version of a drug I get really bad side effects. I remember this was especially strong with Lexapro. While the core ingredients that make Lexapro (or any SSRI) work pretty much remain the same, the ingredients they use to get the drug into your system can vary with manufacturers and these are what usually cause a lot of the side effects. If that’s not the case then the tiredness could definitely be a sign that the dose needs to be tweaked, maybe even decreased.

[Sunnidayz1]

If you've recently had a physical and have had no health problems I would say, yes. I was on Lexapro for many years. The above side effects are common with this drug. Im not a doctor so I cant be absolutely sure but I would assume it's just a change in the body naturally as we get older including the brain's chemistry over time that might have contributed to sudden side effects. I was on a high dose at one point but had to come down bc I was healing through therapy and I didnt need it as much so it also could be you need less or u need to change to a diff med.

Consult w a psychiatrist. Keep us posted

Hope this helps.

XxSunni

[brod59904]

The doctor has suggested I wean myself of them to see if they are causing issues or not , so that’s what I’m going to do. I’m just very fed up with feeling ill and not knowing why.