Answers :i am taking the same thing for the same reasons.... it doesnt seem to be helping me much either except i want to sleep all the time. time to go back to the doctor i guess Yes, give it another couple of weeks. If not better, go back to the Dr. He will probably have to increase the dosage. They always start us out on the lowest dose. Contact your doctor.
He is only one who can increase the dosage or change the medicine.
Good luck! I havent tried Lexapro, but I would suggest asking your Dr to up the mgs or suggest a different med. I suffer from Social Anxiety and have tried many, many drugs, none of which have helped me w/the anxiety. Effexor XR is the only thing I've taken that has made any noticable difference in my associated depression.
Hang in there :) I took the same thing and took 2 weeks to fully get into my system...
give it a little more time and since you just got on it i believe you would have to go back and see your doctor soon.... So if it dosent help in about 2 weeks see about getting a higher dosage you could be. i take 10mg of lexapro and i take klonopin through the day as well. that helps me a lot and i have almost no issues with my panic attacks anymore. i will have one everynow and again but that is it. which is a lot better than what it used to be, which was everyday. talk to your doc and see what they say because some meds can jack you up and make you feel worse so maybe also see if it is the meds and maybe you need a change. or maybe you need the klonopin. it makes you drowsy at first but then your body gets used to it. i take these and i work a 40 plus hour a week job. hope this helps It should be working by now-- call your doc and tell him how you're feeling- you should be on klonopin or ativan or xanax along with the lexapro--lexapro is an antidepressant and in some people, it can make your panic and anxiety attacks WORSE-- call the doc now and get this taken care of---I was on it and it didn't help me either-- I take klonopin 1 mg 4 times a day and it works great for me..........good luck I have a son on Lexapro. 10 mg seems to be the starting point. It took longer than 7 days for it to kick in for him. I think a larger dose is needed on his behalf as well. However, the increase of sleep is an issue. If the dose is any higher, then I assume the sleep pattern worsens. Perhaps another drug is in order if after 10 days it doesn't work for you. Im taking Lexapro also. Have you read the side effects and things. That is actually one of the more serious side effects. 5 weeks is long enough to know how it affects you, so you may want to go back to the doctor and talk to him about this symptoms you're having.
--Courtney-- Careful because Xanax and other benzodiazepines are potentially habit forming, people get dependant on them and they can numb you out so much that they "deaden" your personality. Xanax would only be a good idea for your worst panic attacks, or as a temporary transition to a SSRI.
I am in the exact same boat and I didn't feel a whole lot of benefit from the lexapro until I was moved up to 20mg/day. Since then, though I feel like it has made a real positive difference.
When they first started me on Lexapro and everytime that they have adjusted my dose I did feel initially worse. WHat happens I think is that your brain chemistry is being changed and you are going to feel "something" the only problem is that when you are really anxious and paranoid it's easy to interpret that something as something negative.
People had told me that anxiety and panic are some of the most treatable mental disorders and at first I didn't believe them because I'll I knew is a bad panic attack felt like f***ing dying but my symptoms have improved A LOT since November so hang in there. Other things that have helped:
1. Frequent and vigorous cardiovascular exercise (30-45minutes, 3-4 times/week), I feel like once I've gotten in a good sweat for the day there is no fear energy left to come back and get me.
2. Doing a daily chanting meditation (I don't think I'm going to reach Nirvana or see Budha but it has been very effective in chilling me out)
3. Reading The Anxiety Disease: New Hope for the Millions Who Suffer from Anxiety by David Sheehan (Mass Market Paperback - May 1, 1986), I'm sure there are more recent titles that would be really good to, I'd suggest one with a Behavioral Therapy perspective and steer clear of anything recommending you treat the disorder with herbs.
Anyways, Good luck, I think it wont be too long before you start feeling better. I was on Lexapro 10mg for 3 months or something about a year ago and I didn't notice improvement either (I got it for generalized and social anxiety, and the psych decided that I also had dysthymia (nothing new to me, but my depression wasn't bothering me)). I just quit taking it because it didn't seem to make any difference (plus my husband and I wanted kids, and you shouldn't take SSRIs while pregnant if you can avoid it). So I'm not sure whether a higher dose would have had more effect, it might very well have.
I just dealt with the problem by getting more relaxed about school and life in general... ya know, like, hey, if I'm going to have kids then who cares whether I have a 4.0 GPA because I won't have time to work fulltime anyway, etc. Getting out of the school environment was great for me... at the university I went to everybody was so serious about "you have to study hard or you won't get into grad school" and such... it really doesn't matter all that much. So, it's taken a while, but I'm getting more and more removed from the whole "rat race" spirit and as a result I'm less anxious and less depressed. :)
So, anyway, go ask your psychiatrist for a higher dose, and make sure that you are seeing a psychologist to learn other coping techniques and such, as they're usually more important in dealing with anxiety than the meds are. That is a very low dose. You should be upped to 20 mg to see if it helps at all. It may turn out that you get switched to another drug like Prozac or Zoloft if it doesn't work at 20mg. Lexapro didn't work for me and I'm doing much better on Prozac. I heard to stay away from Effexor. 