My Experience With Starting Antidepressants
I’ve written several posts about being diagnosed with depression a couple years ago and how starting antidepressants helped me immensely. What I haven’t done is really detail my experience with it.
When I first started taking my antidepressant (I take Lexapro), I scoured the internet to read stories of other people’s experiences. It’s something I continue to do after many years of doubting myself and my own feelings on things. Not the best trait, but a post for another day. I found very few positive reviews and loads upon loads of complaints and negative experiences. Thankfully I was smart enough to remember things I had learned in a college research methods class, as much as I hated it at the time.
- It takes a certain type of person to leave a review or elect to take a survey. Many people never do either and that’s an entire cohort’s information you don’t have to go on.
- If you’ve had a good experience with something, how likely are you to get on a message board and leave a glowing explanation of how it was for you? Not very, especially since you’re probably enjoying a new lease on life and are focused on that. People who have had a bad experience are FAR more likely to experience frustration and turn to a place where they can commiserate with others with bad experiences.
It took about two weeks for me to start noticing a difference and those were some of the longest two weeks I’ve ever experienced. Please note, this is MY experience and likely no two are going to be the same. Since I hadn’t read many positive ones, I wanted to post mine in hopes that it would help someone somewhere.
I received my prescription from my regular physician because an appointment with a psychiatrist on my insurance would have cost about $400. Since I would only being seeing them for the prescription, I didn’t feel that that was a worthy investment. I explained what my therapist had told me to my doctor and we decided to start on a low dose of Lexapro — “a good drug for treating those people depressed about being anxious and anxious about being depressed.” I laughed because it fit me to a T.
I wasn’t officially diagnosed with anxiety, but OMG was I an anxious person. I would constantly imagine the worst scenario to a situation and play it out in my head over and over until my chest would become tight and it was hard to breathe. I imagined everyone was talking about me when I entered (or left) a room. I was constantly afraid of the future and the uncertainty it brought with it.
There were two hallmarks of my adjustment period on Lexapro — night sweating and an increased level of depression and anxiety.
I’ve heard other major side effects being a decreased sex drive and weight gain, but it was really the inability to regulate my temperature and the increase in my other mental health symptoms that caused me the most problems.
I woke up either in the middle of the night or the morning with my shirt soaked in sweat. If it was night, I would have to get up to change clothes. I found it even harder to get off the couch, and I wasn’t even doing much of that before. I started googling message boards and forums about antidepressant experiences and reading pages and pages of negative feedback and others calling it the worst thing they had ever done. Less than a week into taking it, I emailed my doctor asking if I should just stop because I was feeling far worse than when I started. She told me to hold out another week and if things still weren’t better, let her know.
When you feel like you can’t get the motivation to do anything and all you want to do is feel normal again, two weeks feels like a very long time. A day feels like a very long time. I left the house one day to meet a friend for lunch and felt the start of what I can only assume was a panic attack. It was an overwhelming feeling that caused me to sit down, slowly breathe, and wait for the feeling to pass. I didn’t go outside for a couple days after that.
I’m making this sound like a terrible experience, and at the time it was. It was my brain and my body adjusting to something it didn’t have — a healthy amount of serotonin. One day I woke up and felt like I could do a little more. Another day after that and I woke up feeling like a new person. The incessant worrying was gone. The room seemed brighter. I wanted to DO things. I knew that I had made it over the hill and was on my way to enjoying life with a whole new perspective.
This was my first experience with starting antidepressants, but it wasn’t my last. As I shared a couple weeks ago, I recently increased my dosage after more than two years. This time around, the change was much more subtle and took much longer to occur.
I experienced none of the night sweats, but there was a period where I felt slightly more lethargic and depressed. I waited for my two week deadline, but it came and went with me feeling little to no difference. It wasn’t until about the six week mark that I started to feel like a normal person again. Each person is different and each time to acclimate is different, and this time it took me almost three times as long.
I may not have painted the most appealing picture of starting antidepressants, but I wouldn’t change it for anything. The difference it made in my mood, ability to adjust to situations, and overall outlook is amazing. I’m a big advocate for medication where it is appropriate and wanted to give you a fair picture of what it was like for me. I also want to clear up a couple things about what antidepressants do and don’t do in my life.
What medication has done
For me, antidepressant medication raises my everyday baseline a little higher. It clears out a lot of the heavy sand that I feel like I’m trudging through to carry out simple tasks. It has stopped the incessant worrying and catastrophizing that literally made it hard for me to breathe most days.
I wrote an entire post about the changes I noticed after starting antidepressants, which you can read here if you’re interested.
What medication doesn’t do
I think one of the common misconceptions is that starting antidepressants means that you will no longer suffer with periods of depression. It’s often portrayed as a magical pill that brightens your life and jumps you over those hurdles you had trouble getting past.
Medication has improved so much of my life, but I’m certainly still able to feel it. If I couldn’t, my dose would likely be too high and I’d need to back off to avoid becoming an emotional zombie.
One thing I’m grateful for is the fact that I still have periods of sadness or fear. I’m nowhere near the depressive lows that I’ve found myself in before, but I can still experience the negative emotions that I think are crucial for balancing out the positive.
Medication is not the only answer to combating my depression, but it’s certainly an important tool in doing so.
What has been your experience with starting antidepressants if this applies to you? I’d love to know in the comments.
For fun: I started a draft of this post on Oct 8th, 2017 and the previous section included this passage:
There have been times over the past couple months where I wondered if my dosage needs to be changed because I’ve often felt stuck and apathetic — two things that I’m familiar with quite intimately. I’d gotten so used to those feelings for so long that it’s hard for me to recognize when I’m in that phase again. It could be the weather change or it could be the fact that I’m embarking on these new career paths, all I know is that I know where to get help if I need it and who to talk to (hello therapy!).
It wasn’t until two months later that I had my first appointment with my therapist and we decided to try increasing my medication dosage.
Remember — it’s important to pay attention to how you’re feeling and any internal cues that your body may be telling you. 🙂
Thank you for sharing your story with us! It’s nice to read such an honest and raw recount of your experience, I’m sure it’ll help many who are considering medication themselves. 🙂
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I appreciate how real you are about it Erin, that you say that it didn’t automatically make everything better, but it can be helpful! <3 Thank you for always being so vulnerable.
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Hi I just completed my first 2 weeks in lexapro, feeling tired all the time does this go away over time ?
I also felt tired for a little while. I switched to taking it before bed and that helped and also haven’t had any issues with it after the initial acclimation period. Hope you were able to get some relief!
Hi Erin,
I take lexapro too and felt very similar symptoms at first (especially the night sweats..ugh) and I actually increased my dosage a few weeks ago as well. It definitely has helped. I love how transparent you are about all of this because it’s a hard topic to discuss. I love your blog and all of your posts are inspiring. We got this!
We sure do! Thanks for reading Kennedy!
Thanks for sharing this Erin. Though different, I recognize much of my experience with acclimating (and recently deacclimating) to escitalopram (Lexapro) and buspirone (anti-anxiety).
I’m now roughly 1 month off of both and feeling…okay. As they both seemed to have stopped working for me (after a number of years) I’m trying to get an unmedicated baseline and decide what to do from there.
Thanks again. I appreciate it.
I hope you can find a good solution for you!
Hi. Thank you for this article. I’m currently on day 5 of lexapro and I feel way worse than when I started it. My anxiety symptoms are very exaggerated. This gives me hope to make it through the next week.
You got this. Make sure to stay in touch w your doctor, but it did take me a little while for it to start working.
WOW! I am 2 months to the day into my long overdue emotional recovery. I am also an athlete and I am clean and sober and living in the Midwest. I found your blog while up early this AM looking up feedback on a possible increase in a med I take Lexapro. After a few short minutes of remembering why I decided not to go down the rabbit hole of Antidepressant side effects (Thank God I didn’t do that when I started) I clicked on your blog. WOW! You nailed it spot on. Fabulous. Your story is sooooo remarkably similar to mine. It really hit home and I feel the gratitude as to where I’m at today. My fitness routine has come full circle (again 🙂 ) I’m coaching cycling, racing for a GREAT team, and living life the best I can with who I am. Things aren’t magically perfect, but I’m at a place where change is possible and it DOES start from the inside. I’m a firm believer that there are no coincidences, and am happy I found your blog and this post. Thank You and have a GREAT day
Ray
My daughter is on lexapro for about two weeks now. I dont see any changes, is it take a month to see the change?
Unfortunately there’s not one answer to this because every person can have a different experience. It could just take her longer or she may need to try a different one that she responds better to. Definitely communicate with her doctor to see what they think the best course of action is!
Thank you so much for your prompt reply. Please keep us updated on your progress.
Thanks
Charleen
Hi there, I am 1 week in and feeling the panic affect and nausciousness still in the morning. Keep giving it time? I just want this feeling to go away. Thanks!
YES. mine took at least 2 weeks, maybe a little more for things to get better. I almost had a panic attack during that time which I had never experienced before it was terrifying. Make sure to stay in touch w your doctor, but in my experience, it took a little longer. You got this!!!
It was a nice to read and nice knowing I am not alone. I have been on lexapro for about 4 days and I am trying to stay positive that it will work for me. This is my first experience with this feeling and i feel like your article is how i have been feeling for a while but it was to much to handle so i needed some help. I was wondering did you get nervous before taking the pill everyday, I am worried that i will have side effects even though i haven’t experience any except a lack of appetite but that could be from the depression.
I totally get it. It took awhile for me, so make sure to stay in touch w your doctor about how you are feeling. I did get a little nervous, but I also was hopeful it would work and looked forward to feeling better. Hope it works for you!
Thank you for sharing this. I just upped my dose today and your article gives me confidence.
Oh good I hope that it helps. I also had to increase my dose after a couple years and I will say that it took me closer to a month rather than two weeks for me to feel better. Hopefully you’re able to get some relief!
I have been taking Lexapro for 2 weeks and I feel so so bad. I don’t know what to do anymore!
Oh no I’m so sorry. I remember also going through this. I made sure to keep in touch w my doctor in case I didn’t end up feeling better, but thankfully I did. Make sure to reach out to yours if you don’t start feeling better!
I’m on week 3 into week 4 at the moment!
And I had the WORST 2 weeks to start. Mine wasn’t so much physical issues but mental. I was far more anxious, catastrophic thinking, and increased intrusive thoughts (I was recently diagnosed with OCD).
It wasn’t until day 17 that I started to notice a positive difference.
I still have highs and lows in my day that can feel a little extreme but it’s becoming less intense. My psychiatrist said to give it another 2 weeks to see what happens.
Glad to know I’m not the only one!
And great point Erin about fear and sadness being a good thing to experience. I hadn’t thought about it as positive aspect before. But it IS important to have all kinds of emotions, even the ones we don’t always like!
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I’m so glad you are feeling better!
I am on day 2 , yes only day 2. I got my pills a few days ago but waited to take them until yesterday morning , when my husband was home , (just in case of side effects) about 1 hour after taking the pill on an empty stomach , I got so nauseous , and I did get diarrhea. I got dizzy , began sweating . Not a good experience. I
Today I took it with crackers and lots of water , I’m hoping that will help with my stomach at least. Not giving up
I hope that it’s gotten a little better for you. It definitely took me a little bit to acclimate, but thankfully I eventually noticed such a difference. You got this 🙂
When will morning anxiety go away? I started taking 2.5mg cause I was nervous about meds. Then after 5 days went to 5mg for 9 days now I’m on 10mg for 3 days now. Still not really feeling a drive to do much of anything and the morning anxiety still persists. Does mean the meds aren’t working?
I’d check w your doctor since I think we all experience these things differently. I’m sorry you’re suffering w the continued anxiety – I know that at some point during the adjustment period mine also increased a good deal and I almost had a panic attack while I was out to lunch. Eventually everything normalized and I didn’t realize just how much I had been living with for so many years. I hope you’re feeling a little better today ❤️
Thank you. I’m on day 15 now and it seems better but the daily fatigue and tiredness is still there. Did this happen to you and if so did it go away?
It did and I ended up taking my medication at night so that i didn’t feel as tired during the day. It did eventually go away! I hope you’re feeling better ❤️
Thank you. I’m on day 15 now and it seems better but the daily fatigue and tiredness is still there. Did this happen to you and if so did it go away?
I am having an awful time. Headaches, nausea, no appetite, and major fatigue. Only been taking it two days and had to take a one day break. Almost feel like I can’t function. Does that mean it is a bad fit?
Make sure to talk to your doctor about it! I had some negative symptoms before my medication started working, but everyone is different. I hope you’re feeling better!
Hi I just increased from 19 to 20 mgs lexapro, third day today. Does anyone know when I can expect to feel a bit better
Cath
Hello, I stared taking this medication a few days ago then stopped because of the side affected. I started back yesterday at the advice from my doctor to push through and give it time. I am having nausea and more anxiety and panic than I have ever felt before. I am really glad to know I am not the only one. I started having depression symptoms after my hysterectomy 3 months ago and it has been a battle. I really hope to start feeling like a really person again.
I’m so sorry for the delay Jill – were you able to find some relief? My anxiety definitely increased until I had acclimated better and then it made such a difference!
Thank you for sharing this honest account. I am on day 3 of starting lexapro and feeling very discouraged and doubtful I made the right decision. This is what I needed to read to stay the course and commit to the time needed to see whether I will see benefits. And I won’t google more things! 🙂
thank you!
I hope it’s going well!
Thank you so much for your blog. I am currently on day 3 of lexapro for anxiety and I am having side effects such as insomnia, nausea and feeling a little out of it. I am going to stick it out because I just keep trying to remember how bad my anxiety feels and that this could help me. Reading stories like yours and knowing I’m not alone is so encouraging! Thank you! Any other words of encouragement?!
Of course! I think the best thing is to just give it enough time to work. I know that I had a tough time on it until one day I finally felt better and it has made such a difference. Also, my anxiety seemed to get worse before it got better. As always, if things feel off make sure to talk to your doctor. You got this!
I’m 18 years old I started lexapro 5mg yesterday almost immediately I felt nauseous and was sweating but I was cold and had diarrhea. Then I felt a little better, until a couple hours my whole body began to tingle including my head. I felt out of it. I started panicking well every time I have some sort of physical effect it freaks me out. My head felt fuzzy and I didn’t feel like myself. Should I give up.
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Than you for this blog. I’ve experienced anxiety for the past 7 years ago but was manageable. I think the pandemic and isolation that came along with it really made my symptoms worse. In October 2020 I started to have sleeping issues (insomnia) which continued (and still happening). I sleep but wake up every 2-3 hours. I started Lexapro 13 days ago….very low dose of 2.5 mg as I think I’m sensitive and also had fear of meds. My anxiety seems a little less intense but still waking up when I sleep. Has anyone experienced improved insomnia while taking Lexapro? I feel a little more irritable too but that could be from lack of sleep for months.
I started taking 10 mg of lexapro 6 days ago, I’m battling increased anxiety, nausea and diarrhea, especially in mornings. I hope it will get better soon, I really have no appetite to eat anything. But the dizzy feeling seems to be going away more each day. I just hope this pill is good for me
I hope you’re feeling better Toby!
Hi Erin,
Thank you so much for sharing this. I started Lexapro 9 days ago for extreme anxiety following a trauma. For the first 7 days I took 5mg to try to ease a little into it and then two days ago I upped it to the 10mg they want me on. I am feeling such intense anxiety. It’s really awful. It has definitely heightened my anxiety and just have a sense of being wired. I wake up with a horrible sense of anxiety where I need to move but I also feel too anxious to get up! I also have not been able to sleep – I have no fatigue with it at all. My dad is a pharmacist and keeps saying give it time. I’m really praying this works for me – sooner rather than later. Thank you for sharing your encouraging experience. ❤️
I hope that things got better! I also experienced an increase in my anxiety before things leveled off so I totally understand.
This is week 5 of Lexapro 10 mg. I’m eating everything but the paint off the walls and have gained 12 lbs. NOT what I want at all, and I don’t feel like doing anything. I wake myself up talking loudly at night and have crazy vivid dreams. My anxiety has dissipated but seems as though depression is getting worse. Can’t see doctor for another 4 weeks. Any words of wisdom?
So sorry for the delay – did things get any better?
What time of day do you take yours? Did 10 to 20 help? I started in October and it has been a game changer . The only thing is that I am an athlete and it makes me
Really tired. I was taking it in the morning but thinking of switching though that will make me wired at night?
When I started, I took it in the morning and realized that it was making me tired during the day, so then I switched to taking it before bed and that helped a lot!
Your post has helped a lot of people. I started Lexapro 6 days ago. I love the quote anxious about feeling depressed and depressed about feeling anxious. That so describes me. I can’t sleep at night because I lay there worrying about dying, worrying about my husband or grown children dying because of losses I have experienced and on and on. Plus I have anxiety about clutter and were in the middle of fixing our house due to a burst pipe and there are 3 rooms of stuff in my living room. I felt funny telling my doctor about my clutter anxiety but he understood and put me on Lexapro. So far I feel a little disjointed and tired. Insomnia at night but I know this is a process. Thank you for posting this.
omg of course. thank you for sharing your experience! I hope that things are feeling a little bit better for you; I know how hard all of that can be. Sending love 🙂
I’ve been on 10 mg for 8 years for anxiety. Breakthrough anxiety during pandemic and empty nest syndrome in 2020. Increased to 15 mg in November 2020. Took about 4 weeks to see improvement. Zero anxiety for 4 months then breakthrough again last month due to some things. Now increasing to 20. Been 2 and a half weeks. Still not good. You said when you increased it took longer? How long before any improvement? Also what mg were you changing from and to?
Sorry for the delay Chris – I was increased from 10 to 20 mg and I feel like it took over a month or so to feel different. It also wasn’t as apparent of a change as when I first started them. How have things been since your comment?
Hi on my 5th week my mood and anxiety is 50 percent less but bad nausea any advice and thanx for ur story
make sure to let your doctor know and see what they say. I hope it gets better!
Day 8 of Lexapro 5mg. I feel somewhat better. Is it normal to have anxiety/panic attacks during that first week? On day 3 I was really anxious and had an attack. I haven’t had one of those in 15 years. I am feeling much calmer now after 1 week. Also, some tingling in my feet. I’m just wondering.
My experience is close to yours. On a increased 20 dose of lexapro and i` the middle of week 3. Reacting more slowly than on 10. Hope it kicks in soon. Still intrusive thoughts, depression occasionally and anxiety. You give me hope that within a week or two this will be manageable.
I hope you were able to get some relief!
Lexapro worked wonders for me the first time. However im on week 6 the second time around and still heavily depressed.. any thoughts? Keep hanging on there people
I recently had to switch to a different medication because after close to 6 years on Lexapro, it didn’t seem to be working as well, which is apparently a common thing. So I might try talking to your doctor to see if maybe he/she suggests trying a similar one?