[spookyuser]

I can tell this thread is going to be a nightmare but whatever I really want to share my experience in case there are people similar to me that need to hear this: I cannot emphasise enough how much Escitalopram (lexapro) has helped me with issues I didn't even know I had until I started taking it. At which point I realised I was living in a constant state of anxiety up to that point, and I probably should have been on it a long time ago, but I never ever thought I reached the criteria for being "medicated" so fwiw I think it's also possible to underrate your own feelings and think you don't need them when you do.

[JKCalhoun]

Agree. I have watched a family member suffer mental health, anxiety issues. When she turned 18 she was finally able to get the doctor to prescribe meds. It was a life-changer for her.

So chalk that up as another Lexapro win (that was not forced by some drug company on the patient).

[viiralvx]

Me too! I used to be anxious about everything going on in my life. When I started Lexapro and it finally started working, I realized, "Wow, is that what normalcy feels like?" It's been a lifesaver.

[0_____0]

I also used to have general, ever present anxiety, but never was medicated for it. It seems to have abated by around age 29 to a large extent.

One thing that helped was finding a group of friends who loved and accepted me as I was. Really a key moment in dealing with the social component of anxiety.

I think pharmaceutical intervention and my path are both valid, but it's way harder to prescribe "friends who love you in the right way."

[leeroyjenkins11]

So we're the drugs able to help you get past the anxiety enough to figure out what the root was or assist in CBT? I always fear that psych drugs are used to mask the root cause.

[spookyuser]

So glad to hear that ♥ it's such a strange feeling that is really hard to describe

[fassssst]

Same here! I was like “wow, this is what it’s like to not be so cynical and defensive and anxious all the time!”

I lived like that for 15 years :(

[spookyuser]

so happy for you ♥ and yeah such a weird feeling, reading this thread it seems like a real problem and i'm not exactly sure what the solution is, but I think unless other people are noticing that you are extremely anxious and are specifically recommending you see a doctor, I'm not sure it's possible to notice yourself unless you are in the habit of taking dsm tests for fun, and even then I'm not sure that would work b/c some of the questions are "how often do you get anxious" which presumes you know what the feeling of anxiety is vs the feeling of "not-anxiety"

[snarg]

I know someone who insists that her life was saved by escitalopram. However, please be aware that SSRIs are not necessarily free to try, physiologically nor socially speaking. I tried it at the recommendation of my doctor for anxiety. It did not help, and the side effects (lack of empathy, weight gain despite loss of appetite, and others) worsened my situation and strained friendships.

However, my real issues began when I tried to _stop_ taking it. I've experienced opiate withdrawal from pain medication, which was enough to make me sympathetic toward heroin addicts, but SSRI withdrawal was by far the worst I've ever experienced. I used SSRIs for 3 months, but it took 6+ months to wean myself off of them due to debilitating "brain zaps". I got the lowest dosage pills and shaved them onto a milligram scale. I crushed them and dissolved them into a titration solution so that i could wean myself more slowly. I read about psychiatrist claims that SSRI withdrawal "brain zaps", which, it turns out, are known to affect some people, are benign because they "only last a fraction of a second". That may be true for a single zap, but when they occur once every five, ten, or twenty seconds, it's a different story. When these "zaps" occurred, not only was it disorienting, but it felt like I missed half a second of time, and when they got bad, a substantial brain fog set in. They destroyed my focus, and i couldn't get much work done. Driving became dangerous: I would simply miss the existence of entire cars, and I had a few close calls before I realized what was going on and refused to drive any longer while in that state. Weaning more slowly would keep the zaps at bay, but once they began on a given day, it was too late, and my day was over: taking more escitalopram at that point would help, but only gradually over the course of the day.

My withdrawal reaction isn't shared by most, but from my research, it also isn't so rare. I fully recognize that SSRI meds help many people, but be wary about trying them "just to see if it helps," and be aware that once your body gets accustomed to them, coming off of them may not be the experience that your doctor described.

[theGnuMe]

I had those. They were weird. I also didn't taper so there's that.

[petesergeant]

Just another +1. Also for me the "activation dose" was 15mg, and I spent almost a year taking 10mg a day thinking it didn't work, before moving to 15mg and my life changed.

For anyone else with anxiety issues, silexan[0] and l-theanine[1] are cheap and worth a look-in

0: https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/lavenders-game-silexan... 1: https://examine.com/supplements/theanine/

[spookyuser]

wow yeah I also had a very specific activation dose which was 20mg, although I definitely did feel better on the lower doses too, but something definitely happened after 20mg where things felt black and white different

[GekkePrutser]

I use this too, a very low dose to just alleviate my anxiety. If I don't take it, stress often leads to severe anxiety for me. The same way it leads to ulcers or other things for other people.

A small dose of it serves as a safety net for me. I still get it but it doesn't get out of control.

I've tried to do without in the past but eventually when I get in a rough patch things get bad and this drug is only affective after taking it for a few months. So just taking it when it's most needed is not an option.

[ravishi]

That's exactly what happened to me. I began to take it when the pandemic hit and latter decided to stop. But it was transformative in the sense that it made me aware of how handicapping my anxiety was. My doctor didn't want me to stop tho. I clearly match the criteria to stop (stable for an year), while he still recommended that I continued. He didn't veto my stopping either, but it was my decision.

[spookyuser]

SO glad to hear that ♥ how do you feel now that you're off it

[petemir]

Adding to the anecdata, on the other hand, when I took it, I just felt the same :(.

[spookyuser]

Sorry to hear that :(