Lexapro causes depression

I agree with manic666, anti-depressants are not "take as needed" medications. They need to be slowly taken down & taken up. Constantly stopping & starting them can cause damage to yourself, & it also decreases the chances of a medication working in the future. Please consult your doctor before making any changes.

I noticed that Lexapro made me significantly less motivated to do things that interest me, playing videogames, fiddling with computer, browsing internet, etc. I rely on these things to keep myself distracted from thinking about my life, since doing that makes my depression get even worse.

On top of that, my AvPD made me very anxious about regularly getting repeats. Repeats for something that didn't have any positive effect.

I'm not on any medication anymore, I tried two other kinds, but they had more-or-less the same kind of effect.

I'm still unsure if I should continue trying different kinds.

@MMonroe - Good to know that Lexapro isn't a "take as needed" type of medicine. I will keep that in mind.
@entropy - Were you better or worse off in terms of motivation and interest after you stopped taking Lexapro?

I've been on Lexapro since February, 2011. I can't say that it's done a blessed thing. It was originally prescribed to me for social anxiety disorder, and then I had a major depressive episode occur about 3 months of being on 10 mg.

Seeking help for the crisis, I was then diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, MDD, and social anxiety disorder by another psychiatrist about a month ago. The Lexapro was increased to 15 mg, which did jackshit.

Now I'm being weaned off Lexapro and being put onto Effexor.

I have to wonder if the Lexapro contributed to/caused the major depressive episode that I am currently in. My psychiatrist seems to think environmental triggers (university, and the disintegration of interpersonal relationships) caused the crisis, and that the Lexapro simply was having no effect on me.

But weaning off this drug has been, utterly, a nightmare. Anxiety, depression, psychosis are all through the roof, barely touched by Risperidal and Kloponin. Brain fog has been the biggest challenge: I'm having serious inability to tell if I'm dreaming or awake.

In the tl; dr version of this post:

I feel like I was much better before touching psychiatric medicine. Now I feel like a trainwreck.

biitchelectric wrote:I have to wonder if the Lexapro contributed to/caused the major depressive episode that I am currently in. My psychiatrist seems to think environmental triggers (university, and the disintegration of interpersonal relationships) caused the crisis, and that the Lexapro simply was having no effect on me.

Like I said earlier, when I hit 30mg, it really messed things up, I was not myself; it was more like the cure was worse than the illness. I had already taken a year off from university level mechanical engineering and I was too eager to go back. I got letter each from my doc and my (2nd) psychologist (I'm now with no. 3) saying that I was fit enough to go back to uni. When I first started, I tried to concentrate on consistency, but my mum (bless her...) wanted me to help her with her nursing studies, so at uni I'd be doing my mechanical engineering crapola and at home I'd being soing some nursing crapola; it felt like a double shift. Needless to say, I failed, she passed...

My current psych reckons I went back to soon and says I should've withdrawn after midsemester (I fked up big time), but since I had really bad tunnel vision, I continued on instead. All of this was happening while on 30mg of Lexapro and it was doing my head in. I really should've had 2 years off instead one and just let the treatment do its job.

Now, I don't know if I should go back (paying up front, instead of HECS), or just find a job and turn my back on my mechanical studies......


Cheers!

My mother was recently diagnosed with dementia. It turned my life upside down and I went to the doctor crying hysterically. She put me on Lexapro 5 mg and it worked amazingly. The only problem was that I still wasn’t sleeping. She raised it to 10 and it worked great for about a month. I soon began to notice that I got so tired all day long. All I wanted to do was sleep. It gave me diarrhea everything I ate went out of me in a matter of minutes. I felt like I was in a haze all day and I started to get confused about the littlest things. I also began to crave food and I got bloated easily and gained a good 10 pounds in a matter of a month and a half. After running to the bathroom repeatedly I knew something was wrong. I’m coping better with my mother‘s dementia. I spoke to my doctor about getting off the medicine and I lowered it to 5 mg for a week and now I am off it completely. I have been off Lexapro the past two days and I feel incredible. I’m not craving food I’m not running to the bathroom I have more motivation I’m not tired and I feel like living my life again. This drug is great extremely short term when you are having a crisis or a life-changing event happen to you. Any longer on this medicine it seems to create negative side effects. I rather cry my eyes out and feel normal than go through that ever again.