first night taking Lexapro I felt SUPER TENSE

Okay so my psychiatrist gave me this for my GAD. First of all, let me inform you guys I have this chronic muscle pain that I've had for two years now. Its in my neck and right shoulder. if i shrug them or get tense, it makes the condition worse.

My psychiatrist told me to take this medication in the morning when i start my day off. However, i work overnight shifts so my day is really at night. I took it on a night i was off from work and tried to go to sleep. I passed out but when i woke up in the middle of the night, i had a hard time falling back asleep. I already have TMJ and my jaw clenches a bit but that night my jaw also felt very TIGHT. my neck and shoulders seemed stiff and i had trouble getting comfortable positioning my head on my pillow. this happens a bit but that night, it seemed worse.

woke up that morning feeling really awful physical and my teeth chattered a few times. when my neck and shoulders get real stiff, i get awful headaches which ended up happening. I felt really slowed down and groggy the whole day. just felt TERRIBLE.

I only took it that night because i believe it was from the medicine. Others think i should keep trying it because I DO have anxiety about taking new meds since i don't know what to expect for possible side effects. So, people think this reaction is just from my anxiety of taking a new med. However, several months ago, i tried effexor and did not have this reaction and was nervous about taking it too.

Has anyone else experienced this with Lexapro? Ive read its supposed to cause the least amount of side effects and be best for GAD ...

Only time can tell. I'm in the same situation with taking Lexapro. I'm on week 2 and I don't know if my symptoms are from anxiety, previous medication(s), or the one I'm currently on. Personally, I'm experiencing the opposite of what you're experiencing (e.g. fatigue). Your best bet is to talk to your doctor with any concerns.

Beaulive wrote:Only time can tell. I'm in the same situation with taking Lexapro. I'm on week 2 and I don't know if my symptoms are from anxiety, previous medication(s), or the one I'm currently on. Personally, I'm experiencing the opposite of what you're experiencing (e.g. fatigue). Your best bet is to talk to your doctor with any concerns.

Thank you very much for responding back! I didn't think anyone was going to. I feel like compared to the BPD forum, the GAD forum isn't too active.

I did contact my doctor. However, she stinks at getting back to me so I'm just waiting around to hear back from her.

I am on my third night of taking lexapro and I have not had any side effects from it. I was on 10 mg celexa and I went to a new psychiatrist this past week and he put me on 10 mg Lexapro and 1 mg Lorazepam as needed. He told me to just stop the Celexa and start the Lexapro at 5 mg for a week and go up to 10 mg after that. The Celexa wasn't doing anything for me but make me yawn and give me vivid dreams. This isn't doing anything either (not that I expect it to this soon). SSRI's never help anything for me but my doctor wants to add Abilify after six weeks. I agree about the lack of activity on the forums I do lurk a lot though so I guess we could all help by actually talking to one another but hey if we were that kind of people I guess we wouldn't be talking about Lexapro...

I was prescribed klonopin and celexa today. I took the celexa and then a nap for three hours (odd, given the listed side effects, but whatever). I was either completely unaffected at dinner tonight, or maybe slightly more sociable, but nobody else commented so I'm assuming normal and it's a placebo effect.

Just took the klonopin for sleep. Should be falling out soon.

Just curiosity not trying to be nosey but were you prescribed the klonopin for sleep? It may have just been my doctors oppinion for me but he advised me not to take Benzos for seep as you could either A: get addicted to the benzos or B: not be able to sleep without them.

Celexa and Lexapro can both make people sleepy and make some people a little 'up' so to speak. Just depends on the person. Neither do anything for sleep for me!

AnxiousInAlabama wrote:Just curiosity not trying to be nosey but were you prescribed the klonopin for sleep? It may have just been my doctors oppinion for me but he advised me not to take Benzos for seep as you could either A: get addicted to the benzos or B: not be able to sleep without them.

Celexa and Lexapro can both make people sleepy and make some people a little 'up' so to speak. Just depends on the person. Neither do anything for sleep for me!

I actually take lorazepam for sleep! it was given to me for anxiety .05 mg i knew .05 wouldn't do anything so i originally took two! Now don't get me wrong, i take it once or twice a week when i really want to fall asleep asap because i don't want to rely on it.

but i do take mine every now and then to sleep.

I'm getting sleepy now from it

It may have been just something he saw in me. I used to smoke pot and he may think I would abuse it. He will only prescribe me 10 at a time and has told me he will cut me off if he sees that they are going to fast. We are new to each other so he is probably feeling me out. I used to take Kolonpin 2mg for anxiety attacks and never abused it but he doesn't know that about me. Not much helps me with sleep except a routine. Hot tea and progressive dimming of lights then progressive muscle relaxation and deep breathing with headphones playing something like Binaural frequencies or white noise. Also cold room, blankets, complete darkness. It is like some sort of weird obsessive dance I do with myself! And to think I am married! HA!

It was for sleep or as needed on the bottle. It also came up in the interview that I wasn't abusing alcohol or anything and that I had been trying to cope by improving my diet and exercise... so if the recommendation is based on thoughts of abuse or addiction... on the other hand I also mentioned that my uncle was a heroine addict. Who knows.