Hi everyone, I’m currently 1 week on 5 mg and about 5 weeks on 10 mg of Lexapro.
Around weeks 3–4 I had a few really good days where my anxiety felt noticeably lower and I felt more in control of my emotions. But for about the last week, the anxiety has come back pretty strongly. I feel much more on edge again, even though overall I thought I was handling things better than before starting.
Today was especially bad — I woke up already in a really low, irritated mood, and all day I’ve been snappy, easily annoyed, and feeling like everything is getting under my skin. That honestly scares me, because it makes me worry that the medication just isn’t working for me.
What makes it confusing is that my partner and my family both say I seem more stable than I was a month ago, even when I don’t feel that way inside.
Has anyone else experienced this kind of ups and downs on Lexapro? Is it normal to feel better and then worse again around this time, or does this mean the medication might not be right for me?
So, here's the thing with progress—sometimes when you're in the weeds with it, you actually can't feel it or see it, so you doubt that it exists at all. It's a lot of incremental steps forward with some pauses (and even a few steps back) along the way. You are trending in a better direction, but your bad days are making it harder to see that. The fact that those close to you have started to see it reinforces this.
Ups and downs aren't necessarily bad. The medication should make the downs more manageable, though. It should give you just enough space to separate logical thinking from spiraling, unrealistic catastrophizing.
That's where you start to learn and practice better ways of coping and regulating.
I've been on Lexapro for almost 10 years. I've had more than my share of bad days, but now that I have such a long history on it, I can see how I gradually went from a person so anxious that I'd routinely bail on commitments, isolate, and feeling like I'd never get better to someone no longer all that concerned with anxiety because I know I can handle it now and have the confidence that it can't really hurt me.
Do I still have days where little things set me off or I feel particularly irritable? Yep! But that's not all Lexapro either. It happens when I don't get enough sleep, or life circumstances just get tougher than normal. I'm still working on all of it. Ultimately, the medication should help develop healthier coping strategies by keeping you a little more grounded during turbulent times.
You are early in your journey. Give yourself time to adapt, adjust, and learn unless you are experiencing side effects that are concerning, which it doesn't sound like here.
Stick with it and try not to expect too much of yourself too soon. It's a gradual process and a lot of the wirings we're trying to fix can require time and patience.
Best of luck.
Thanks for your kind words. Youre probably right with all of that. It’s just the anxiety to think about switching meds I guess. And that there was a sign things will get better and now for the last week this hope has diminished. Also reading that those ups and downs could be a sign of bipolar kept me spiraling.
I guess I just have to power and work through this..
I can totally relate. I was on 5mg for a week (started dec 4), moved to 10mg - those first 2 wks were awful but I had a bit going on. Then I had 2 wks of feeling good and thinking I was on the up when bam - I was hit with anxiety as bad as in those first couple of weeks. I’ve been feeling awful for a week now and the doc wants me to go to 20mg. I’ve gone up to 15 and am hoping to stay there. My doc was a bit dismissive when I told her about the rough onboarding experiences I’m reading about so often here. I’m really reassured by people’s similar stories but I just want some ease. I’m back at work in a week and really hoping things improve. Hope things improve for you soon.
why were the first weeks awful? did you take benzo?
I was in a constant state of heightened anxiety. I came to get on Lexapro because I was particularly anxious and stressed at that time and the first couple of weeks were so bad. Couldn’t work, eat, get out of bed on some days. No, I didn’t have Benzos - I do now.
How are you? have you taken benzo? when you upped to 10 mg did you have stronger anxiety? for how many days?
i have been takimg it for 6 weeks and i have very strong anxiety since i upped to 7.5mg from 5 mg.