# the 'but' in taking lexapro



## Jay

This is purely a medication rant, and to just put something out there if someone else experiences this. It is now known by me and my doctor that my DP is not influenced by my anxiety. We arrived at this fact when he prescribed me Lexapro/Cipralex (escitalopram) at the start of this summer. His motive was to eradicate the anxiety and perhaps eradicate the DP as well. Now the anxiety is gone thanks to the Lexapro, but DP is still in full force. We decided to keep with the Lexapro because of it's successful anxiolytic properties, and the fact that it really helped me feel 'up' while on lithium, which makes me feel rather neutral. There are but two side-effects on the lexapro - yawning, and nightmares. The later is easily dealt with, but the nightmares are something else. While I sleep, my mind has always been rather active. My dreams are normally extremely vivid, and I have experienced just about every single dream phenomenon out there on a very regular basis. Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations, lucid dreams almost nightly, sleep paralysis, REM behaviour disorder, and nightmares (very seldom until now). Sometimes I honestly feel like I have a dream life and an awakened life - both equally as vivid. I once dreamed about posting a message on this forum, and the smiley options to the right side of the screen (the ones you see when your are typing a post) where recreated exactly as they are, some animated some not, two rows of ten, then a simple row of two. Anyway the nightmares I get from lexapro are very different from my previous conceptions of nightmares. There are two categories of Lexapro nightmares: down-right freaky, and emotional. An example of the first: I am not afraid of clowns, but in this dream I was. I was in a closed cathedral-like cavern. Spontaneously a clown, like the one in IT would appear instantly in front of me, and I would run backwards looking at it, as it advanced towards me, it then got within a foot of me and then vanished. This cycle happened over and over. Now it wasn't a fear of this clown eventually 'reaching' me but this sensation that rang through me whenever it appeared. Imagine getting startled and jumping in you seat when you get scared by a pop-up in a horror movie. The feeling passes very quickly, you might be shaken up after, but the convulsive 'startle' itself lasts for a split second. Well every single time the clown appeared, there would be this unnatural, unfitting, and dissonant 'ponging' sound within my brain accompanied by a 5 second startle. Imagine being in that convulsive state for 5 seconds - the absolute peak of your fear for 5 seconds. Needless to say it was horrible. The emotional dreams are different, but are no less forgiving. In this dream, I was entirely convinced that it was real. In it, I was going to my psychiatrists office. I sat down in the chair as I normally do, but all of a sudden I was on the floor. At least for me (and I am going to assume as with most people) there is this kind of 'pressure' in the act of crying - you almost hold your breath in because the emotion of sadness hurts so much. It was similar to this feeling, but many many times more intense. Anyway I was on the ground and crying and repeatedly screamed to my doctor to 'take it away' (the Lexapro) . I have never felt the emotion of sadness so strongly, in my life. But it wasn't the sadness that was unique. It was this absolutely painful and debilitating catharsis of sadness where your entire consciousness _is_ this one horrible purge of sadness. This emotion that I felt was an all encompassing altered state of being. I have never experienced anything like that before. The morning after these dreams, I almost jump out of bed even though I am still tired, It is a really awful state to be in. I am still shaken up for about a half hour upon wakening. Then, as it always happen, the day drastically improves and Lexapro is once again my successful feel-good drug. It still isn't enough to make me quit the drug, but these cycles of like and overwhelming dislike are not fun. If it makes any difference, I am also taking Remeron (mirtazapine) for chronic insomnia - maybe it is an interaction of these two which cause these dreams. If anyone is dealing with something similar to this, I do have one word of advise. Consider getting up earlier, as in have an alarm clock wake you up instead of 'naturally' waking up. For me, these dreams exclusively occur when I am sleeping in, and only in the last couple of hours before I would wake up on my own. Sorry for the overly long post which only marginally deals with DP, but I needed to share this with someone.

~ Jay


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## Sleepwalker

I've, for along time, wanted to try Lexapro as my antidepressant (along with clonazepam and lamorigine which are quite effective) but it's too expensive here for me.
May I ask whether you were taking ramelton first or Lexapro; and did these scary dreams begin after ramelton; after Lexapro or after you started taking both?
Thanks


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## wael

When i was taking citalopram, i had also very vivid dreams. I was more alive while i was sleeping, then during daytime. But my dreams were very positive, so no nightmares. You also taking remeron, which would be quite sedative, its also very hypnotic and can cause lucid dreaming. But so can lexapro. Its harse, but it is trial and error process. So decrease some of a, increase some of B, or exclude or include something else.
Perhaps try a benzo, like clonazepam (which also could help you with your dr/dp). My experience is when i take benzodiazepines, i didnt sleep that deep and had less vivid dreams. Also, on sertraline i had not any vivid dream anymore, but that could be possible due the longterm clonazepam use.
Hope you get there!
good luck


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## ZachT

I take lexapro and i feel the same way!!!!
I will have wierd dreams and be very depressed in my dreams.
I know how you feel.

Do you take lexapro in the morning or at night?


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## Jay

Thank you all for your responses  the drug ramelteon is a different class of drug than remeron even though they sound similar. One is a sedative hypnotic that deals with GABA, and one is a sedative antidepressant that alters the action of serotonin, norepinephrine, and histamine (hence the sedation). I was on Remeron a good while before starting the lexapro, and did not experience these dreams on the remeron alone. I still continue to take remeron and lexapro together. I'm not sure if my doctor will want to add a benzo to my currently large drug cocktail . In terms of when I take lexapro, I take 10 mg in the morning and 10 mg at night. At first I used to take 10 mg every morning before I added the other 10 mg. The dreams remained the same with the dose increase though. The dreams, however much they suck, are a relatively small price to pay for feeling good the rest of the time.

~ Jay


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## nicolerenee

I had a very horrible reaction to lexapro.
I had literally all of the side effects, including the uncommon ones.
I will never take anti depressants again.
The hospital couldn't do anything.
No one understood.
I was scared I would kill myself in my sleep.
My heart rate was 112 for a month, and I swear if it was any longer, I would have killed myself.
Please think twice before polluting your body with this.


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## Jay

By the way, if anyone has read this, is on lexapro, and can relate with the dream side effects, I am happy to say that they are absolutely over. I have not experienced any horrible feeling dreams for several weeks now. They are still vivid, weird, and numerous but that's the norm for me. This side effect just entirely dropped out with no change in dose. I'd say the effect on dreams lasted for about 5 months. Hopefully they will not return, but I am optimistic they will not. 

~ Jay


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## ZachT

OMG i feel the same way nicolerenee


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## voidvoid

I quit lexapro about 2 months ago and I noticed general improvement almost instantly (Lexapro has a very short half-life) antidepressants have never helped me, I think they have done more damage than good. I will never take any SSRI again.


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## Tommygunz

hey, if you guys want to increase acetylcholine and serotonin production and activity naturally, read my signature. after almost 6 months of no improvement, in three weeks i have almost completely recovered. by almost i mean, i don't feel dp or dr at all anymore, but my senses still need a little fine tuning. :shock:


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## hd83

I took Lexapro and I didn't have any side effects at all. Just shows you everyone reacts differently to medication.


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## hd83

I'm just trying to see if my signature will work on here. Sorry!!


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