Depression...who's been on Lexapro?

I have been on and off of it for awhile. it seems to do fine better then effecor. I was on Effcor for a good while and it stopped helping me so my doctor switched me to this. So far so good.

I have taken it for about 6 yrs. with a few breaks in between. There are some side effects....weight gain, low libido, memory lapses. They don't affect everybody that way and may not show up for awhile. I still take it because I feel the benefits are more than the side effects for me. Without it I am misereble and make everyone else misereble too.

You know I was depressed a while back..and what helped me most was "walking"...this is wonderful..it will increase your energy level ..big time!..

I was on Lexapro before and I didn't really have any side effects. I think it's one of the very few antidepressants that don't have side effects. I was also on - crap I forgot the name of the other med...but it helped me sleep and not have nightmares - that was for my PTSD. I stopped taking them on my own because I didn't want to be on meds. However, I did and do have a plan in action so combat the depression. It's hard, but you have to pull yourself out of the rut.

I've been on just about all of the antidepressants and some work better than others but none of them react the same to 2 different people. One med might cause weight gain for one person but make another person nauseaus and not hungry or it could just take your appetite away. I remember Lexapro because I took it a few different times. It is one of the better ones for me, though Wellbutrin is the one that works best for me. After about 6 weeks of being slightly anxious on lexapro, then I suddenly got tired all the time. It was a strange reaction but happened each time I tried that med. One thing to be careful about is going off of meds too soon. If you go off of a medication and your depression is still there, it can linger and take longer to get better. The problem is if it comes back again, it may very well be longer next time (if it's biologically based). Then each time you go through a depression (4 weeks or more) that increases the chances of needing meds long-term. Hope I'm making sense. I worked with children as a therapist and had to learn all the medications while getting my master's degree. Going through them myself sure has given me a good experience with them. But every med reacts differently on different people. I usually have an opposite effect from the intended use. It got to the point where my mom would say, "why doesn't the doctor just give you a depressant and maybe you'll feel better." If only it was that easy! Don't worry about getting addicted to the antidepressants, your doctor will tell you if any have an addictive qualtiy and as far as I know, the ones that are addictive are the anti-anxiety meds. But again, they aren't addictive for everyone. If you don't have a doctor, I recommend you get one who specializes in these meds. They offer a wealth of information and can help you when it is time, to wean off of the med. It isn't difficult but they know how to slowly remove the med so you have no side effects. Hope this helps and I didn't offend anyone.