Hey!

I was recently prescribed lexapro for my GAD and depression. For context, I was on fluoxetine prior to this and had great success mentally on only 20mg but the GI side effects were to the point where I lost a lot of weight and was woken up regularly by bowel movements in the middle of the night.

Now, I have always had extreme trouble onboarding SSRI’s. I get extreme side effects initially and my first dose of lexapro was no different. I took only 2.5 mg and woke up in the middle of the night with a panic attack and physical agitation which I haven’t experienced in quite some time. This caused some suicidal ideation which I didn’t have prior to starting. I asked my doctor about this and he said it was unlikely to have been caused by the meds since the dose was so low.

I can’t, however, shake the feeling that my sensitivity to these meds is simply higher then normal. I’m kind of getting tired of the story that it’s all in my head since these symptoms do not appear when unmedicated.

I’ve seen that temple grandin is of the opinion that in some cases very low doses of antidepressants are more effective in people who respond the way that I do.

Does anyone have experience with similar cases to mine and could it be that I should take the medication in even lower doses?

Thank you.