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I am 78 yrs., female. How long does it take to adjust to Lexapro (5mg).

I have just started Lexapro at 2.5mg and now up to 5mg alternating with 2.5mg every other day. I find myself very sleepy (spacey) and  weak feeling some days. Wondering if this will go away?
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973741 tn?1342342773
Hi there.  Happy Holidays.  So, you have started Lexapro.  I'm glad you are getting help for your mental health.  So many suffer and suffer and this is at least trying something. These medications can take a bit of time to get used to though, can't they?  They do often have start up side effects.  These are side effects that are in the beginning but get less and less as you get used to the drug.  I would say the sleepy/spacey feeling is probably a transient or start up side effect. You are on a very low dose though.  Not sure how you'd go any slower. But I'd tell your doctor. You probably could string it out a bit longer.  Hopefully you tolerate this medication and it works for you!  What precipitated your needing to take it?  
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Keep in mind, 10mg is a standard Lexapro dose and older folks like the poster (and me) often are safer with lower doses and may only need lower doses.  So the 5mg might be low for most but not necessarily for the young and the old.
Makes sense on the dosing.  I wonder how the poster is doing?  Any update?
GJK452  Jan 11
I am at the same dosing right now. As to what led me to this drug, I was dealing with serious back pain issues and then arthritis started last Aug in a big way.  A spinal injection didn't work and other issues about balance and neuropathy and muscle weakness are very disconcerting to someone who used to be fairly active a year ago.  I have dealt with anxiety and depression for about 8 months and my doctor has me seeing a physchiatric  nurse who specializes in these meds within my medical group.  (I tried Zoloft and Prozac but the tremors never went away=more anxiety). Those are some of the issues I am dealing with.
Okay, this might be the most useless or the most useful info you can get, but antidepressants don't fix real problems.  They only help with mental illness unrelated to real problems.  Taking a happy pill won't make your pain go away.  Chronic pain, and I have it so I get it, is one of the biggest causes of depression and often leads to addiction more because of the loss of one's life than the pain.  Now, for me, I was an anxiety sufferer before medication turned me into a total basket case which led to the chronic pain, and the chronic pain has taken away the only thing I had left for fun, which was vigorous exercise.  It's no fun.  No fun.  But antidepressants won't fix you if the pain is the cause.  It might make you feel happier for awhile, but I just want to say, most people who have been diagnosed with pain from arthritis and back problems don't have pain from those things, they have pain from the muscles around those areas and possibly impingement on nerves.  For many physical therapy with only the very best therapists, which you have to be able to find and afford, can fix this problem.  There used to be a guy on this website who was unfortunately booted off by MedHelp for many infractions of its rules who had a back problem that had grounded him, and he had been through a ton of injuries caused by a really bad accident and recovered from all of them but not from the back.  He had run through all the cortisone he could take and couldn't get back surgery because of a blood clotting problem, but he found one of these physical therapists, a guy you can sometimes see on public TV on those infomercials they run that we're all smart enough not to watch but this one he followed the program and within a short time was back in the gym every day.  So don't give up on relieving the pain even if you can't fix the disease.  You might be able to find a way to not let it cause you pain.  Peace.
Avatar universal
Probably.  But you're not going to respond the way you would have at a younger age.  The very young and the old (which is everyone in their 60's) react very differently to meds like this.  The class of med Lexapro is in, SSRIs. are generally sedating, but individuals vary a lot.  While my experience is that the sedation lasts as long as you take the drug, you also get used to it.  So while you might find yourself fighting through a kind of wall for awhile, that should pass as you get used to it and adapt to it.  Of all the side effects you can get from this stuff this is one of the easier to deal with, and tapering up as you're doing is the right way to do it.  But in truth, only time will answer your question, as individuals get such different side effects from taking these meds.  Another thing I can tell you, if the drug works, it's a lot easier to deal with the side effects than when it doesn't.  The thing to make sure of is that you actually need medication, as meds in general are way overprescribed especially in the US.  All the best.
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