I haven't been either of the drugs you mention, but I have been on numerous SSRIs (like Lexapro) I'm super sensitive to meds as well.

Make sure to give the lexapro time, at least 6 weeks, before you decide if it's helpful or not. Unless you react badly to it, of course. Personally, I can feel the effects of SSRIs a couple of days in, but I notice gradual changes in my mood after 3+ weeks on them. My husband is on Lexapro and it has been working well for him for over 10 years.

I've been on and off and on and off SSRIs quite a bit because I have such mixed feelings about them. On one hand, they do make my mood more stable, I'm less anxious and I'm more functional. What I don't like about them is that they flatten my mood out so I don't have the range of emotions that I used to, good and bad.

It may be helpful to you to keep a mood chart for a while. I like the one at http://www.medhelp.org pretty well. It can give you an idea if your mood is changing overall.

So many people have such a wide variety of reactions to these medications, it's hard to say what to expect. I don't think that the ineffectiveness of St. Johns Wart is much of a indicator of whether SSRIs will work or not though. I think I read somewhere that it's similar to a different class of anti-depressants, but since it's herbal, you can't get consistent dosing or quality control.

There are several SSRIs on the market; average time to reach maximal effect is 4-6 weeks. Propranol (Inderal) is a "beta-blocker." That will reduce the SYMPTOMS of anxiety, but not the anxiety itself.

I tried Lexapro and had good luck with it. I eventually switched to Effexor (SNRI) because of sexual side effects.

I hope this helps..
Best to you!

I used to be on Lexapro and it worked for me for a couple of years. After about two years we had to change my meds because it was just no longer working which they say is common with any antidepressants. I am now on prozac and buspar for anxiety because they took back my other anxiety meds cause I was abusing them. It does take about 4-6 weeks for the lexapro to really start working. I also know several other people who have taken it and it worked great for them for the first few years too. My neighbor is on it right now but says she is not feeling any difference but she has only been on it right at 4 weeks so it might just be taking her a little longer.

I'm currently on Luvox (SSRI) and Lamictal (mood stabilizer) daily and I take Ativan (anti-anxiety) and Risperdol (anti-psychotic) as needed. All of my doses are super small, every time I tell a doctor my dose they tell me that dose shouldn't be doing anything to me. Hah!!

Luvox is an older SSRI and is not used hardly at all. It tends to be used for OCD more then depression and anxiety, but it seems to help me with those.

Celexa and Paxil were terrible for me. They made me super agitated and made it absolutely impossible for me to sleep. (I'm not talking about insomnia, I mean, physically impossible.) Prozac made me terribly depressed, wanting to hurt myself depressed. I think Zoloft was going the same route, but I didn't really give it a chance.

Folks who are bi-polar react badly to SSRIs, and I think my P thinks I'm at least a little bi-polar because of how badly I react to some of these. She would be happier if I could tolerate a higher dose of Lamictal I'd be happier if Lamictal did anything for anxiety and didn't make me stupid (at higher doses).

Here is my advice on trouble with sleep. First, see if it's ok if you take your Lexapro in the morning. That helps me. You might be able to get something (ambien, lunesta, etc) to help you sleep while you are adjusting. Just be cautious if you go down that route. I ended up taking Lunesta for 3 years and when I finally got off of it, I found that it was doing terrible things to my mood. Ambien is it's own crazy can of worms with the possibility of sleepwalking and such. But they can be a godsend too.

I was taking Lexapro for a while and it was working, but it made me start gaining a lot of weight whixh stressed me out and then made my anxiety worse. My dr switched me to Prestique which was wonderful and I loved it, but my insurance wouldn't cover it so now I just started taking Cymbalta. It hasn't been long enough yet to see if it will work or not. I also have Xanex if I need it for anxiety attacks, but I don't take it every day even though it says I can have it up to 3 times a day.

I was on Effexor for about 12 months and have never noticed any improvement in that time. I started seeing a new Psychiatrist and he upped it to 450mg per day and still no improvement. I also take 25mg/50mg Seroquel at night. The Seroquel helps me sleep and also helps my anxiety during the day. I have tried not taking it and it is not pretty.

The Effexor wasn't helping a great deal so he changed it to 300mg Effexor in the morning and 45mg Avanza at night. This seems to be working and he said it is a breakthrough. I have a major depression, complex ptsd and anxiety disorder.

He has always done the increasing/decreasing on a weekly basis.

Have you noticed any changes in your mood? It took about six weeks til I noticed the breakthrough.

The best way to describe the changes the Avanza has made is that I am still the same me and my life is still exactly the same but I see and feel and think things through a different filter - sort of like adjusting the focus on binoculars. I was always scared of getting better and still being me and hating me and my life.....but there was no need to be scared because it all just happened and felt right.

As for the seroquel it takes the daytime anxiety away - when I went off it I was back to being a screaming wreck and tidying compulsively and so manic about little stuff, I didn't realize what a great job it was doing til I went off it.

The avanza has also helped to slow my racing thoughts/obsessing to a much more manageable pace.

Do you feel like it is easier for you to see things through a different fileter?

Krkl