My First Month On Lexapro

My doctor prescribed me 5 mg of Lexapro for my anxiety and depression. This dose is extremely low and a child’s dose. I had had bad reactions to different SSRIs in the past, so to avoid that happening this time, my doctor started me on a very low dose.

I was able to tell my doctor about my worries and concerns involving taking anxiety and depression medication. She understood where I was coming from since she listened to me about my past experiences on medications, she understood best what to do to help me as much as possible.

I had not had a doctor who listened to me as much as my current doctor has listened to my past doctor’s frustrations and is helping me work on my health on things that I had been avoiding.

My doctor also told me to take the medication at night because if there will be side effects, they will occur when I am sleeping rather than awake. This way, I do not even really feel any side effects along with that, it can also help with sleep. Although Lexapro is not guaranteed to help with sleep, it can, and so far, I am not sure if that is true, but it has not affected it negatively, at least.

I started taking it, and the first week I did not notice any change or side effects overall during that first week. However, on the 7th day, I was taking a shower, and my vision went blurry, and I felt very nauseous, like I was going to pass out.

I immediately got out of the shower and sat down with my head between my knees. After sitting there for about 5 minutes, my body cooled down, and I no longer felt nauseous.

After that, I took it easy for the rest of the night. The next morning I decided to try to finish my shower that had been rudely interrupted last night. I was able to take my shower with no problems and have not had the problem again since the one time that it happened.

My doctor thinks that I just got too hot in the shower and had some Vertigo. It can happen when you get too hot, and perhaps that is what happened when I was in the shower that day.

I still could not push myself to do as many chores as I should be and finish every task that I start. I was able to start journaling, which is helping keep me more mindful of what I want to do with my time each day.

I have started setting a timer for ten or fifteen minutes and just working on one task for that amount of time. It is difficult for me to continue, but I tell myself it is only fifteen minutes and not that long. I find it so difficult to start tasks still, though, and need to make more of a conscious effort of deciding what I am doing with my time.

As I got towards the end of the month, I noticed that when I was happier, I felt more content than I had felt in a while. I still was having low, lows though I started feeling enjoyment for things that I have not felt in a long time. Things like dancing, writing, and drawing, activities that I was not enjoying a month ago but am starting to find enjoyment in again.

Although I have not felt total enjoyment from these things, even just having enough motivation to make myself take a shower every two days can be hard sometimes but has gotten easier over the past month.

I have felt some results from the medication, but I am still not feeling full enjoyment that I believe that I could. Medication cannot fix everything, of course, and there are things that I need to be doing as a person to grow and expand. I need to journal, meditate, be more mindful, but these things take time, but hopefully, I can make them habits after a while.

I want to have more happiness in my life and live my life fuller. Learning to appreciate more is important to take in every second because you never know when all of it could end. I have tried therapy in the past and will be going again soon, although each appointment I stress about, I come out feeling better.

As long as that keeps happening, I will keep forcing myself to go, the same with my medication, as long as I feel better after forcing myself to go to the appointment. The issue is when I am just feeling so down and helpless that I do not want to go to the appointment and feel like what is the point? There is a point, though: to live a happy and fulfilled life that I have not been doing recently.

I wish there was more mental health acceptance and not so much stigma surrounding it, so it did not discourage people from getting help. It is hard to ask about mental health help, and that is half of the battle. There is more to it but ask and see what can be offered. There is therapy and meditation, and many other options as well other than medication.