Lexapro and sleepiness

Matt, Thank you for your advice. I seem to be much less sleepy in the afternoon but in the mornings I feel as though I am jet lagged for 4-5 hrs. after getting up. I have my next appointment with my psych dr. in 3 days and again I will ask him about this. Thank you so much for your concern. God Bless. Pam.

My pleasure. Let us know how it goes.

I have increased to 20mg since 4 or 5 days. I have been tired 24/7 since a long time. I know the ajustement to the increase bring more of it.

I started taking it around 5pm and like Matt said, around 4 hours later Im even more tired.

Hope this goes away!!!

This would make sense as your body will naturally be producing melatonin at this point (the sleepy drug!), which tells your body it is time to wind down, so coupled with the meds, you will be sleepy. The best you can do is coincide the dose 4 hours before you sleep. Thereby inducing a good sleep cycle, whilst reducing the amount of daylight hours with a higher dose.

But again as I said, the difference after this amount of time on the Lex, will be very little. If everything else is going well for you, then I would suggest a supplement. Avoid all the nasty energy drinks as caffeine will do you no good and sugar will only speed up your metabolism - meaning you will have a high for an hour and then crash worse than when you started! Something like Brahmi (bacopa) would be good as it give your natural energy whilst maintaining stress and anxiety without interacting with your Lex.

Hi Matt!

I dont know about brahmi....is it okay to take combine with med?

I will check on the net.

I think I am starting to do better during the day with my anxiety. I go out more. My anxiety is not so high when I have it and its mostly at the end of the day and evening. I take 0.25mg clonazepam around 9pm.

I tend to go to bed around 11 or 12pm...And wake up for kids at 6h30 and I usually go back to bed until 9 or 9h30. I guess it might be a reason why Im tired. I probably need to go to bed way earlier . Cause I know I need more than 7hours. Even if I go to bed at midnight and wake at 9, Im tired.

Even when I stopped med for a month I was tired.

I read that people tend to be tired with brahmi??? Do you use it? Cause I definitly have to find something good for energy. I try to stay away from caffeeine, only drink decaf. And also from sugar.

Hi Matt. I saw my psych doctor today. He does not think that the lexapro is making me sleepy and tired.He suggested that I take it around 4pm instead of 8pm and to take my klonopin .25mg at night time to help sleep better. I was taken .125mg of klonopin at night and just started to stop it altogether, but he said to take it. He thinks that they anxiety is making me sleepy and tired and the klonopin will help with the anxiety. He says that I dwell too much on things and increases anxiety. I guess I will try this and see,but maybe .125mg.

There is a lot of talk about Brahmi having serotonergic properties, but this has not been shown in studies. This was just one example of a supplement that could benefit - there are a lot more - and it would be worth weighing up all the options before trying something. I have used a lot of supplements in the past with varying levels of benefit. But with limited reactions, side effects and zero withdrawal, they are so much better for us!

Have you had any other testing for your symptoms of tiredness? There can be a whole host of other stuff that could cause this. Could be blood sugar levels, thyroid issues... the lexapro might be a red herring in all of this...

Sorry Matt,I forgot to tell you again thank you very much for your concern.God Bless. Pam

Yes I did have several blood test and everything is fine.

I know I need a med (antidepressants ) because when I quit last october even in a long process I could not function at all.

Thanks again

what supplements have helped you if its okay to ask?

And you are on lexapro also? How are you doing?

This is always a problem that meds can be blamed for so many different things - as can the underlying mental health. I am getting a lot of dizziness and head fog - and because I have chopped and changed meds a lot recently it could be any number of things. But if it is anxiety, where does that stand us in taking the meds to reduce the anxiety?! Surely something has to help!!

I switched from Lexapro back to Citalopram 8 weeks ago and am having one hell of a time. Dizziness and head fog mainly. The thing is I stopped the Lexapro because it was causing dizziness and stomach problems. My stomach is all cleared up, but my head is in a right state. I was on Citalopram a while back and although it didn't work 100%, I never had any physical side effects, so I chose to go back on them because I have had almost 8 months of back-to-back symptoms on what I have since tried. I am at a place where my physical problems are largely causing the mental problems.

Regarding supplements I have used l-theanine which was ok for taking the edge off, ashwagandha which was very useful (and I still take this from time to time) that helped for relaxing before sleep and again for anxiety. I also use something that I cannot write here, but starts kr and ends with atom. It is a lifesaver for me when things get bad.