Anxiety spiking while starting Lexapro

Hi guys! I posted 3 nights ago that I was starting Lexapro 5mg, and I took my third dose last night. So far it's been okay, and the worst side effect I've had is waking up in the middle of the night (after about 4-5 hours of sleep) with a ton of anxiety and racing thoughts. Additionally, my intrusive thoughts have gotten a lot louder and it's like my OCD is playing wack-a-mole. Part of the reason I was scared to start medication is because my OCD is latched onto my fear of developing some other mental disorder, and it's telling me that I have undiagnosed bipolar disorder and will develop mania from taking this SSRI (I want to add that my rational brain knows this wouldn't be the end of world, but my OCD brain tells me it would be). This fear has definitely been made worse by me waking up for 1-2 hours every night since starting, and then of course I've been going down the Reddit rabbit hole each time and convincing myself this is mania. I haven't had this much nighttime anxiety followed by constant researching since I was originally diagnosed this past spring, and it's really worrying me and making me not want to continue taking this (even though I know I should push through!). I will say that while it's hard to fall back asleep, I usually do for another 2 hours or so. I usually just lay there watching TV until I can, and this is also making me so sleepy the next day. I also haven't feel any like feelings of euphoria (if anything it's been the opposite because I'm so worried), and I spend a good chunk of my day scanning for any symptoms of mania. Last night I even did an imaginal exposure where I was like "maybe I am bipolar, maybe I'm not. Maybe I will develop mania, maybe I won't". I'm trying to not sound like I'm asking for reassurance here because I know that's another compulsion, but has anyone else experienced any of this when starting an SSRI? Any tips to dealing with this increased anxiety?

Anonymous

Date posted: 17h

Lexapro definitely messed with my sleep — it gave me a lot of weird, anxiety-ridden dreams. I started by taking it at night, but when I switched to taking it in the morning that helped calm the symptoms. Maybe that’s something you can try.

reedym2

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 17h

@Anonymous I'll try this! My psychiatrist wanted me to take it at night because of the fatigue it causes during the day, but I'm still fatigued anyway because I'm not sleeping well 😅

TrinaL

Date posted: 22h

It’s crazy how similar OCD is so similar with everyone. Mine did the same when I started with Prozac. I’m 3 months in and I promise it’s not mania. People that are manic don’t know and don’t fear it either. You’ve got this. Just agree and say this might be mania. I don’t have to figure it out right now. Breathing exercise and walking.

reedym2

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 21h

@TrinaL Right?! It's nice knowing you're not the only one having these thoughts/feelings, but you're like "wow I've really never had an original thought". Thank you!!

TrinaL

Date posted: 20h

@reedym2 Your welcome! Always here if you need to talk 😊

norwhals

Date posted: 6h

The constant researching might become a compulsion! When I convinced myself I had a brain tumor or a brain eating amoeba, those reddit rabbit holes just made everythign worse!! 😅

reedym2

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 5h

@norwhals 100% a compulsion! It's 2:45 am and I'm up again feeling anxious after having a very vivid and pretty scary dream, but I'm going to watch TV until I fall asleep instead of researching this time and hopefully I fall back asleep soon.

Toph

Date posted: 2h

Hi there! I recently increased my Prozac from 20mg to 30mg, and I’m was going through the same issue with increased intrusive thoughts at night. It’s starting to fade (thank god) about a month into the switch and I’m feeling more to my baseline. It takes up go 8 weeks to fully adjust. You got this!!

reedym2

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 1h

@Toph I woke up around 2:45 this morning feeling anxious but I fell back asleep after 15 mins, so I'm hoping this means it's starting to fade 😭🤞🏼 I also woke up feeling anxious 30 mins ago before my alarm was set to go off, but that is nothing new so I'm going to try to not read too much into it. I'm glad you're starting to feel better too! Thanks for your reply!

Knickatknite

Date posted: 20w

OCD Relapse

So, I’ve had my OCD mostly “under control” for the past 10 years (I’m 44, battled this all my life). I’ve been on a high dosage of Luvox, but unfortunately it’s lost its effectiveness about 6 months ago. For the past five months I’ve also been doing therapy sessions on this site and have had a fairly good outcome. My main obsessions have mainly regarded around balance and symmetry. Anyhow, I’m in the process of switching to Prozac. It’s only been 6 days, so I obviously feel nothing yet. I made the foolish mistake of googling “What can antidepressants cause?” Unfortunately I found a very recent article of a study showing antidepressant users have a higher chance of getting ALS. There’s also older articles that say the opposite. But this one article FREAKED ME OUT. And I can only focus on the worst outcome. So, now I’m stuck in a repetitive thought pattern of getting ALS from the one medication that is supposed to help me. It’s absolutely terrifying and I haven’t experienced a health anxiety fear like this in years. I want to research more and more online, but I know this won’t help. It will only make things worse. Anyone with health anxiety have any advice on how to conquer this? I’m standing strong and not getting off my medication or doing any research.

Ms77

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 20w

Starting medication

I’m a few days in on starting 10 mg of Prozac, my anxiety has definitely been heightened and it’s making it really hard for me to eat :( also sleep has been very hard when the intrusive thoughts fill my head. I want to stick with the medication and give it a good shot as I know it could really help me. Any suggestions or some encouragement to help me get through this time

Anonymous

Date posted: 12w

derealization as a side effect w/lexapro?

Anyone get this in the beginning and it go away? I posted yesterday how I was feeling pretty good. But realistically it’s only 2 weeks into 5mg so it’s early on and I’ll probably need to move up to 10mg. I’m feeling out of it today like the anxiety isn’t there but it’s like derealization/a calm anxiety if that makes sense lol. Like I just don’t feel real:/

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Anxiety spiking while starting Lexapro

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