Lexapro, or Escitalopram, is a powerful SSRI-class antidepressant, that is used by millions of patients worldwide. As any antidepressant, Lexapro should be taken with care, because of its strong effect on psychic and physic state of the patient. However, thanks to its mechanism of action, dosage form and other features, side effects Lexapro for anxiety or depression are usually much milder than of most other drugs. Comparing side effects Lexapro vs Celexa and Xanax, you can find that even a significant overdose of Lexapro is relatively safe, though it can result in such complications as tachycardia, agitation and others. Other SSRI drugs may not be so stable and safe.
Lexapro side effects in women/men/adults/children/elderly and other groups of patients (particularly, depending on the renal or hepatic impairment conditions) may vary. It’s not recommended to give increased dose of Lexapro to children or elderly, and the patients with severe renal impairment should receive special attention of medical specialists, while taking Lexapro. In most cases it is enough to avoid overdosing the medication, and determine individual hypersensitivity / intolerability to the medication components, to significantly reduce the risks of Lexapro side effects manifestations.
During the first week, it’s important to observe the state of the patient taking the Escitalopram (Lexapro) and never increase the dosage, even if it doesn’t seem to have the desired therapeutic effect. In children, side effects Lexapro first week may come unnoticed, and thus the observation period should be increased to at least three weeks. After that, patients may ask their doctor to adjust the dosage of the medication to their individual response, which may result in increase of the dosage from 10 mg to 20 mg of the drug once daily.
Most of the side effects of Lexapro occurring during the first week are related with individual intolerance to the drug, or improper use. After that, there is no sign of adverse effects in most patients, unless they significantly overdose the medication. There are no Lexapro side effects weight loss/gain can be associated with, making this drug one of the safest and the friendliest antidepressants in the world.
However, there is one certain complication that the users of Lexapro may face. You shouldn’t discontinue the drug abruptly unless you want to face side effects Lexapro withdrawal cold turkey. The medication is psychically addictive (like most SSRI drugs), and abrupt discontinuation may lead to Lexapro side effects depression/tired/heart/sweating/anger/shaking and of other nature. Particularly, patients who have experienced the withdrawal syndrome, report “brain zaps”, or similar electric shock sensations, acute depression / irritability, dizziness and akathisia. One of the known Lexapro side effects alcohol can interfere. It happens rarely, but patients withdrawing Lexapro cold turkey can have problems with alcohol, caused by their unstable psychic condition.