Lexapro for young adult's period-related depression?
24 year old daughter has severe “period related” depression. I had same thing and never treated it (mistake). She’s been prescribed Lexapro. Anyone have experience good or bad? Thank you so much from both of us.
Apr 19, 2019
Parent Replies
Please ignore this if you've already thought about this route, but in case you haven't, I wanted to say that I had the same thing, and it went away with continuous (i.e. no break week every three weeks) low-dose hormonal birth control. I stopped getting my period, and I stopped having the intense misery that went along with it. (Occasionally I get a bit of break-through bleeding; for me it's worth it.) Obviously birth control can cause depression in some people, so mileage varies -- but for me it was the best.
I’ve had good a good experience with Lexapro for medication resistant depression/anxiety.
Has your daughter been checked for endometriosis? Painful periods is the first sign of endo. I would make an appointment with dr Opaku-Ananie (sp) she is an endometriosis specialist and talk to her about the symptoms and possible laparascopy. There is also a great support group called Nancy's Nook on FB, they provide a lot of useful information in relation to endo.
I started Lexapro a couple months ago for anxiety and depression and can’t believe how much better I feel. I really resisted it and now I regret that. It is very clear to me now that I needed medical treatment. I’m in my 40’s so different age and life stage than your daughter - but I would say she should give it a try.
+1 on investing the birth control possibility if you haven't already. I've had friends for whom that worked. I took Lexapro for years for mild-ish depression, and it worked pretty well. I took it at night because one of the side effects was drowsiness. (Given that another side effect can be insomnia it sounds like experiences vary in that regard.) I've taken other anti-depressants and my experience of the side effects with Lexapro were pretty minimal, FWIW. Good luck!
I was on lexapro in my 20s and loved it. First month it made me really nauseated but that went away and my anxiety disappeared. It was a great time in my life as a result. When I got into a serious relationship I got off of it because it made it harder to orgasm but otherwise it was my perfect drug. Never had any luck with other anti depressants. One of these days I plan to get back on it!