Lexapro and extreme drowsiness

[Anonymous]

My 13 year old (adhd, anxiety) started taking Lexapro on March 5, and this week has started experiencing extreme drowsiness to the point of falling asleep in class the past two days (fell out of his chair yesterday). I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced this. It’s more than a month since he started would this show up as a side effect so late? He titrated up from 5mg to 10mg about three weeks ago. We just had a meeting with his psychiatrist on Tuesday of course before the drowsiness showed up. His anxiety is much improved.

He’s also on 2mg of Intuniv which he is stopping this weekend. I wonder if this might be contributing, he’s been on this for years and hasn’t experienced drowsiness since he started.

We’re starting him on Jornay this weekend as well, just to add one more thing to consider. Medication management is a journey!

[Anonymous]

I am on it and was told that it can cause sleepiness so to take it at dinner/night. I don't feel that it makes me sleepy however. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

I take Lexapro. I take it at night but even with that I had maybe 2 weeks of being drowsy when I started it, but it went away. I have a friend who had to go off of it because after 3 weeks, the drowsiness had not gone away and she and her doctor decided it just wasn't going to work for her. She wasn't on any other meds. Medication management is indeed a journey. Good luck to you.

[Anonymous]

When I take SSRIs they are initially stimulating but over time make me drowsy. I can’t take a therapeutic dose due to excessive sleepiness.

[Anonymous]

I also have extreme sleepiness on Lexapro and other SSRIs, to the point that I can’t stay awake at work and it doesn’t feel safe to drive.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I’m surprised by the replies here. My son’s extreme anxiety was affecting his quality of life and ability to function in school. He also has adhd which needs medication. He will only be on two medicines which isn’t unusual (lexapro and jornay). Please be kind as raising a kid with these issues is hard. We didn’t medicate until it became necessary due to behavioral issues and some school refusal in middle school. Thanks for the helpful replies. We’ll talk to his doctor about adjusting the dosage or changing meds.

[Anonymous]

My suspicion is that people came in from Recent Topics because of "lexapro." I would discount the responses which clearly show that these people have no idea what it's like to have a child with mental illness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My suspicion is that people came in from Recent Topics because of "lexapro." I would discount the responses which clearly show that these people have no idea what it's like to have a child with mental illness.

Thanks! I wondered what was going on with this normally lovely and helpful board.