Escitalopram (Lexapro generic name) is a medicine used to treat depression and anxiety. It belongs to a class of pharmaceuticals called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Lexapro is effective because it restores neuronal and brain serotonin balance.
It is important to note that if you start taking Escitalopram and experience suicidal thoughts, you should contact a medical professional immediately. Generic escitalopram has a relatively rare black box warning from the FDA.
A black box warning on the packaging of this medication mandatorily informs physicians and patients of potential adverse medication reactions.
The warning states that when used to treat depression or other mental problems, Escitalopram raises the risk of thoughts of suicide, as do many antidepressants.
In the first few months of therapy or after a change in the dosage, this risk is most significant for adolescents, teens, and young adults.
You, your loved ones, your carers, and your doctor should all pay close attention to changes in your mental state.
Tell your doctor if you or anyone in your family has ever struggled with depression, bipolar disorder, mania, or suicide.
To prevent Lexapro from triggering a manic episode, the FDA advises that patients be tested for bipolar disease beforehand.
Especially in the initial few months of therapy or following a dose adjustment, Lexapro may cause new or worsened preexisting behavior issues, bipolar disorder, or suicidal thoughts.
You should seek medical attention immediately if you or your child suddenly exhibit unusual signs of mental health, such as risky conduct, hallucinations, extreme happiness, or anger.
As Lexapro raises brain serotonin levels, it sometimes causes potentially deadly serotonin syndrome or poisoning.
What is serotonin syndrome?
It develops when a naturally occurring brain chemical reaches lethal concentrations. Extremely high amounts of serotonin, a naturally occurring neurotransmitter in the brain, may cause this condition.
This is most likely to occur when combined with other medications that boost serotonin levels. Irritability, agitation, disorientation, hallucinations, muscular rigidity, tremors, and seizures are all signs of serotonin syndrome.
You need to go to a hospital immediately if you have these symptoms.
Get emergency medical attention if you or your child using Escitalopram suffers from an altered mental state, coordination issues, muscular twitching, rapid pulse, high or low blood pressure, sweating, vomiting, or diarrhea.
Lexapro Generic Name: Escitalopram Oxalate
Major depressive disorder (MDD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) are two of the most common mental health conditions treated with escitalopram, an oral SSRI. It’s been shown to aid with depression-related feelings of melancholy, insomnia, and changes in appetite and disposition.
Reduces the emotional turmoil and tension accompanying GAD. Lexapro’s efficacy and safety have not been determined for children and teenagers under 18.
Sometimes, doctors may prescribe a lower escitalopram dosage for patients over 65.
Before You Take Escitalopram
Check for current information by reading the medicine handbook and dosage forms that came with your tablets.
Please consult your doctor, who has access to your complete medical record and can provide context for the recommendations made in this article.
Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist about concerns or questions before starting any new drug.
How should I take Lexapro?
Always take the exact dose prescribed to you. Try to take it at the same time every day.
Dosing information
Brand: Lexapro
- Form: Oral pill
- Strengths: 5 mg, 10 mg, 20 mg
- Form: Liquid oral solution
- Strengths: 5 mg/5mL.
Lexapro generic name: escitalopram
- Form: Oral pill
- Strengths: 5 mg, 10 mg, 20 mg
- Form: Liquid oral solution
- Strengths: 5 mg/5mL
Lexapro Generic dosage for major depressive disorder
Adult Dosage (ages 18 years to 64 years)
- Most people take 10–20 mg once each day.
Child Dose (ages 12 to 17 years)
- Usual dose: 10 to 20 mg once per day.
Child Dose (ages 0 to 11 years)
- This medicine hasn’t been shown to be safe and effective for persons less than 12 years old.
Senior dosage (ages 65 years and older)
The liver may not operate as effectively for older people as it used to. This might make your body take longer to break down medications. Because of this, your body keeps more medicine for longer. This makes you more likely to have adverse effects.
Your doctor may start you out with a lesser dosage or a modified timetable for taking your medicine. This may help avoid getting too much of this medicine in your body.
The suggested amount is 10 mg once a day.
Special considerations
Liver difficulties: If you have problems with your liver, you should take 10 mg once a day.
Generalized anxiety disorder dose
- Brand: Lexapro
- Form: Oral pill
- Strengths: 5 mg, 10 mg, 20 mg
- Form: Liquid oral solution
- Strengths: 5 mg/5mL.
Lexapro Generic: escitalopram
- Form: Oral pill
- Strengths: 5 mg, 10 mg, 20 mg
- Form: Liquid oral solution
- Strengths: 5 mg/5mL (ages 18 years to 64 years)
- Most people take 10–20 mg once each day.
Child dose (ages 0 to 17 years)
- It is unknown whether this medicine is safe and effective for treating generalized anxiety disorder in children less than 18 years.
Senior dosage (ages 65 years and older)
- The liver may not operate as effectively for older people as it used to. This might make your body take longer to break down medications. Because of this, your body keeps more medicine for longer. This makes you more likely to have adverse effects.
- Your doctor may start you out with a lesser dosage or a modified timetable for taking your medicine. This may help avoid getting too much of this medicine in your body.
- The suggested amount is 10 mg once a day.
Special considerations
Liver difficulties: If you have problems with your liver, you should take 10 mg once a day.
Before taking any medication, you must discuss this with your doctor to avoid drug interactions that can lead to adverse medical conditions.
What happens if I miss a dose?
If you skip doses or don’t take the medicine on time, it cannot function as well or may even stop working altogether. For this medicine to perform successfully, you must always have a particular level in your body.
If you forget: As soon as you recall, take your dosage. But if you only remember a few hours before your next dosage, take one pill.
Don’t take two doses at once to attempt to catch up. This might have disastrous consequences.
What happens if I overdose?
Having too much of this medication in your body could be harmful. Too much of this medicine may cause:
- dizziness
- blood pressure that is high or low
- sleep troubles
- sickness, throwing up,
- rapid heart rate, convulsions, and coma
If you suspect you’ve taken too much of this medicine, contact your doctor or the local poison control center. For severe symptoms, contact 911 or the emergency department immediately.
What to avoid
Your doctor must check on you at frequent appointments to see how you are doing so that your dosage may be changed as needed and any adverse effects can be lessened. Some side effects may need to be checked for through blood testing.
Some teens and young adults who use Escitalopram may become anxious, irritated, or act in other strange ways. It may also make some individuals think and act more like they want to kill themselves or feel sad.
Some individuals may have difficulties sleeping, become angry quickly, feel very energized, or start to behave dangerously.
Tell your doctor immediately if you or the person caring for you detect these side effects. Tell the doctor if you or someone in your family has a manic-depressive condition or has attempted to kill themselves.
If Escitalopram is used with certain other drugs, it might create a dangerous serotonin syndrome illness.
Do not take Escitalopram with buspirone (Buspar®), fentanyl (Abstral®, Duragesic®), lithium (Eskalith®, Lithobid®), tryptophan, St. John’s wort, amphetamines, or any pain or migraine drugs (e.g., rizatriptan, sumatriptan, tramadol, Frova®, Imitrex®, Maxalt®, Relpax®, Ultram®, Zomig®).
Before using any additional medications with Escitalopram, talk to your doctor first.
This will make you less likely to have withdrawal symptoms, including increased anxiety, burning or tingling emotions, disorientation, dizziness, headache, irritability, nausea, difficulties sleeping, or unusual weariness or weakness.
This drug might make you more likely to have difficulties with bleeding. Make sure your doctor knows if you are also taking any blood-thinning medicines, such as aspirin, NSAIDs (including Advil®, Aleve®, Celebrex®, or Voltaren®), or warfarin (Coumadin®, Jantoven®).
This drug might produce a low sodium level. (low sodium in the blood). This happens more often in older people, who take diuretics for high blood pressure, or who have less fluid in their bodies because of severe diarrhea or vomiting.
Check with your doctor immediately if you feel confused, have a headache, can’t remember things, can’t focus, feel weak, or can’t stand up straight.
Read Also: Lexapro vs Zoloft: Similarities, Differences, Drug Interactions
Lexapro side effects
A drug may have some effects you don’t want along with the ones you do. Even though not all of these adverse effects could happen, you should consult a doctor if they do.
Talk to your doctor right away if any of these adverse effects happen:
Less common side effects
Less desire for sexual activity or being unable to attain an orgasm on time or at all
Failure to get or retain an erection, loss of sexual aptitude, passion, drive, or performance, difficulty in having an orgasm
Rare side effects
- Coma
- Confusion
- Less Urine, Dizziness, Headache, Rapid Or Irregular Pulse, Increased Thirst, Muscular Soreness, or Cramps.
- Nausea or Vomiting
- Seizures
- face, feet, or hands that are swollen
- Problems breathing
- unusual weariness or weakness
About half of those who use Lexapro may see a weight gain of 7 percent or more of their starting weight, according to studies.
What other drugs will affect Lexapro?
Several medications may have drug interactions with Lexapro or its generic version.
Monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors such as isocarboxazid (Marplan®), linezolid (Zyvox®), methylene blue injection, phenelzine (Nardil®), selegiline (Eldepryl®), and tranylcypromine (Parnate®) should not be used with Escitalopram.
Do not use Escitalopram until 14 days after you stop using an MAO inhibitor.
After stopping Escitalopram, you should wait 14 days before starting an MAO inhibitor. Take them at the same time, or don’t wait long enough.
You might feel confused, agitated, restless, have stomach or intestinal problems, have a very high body temperature, have very high blood pressure, or have severe seizures.
Do not use pimozide (Orap®) with escitalopram. Using these drugs together may induce cardiac issues that are extremely dangerous.
More about Lexapro (escitalopram)
If you are pregnant, talk to your doctor about taking this medicine. Taking an SSRI drug in the last few months of pregnancy could lead to significant health problems for the baby.
But if you stop taking your drug, you may feel depressed again. If you get pregnant, you should tell your doctor right away.
Do not start or stop taking this medicine without talking to your doctor first.
If you are pregnant, your name may be put on a list to track how Escitalopram affects the baby.
If breastfeeding, you should tell your doctor if the baby seems tired, upset, has trouble eating, or isn’t gaining weight.
Highlights for Escitalopram
Lexapro generic escitalopram is one of a group of serotonergic drugs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
Most of the time, doctors give out selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) as antidepressants. They can help with mild to severe depression, are generally safe, and usually have fewer side effects than other antidepressants.
How SSRIs work
SSRIs cure depression by making the brain make more serotonin. Serotonin is a chemical that sends messages between nerve cells in the brain. These chemicals are called neurotransmitters. (neurons).
SSRIs stop serotonin from being taken back up into synapses. This makes more serotonin available, which makes it easier for neurons to talk to each other.
The name “selective” comes from SSRIs primarily affecting serotonin, not other chemicals.
SSRIs can be used to treat more than just sadness. For example, they can be used to treat anxiety problems.
Important warnings
Contact your doctor immediately or go to the nearest emergency room if you take Lexapro or Escitalopram and begin having suicidal ideation or suicidal thoughts.
Some individuals may become sleepy or have problems thinking or moving their bodies when they take this prescription.
Make sure you know how Escitalopram affects you before you drive, operate machinery, or do anything else that might be harmful if you are not attentive or well-coordinated.
If you are on Escitalopram, it is not a good idea to drink alcohol.
Check with your doctor immediately away if you’re less interested in having a sexual relationship, if you can’t have an orgasm or it takes a long time to happen if you can’t get or retain an erection, or if you’ve lost your sexual ability, desire, drive, or performance. These might be signs of a sexual problem.
Do not take any additional drugs unless your doctor has told you to. This includes medications with or without a prescription, herbal (like St. John’s Wort), or vitamin supplements.
What are people’s reviews of Lexapro (Escitalopram)?
On Drugs.com, 2,167 people have given Lexapro an average grade of 7.5 out of 10. 68% of users said they had a positive experience, while 16% said they had an unpleasant experience.
Lexapro and its generic versions have 3.5 stars on Everyday Health.
What are alternatives to Lexapro (escitalopram)?
Not everyone responds to Escitalopram. Some alternatives for Escitalopram are Zoloft, Cymbalta, Effexor XR, Wellbutrin XL, and Remeron. There are other choices besides SSRIs that you might be interested in.
Most of the time, the following choices are serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), which can raise synapse levels of two neurotransmitter brain chemicals.
In some other situations, atypical antidepressants and serotonin modulators could be good choices.
When to See a Doctor
Drugs like this have made it more likely for children and young adults to think or act suicidally. People who have had these thoughts or done these things in the past may be at a higher risk.
Everyone who takes this drug needs to be monitored closely.
Call the doctor immediately if you have new or worsening signs of sadness, anxiety, restlessness, irritability, panic attacks, or changes in your mood or actions.
Call the doctor immediately if you think about it or try to kill yourself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Clinical research shows that Lexapro is just as effective as other SSRIs.
Lexapro price ranges are similar to those of other drugs. The final cost depends on a variety of variables, some of which are:
- Method of therapy
- Your coverage under an insurance
Ask your pharmacist whether they offer a discount program for Lexapro.
Like other SSRIs, Lexapro and its generic version take about 2 weeks to a few months to begin improving your mood.
The effectiveness of each antidepressant is about the same as the others. It depends on your dose and your response to the drug.
According to the NIH, a recent meta-analysis of 12 brand-new antidepressants indicated that Escitalopram was the most effective and widely used.
Serotonin levels may either help you fall asleep or keep you awake.
Insomnia is a typical symptom of depression, which low serotonin levels may partly cause.
An SSRI like Lexapro may boost serotonin and cause wakefulness, which may be a factor in sleeplessness.
No. Effexor is an SSRI, and Effexor is a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI). It raises levels of both neurotransmitters in the brain.
The Food and Drug Administration claims that the generic versions of branded pharmaceuticals it authorizes are just as effective.
The active component in both forms is the same. If you want to switch to the generic version of a medicine, ask your doctor.
