Comforting words needed

Posted by ancl123 @ancl123, Oct 4, 2025

Hello! I am a 47 year old mom of 4 kids. When my last daughter was born I went on lexapro due to very upsetting insomnia, anxiety and depression postpartum. I had this issue of insomnia and anxiety before my first was born as well but thankfully I was ok for many years while my kids were little and was on no meds. I was prescribed lexapro after my last daughter born, rough startup but eventually It overall worked for 8 years at 10mg. I would still have flare ups of insomnia which I wasn’t crazy about occasionally still once or twice a month. I slowly weaned to 5 went off and had no issues other then some crying spells. 4 months have gone by. I went off because I didn’t want to be on meds longer and felt overall better and was hoping to loose some stuck weight. I did loose my dad in February and have a very stressful issue with my 16 year old behaviorally so perhaps wasn’t best decision.

2 weeks ago I started to spiral with depression and anxiety I was waking up at 5am often I think brought on by stress. Decided to go back on 5mg lexapro a week ago. My insomnia got much worse after trying to restart 5mg lexapro I wake up at 1:30 and can’t go back to bed. Freaked me out and stopped it. My new symptom is panic attacks which I didn’t have in the past where adrenaline rushes through my
Body multiple times a day. I am now trying tryptophan, theanine, valerian, and cbd and thc gummies is my next option.the last 3 nights I have slept 3- 4 hrs last night I popped a Xanax because woke up after one hr and couldn’t go back to bed. Not sure what
To do. I also am getting to premenopausal age so perhaps some of this factors in. I’m thinking this is a relapse and will need meds for life 😭

Has anyone restarted lexapro or there drugs and had a success story? Scared to go through side effects startup and have to switch meds. Anyone here on meds for life?
Thank you in advance 😊

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I had 6 nights at 5hrs sleep no pills which was great and then the next night tried 6 since it was my birthday and wanted to feel better then it went downhill last few nights 😭took some sleep stuff remeron one night and trazadone another. I just want to be normal 😭and sleep well again

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Profile picture for TG @tawnycgeorge

@ancl123 ok, I hope that begins to help soon! I’m still waking around 3am, trying a few different things but don’t like feeling groggy/down the next day. Benadryl works well but can’t take that every day. Tried some L-Theanine last night at 3am and it helped me fall back to sleep but feeling a little down today so maybe need to take it earlier or take a lower dose. Hang in there and keep me posted!

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@tawnycgeorge I feel your pain it’s good that Benadryl even makes you sleep. What time do you go to bed?

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Around that are you taking an ssri?

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Yes, I’m still doing the 5 mg of Lexapro daily. Might change that if the sleep doesn’t straighten out.

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Profile picture for ancl123 @ancl123

@tawnycgeorge I feel your pain it’s good that Benadryl even makes you sleep. What time do you go to bed?

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@ancl123 I’ve been going to bed around 10:30 even though I want to go to sleep a little earlier but my family is still awake. Afraid if I went to sleep earlier I’d just wake earlier so later is probably better right now, huh?

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Profile picture for ancl123 @ancl123

I had 6 nights at 5hrs sleep no pills which was great and then the next night tried 6 since it was my birthday and wanted to feel better then it went downhill last few nights 😭took some sleep stuff remeron one night and trazadone another. I just want to be normal 😭and sleep well again

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@ancl123 that’s great you got 5 hrs of sleep without pills! Happy birthday ❤️ Sorry you weren’t able to get more than that. Were you able to go back to the 5hrs? Hang in there!

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Profile picture for TG @tawnycgeorge

@ancl123 that’s great you got 5 hrs of sleep without pills! Happy birthday ❤️ Sorry you weren’t able to get more than that. Were you able to go back to the 5hrs? Hang in there!

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@tawnycgeorge aw thanks 😊
I am going to try to restart the restriction and be more consistent. 😭so done with this

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Same! You got this! When you say you tried 6 hours, did you just try to let yourself sleep longer and then find it affected you the next night?

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Yes exactly I slept easily the 6hrs and enjoyed it so much. Then the next night my body rejected sleep. I also had wine, pizza and chocolate ice cream for my birthday so maybe that contributed 🥲can’t even enjoy myself. Most days I eat really healthy so really I wanted a day off.

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Profile picture for ancl123 @ancl123

Yes exactly I slept easily the 6hrs and enjoyed it so much. Then the next night my body rejected sleep. I also had wine, pizza and chocolate ice cream for my birthday so maybe that contributed 🥲can’t even enjoy myself. Most days I eat really healthy so really I wanted a day off.

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@ancl123 I’m sorry your body rejected sleep the next night. Sounds like a truly wonderful birthday though! ❤️🍰

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