Lexapro Jaw pain and cheek numbness

Hello @divinewisdom28 and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. Clearly you are feeling something different/off, so it is good you continue to advocate for yourself to get answers.

It seems as though there is a known correlation with jaw pain and Lexapro. See the information below in case this is of help.

"Does jaw pain from Lexapro go away? → Bruxism associated with antidepressant use is an underrecognized phenomenon, particularly among neurologists. → Antidepressant-associated bruxism/jaw pain most commonly begins within 3–4 weeks of medication initiation or dose titration, and can resolve within 3–4 weeks of drug discontinuation."
SSRI-associated bruxism - PMC - NCBI: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5914744/

Have you heard of the term bruxism? Does this sound like what you are experiencing?

Hi Amanda,
thank you for taking your time to reply to me.

I actually have read this article before. I'm not 100% sure if everything I'm experiencing would be included under bruxism. I don't grind my teeth. Just my cheeks get numb and feel puffy and I'll have pain in my jaw next to my ears. I also feel my sense of taste is not as good as normal and i feel I've been producing more saliva than normal and sometimes less than normal...
I've also been having pain in my left leg, foot, arm, and hand. And also just feel weaker in those left extremities. It even bothers me when I'm driving or just doing very simple tasks.. kind of just trying to piece everything together...it's hard with this horrible brain fog.
I just turned 28 years old the other day.

Thank you,

John

Omg! I was having cardiac stuff, and they said it can be POTS after covid, but first thing they did was lexapro, and now I am feeling the same thing you feel, ENT said there is nothing wrong with my ears ( I cannot pop it), I have pain and numbness on my cheeks and jaw, pain down my neck and also globus sensation ( they think silent reflux is causing it). Have you gotten more answers? I appreciate any help ! I am wearing myself off of the lexapro…

@rbarrett welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. In regards to this discussion about Lexapro, all medications have side effects. Psychotropics in particular can have very unpleasant neurological side effects. That being said, it is unwise to “wear” (wean ?) yourself off prescribed medications without supervision from the medical provider that prescribed the med. Could you discuss your concerns with your doctor to find out if another medication could be considered? Perhaps your doctor can help you wean off the medication and switch to something that will be more beneficial.

Thanks for taking the time to reply! Lexapro was prescribed to me during the process of my crisis and while I was trying to get answers two months ago. At the moment it sounded like a magical pill. However I do feel at the moment due to the fact that I have a diagnosis and I have learned some how to manage it, it is creating issues that’s are causing more anxiety such as the facial numbness, the globus sensation… my doctor had mentioned to start to wean me off of it once the heart issues got a diagnosis, I am just expediting things… and I feel better already!

One morning in 2019 after two months on Lexapro, I awoke disoriented, went to the sofa, and sat staring at the floor for about five hours. This repeated the next day. The PCP told me how to get off the drug. The severe onsets continued: dissociation (I was like a camcorder w/o my own identity present), suicidal thoughts ("I'll never get out of this"), totally awake but had absolutely no will power to lift an arm or move, scalp pressure and throbbing, tingling of upper lip and cheeks, jaw included, difficulty speaking. The severity diminished over the years, but the onsets continue even though I have not had the drug in four year. From say the early 90% severity, now it comes on a few days every other week at from 15% to 35%, pulsing head continues, narrow attention focus. I've had all kinds of tests and seen a neurologist twice who insists it couldn't be Lexapro related. I disagree.

I know this thread is a little older, but I just started taking lexapro 8 days ago. I also have a lot of face tingling and numbness, which makes me nervous, because that’s usually when I am about to have a panic attack. Butttt what caught my eye from your comment was you said you had left leg pain, and pain in other left body parts. I have that too! I am extremely aware of how my body reacts to things, and I’m hoping that this tingling will eventually go away.. but I do feel like the lexapro may be helping me. My body is super sensitive to medication!

Beware. I’d taken Lexapro two months in 2019 when suddenly in the morning something was terribly wrong: skull pressure and throbbing, face esp upper lip tingling, dissociative — meaning my own identity was totally missing, absolutely no will power, yet although I could barely move for hours, I was wide awake. I was merely a camcorder with no personality. Part of the syndrome is that you cannot envision ever escaping it. Suicidal thoughts. Mouth is numb, tendency is to hang open, and it’s an effort to form words. This repeated daily for several weeks, then the level of intensity began to vary when onsets occurred. I had begun diminishing dosage at my doctor’s instructions immediately after the first episode. The frequency of onsets diminished. I recorded the days it happened and assigned percentages to the intensity of the onsets. At 10% I could manage. At 25%, my normal range of thinking and planning shrunk, narrowed. Huge depressive thoughts are part of this. You are down about yourself. At 40% or 50% there’s little to do but lie down and sleep. A woman friend who visited me could tell from across the room when an onset was occurring. And they are still occurring after four years of being off the drug. I’ve had many medical tests to get to the root of this: heart monitors, scans, bloodwork, and more. I’ve seen a well regarded neurologist a number of times who doesn’t doubt my problem exists, but refuses to lay any responsibility on Lexapro. “It simply cannot still be in the system,” he says. I can concur with that. But all this began with that drug, and I feel it must have — at least for some people — a mind altering affect that persists. It has changed my life. I know it when my face begins getting numb, or I wake up with a narrow range of focus, or my head has pressure and cranial pulsating as my heart beats, and I’m having thoughts of inadequacy. It is all too real, and even with excellent medical advice and trust that I am telling the truth of this, there is no diagnosis or cause ascribed, and never to Lexapro. I disagree. Whatever areas of the mind are susceptible to being affected can be potentially damaging long term. One doctor likened my syndrome to panic attacks. That may be, although the severity can be extreme and some elements don’t quite match. Whatever is the truth here, it is hard to think that Lexapro didn’t trigger them.

My PCP said anti-depressants have nasty side effect. Beware.

I know that this is an old thread, but I'm also looking for some answers here. I started lexapro a few days ago to help manage anxiety. I'm on day 4 and I'm having jaw/cheek numbness on my left side as well. I don't see my doctor again until next week and I'm doing my best not to freak out.

I went to the ER yesterday and all of the tests they ran checked out and they couldn't explain. I mentioned I had started taking Lexapro, but they didn't respond to that at all. AT this point I'm just trying to tough through this until I see my doc.