SSRI induced mania...

I am new to the site and have been looking over all of the forums. There seems to be a lot of information about withdrawing from SSRIs but I haven't found much from people who experienced a bad reaction.
I took 10mg's of Lexapro for 8 days and I had a very bad reaction. I would go days without sleeping, extremely anxious, irritable etc... Also, I have this incredible urge to drink alcohol and I have never been much of a drinker. Has anyone experienced anything like this? My psychiatrist is now telling me I am bipolar type II. I am in the military and this diagnosis will be death to my career. Thank you for any feedback. Although I have discontinued the Lexapro I still have a lot of unpleasant symptoms.

Hi oceanside659,

Sleeplessness is a typical side effect of Lexapro. What's more concerning is the anxiety effect because lexapro is actually used for treating anxiety. I think you should tell your doctor about this effects. Also I don't think that you should discontinue the use immediately. I think you should consult your doctor and ask for his/her permission first.

PTSD is complex disorder very hard to get diagnosed.
I am very sure I have it and was diagnosed with it .
Drinking a lot,sleeping a lot or less ...can be part of it....
There are lots of docs specialized in PTSD.
I am dealing with tough time and depression is becoming chronic to acute but I am scared I might be hospitalized ,as I do not have insurance right now.

Hello,

I am a former Lexapro user myself. I have an interesting story about my usage.
I originally took it ten years ago for depression primarily due to unfortunate circumstances.
I had insomnia for about a week or so then felt sluggish for awhile. eventually overcame the those side effects and it worked great!

However..
5 years ago I had a mental breakdown and fell into the worst depression of my life.
I went back to my Dr. and requested Lexapro again after being off it for 5 years.
This time the side effects were 10 times worse!!
I had a ton of side effects including insomnia and anxiety. I didn't sleep for days and had to take lorazepam just help get to sleep for about a month or so. I also experienced rapid cycles of highs and then major depressive lows. I was very unstable.

I went to a psychiatrist who diagnosed my with a mild case of bi-polar 2 hypomania.
He told me that because of the way I was reacting to the SSRI that was one indicator that I had Bi-polar. That SSRi's can throw you in a loop like I just mentioned if you have Bi-polar.
Even though I had taken it in the past with less side effects my brain chemistry changed and it was more harmful than helpful which is not uncommon with bi-polar according to my Dr.

SSRI's aren't typically used as a first line medicine for Bi-polar because of the reasons I just mentioned. They are usually added to the stew of meds Dr' s put you on to help create a balance of brain chemistry.
So I was stopped from SRRI's ( I also tried Prozac) less side effects but similar effects to the Lexapro and was ineffective in treating my condition.

If you haven't already, talk to your Dr. and see an expert in psychiatric medicine to help find the proper medicine of combination of medicines if need be.
Hope this helps.
Take care of your self and feel free to respond. Jc77