Lyme, Lexapro and Fatigue: help me sort this out

Hi all,

My teen daughter was diagnosed with Lyme a little over two months ago. A few days prior to that diagnosis, her doctor started her on 10mg of Lexapro. The Lexapro has helped my daughter's emotional state greatly and for that I am thankful.

The problem is that just three days after starting Lexapro, the Lyme results came in and she began her first antibiotic. She has had extreme fatigue ever since. Some days are a bit better than others but she hasn't been able to do school work in over a month. She has a bit more energy in the late afternoon and evening. I did ask her primary doctor about the fatigue, and this doctor believes the fatigue is Lyme related. But in the back of my mind I am wondering, what if all this fatigue is from the Lexapro? If we are going to treat her Lyme symptoms until they go away, and the fatigue is from the Lexapro, we are going to be waiting a long time.

Next week we have our first appointment with an integrative LLMD, followed the next week by an appointment with her primary doctor. So I will be able to talk this through with them in a bit. But for now, I am wondering if there is any way at all to distinguish Lexapro fatigue from Lyme fatigue? Any thoughts?

Thank you, PeteZa. My daughter's primary doctor is very Lyme literate, but we are also going to see an integrative LLMD next week. Both of those doctors will work together.

Thanks for helping me think this through. The symptom chart is very helpful.

Prior to my Lyme I've taken Leaxpro. For me, Lexapro on lyme made me very sleepy but not fatigued. More like wanting to spend the day on the couch naping.

Others can chime in, doxy didnt fatigue me.

Be very careful with Lexapro, and all antidepressants, with teenagers. I started AD's at age 15 because of a family history of "chemical imbalance". Very long and painful story short, I'm trying to get off them after 15 years, and the withdrawal from being put on insanely high doses was worse, physically, emotionally, and suicidally, than anything before AD's.

Lyme didn't come until after the fact, so it messed up my progress. My doctors tend to recommend going on an AD for my Lyme depression and I refuse. They have done horrible things to my life, and I will never go back. I can tell the difference between Lyme depression and the "chemical imbalance" depression. I have hope it will clear with treatment.

Lexapro was one of the best-working ones for me; but please be cautious if, after a few months, the effects wear off and the docs want to increase her dose. It's that constant increase and "finding the right dose" (and never getting there for more than 9 months) that eventually led to a crash, changing meds, withdrawal, adrenal fatigue, hormone imbalance, and drugs for the side effects of the drugs for the side effects of other drugs.

I know ADs can save some people's lives. They nearly ruined mine. I might make a lot of people angry, but if I can spare just one person the hell that wasted half my life, I will talk and talk and talk about going the naturopathic and nutritional route before prescriptions, especially at a young age when the brain and body are still developing.

If they are working for her to get through the Lyme depression, I'm happy for her. But if they stop working, my advice is to run away from them, not raise the dose. And try going off (slow taper) when the Lyme is treated; she hopefully won't need them anymore.

Only the best of wishes for your both

Honestly I would get her off the lexapro immediately but obviously that is not "my call", as it's just my strong personal opinion and I am not a doctor or her mother as you are.

I have taken escitalopram in the past which is what lexapro is. To me it's effect was immediate and not (has to build up) which is what doctors tell people. It numbs out your emotions, there are no highs or lows of serotonin levels, it just makes them go "up" but there is a sloped line that just continues to go down down down overtime as it stops working dose goes to 15 mg, then 20 mg, then 25 mg... each time you bump the dose the line has a jump step, but the slope is always in the down direction. This line is a representation of " feeling of serotonin" in the brain vs time in days by the way. But again the line will always slowly go down day after day. A medical doctor can't even give the proper explanation how the medication works, they just say it is a "chemical imbalance". But actually this is an SSRI, selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor that partially blocks the serotonin reuptake pumps that are on neurons. As these pumps are blocked more serotonin builds at the serotonin synapses. However over time the body's neurons consider these levels of serotonin too high and too much so the serotonin neurons compensate this by doing two things, making less serotonin overall, and down regulating the number of serotonin receptors as the synapse as well. The receptors that are left can get de-sensitized as they become worn out. This is a dangerous slope and now the doctors give you this crap that lexapro is not addictive and people now "need to take this" which is total BS to what is really going on here. Add to that you get a HUGE increase in suicidal thoughts and behaviours in people that take anti-depressants. Lexapro also has fluoride in the molecule which makes it very toxic just like fluoroquinolones are which also contain fluorine, this damages nerve tissue as well. It also damages mitochondria overtime. My opinion is very strong if I had my own daughter I would not let her have that. Nor would I take that myself knowing what it does to the body. And remember that slope will always go down but at a slow rate. Now when stop that medication... imagine the line dropping off a cliff, this is a dangerous part and it will take a long time for the body to adjust the balance after that happens.

Thank you, LymePickle. You make some very good points. We were never very thrilled about putting our teen on an anti-dperessant but she was suffering so much we needed to something for the time being. Now that we have the Lyme diagnosis, we will make plans to get her off of it safely as she heals. Thankfully, we will be having her Lyme literate primary doctor working alongside an integrative LLLMD. Thanks again for sharing your information.

Thank you, Girlie. I appreciate your kind words.