Lexapro and Meditation

I think many of us have wondered if taking an SSRI will defeat some evolutionary progress. I want to question this and address it.

Meditation has been a cornerstone in my life. I started meditation practice soon after high school, I am now 45, male. I must say, I believe it helped keep me stay looking young, and mostly relaxed. But with that also came the social anxiety. The BUZZ of the world, the noises were overwhelming, (I once told a guy in a classical music concert to put his watch away, as the tic-toc FROM HIS WATCH was disturbing me.) I have been labeled over-sensitive, yes.

Frequent massages (hands are grounding) have done me some good, also yoga, exercise, muscle training. I am fit, you wouldn't know I have "issues".

I started on 5mg of Lexapro. Soon after, (slight nausea, mostly gone after 2 weeks), my anxiety faded. I was elated. I could make jokes in a crowd, I could speak my mind, speak to girls more freely. I was in my own skin. I wasn't ''reacting' to my anxiety anymore. (On Lexapro for 2 years now..? roughly.)

The problem is, I lost my sense of awareness, and I had the realization immediately that I would grow old more quickly. Without a sense of meditative awareness, breathing, body-awareness, a sense of consciousness, the little amount of lexapro I take has taken away some ..... (how did my (now) wife put it,)... takes away the vulnerable side, or the sublime.

Music is now different, (my taste from classical has become more pop-ish, Pink Floyd is the Bomb, etc... recently found the band Elbow (if you haven't heard... very tender, almost sad (be careful)). I am more into feel-good music... less about the sublime. I put the Beethoven String Quartets in the cabinet.

My hair is also more greying... and I look slightly older, by what my sense tells me I should look like.

I am not putting down lexapro--it has helped me deal better in social situations, and esp at work. I am simply saying there is a trade-off, and I've not seen this spoken about.

I still meditate... but I have a hard time reaching that quiet place.

I am an average Joe now. Tumbling through mind-created waves--albeit a bit more confidently than before, telling myself, at times, to WAKE UP--lest I fall into a deep sleep in life, and realize looking back that I've missed it all.

Meditation, then, is awesome---and yet may have caused my anxiety (over-sensitivity). Lexapro balances that. and I fall in the middle.

On-going issue... for me.
(Now less sad... less anxious... with a slight need for coffee throughout the day).

Thanks Karen.

Hi Scaredy cat (hehe).

Thanks for your input. Yes, it all about balance. Indeed.
Cheers,
Rick45a

Meditation always is peace inducing but lexapro is grounding for anxiety but never serves the purpose of providing anti-depressant .

i take my zoloft for that ...

without either i spiral down.