Lexapro @ Bed (Seeing Shapes/Rapid Thoughts)

Hello everyone,

Lexapro has worked pretty well for me! I have now been on the medicine for about 2 1/2 months (10mg) and it has certainly calmed my panic and has made me feel a lot better throughout each day.
I do still have some fairly moderate anxiety which come come and goes. I am trying to deal with this in different ways.

One thing which is distressing me, however, is that at bedtime I seem to have a time of rapid very odd and random thoughts.
For instance - sometimes I will see shapes that change in color very very quickly. Once I saw in my mind a lady on stage who was wearing a dress and her dress changed in texture and color rapidly...caused me to immediately wake up with heart palpitations. These odd, rapid images in the mind are ongoing and make it hard to sleep.

I take Lexapro at night about an hour before bed. I have tried taking it during the day but it makes me kind of spacey and sleepy. due to these rapid thoughts and what have you I have started taking half of a Xanax (half of .25) before bed. When I do this I don't usually have any problems. I fall to sleep and stay asleep. I don't particularly want to be taking a lot of medicine so I'd rather not have the Xanax.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this or have you had similar experiences? Thanks so much!!

Hi!
With Lexapro I've had very vivid dreams, but I really don't mind that. At the beggining I used to close my eyes when resting and saw shapes moving, I can't really explain it. They scared me a bit, but the subsided with time. I've been on it 3 years now.

I'm glad it's working for you! It sure has helped me a lot.

I hope you're feeling better!

No not sleeping but just before falling asleep. The weird rapid thoughts begin about 10 to 15 minutes after I close my eyes. It makes me very edgy andmakes falling asleep very difficult. I also have had many dreams that are very vivid. The dreams and what have you have many times woken me up in the middle of the night. Then it usually is difficult to go back to sleep.

I don't like taking the Xanax at all. I feel nervous that I'll become dependent on it. However it's the only thing that I can come up with that will help keep me asleep at night.

Hi pool,

Have you tried the conventional 'powering down' activities for your brain before sleep...such as not watching t.v. or spending time on devices for at least a half an hour before going to bed? 

Reducing stimulus, and not looking at backlit screens will help your circadian rhythm work at its best.

Have you tried Melatonin? This is natural, and may be enough to help you get to sleep without using your Xanax.

Just some ideas to help you get through this side effect...although it sounds as if this is something that will likely fade out for you.

Glad to hear you are doing well in gereral! :)

Talk to you soon,

S.C.

I used to have a chamomile tea before going to bed to prevent having to take xanax. But for the first few weeks I did take it, as my doctor reccommended, until I got used to the lexapro.

PD,

It is hard to say...everyone has differing experiences at different doses, so you may just need to try and see for yourself.

However, it sounds like the others who had something like what you are describing eventually found the issue phases out...

...so maybe hanging in there for a bit to see if this resolves might be a good idea?

Wishing you relief!

S.C.

Still having the aggravating sleep issues! Last night was quite bad. I tried not to take any Xanax before bed to see how I would do. It's almost like on the Lexapro I only get very shallow sleep and wake a bunch of times.

Last night middle of the night I woke up with terrible anxiety because of the lack of sleep. It's almost a little delusional because you're half in the real world and half in your sleep world. I began to have those panic/dread feelings and finally got up to take a bit of xanex.

Exhausted today. Anyone else have thoughts or similar?

Thanks for your insight. At this point I've been using Lexapro got about 3-4 months. It works real well during the day. It's just real bad sleep issues when I take it (about an hour or two before bed). It's not just insomnia...its anxiety , vivid racing thoughts and inability to stay asleep.

I think it's worth a try, I have changed my med times around to correspond with my day. Maybe taking it before dinner would help also.