As some of you know, I recently decided to try going back on anti-depressants because the grief and anxiety had gotten too overwhelming. My husband, doctor and I discussed and decided together that even though I'm not feeling clinically depressed, I'm still too profoundly sad and probably too deep in to get out without help.

So my doctor tried me on a relatively new AD, called Cipralex (I think the US counterpart is Lexapro). Within a couple of days I felt the difference, but since most AD's supposedly don't take effect for a couple of weeks, I did wonder if it might be the placebo effect. Still, I felt lighter, happier, more energetic, less anxious and with virtually no side effects. That was all on 5mg/day, which is half the recommended dosage.

After my follow-up visit last week, she (my doctor) decided to up the dosage to the normal 10mg. Right away, I felt heavy, lethargic, brain-fogged, icky and worse than I did before starting the AD's. So last night, I went back to the 5mg. Again today, I felt the difference. Lighter, my memory's working again, still a bit lethargic but better than yesterday.

My doctor says she's never heard of anyone staying at 5mg and wonders how that could be enough to make a difference. But it's my body, and it does feel the difference, and I just don't want to up the dosage right now. Maybe later, if the 5mg no longer works well enough I'll be ready to try again. But I detest that heavy lethargy, which is one of the primary reasons I resisted taking an AD throughout this grieving process up until now.

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone has used this particular AD, or perhaps another similar one, at a lower-than-recommended dosage and had similar (good) results. It's always good to hear other people's experiences with meds.