1. < Depression & Anxiety

Lexapro withdrawal

Posted by freefromdrug1 @freefromdrug1, Apr 19, 2017

I am currently weening from 10 mg lexapro after 15 years of being on the drug. I was put on this drug due to post partum. Having a difficult time getting into psychiatrist due to wait list. I've been weening for 2months and taking .5 instead of 10 mg daily. I was doing fine until 2 weeks ago when severe anxiety hit, no appetite, flu like symptoms and very emotional. Doctor prescribed xanax to help with anxiety and I take only as needed but honestly I'm afraid to take another drug. I see an phych nurse this week and a holistic doctor as well. Taking a multi vitamin, fish oi, B12 and vitamin D as well. I'm trying to figure out if my severe anxiety is due to withdrawal or if I'm prone to anxiety attacks because I've never had anxiety before.

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annedodrill44 | @annedodrill44 | Sep 5, 2018
In reply to @karen00 "@farabella Hi! I was on Lexapro for about 7 years. And before that, took Effexor. I..." + (show)
@karen00

@farabella Hi! I was on Lexapro for about 7 years. And before that, took Effexor. I am in shock reading these accounts on withdrawals. I was on 375 mg of Effexor and did wean off it. But I experienced no withdrawals-same with Lexapro, None! I wanted to let you know that there is hope.

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Oh Karen00, thank you, for the hopefulness. Also, Mayo has great info on mindfulness. This sounds like a very helpful way to deal with anxiety, weening, and every day living. I’m definitely giving it a chance. I’m so greatful for this wonderful forum.

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farabella | @farabella | Sep 6, 2018
In reply to @kdo0827 "My psychiatrist had me wean off of it over a 2 week span. It was supposed..." + (show)
@kdo0827

My psychiatrist had me wean off of it over a 2 week span. It was supposed to be a 3 week span but I developed Seratonin Syndrome and had to abruptly stop on my 2nd week.

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Did you have terrible fatigue when you weaned and stopped. I’m so tired, I can’t function. Will this pass? I have a special needs son to take physical care of, I’m practically falling asleep. Help, someone.

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kdo0827 | @kdo0827 | Sep 6, 2018
In reply to @ght456 "I made a huge mistake and stopped taking Lexapro and Wellbutrin a week ago. Now I..." + (show)
@ght456

I made a huge mistake and stopped taking Lexapro and Wellbutrin a week ago. Now I have a severe migraine and I’m feeling nauseous and dehydrated. What should I do? Should I go to the hospital?

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I didn’t have the fatigue. I had all kinds of crazy thoughts, zingers and I wanted to be around no one! I couldn’t sleep, eat and my eyes were dilated. I felt itchy, just totally out of control. I will say that I also had the Seratonin Syndrome going on so it could be some of that was the issue. It must be so hard for you trying to stay awake and tend to your son. Does caffeine help? If you don’t mind I’d like to add you to my prayer list.

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farabella | @farabella | Sep 6, 2018
In reply to @ght456 "I made a huge mistake and stopped taking Lexapro and Wellbutrin a week ago. Now I..." + (show)
@ght456

I made a huge mistake and stopped taking Lexapro and Wellbutrin a week ago. Now I have a severe migraine and I’m feeling nauseous and dehydrated. What should I do? Should I go to the hospital?

Jump to this post

Thank you. Yes, please pray for me. It is hard to do anything but my son can’t take care of himself. I never mind, it’s the job the Lord gave me to do and it’s my job. But, hard when you have tiredness. How do you feel now and how in the world did you get seratonin syndrome? How long did the withdrawal last. Can I really do this?

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1 reply
farabella | @farabella | Sep 6, 2018
In reply to @ght456 "I made a huge mistake and stopped taking Lexapro and Wellbutrin a week ago. Now I..." + (show)
@ght456

I made a huge mistake and stopped taking Lexapro and Wellbutrin a week ago. Now I have a severe migraine and I’m feeling nauseous and dehydrated. What should I do? Should I go to the hospital?

Jump to this post

Oh and caffeine makes my blood pressure too high. I do have Clonidine, that calms you down but haven’t used it for this. I was on it for blood pressure but stopped because of nightmares.

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annedodrill44 | @annedodrill44 | Sep 6, 2018
In reply to @kaylacookie "I am withdrawing from 30 mg Lexapro which I took for 13 years. I have a..." + (show)
@kaylacookie

I am withdrawing from 30 mg Lexapro which I took for 13 years. I have a had a very easy withdrawal so far down to 10 mg over the past 2 months. I am wondering if tapering the last third of the full dose will be harder and would like to hear the experience of others who have successfully withdrawn. (For those who posted here about withdrawing quickly-I understand wanting to get the drug out of your body, but it is not healthy and I imagine, set one up to fail. The safest tapering schedule is supposed to be decreasing at the most 5 mg at a time for about 2 weeks for each level). Lexapro saved my life when I had a terrible depression and anxiety in my early 40's, probably related to perimenopause. Lexapro was the second medication I tried at that time: I first tried Effexor for a few months which I did not like and the withdrawal was a horrible experience. But, I know that Effexor is known for being difficult-one of the things I HATED about Effexor when I took it was that exactly 24 hours after taking each dose, I would develop a headache from the withdrawal effects of that single day!!!

The Lexapro worked pretty quickly for me and relieved my anxiety and depression. In the last 5 years, I felt that the Lexapro was impacting my energy and my motivation. I had also gained a lot of weight since starting the medicine and had some health indicators that I was worried about that could possibly be related to Lexapro. I tried several different antidepressants over the past few years but I either I got depressed or I had intolerable side effects (stomach). I wondered if I needed to be on anti depressants and think it makes sense to at least find out. With my psychiatrist's guidance, I was on 25 mg for 3 weeks, 20 mg for 4 weeks, then 10 mg for 4 weeks. I had no side effects. I did use CBD oil and perhaps that was helpful for the withdrawal process. A few days ago, I was going to go to 5 mg, but I just impulsively decided not to take the medicine at all for the past 3 nights. This evening, I felt dizzy and a little shaky. So, I took 5 mg, and the CBD oil. I feel better. If I get withdrawal effects, I plan to decrease my tapering even further, ie 2.5 mg at a time.

If anyone has withdrawn successfully from Lexapro and can share their experience with me-i would greatly appreciate. I particularly interested in hearing about whether the last part of the tapering process was harder than the first part and any suggestions.

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I have been on 10 msg for 2 months for anxiety. It’s helped, but the episodes of nervousness and nausea still happen once in awhile. I’m trying to decide whether to ween off now rather than wait until my body is super used to it. So many horror stories!

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kaylacookie | @kaylacookie | Sep 6, 2018

I am withdrawing from 30 mg Lexapro which I took for 13 years. I have a had a very easy withdrawal so far down to 10 mg over the past 2 months. I am wondering if tapering the last third of the full dose will be harder and would like to hear the experience of others who have successfully withdrawn. (For those who posted here about withdrawing quickly-I understand wanting to get the drug out of your body, but it is not healthy and I imagine, set one up to fail. The safest tapering schedule is supposed to be decreasing at the most 5 mg at a time for about 2 weeks for each level). Lexapro saved my life when I had a terrible depression and anxiety in my early 40's, probably related to perimenopause. Lexapro was the second medication I tried at that time: I first tried Effexor for a few months which I did not like and the withdrawal was a horrible experience. But, I know that Effexor is known for being difficult-one of the things I HATED about Effexor when I took it was that exactly 24 hours after taking each dose, I would develop a headache from the withdrawal effects of that single day!!!

The Lexapro worked pretty quickly for me and relieved my anxiety and depression. In the last 5 years, I felt that the Lexapro was impacting my energy and my motivation. I had also gained a lot of weight since starting the medicine and had some health indicators that I was worried about that could possibly be related to Lexapro. I tried several different antidepressants over the past few years but I either I got depressed or I had intolerable side effects (stomach). I wondered if I needed to be on anti depressants and think it makes sense to at least find out. With my psychiatrist's guidance, I was on 25 mg for 3 weeks, 20 mg for 4 weeks, then 10 mg for 4 weeks. I had no side effects. I did use CBD oil and perhaps that was helpful for the withdrawal process. A few days ago, I was going to go to 5 mg, but I just impulsively decided not to take the medicine at all for the past 3 nights. This evening, I felt dizzy and a little shaky. So, I took 5 mg, and the CBD oil. I feel better. If I get withdrawal effects, I plan to decrease my tapering even further, ie 2.5 mg at a time.

If anyone has withdrawn successfully from Lexapro and can share their experience with me-i would greatly appreciate. I particularly interested in hearing about whether the last part of the tapering process was harder than the first part and any suggestions.

REPLY
3 replies
Moderator
Lisa Lucier, Moderator | @lisalucier | Sep 6, 2018
In reply to @kaylacookie "I am withdrawing from 30 mg Lexapro which I took for 13 years. I have a..." + (show)
@kaylacookie

I am withdrawing from 30 mg Lexapro which I took for 13 years. I have a had a very easy withdrawal so far down to 10 mg over the past 2 months. I am wondering if tapering the last third of the full dose will be harder and would like to hear the experience of others who have successfully withdrawn. (For those who posted here about withdrawing quickly-I understand wanting to get the drug out of your body, but it is not healthy and I imagine, set one up to fail. The safest tapering schedule is supposed to be decreasing at the most 5 mg at a time for about 2 weeks for each level). Lexapro saved my life when I had a terrible depression and anxiety in my early 40's, probably related to perimenopause. Lexapro was the second medication I tried at that time: I first tried Effexor for a few months which I did not like and the withdrawal was a horrible experience. But, I know that Effexor is known for being difficult-one of the things I HATED about Effexor when I took it was that exactly 24 hours after taking each dose, I would develop a headache from the withdrawal effects of that single day!!!

The Lexapro worked pretty quickly for me and relieved my anxiety and depression. In the last 5 years, I felt that the Lexapro was impacting my energy and my motivation. I had also gained a lot of weight since starting the medicine and had some health indicators that I was worried about that could possibly be related to Lexapro. I tried several different antidepressants over the past few years but I either I got depressed or I had intolerable side effects (stomach). I wondered if I needed to be on anti depressants and think it makes sense to at least find out. With my psychiatrist's guidance, I was on 25 mg for 3 weeks, 20 mg for 4 weeks, then 10 mg for 4 weeks. I had no side effects. I did use CBD oil and perhaps that was helpful for the withdrawal process. A few days ago, I was going to go to 5 mg, but I just impulsively decided not to take the medicine at all for the past 3 nights. This evening, I felt dizzy and a little shaky. So, I took 5 mg, and the CBD oil. I feel better. If I get withdrawal effects, I plan to decrease my tapering even further, ie 2.5 mg at a time.

If anyone has withdrawn successfully from Lexapro and can share their experience with me-i would greatly appreciate. I particularly interested in hearing about whether the last part of the tapering process was harder than the first part and any suggestions.

Jump to this post

@kaylacookie - I wanted to let you know I merged your post with this one, as here in this discussion many members have been talking about the same topic you mentioned, withdrawing from Lexapro.

Hoping members like @youngsally @kdo0827 @positivelife @holycow @helpmegetoffmeds and others will join in to tell you about their experiences and especially whether the last part of the taper process was harder.

Since it's been a few days since your original post, how's the taper been going, @kaylacookie?

REPLY
kdo0827 | @kdo0827 | Sep 6, 2018
In reply to @farabella "Thank you. Yes, please pray for me. It is hard to do anything but my son..." + (show)
@farabella

Thank you. Yes, please pray for me. It is hard to do anything but my son can’t take care of himself. I never mind, it’s the job the Lord gave me to do and it’s my job. But, hard when you have tiredness. How do you feel now and how in the world did you get seratonin syndrome? How long did the withdrawal last. Can I really do this?

Jump to this post

Yes you can really do this!! I developed Seratonin Syndrome due to adding a new antidepressant medication while weaning off of Lexapro. I feel so much better! I was on too many medications and I have now weaned off of 3 of them. The worst part of my withdrawal lasted a few days. I’m hoping this finds you better today. How is your son doing?

REPLY
1 reply
farabella | @farabella | Sep 8, 2018
In reply to @ght456 "I made a huge mistake and stopped taking Lexapro and Wellbutrin a week ago. Now I..." + (show)
@ght456

I made a huge mistake and stopped taking Lexapro and Wellbutrin a week ago. Now I have a severe migraine and I’m feeling nauseous and dehydrated. What should I do? Should I go to the hospital?

Jump to this post

Thanks for your response. May son Mark is doing well. One day at a time. I have to say, I am going onto a week at 5 mg and will be going to one every other day for two weeks and then stop. Cannot stand this low blood sugar. Scared of brain zaps. Haven’t had them yet, though. I am praying that I never get them. Are they something that everyone weaning will get?

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