Lexapro withdrawal help

Hello,
I have just stopped taking Lexapro 20mg on Tuesday this week. Today it is Saturday and I am feeling absolutely terrible. My head is sort of burny and tingly at the same time. I am also very agitated. I was wondering if there is anyone out there who has come off this and can let me know what they have done to ease the withdrawal symptoms and also, how long they last.?

Dear Stranger,

The Best Way to quit is to take prozac with lexapro for a few months. You can than stop taking lexapo but continue taking prozac for a month after. The reason lexapro has such horrible withdrawal symptoms is because it has a very short half life and is metabolized quickly. Prozac has a much longer life so when you stop taking it, there is still some of it left in your body to absorb. Lexapro withdrawal is by far the most antagonizing process to go to. I have tried to stop cold turkey several times, but after the second week the withdrawal effects are so severe I am forced to resume taking it.

I was told to wean and I tried but after a week I forgot to take them every other day and now its been another week of not being on them at all. I feel awful from time to time. Some days are better than others. Think I should go back to every other day or just go with my cold turkey approach? How long will it take to feel normal?

i got off lexapro on monday, and today is friday. i'm having flu-like symptoms that just started today. for the past few days i'd have an occasional dizzy feeling, but today i feel terrible...like i have the flu.

Hi,
I have been taking Lexapro since Sep 06. Prior to that I was taking Prozac. Since taking Lexapro my anxiety level is great, and I can control
and cope with my normal day to day routine in a better way. However,
because of a minor budget problem I delayed getting my prescription refilled last wee of Lexapro 20 mgs. Well, only 3 days and I could feel the symptoms of not taking it. I was getting hot sweats, irritable and
couldn't focus well. I was emotionally tangled up and just felt terrible.
The half life of this pill is short, very short.

I stopped my 10 milligram dose this past Tuesday. BY Thursday I needed to stay in bed until 11am because of horrendous flu like sysmptoms. I also experienced a much more painful and lengthy onset of my menstrual cycle this week. It's now Sunday and although I am feling better I am still having dizzy spells which are more like head rushes. Clearly not a banner health week! However, from what I have read these symptoms can last for months if you take the route of weaning off through systematic lowering of the dosage. I have opted to manage through the 2-3 week cold turkey transition. Wish me luck!


Has anyone on Lexapro experienced a slow and steady weight gain?

Guest wrote:

i got off lexapro on monday, and today is friday. i'm having flu-like symptoms that just started today. for the past few days i'd have an occasional dizzy feeling, but today i feel terrible...like i have the flu.

I stopped my 10 milligram dose this past Tuesday. BY Thursday I needed to stay in bed until 11am because of horrendous flu like sysmptoms. I also experienced a much more painful and lengthy onset of my menstrual cycle this week. It's now Sunday and although I am feling better I am still having dizzy spells which are more like head rushes. Clearly not a banner health week! However, from what I have read these symptoms can last for months if you take the route of weaning off through systematic lowering of the dosage. I have opted to manage through the 2-3 week cold turkey transition. Wish me luck!


Has anyone on Lexapro experienced a slow and steady weight gain?

I've gone cold turkey with 10mg Lexapro before and never had withdrawl effects. I was told that after a year of using it my doctor wanted to see if my behavioral therapy had been reinforced. Although after remaining off it for a full year I felt better than I did when I originally started to suffer from depression, I started to notice some of my compulsive behaviors and depresion again.

I lost 10lbs on lexapro but it made me very tired, I couldn't cry and I had anorgasmia which was affecting my love/sex life with my husband. I do not believe my weight loss was fat loss, I did have a decrease in my appetite but it seemed more like water weight loss. I have a high metabolism to begin with and I eat when I'm depressed. I'm only 5'7 and 130lbs to begin with so I look anerexic at 120. I believe that Lexapro can interfere with the perception of the way you see your body in a negative way because while I was on it I felt preoccupied with my weight and the mirror and now that I'm off it I feel find and very positive about my body image. Yes, being too skinny can make you feel very subconscious .

I decided to go back on Lexapro in October but due to the lack of emotion I display, especially when I work in the field that I do, I have once again trying found myself trying to go cold-turkey but this time am experience withdrawl effects unlike before.

I am at week 2 of cold-turkey on 10mg of Lexapro. The first week I felt fine, this week I am having mind zaps and feel almost as if I am hypoglycemic. I am experience neuropathy in my extremities and when I stand up I become so disoriented and out of breath that I can't even walk a straight line.

I am now taking Ibuprophine 500mg every 8 hrs, dramamine as needed for dizziness and omega 3 capsules (1, 400mg capsule every 6 hours while awake) which have helped to reduce my constipation, brain zaps/fogs and dizziness over the past 2 days. I am really short tempered with strangers and cannot hold my attention span well which is hard when I'm working with patients. I am very sensitive to pain, touch and taste. I love to workout but am in no shape to workout right now and am craving very fatty foods for some reason.

After everything I've learned from pharmocology this medication should not be cut cold turkey because of it's effect on the central nervous system. SSRI's work by increasing the little receptors that respond to serotonin because over time, a lack of serotonin due to depression, heredity, stress, etc can reduce the amount of these receptors. When your body does not have these all the sudden it panics. The central nervous system (CNS) is very, very sensitive to change and that is why narcotics are as addictive as well. I will try to keep you posted on how this withdrawl process goes. GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF YOU!

I started taking Laxapro in Dec '06 after my dad passed to help with gen. anxiety. I was very hessitant to take "meds", but after a few months of therapy, I felt it was time to try something in addition. I have to say it did make a HUGE difference. I was very happy to go about my life like a "normal" person. The only down side of the med, was I felt like I could sleep all the time, and I did gain a few pounds I felt it was time to wean off the med and see how I do. When I started the med I took 1/2 tab (5mg) for 2 weeks, then 10 mg daily. I did just that to come off if it. I have been off of it since 4/6 : 4 days, and I do feel the "electrical buzz" I had heard about before. I feel tired, and in a fog. I guess this will go away in time, you can't mess with your minds electrical system too fast! Good luck to all - SMILE, it will get better!

I started taking 10 mg of Lexapro and began to feel great shortly afterwards! The downside of the meds were weight gain, loss of libido, and inability to/difficulty with orgasm. When the events in my life seemed to stabilize, I sent on 1/2 pill, or 5 mg. I stayed on that for weeks and then decided that I wanted to cut down and out altogether, so I went to every other day, and when I just forgot to take a dose, I thought it was a good time to stop completely.

It's been over a week since I took Lexapro and I feel terrible. I am tired, achey, have chills. I just want to go to sleep and stay in bed. I feel like I can cry at the drop of a hat and like my head is full of foam. I get those electric twitches and feel very gittery. Nothing helps. Nothing is making me feel any better. Even now while I work, I am daydreaming of going home and crawling into bed. I have problems getting comfortable and I feel uglier than ever!

I've been on SSRIs before and getting off is always a problem. I forgot just how terrible it really is. If it werent for the weight gain and the havoc it wreaked on my sex life, I would stay on Lexapro. I felt great!