Lexapro withdrawal help

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I was on Lexapro for just under one year for anxiety and depression. It was a miracle for me in terms of managing my symptoms; however, I did experience weight gain. I put on about 20 lbs. on a 10mg per day dose. My doc increased my dose to 20mg per day due to another onset of depression. While I did not gain anymore weight, I felt lazy and apathetic! I have recently come off of Lexapro because I left my job and cannot afford the rx without health insurance. I went down to 10mg per day then 5mg per day then 5mg every other day over the course of three months. I tried to decrease to 5mg every two days, but that started a difficult rollercoaster of depression, hot flashes, insomnia and even suicidal thoughts. I fought through it and have hung in there with the wonderful support of my boyfriend. After a couple of weeks the current withdrawls I am experiencing are the brain zaps or dizzy spells (a lot of them!!) and a ton of tension in my neck. Hopefully these will go away soon!

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I have been taking lexapro for a bout 2.5 years and have had serious withdrawl symptoms many times while running out of it or trying to wean off, I would become very tired at any time of day where I would sleep in my car while on errands or at home BEFORE even going to work, many times not working, I added welbutrin which curbed the fatigue. Stopping the welbutrin was fine which i did cold turkey about 3 weeks ago. One week ago I abruptly stopped the lexapro, I knew how I would feel and have chosen to ride it out. My main symptoms are emotional like mania swinging into deep empathetic sadness. However i can remind myself that life continues on around me and what I am experiencing can be felt as emotional growth. The actual sensations are reminiscent of certain recreational drugs such as LSD and Ecstasy which were at one time used pharmacologically I beleive. I get waves of mania that sweep through me like a rush of stimulation that can momentarily be debilitating like a hallucination would be. This happens anywhere like while buying coffee or talking to a passerby or checking out at the store or even driving or riding my motorcycle. Scary of course but I have chosen to recognize these feelings and harness them for the moment and move through those withdrawl symptoms. I now know this will pass and i will be off the meds which is what I want to do now. I have other treatmets on deck to help me later on, - amino acid treatment. The withdrawl symptoms will wain but if youre caring for someone else be careful because I have at times in the past felt crazy and reckless to where I could have put myself in physical danger while withdrawing. My environment has changed and i feel I can get through withdrawl ok on my own. Take care, It will be trippy but dont allow extra-ordinary concerns about withdrawing from lexapro arouse additional fear, depression and anxiety while you are moving through this short phase, you can do it.
Thank you.

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I am stunned and appalled at these posts--my doctor treated lexapro like candy! I was on it for Raynaud's syndrome, it was supposed to help with the blood flow to my fingers. On it I felt great, at first, but then it started to feel like I had no feelings. No sex drive, slow to orgasm and weight gain--all depressing in themselves! After much talk with hubby, I decided to wean off down to 5 mg a day and then cold turkey--it sucks. Tired, bloated, crabby, so dizzy I feel and look like a drunk, I stumble and fall into walls. Insomnia, nausea...how long will this last? I am willing to tough it out if there's an end in sight, I don't want to go back on something that has that much of an effect on me!

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Thanks for all the contributors... until i found this forum i thought i was having mini-seizures!!! Thank god its just withdrawal!

well, it's not slightly illegal, its illegal. but marijuana seems to help with the brain zaps... While it doesn't make them go away entirely... it helps you care less about them. It does reduce the intensity of the shocks. and helps with the headache

Good luck to all. I'm going cold turkey too, just taking like 5mg if the withdrawal symptoms get WAY too severe.

hazelbrown831 · Newbie Joined: 20 Jun 2007 Posts: 1

I weaned myself off Lexapro 10 mg over a period of 2 weeks, per my dr's suggestion. I felt fine for 6 days, then the INTENSE nausea, dizziness, limb numbness and brain buzz started. It was 4 of the worst days of my life. I'm about a week past that point now, and the nausea and dizziness have decreased, but I still have the brain buzz, which causes me to not be able to focus on my task at hand.

I can only hope that this continues to lessen with time. The Lexapro did great things for me, but I tend to shy away from meds of any kind if possible. I'm looking forward a time when I feel 100% and can help other people through their own withdrawal problems. It was great to find this message board so that I know I'm not alone.

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I'm doing some weanin myself in Jan 07 My doc pers. 20mg i've been on for six months i'm now trying to wean myself off i just called my doc today to lower doseage from what ive read it's not good to just stop takng them. When i take Lexpro I'm oversleeping all the time I have jolts of happiness then major sadness I'm contantly eating it's like i'm never full. When i wake up i feel tense and my body is weight down and my mind is really cloudly esspecially if I slept to long. My sex drive is very low. I aslo feel like I'm going retarded, I feel like I can't commucatie with others as well I as I use to and I become over friendly or very denfensive. My family constantly ask what wrong and I'll be fine. I sit on idle thinking alot. My head hurts alot. It's really weird. I wasn't like this as much before I took This medication and It's expensive without insurance so I really just want to be free of the affect. I'm also a Recovering Addict. Is Lexapro Narcothic?

caligirlrn · Newbie Joined: 08 Sep 2007 Posts: 1

I started Lexapro in Nov of 2005. I started on 5 mg for Generalized Anxiety Disorder and it worked well for me. Well in December of 2006 I decided I would wean myself off which was not a good idea. I felt my anxiety coming on again, I was alway jittery, I felt as though I was in a fog and always felt I was floating when I walked. So I decided to go back Lexapro 5 mg, well that time it did work so well and my doctor upped my dose to 10 mg, which worked well. Well this time I decided to try to wean myself off because I wanted to get pregnant within the next few months. I am also a RN who just started the night shift and I feel as though this was not a good time to try to cut down. I cut down from 10 mg to 5 mg for the past three weeks and again I always feel jittery, tired, anxious and like I can't think straight like I am in a fog. I feel hypoglycemic. I don't want to be on this forever especially when I decide to get pregnant, any suggestions?

miserylovescompany · Newbie Joined: 15 Oct 2007 Posts: 3

so i just quit lexapro 10mg cold turkey for the second time, man i forgot how horrible it is, but i developed an allergy to it over time, so I had no choice. I have those brain zaps, inability to feel good, and cannot stand for long periods of time without feeling like I will fall over. My entire nervous system is shot, the slightest noise goes through me and makes me feel so uncomfortable. By day 3 I went through the flu like symptoms, the chills , sweats, wanting to vomit, etc. I have been in bed now for days, I am just wondering when all this will subside. Rolling Eyes

Does anyone have any suggestions on what can help by natural means or even supplements?
thanks

Guest · Guest

Lexapro helped my anxiety level, but after nearly 2 years on it, I've decided to wean down, planning to get pregnant in a few months. It's been AWFUL! I honestly feel upset with the doctors that don't bring this up before they prescribe it. The brain zaps are terrible. I also have been sick twice since weaning off. I feel exhausted and like I'm losing my mind. Just read in Glamour that quitting cold turkey causes 20% of patients to have delirium. Good luck to all! I've been weaning down for a month. Now only taking 5 mg when the brain zaps are intolerable. That gap seems to be widening, but this is crazy. I feel like a drug addict.

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well this is purely based on my own experience and so it has little credibility. A little background info: 15 years old, male, been taking 40mg for 4 months, but lexapro in general for 1 and a half years, I have bipolar so I take depakote aswell. Anyways I ran out of lexapro and after desperately seeking it I had to go 3 days without it. I kinda had this "epiphany" recently, and but instead of my good mood going down, it went up. I told my psychiatrist and he said, "okay go ahead and stop taking it" so now its been 2 weeks cold turkey and I haven't felt any noticeable side effects except it decreased the time it takes for me to ejaculate by 20% lol.

Lexapro withdrawal help

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