dizzy and lightheaded from Lexapro withdrawal

This is a very helpful thread. I was wondering what was happening as I stupidly ran out of my Lexapro supply. I have been feeling dizzy or woozy, light headed and have been getting that heavy head feeling. I woke up this morning feeling like I had been hit by a truck and thought I was coming down with the flu. Now I know why! I was weaning myself off lexapro last year then had some very sad news and lost a beloved pet. I decided to up my dose as didn't want to spiral into that awful depression. That was a wise decision but now I really want off this drug. I still struggle with anxiety but realise I have to wean myself off this drug slowly and carefully. My doctor has recommended vitamin D, magnesium and krill oil. I will try the natural supplements and hope these help with the weaning off the lexapro. Lexapro was a godsend and really helped me but the time has come where I want to be free of drugs and just be me. Good luck to everyone out there trying to get back to a drug free life, take each day as it comes, ensure you have a solid support base and keep sharing on these great threads.

I hate to say it but time doesn't seem to help this problem . I quit taking the drug a year ago and still get the lightheaded spells on and off all the time! I tried to go back on it and now my body rejects it. I felt like I was burning from the inside out and shook all night long. Did this for 3 nights! I had gained 25lbs while on the drug and since have lost about 35lbs and can't gain any weight. Hope someday to find a way out of this mess! Good luck everyone!

I have been on lexapro for two years and under the care of my Dr cut my dose to half (5mg per day) for about 5 months. A week into that I was having horrible side effects- like everyone mentioned. My husband did some blog research and found that a vatamin cocktail was helping some people- and it helped me. I take fish oil, folic acid, B-6 and magnesium/calcium combo daily- that has been the only thing that helped.

 

I have now stair stepped to nothing and am feeling dizzy big time. I have been lax in the vitamins- but hopefully it helps you! 

OMG!!! I am so happy I found this site! I am tapering off Lexapro...for the 3rd time:( I couldn't take the vertigo the last two and got back on. I really liked how it worked for my irritability and know so many who have had success with Lexapro. However, holy c**p!!! It's just too hard to get off. I am very determined this time though and am down to a quarter of a pill. I am already feeling the "whooshes" in my head after not taking it for 2 days. I am going to take this piece of my last tonight and then that's it! I am just happy that people out there survived the w/d symptoms...I wasn't sure it was possible.

Hey everybody! Just wanted to offer my support to you all, as I too am in the midst of Lexapro withdrawls. I'm on day 4 or 5 and still quite dizzy and slightly nauseous.  I also feel sensitive to bright light.  It's kind of like a continuous hang over.  Good luck to you all.  Can't wait til this is over.  Thank you for sharing.

hey guys, im opposite.. i find i have these side effects while on lexapro. i take mine of a night and wake up feeling light headed, full headed, wozzy. has this happened to anyne before? i am on a 20mg dose.. been 6 weeks since i last accidently stpped (stupid). Wonder if these side effects go away?

haz

I have been on lexapro for about 7 years. 10mg. I cut them in half and only took those when I started to feel dizzy. I decided a week ago I would stop completely while I was away at my moms. I have been off them for about 9 days and finally had to take 5mg. I have also experienced brain zaps and I feel very tired and dizzy. I know this is such a struggle for all of us but is there anyone who can give me some advice on how to do this that worked for them and how long they had to endure the symptoms of withdrawl?

I've been taking Lexapro 10 mg for 9 years to cope with my bi-polar husband.  Ran out of the prescription and didn't get my mail order for 5 days.  Felt horrible.  Dizziness was extreme.  I want to wean myself off of this but not sure if I will be ok for work.  I'm going to try taking on every other day for a month and then cut the dose in half every other day for a month.  Say a prayer for me!!!!! 

I was hoping to find something like "in a week or so, you'll feel better." I didn't expect to a see a bunch of posts of people needing 3 weeks, or even 3 attempts, to get off of this junk. This is my fourth day.

Does anyone here have a success story? A "I'm finally back to normal!!" story?

I had been having a very inconsistent schedule for a while (unemployed college grad w an engineering degree, woot woot!); I tended to forget my 10mg dose for a day, then take it again like normal the next day. But what I noticed was that I got really irritable by the end of the day I forgot to take it, and then when I took it the next day like normal I would get extremely dizzy. Then it would be like two more days or doses before I'd feel sort of normal. Then it would be like 3 days later and I'd forget again, and the cycle would start. I found myself dizzy every other day constantly for like the past month or two.

Now that I have (lady) friends who are bugging me to drink more often, I tried to get off it. (I get disoriented/drunk after a single bottle of beer -- I don't want to say "I can't drink I'm on meds for depression"). So I looked online and I went 8 days on 5mg as recommended on some health website. I still felt sort of dizzy and tired each of those days, then I went cold turkey. (My regular doctor is in another state, and I find it a pain to find another doctor -- I don't have time for that! esp. being dizzy and slow-witted and all). Pretty much the day I went cold turkey, and ever since (4 days?), I have been extremely dizzy, tired, and sore (sore because I've also lost lots sleep, now that I have a wonderful temp job copying papers an hour away). Luckily, I'm used to dealing with a body that is a half-second behind reality, and I take the metro to work, but this is ridiculous! It's hard to go around all day like this. Even sitting down, I feel like my body and thoughts are echoing, constantly.

I keep telling myself, "this is where i am now. it won't always be this way." My siblings think I'm lazy, weak, or retarded because I'm always tired -- and very forgetful. Fatigue and general "laziness" (or unwillingness to take on burdens I don't have to) has always been me for at least the last 6 years (which led to a diagnosis of "depression"), but the last 12 days have been extremely disorientating, adding to that perception that I'm lazy or dumb! Add to that the many days in the last month where I've felt equally dizzy temporarily, and I'm just tired of this...

Please, does anyone here have a success story? How long will it be before I'm finally back to normal? (i.e. tired, irritable, but not dizzy and dumb).  :p

Well at least I'm not alone. I just got off Lexapro three days ago and I was on it for about four years during a depression in high school...I'm going to college and ready to get off...I got weaned off like most of you did. And I have been feeling very lightheaded like you guys said. I describe it as nothing really feels quite real, kind of like a dream, and sometimes when I turn slightly my head feels funny. It's horrible, I felt a little nausous as well. I'm going to my pyschogatrist about it tomorrow and hopefully she will have some answers for me.

So good news. I posted earlier, 5 days after going cold turkey (after 8 days at 5 mg, from an eternity at 10mg) complaining about the dizziness. It was like 3 more days before I stopped being dizzy and I only felt it when I turned quickly. Then it was two more after that before I forgot I was ever on that stuff. I've been like this for like two weeks now.

I am just as happy as before I decided to get off Lexapro. Happier maybe. Multiple factors helped me through the transition. 1) Having an income and a consistent schedule (after being a year out of work, with an engineering degree); plus, the job is stress-less (copying large stacks of paper for a law firm). 2) A determination to say "This is my life. Whether I like where I am or not doesn't matter." That is, a determination to not get upset by things.  I still get frustrated, but I don't think it's any more so than when I was on Lexapro.  3) Some 5-hour energy and 4-5 small meals a day. I find that whatever was in 5-hour energy quickly wakes me up, but also energizes me in ways my normal diet does not. Part of my "depression" is due to my body having trouble digesting food (or me not eating enough variety in foods). I still probably don't eat enough (cereal, then 1.5 hours later, a bagel, then 2.5 horus later, 3-inches of a 6-inch sub, then 2 hours later the other half, then 3 hours later, a chocolate chip cookie and 32 oz drink from Subways, and 1.5 hours later "dinner": pizza or something light), but I'm surviving.

Surprisingly, I still get only 5-6 hours sleep (which is probably much less than before I got a job), but off of Lexapro, I feel much more alert even when I'm tired.

So in summary, it took 8 days at half dosage (starting from 10) then after cutting it off completely, it was another 8-10 days before I couldn't tell I was ever on it. But that first week was nuts! It does get better. In fact, I'm much happier now that I don't have to pay significant repercussions for forgetting to take a single drug every single day. Plus, I can drink alcohol w friends and not be completely wasted after the first cup.

I would not recommend mind altering drugs to anyone, ever. Although I didn't believe in them at the time, I was desparate, despressed and underweight. It probably worked to help me gain weight, but it didn't do much for happiness or satisfaction in life. Only time changed that for me.

Wow, I am so glad I found this thread! I have been on and off Lexapro for seven years. I am in a good place in my life and pretty good at doing the right things to manage depression (sleep, diet, exercise, etc.) so I decided I wanted off the Lexapro for good. I didn't consult with my doctor, I just stopped taking my 10mg daily dose. I think it's been 7-10 days or so, and I'm definitely suffering from dizziness symptoms. There's NO way I'm going back on it, even to wean myself slowly (mostly because I'm not going to let some drug beat me), so I'm just going to stick with it and hope the symptoms resolve soon. I'll try to check back in and give an update on how long until I felt better.

I was on a different antidepressant and I took myself off. I was on 20 mg so what I did for about 2 weeks I cut it to 3/4 like 15 mg and then after about 2 weeks I went down to 10 mgs  for about 2 weeks till I got to 5mg and then after about a week  I would do one every other day for a week and finally came off. I did have the what I called dizzie floats on and off about a week and then gone. Im on Lexapro now so I hope I can do the same thing when I get ready to come off of it. 

I was on lexapro for about 6 months - 10mg. Then I decided that i wanted to be more in touch with my feelings so that I could make better decisions. I reduced it to 5 mg. myself for about 2 weeks and then my psych said I could just stop without any side effects. He had also put me on wellbutrin. I stopped that also. I was depressed on and off, had the brain zaps. The brain zaps were scary, felt like my brain was in a frying pan of oil or like a balloon expanding and contracting. One day i actually heard a pop! Now after a month of that the brain zaps have stopped. But I still get dizzy like I'm going to faint but I never do. I have a sense of losing balance though and that's been scary. I will never take lexapro or any of these meds again if I can help it.

 

I take a thyroid support homeopathic liquid medicine which seems to help even out and lift my mood. I'm going to start an exercise program and listen to positive cds, music, etc. We have to learn how to re-program ourselves and take better care of ourselves nutritionally, so that we can fortify our mind, bodies and spirits. These meds just numbed me to my life. Short-term they may be an answer for people so that they can function on a daily basis. But it is not a long-term answer.

 

I wish you all strength and courage to overcome these meds and improve your perspective on life. Sometimes we have to really look at the things that are RIGHT and GOOD in our lives and let that be our medication until other things get into balance. Peace and Blessings.