dizzy and lightheaded from Lexapro withdrawal

Lauren,

My best wishes to you. I am trying to get out of so many pills. Too many years on them and still not hunger for life. So, I am done with the damn pills!. I intend to make meditation my new addictive pill. It is something totally new for me and I love it. So, It has to work and I know is the best for me (or anybody). I frankly think at this point that we all have to learn to tame and control our minds. My advice to you is try to hold on to something that you love, that you can connect with. I have stopped before and had to go back to the f**cking pills, because after months, depression came back so strong that I was sort of flirting with death all the time in my mind. I am going strong this time and will hold on to meditation as my last chance to truly make it. From the bottom of my heart, all the best luck in the world to you! :)

Hey everyone...I've been on Lexapro since 2006 (so 9 years) and may try to get off of it soon, but I feel good on it, so maybe not.  

However, in reading all these posts, I think most of you are going about quitting in all the wrong ways.   Cold turkey is ABSOLUTELY NOT the way to go.  The brain's neurotransmitters need time to readjust their levels, and the brain/body do not adjust very quickly.  When you remove the Lexapro instantly, you cause a very unstable situation in the brain.  The best way to quit is to do it VERY GRADUALLY.  I'm talking about shaving pills here.  Get a favorite razor blade.  Start by shaving about 1/10 of the pill before taking it.  Do this for a month, at least, preferably even 2.  Continue this in cycles until you get down to only 1mg each dose.  Then pick your favorite time to quit completely.  You should have a much easier time at that point.  It may take a year or more to quit, but you should look at that as OK.

For you folks that have only been on it for 6 months or less, unfortunately the above is still true - once your body gets used to it (4-6 weeks), you're hosed as far as getting back off it.  Don't worry.  You'll get there.

Best of luck to all.

I might suggest, to those that have unbearable symptoms, that you go back and start taking the absolute minimum dose that makes your symptoms disappear, then follow the above method.

The last 3 days I have had Vertigo big time. Strained look on my face trying to stay on my feet.
Glad I found this site prior to me being a hypochondriac and going to the GP thinking I have brain cancer haha.

Been terrible the Vertigo, I was on 20mg and went cold turkey about a week ago, Vertigo kicked in 3 days ago..
How long do people think the Vertigo will last for before it lapses?

Overall I found that Lexapro fixed my bad anxiety, however it caused me to be indifferent to everything, my entrepreneurial motivation was gone, I stopped bodybuilding, increased drinking, stopped perusing my goals.

For me im on a mood stabiliser (Epilim) to prevent the mood swings (bipolar) but I would rather push through the anxiety and be a higher achiever and work on my mental strength to deal with it, rather than be complacent and not chase my goals..

Cheers

I gained 16 pounds in 4 months from Lexapro as well, and started to taper off and now have been off for a week and still feel EXTREMELY dizzy all the time!!! I hate it! and I don't know what to do :(

I spent 4 months tapering from 20 to 7•5 and then I just got severe brain fog, hellish depression and yes the dizziness and brain zaps. I think we should start a class action suit against the company. I was addicted to heroin for 6 years and I would rather go through a full on cold turkey and have it done with, rather than all this c**p. I don't need it anymore but can't safely get off it. I always tell people not to take anti depressants. I wish I had just seen a therapist. F**k lexapro!! I wish you well.

3 months later and I still have dizziness and fogginess

I have been on lexapro for a very short time, less than one month with drs permission, stopped taking it. Has anyone out there had severe dizziness with taking this for such a short time?

Ugh, I asked my doctor about the weight gain as well prior to taking this and he said the same thing...no weight gain. Same issue with me...20 lbs later. I've been very dizzy too. How long did it take for your dizziness to go away. Also, did you lose the weight you gained after stopping it?

Ive been on lexapro and.sulipride.two.months after quit.benzo i quit them with very.fast taper since 4 weeks and im still in hell . im having all the horrible symptoms plus sever anxiety and fear of nothing.

Is this permenat ?

Dr prescribed me Lexapro in September 2015 as I had been waking up from anxiety attacks in the middle of the night. I've totally turned into the type who keeps everything bottled in and my body decided it wanted to let it all out in the middle of the night while I was sleeping. I was waking up short of breath with my heart pounding out of my chest. I've always been against any type of medication I would have to take daily, but I was sick of not sleeping after 2 weeks, so decided to try it. I was only on 5mg, but it seemed to help. Well, it's now January 2016, and in these few months, I have gained 30lbs. I have always weighed between 110 and 120 (I'm 5'3 and 27 years old" so to hit 148 on the scale, that was enough.
I decided to stop taking Lexapro about 9 days ago as I have a wedding in October and I'm trying to get in shape for that, and no matter what I eat or how much I work out, I cannot stop gaining weight. The first 4 days, I was fine. No dizziness or headaches, anxiety, or depression. But Sunday afternoon, day 5-the dizziness started. I had a killer headache and couldn't do anything but lay on the couch. I ended up calling out of work Monday, got sent home early on Tuesday, and went to the dr's yesterday. He said he didn't know why I was ever put on Lexapro in the first place, and suggested I try taking 1/2 a tablet (2.5mg) every day for a week, then every other day for a week-OR to just wait it out another few days and see if it goes away on it's own. I do not EVER want this c**p in my system again so I am going to wait and see if it goes away. I have no trouble with anxiety or depression at this point, just very "dizzy" almost like I'm overtired and nothing seems like it's real. I feel like I'm in a total daze, and once in a while the dizziness gets so bad that I feel as though I'm really really drunk... So far, that's the only withdrawal symptom I've had, but it's been bad enough to keep me from working... Oh! And night sweats have been awful as well.

I still say it's worth it as I've already started losing some of the weight I gained (THANK GOD) but I'm really hoping this doesn't last much longer. I've read everyone's experiences and they vary so much that I am worried this could end up lasting forever, but hopeful it will be gone in another week or so. I have been drinking a ton of water every day this week to try and flush it all out of my system in hopes that will help. I also just purchased a detox tea, so will keep everyone posted on how that goes.

I saw someone else posted a while ago asking this, but did not see a reply (which worries me a bit) but has anyone had a success story about getting off of this stuff? How are there so many people suffering BECAUSE of Lexapro, but no action taken? May have to look into that...

I hate this . People post there suffering . Then never came back . Please post your success .? We are dying here for an answer . 1 month and im still suffering .all organs in my body Weak . Still cant function . Setting at home waiting for the end of tunnle .

I've been off for a out 1-1/2 weeks after a fairly rapid taper. I'm still having spells of dizziness with quick movement, standing after lying down, and bending over. I went through this years ago going off Paxil so I know it's normal but very annoying!
It does get better!

I have stopped taking Lexapro cold turkey. I was experiencing headaches like I'd never had before. I actually thought it was the 10mg of Lexapro I was taking daily. I made an appointment with a neurologist only to find nothing that would cause the headaches. It was decided I'd taper off to 5mg daily. It was 4 days before I picked up my prescription, so I decided to tough it out and not take it again. I am experiencing the dizziness and it's driving me crazy. I am just wondering, after nine days off, how long this is going to go on. I'm trying very hard not to take this drug again and look for something natural to deal with my anxiety and depression. Any help would be appreciated.

I wrote a few days ago about my experience of dizziness after being off Lexapro for about a week. It's now been 10 days and I do feel better and the dizziness is not quite as bad. I'm hoping in the next few days I'll be back to normal. I'll never take Lexapro again if there's any way I can get around it. I'd like to hear about someone's experience with more natural ways to cope with depression and anxiety.

I was in 20 mg for a year and slowly weaned myself off took my last 5mg pill 5 days ago and have been floating since then and have had a couple hours of crying I hope this ends soon