lexapro withdrawal

I have been on Lexapro for about 6 months. As directed by my doctor, I am currently weaning off of this medication and have felt no side effects. I was on 10 mg and am now down to 5 mg. I next plan on going down to 2.5 mg once a day and then down to 2.5 mg every other day before completely being off of them. I was on Zoloft years ago and this was also the way I weaned off of the medication...with no side effects!
For those stopping cold turkey...I think that is ridiculous. When you started taking this medication, you should have been told (or read yourself) about needing to wean off these meds. Lexapro works wonders for what it is made to do, but you MUST follow the recommendations for getting off of them. It is just like any other medication - you follow the "rules" for taking it.
My recommendation is for people to wean off slowly (not just one week cut in half, next week cut in half again). I would suggest a few weeks at each dose level, making sure you feel okay at each step before cutting down again. And most of all don't bash Lexapro as a medication just because you are feeling side effects of stopping cold turkey! Follow the recommendations!

I was on 10 mg of lexapro for about 7 months and it was great. Stopped my minor anxiety and no weight gain. My doctor DID tell me I would need to be weined off it and we could make a plan when I was ready, but i recently just tried to stop cold turkey and I am having some with draws like dizziness and nausea. It isn't completely bad but i think Ill try to stop in small doses. I feel bad for those of you having horrible with draws and if your doctor tells you there are no with draws see another doctor!!! My doctor was real with me and didn't lie about it.

I notice a lot of people talking about the shock sensation, thank god. This is exactly what has been happening me. It is the only major symptom I am getting. I tapered off xanax at the same time, and I was lead to believe that the withdrawals off xanax were gonna be much worse, but I gotta say I got no symptoms at all off the xanax. These electric shocks are doing my head in, I wonder how long it will last.

I found out that I am pregnant and was taking Lexapro. I decided to taper myself off of the medication because I know it is not the best idea to stay on it while pregnant. I've been off completely for 4 days and I am having shock feelings in my head and occassionally in my left arm/hand. I'm also having twitching in my left eye. These symptoms started within 24 hours of stopping the Lexapro. This really sucks and I don't ever want to take Lexapro again!! I'm already tired and nauseated from the pregnancy I don't need these additional weird feelings from the Lexapro withdrawls! I hope this is helpful to anyone who is on Lexapro and are thinking about getting pregnant. I would advise stopping Lexapro before getting pregnant.

I stopped taking lexapro 16 days ago and the side effects are almost completely gone and it feels so good to be myself again! It was rough though until yesterday. I stopped cold turkey because I had tried before and couldn't stop, so I went back on lexapro, but this time I was determined and I planned to take time off work if needed. The first week was fine, a little moody, but nothing serious, on day 13, I got really sick and felt like I had a bad case of the flu. Really achy, terrible headache that lasted for 2 days, dizziness, weakness, upset stomach, to name a few. I went to my doctor and he said it wasn't the flu and told me to take advil or tylenol for aches. I stayed in bed for 2 days then started feling better. Already noticing lots more energy, my old personality is coming back and I realize that I have more purposeful days and have a better memory. wish i wouldn't have wasted 2 years taking lexapro. never again. excersise really helped me. i now run as much as possible. good luck

I have taken Lexapro 10mg for 18 months. It has helped my depression. I decided to stop taking it as things have improved for me, plus I have gained 30 lbs and recently began having terrible joint/muscle pain in my knees and legs. My doctor told me that Lexapro doesn't require tapering when discontinuing, but recommended that I cut back to 5 mg for one week, than stop. I have been totally off of it for 4 days now and I am very dizzy and the brain sparks are continuous. I am determined to never take this medication again. Doctors are not truthful. Does anyone know how long the side effects will last?

I was on Lexapro for about 2 1/2 years and it was good for me. While on it, my life was able to be great in every way. I went on it because I needed help easing up on my 'super intense reactions to things' which put too much stress on relationships....all relationships. I believe I was able to 'learn' another way of being from experiencing the 'easy going attitude' I had while on 10 mg. Oh I was certainly a joy to be around.....everything just rolled off my back like water from a duck.....you would have loved me. (I did gain 20 pounds while on it......but heck, I didn't care.....I was 'chillin' all the time..... and the sexual side effects subsided after about 6 months or so). I am now determined to live life without it......I just can't justify living life on drugs for my situation and I really want to clean my body out and take in some natural bliss for a change. I tapered off by first going down to 10mg one day, 5 mg the next, 10 the next and 5 the next.......continued for a few weeks.....then leveled off at 5 for awhile.....making sure everything was fine before taking it down again.......then to 5 mg one day and .25 the next, then 5 and .25 for awhile........then .25 for awhile.......and now nothing. Everything was totally fine until I stopped completely. I am still experiencing light brain zaps and have had Many bouts of suicidal thoughts over the past two weeks (weird now that I see how many others have had this). Let's just say that I feel like I am looking at life from the underside of an old stinkin' smelly crappy shoe that isn't even good enough for the dumpster. There's no duck here......or the ducks now made of super absorbent cotton and might start spewing green vomit any time now. I know this will pass. I will give it 3 months before I consider it taking too long. Will post here my progress.

I forgot to mention that I have received some help from some subliminal sleep tapes from Dr. Teri Mahaney. I bought the one called 'be mentally and emotionally well' and play it every night as I go to sleep...it says for 21-30 nights ($20 I think). I made the mistake of forgetting a couple of nights and I'm not sure if that was when I had the worst suicidal thoughts.....probably wasn't the best idea to go off before the holiday time also. She's at changeyourmind.com. I feel better today and brain zaps aren't as bad. (it's been around 2 weeks since I went completely off).

I myself am an Internal Medicine physician who has been on lexapro for 3 years. Physicians do not receive reimbursement from drug companies for prescribing a medication. We try new medications because we have read the literature and believe it will help our patients. Lexapro is similar to celexa, but studies showed it was supposed to have less side effects than celexa... this is likely the reason for why many physicians prescribe it.

I myself have been on many other SSRI's including paxil, prozac, wellbutrin, and celexa. I have experienced withdrawl side effects from paxil (which was very severe- I felt that I was on an emotional roller coaster; crying for 30 minutes then happy for 30 minutes, dizzy, and nauseated). I also had severe withdrawl symptoms from celexa and lexapro, including those little electric jolts, a very strange dizziness feeling, intermittent tingling in my hands, and moodiness. I ALWAYS taper my medication and never stop cold-turkey, but these symptoms still developed. So I have just learned to taper over a matter of several weeks rather than within one week.

When I was withdrawing from celexa my symptoms were so severe my primary care doctor sent me to a neurologist, who did an MRI. Everything was fine, and within hours of restarting a low dose of celexa my symptoms resolved. This was years ago, and many PCP's just don't have enough experience with the withdrawl side effects of these medications. I myself, and one of them. Sometimes you have to learn through personal experience.

As for celexa in pregancy, I am currently pregnant and am still on lexapro. I have read all the studies and although there is an increased risk of pulmonary hypertension of the newborn and possible cardiac risks, the risks are still exceedingly low/rare. From speaking with my colleages and psychiatrists, the babies they have seen from mothers who were on SSRI's were healthy. I intend to continue lexapro throughout my pregnancy. I hope I was able to give you some perspective from someone who is both a physician (who prescribes lexapro) and a patient.





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O.K............it's been about a month since my last post and I put a note on my calendar to get back and report my progress. Things are better definitely. My mood swings seem to have stopped.....as well as the brain zaps etc. I think I am over the 'suicidal thoughts' stage also. It's much better when I get my '30 minutes' of fast walking in during the day, and I do feel better after my 'mental and emotionally well' sleep tape I mentioned in previous post.

I also want to say that by being on Lexapro I did learn a 'new way of responding' to the world. I did learn to 'chill out' about certain things and in certain situations that used to give me great anxiety. I guess I should say that it wasn't a 'learning' exactly.........more of my body/system 'learning' a new core level response. Another way to put it is that since I actually 'experienced' myself responding in so many situations over the years I was on Lexapro in a (best way to say it is 'chilled out way'), I know can just emulate that response........or remind myself "you know how to do that in a relaxed way".....so just do it like that.

If there's anything else helpful that comes up I'll post it here. Good luck everyone.

hi, i've been googling lexapro withdrawals just to see if these funny feelings in my head - 'little shocks' and dizziness were related. wow. i guess they are. i had surgery the other day and couldn't take my lexapro in the morning - i had just switched from zoloft to lexapro just a week before. i always took zoloft at night, but was taking lexapro in the morning. so... i forgot to take it the next day. then i remembered and thought that maybe i should just come off it. well, yesterday and today, i have had these odd feelings that i figured were related to the surgery and meds i'm on for pain. now, i'm not sure what to do. i'm on 10 mg of lexapro. was on 75 mg of zoloft. in reading all these emails, the idea of staying on lexapro is scaring me. i'm not sure what to do. the idea of only being on it for such a short time, and it having such a profound negative affect on me when i go off... i just am scared i guess.

I just googled "Lexapro Withdrawals" and I came on this site. I thought something bad was happening to me, but now I realize it is the withdrawals. I was on 10mg a day for a little over a year and then I decided to stop cold turkey because of changes in my life, big mistake!

The second day I quit taking it I was at work and all of the sudden I got really light headed and I started getting tunnel vision. Then my voice and my co-workers voices started sounding really weird, like the voices were coming from another room. After that my right arm started going numb and then the numbness went up my arm to my face. After a few minutes I was back to normal. It was such a bizarre experience!

Also, I have noticed some of you are experiencing "brain shocks", for me it is more like "heart shocks". If that makes sense. It's really annoying, but after about a week they seem to be going away....I hope.

I agree with some of you, Doctors really should education people about the awful side-effects of quitting this drug. >:(

YOU PEOPLE ARE MAKING ME NUTS......I have been taking Lex for about 7 months at 10 mgs. Also taking Suboxone because i was taking opiates (vics). I have not wanted to post anything but as I am reading to see if i was supposed to experience withdrawels from any of this medicine BS, everyone is soooo negative - I was looking for positive and didnt find ANY ANY ANY!!! I want to give some - i stopped it all cold turkey about two weeks ago and HOLY sh*t - I AM NORMAL AGAIN with NO WITHDRAWALS - BE STRONG and stop being babies - peace and good luck --------- I even travel weekly from west to east coast ---!!!

I have been on Lexapro for 2 years & 10 months, since the birth of my last child. I too was experiencing all the same heavy side effects. Fortunately for me, the only side effect I didn’t have was depression. I am assuming that is because mine was for post partum depression, and after almost 3 years, that was no longer an existing condition.

I started a new job and was very happy with where my life was, so I thought it would be the perfect time to stop taking the medication, thinking that might even help reduce the side effects. I was wrong. I was on 10mg a day, so for the first 2 weeks, I reduced it to 7.5mg, which was fine. Then I went down to 5mg, but couldn’t make to switch after 2 weeks, it took 6. Finally, I was able to start on 2.5mg a day, and I did that for 2 months because if I missed even 1 dose, I had the same symptoms as if I were taking 10mg. I have 3 children, a husband, a household to run & work 40+ hours a week; I could not afford to be sick for 2 weeks, as my doctor suggested.

Out of desperation, I started trying to figure out a homeopathic way to relieve my symptoms, and then I remembered! During the last 2 months of my pregnancy, I was already starting to show signs of depression, but refused to take anti depressants for the sake of the baby. My doctor recommended that I start of regimen of vitamin D, Omega 3 fatty acids and flax seed oil. As long as I remembered to take them it worked. So I tried again.

I now take 1,000 i.u. of vitamin D every morning, and ready for this, 7200mg of Flax oil every day. The bottle recommends 1 gel cap 3 times a day, and while that helped reduce the symptoms, they were still there, so I doubled it. I take 2 tablets 3 times a day, if I forget, I’ll start to get some side effects, and within 20 minutes of taking the gel caps the symptoms are gone. I am now starting my 2nd week and am not scared any more. Not only that, if I do forget and take the vitamins a little late, I have noticed that the side effects are way less intense!

I don’t know if this will work for everyone, but it is certainly worth a shot!

THIS IS NORMAL!!! I stopped taking Lexapro a few years ago and had horrible bouts of crying and feeling just awful. I am back at it again and going SLOW this time. Are you taking your original dose? Start from there and taper down very slowly. No more than 1 mg at a time, some need to go as little as 10% at a time. You will need the liquid medication to get an accurate measure. Try looking at "the road back.com" program and it has some helpful info. Good luck and post any questions you may have. I am not an MD, just my opinion.