Lexapro (Escitalopram) has emerged as one of the most popular antidepressant drugs in the United States. It works as an SSRI (selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitor) and has approval to treat major depression in individuals over the age of 12. In addition to being utilized for depression, it is also prescribed for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). It is strikingly similar to the drug “Celexa” in the fact that it contains just the (S)-stereoisomer (without the (R)-stereoisomer).
There is controversial evidence suggesting that Lexapro may be slightly more effective than Celexa. In some cases, Lexapro is used to treat social anxiety disorder, OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and panic disorder. This is one of the most prescribed SSRI’s in the United States due to the fact that it has been found as one of the most effective. Most people stay on this medication until it either stops working or they are compelled to quit.
When a person quits, they may not expect to experience any significant withdrawal symptoms – especially if this is a person’s first SSRI. If you plan on stopping this medication, it is important to know what you should expect and prepare yourself for the symptoms. Most people experience a pretty severe withdrawal period when they come off of Lexapro, which goes to show the power of this drug.
Factors that influence Lexapro withdrawal
There are a few factors that are thought to influence the severity of withdrawal from Lexapro. These include things like: time span (i.e. how many months or years you were on this drug), the dosage that you took, whether you quit cold turkey or tapered, and your individual physiology.
1. Time Span
How long were you taking Lexapro? In the event that you were on it for years, the withdrawal process is likely going to be longer for you than someone on it for months. In general, the longer you take Lexapro, the more intense the withdrawal process.
2. Dosage (10 mg to 20 mg)
Most people take anywhere from 10 mg to 20 mg of Lexapro. The recommended starting dose is 10 mg, but for some people this isn’t quite strong enough. Therefore most doctors continue increasing the dose to achieve the desired effect. Doses tend to increase up to 20 mg, and then it is up to the patient and doctor whether 20 mg needs to be exceeded. Keep in mind that the higher the dose you are on, the greater the difficulty of the withdrawal process.
3. Cold Turkey vs. Tapering
It is never recommended to quit Lexapro “cold turkey.” Although some have done it, quitting cold turkey leaves your brain in a state of chemical disarray. Some people do not have the patience to taper because they feel so crappy on the drug. If you are able to taper, try to work with your doctor to gradually reduce your dosage. The higher the dose you are on, the longer the tapering process should be.
4. Individual Physiology
To a lesser degree than the other factors, your individual physiology will play a role in determining how quickly you bounce back from the discontinuation symptoms. Some people find that they feel normal within a few months of quitting the drug, while others find that it takes months to start feeling a little bit better. Everyone responds differently and heals at a different pace.
Lexapro Withdrawal Symptoms: List of Possibilities
Below are some symptoms that you may experience when you stop taking Lexapro. This is a collective of some common symptoms that people experience when they withdraw from this drug. You may only experience some of the symptoms listed below, but in any event, it is better to be mentally prepared for what you may experience so that you don’t become overwhelmed.
- Anxiety: Most people will experience anxiety to a significant degree when stopping Lexapro. This is a drug that inhibits the reuptake of serotonin. If you have been taking it for an extended period of time and discontinue, your serotonin levels are likely lower than average – causing severe anxiety. This is because your brain had become reliant upon the drug to increase serotonin and is no longer receiving it.
- Appetite changes: You may experience changes in appetite when you first quit taking this drug. Some people notice that they aren’t quite as hungry and/or aren’t eating as much, while others regain appetite. Usually changes in appetite are opposite to your experience while on the drug.
- Brain Zaps: It is common to experience “brain zaps” or sensations of electrical shocks throughout your brain when you stop taking Lexapro. This is a common symptom that occurs when withdrawing from many different antidepressants. These usually subside within a few weeks.
- Concentration problems: One thing that most doctors will not tell you is that your concentration may be extremely poor during withdrawal. You are experiencing a ton of withdrawal symptoms which naturally detract from concentration, but the neurotransmitter levels are imbalanced – creating a state of brain fog.
- Depersonalization: This involves feeling unlike your natural self. Most people feel depersonalized and when they try to describe it to someone else, the other person may just not understand what they mean. It can feel as though all natural emotions have been sucked out of the body and the person is lifeless. The emotions will eventually return as the person stays off of SSRI’s for awhile.
- Depression: It is common to experience “rebound depression” when you quit taking Lexapro. It is a drug that was created to treat depression, so when you stop it, the depression will likely return. Many people notice that their depression is actually worse when they stop this drug – this is because the brain has become even more chemically imbalanced after taking this drug.
- Dizziness: Many people report feeling dizziness, in some cases to the point of having “balance” issues. This dizziness can last for an extended period of time and may make life difficult to deal with. Recognize that this is a result of your brain trying to cope without stimulation from the drug.
- Eye floaters: Some people report seeing “floaters” when they come off of Lexapro. Floaters are small shapes that “float” in and out of your field of vision. These are harmless and do not indicate that anything is wrong with your vision. Do your best not to panic and think that you are doomed if you see these.
- Fatigue: It is very common to notice that you feel excessively tired throughout the day. The lethargy, tiredness, and fatigue may become so difficult, that you think it’s never going to end. This is likely due to your brain trying to restore itself to homeostasis.
- Headaches: This is another extremely common symptom to experience when you withdraw from any drug – especially SSRI’s. If headaches are intense, do your best to relax – as many can be caused by tension. Also make sure that you are drinking plenty of water and consider taking headache relief medication if they become too difficult to deal with.
- Insomnia: Some people are unable to fall asleep at night when they first stop Lexapro. This is usually a result of sleep pattern changes and increased anxiety. Some people find that taking a little melatonin supplement helps.
- Irritability: If you are becoming increasingly irritable, do your best to control it without lashing out on others. It can be extremely difficult to control yourself when you feel as crappy as you do, but keep trying.
- Libido changes: Most people notice that their sex life improves when they stop taking antidepressants. Lexapro is known to cause delayed orgasm and in some cases, inability to orgasm. When you stop taking this drug, your sex life should bounce back.
- Mood swings: It is common to experience crazy mood swings when quitting this drug. One minute you may feel as though you’re going to recover and the next you may feel as if there is no hope. People may notice that you are acting especially irritable and angry. Realize that you don’t have much control over these during withdrawal.
- Nausea: It is common to feel nauseated when you first stop taking an antidepressant. In some cases it may lead to vomiting. Do your best to deal with it and understand that it will go away.
- Suicidal thoughts: When coming off of SSRI’s like Lexapo, it is very common to feel suicidal and experience suicidal thoughts. Although you may have felt suicidal before going on this drug, the intensity of these thoughts will likely be higher when you withdraw.
- Sweating: Many people sweat more than average during the withdrawal period. You may sweat more than usual throughout the day and/or notice that you sweat excessively during your sleep.
- Weight changes: Most people experience some degree of weight gain on Lexapro and other SSRI’s. When they come off of the drug, they may notice that they experience weight loss.
How long does Lexapro withdrawal last?
It really depends on a number of different factors including how long you’ve been on the drug and the dosage that you were taking. If you conducted a gradual taper, the symptoms that you experience during withdrawal may be less intense and last for a shorter duration than if you quit cold turkey. Unfortunately there is no exact timeline for determining how long you are going to experience withdrawal symptoms. It is important to recognize that most withdrawal symptoms persist for much longer than professionals think.
I have taken Lexapro and know that the withdrawal process is certainly not as trivial as most people make it out to be. If you withdraw from this medication, you can expect to experience some discontinuation symptoms. These symptoms may only last a few weeks, but in many cases they end up lasting months after the person has taken the last dose of their drug. I would suggest that if you used Lexapro for a year, used 90 days (i.e. 3 months) as a checkpoint.
Most people notice that their severe discontinuation symptoms tend to subside after about 90 days. If yours continue to persist beyond 90 days, just know that it’s most likely that your brain is still in disarray after SSRI usage for an extended period of time. One individual reported that he never fully returned to feeling like “himself” until 48 months had passed (4 years). Although most people will feel “normal” before a three year term, it is important to recognize that withdrawal effects can last months and in some cases, it takes over a year to fully recover.
An add-on to our post on 12/12/2015. A few observations of other posts and given as pure opinion from lay people trying to survive the Lexapro withdrawal nightmare; sorry it is so long, but we want to be very clear. The ‘drop’ method outlined here hopefully allows brain chemistry to catch up, in its own good time, with a graduated withdrawal regimen without going crazy.
1. Many have remarked that there is little or no difficulty curtailing from 40 mg to 20 mg, then from 20 mg to 10 mg – it is below 10 mg that so many hit ‘the wall’. We opine that, for most body weights, this is because blood concentration levels at a dosage above 10 mg keep the blood fully saturated – the brain doesn’t notice the drop in dosage down to 10 mg because the blood concentration level remains very near saturation; the body tosses the extra ‘spill-over’ away through normal processes.
Somewhere around 10 mg, the blood concentration level begins to decrease below saturation, whereupon the long-suppressed brain recognizes that it is not getting enough of its ‘fix’ and rebels with terrifying withdrawal symptoms, which persist until the brain catches up, which generally seems interminable. This is the point where the withdrawal symptoms plague victims for so long, at such an extreme level, that it causes many to give up, return to 10 mg, suffer through yet another dosage yank-around scenario and begin their rat-wheel existence all over again ad nausea.
2. We had originally dropped down in one day by 10% (10 mg to 9 mg), then down to 8 mg at .1% per DAY – this turned out to be WAY TOO FAST! Some victims are extremely sensitive to this ‘medicine’ and require a slower progress downward. So, we have rat-wheeled back to 10 mg and are still waiting for the inevitable dosage yank-around symptoms, which are horrible (mostly a days-long raging headache), to subside.
Assuming we balance out well before then, we plan to start over again beginning 02/01/2016 with a method coarsely outlined by another blogger – what we term the titration method. This procedure depends on having concurrent prescriptions from your ‘doctor’ for both the 10 mg tablets as well as the liquid formula, which generally comes from the pharmacy in a 240 ml bottle at a 1 ml = 1 mg concentration (24 days). This makes it easy to calculate the dosage amount. Our ‘doctor’ (and I use the term in desperation) prescribed a 30-day refillable supply, so our pharmacy supplies the remaining 60 ml with a separate, smaller bottle – actually easier to work with.
At first, we will use our pill splitter to cut a single tablet down to 7.5 mg (1/2 + 1/4) and supplement the tablet pieces with 2.5 ml (also = 2.5 mg) of liquid (VERY carefully measured with a graduated syringe). We will ‘hold’ at that same original 10 mg level for at least a week or two to make sure the brain gets used to the two different forms (we hypothesize that the liquid is absorbed faster than the tablet and want to give the brain time to adjust).
Then after being pretty sure there are no repercussions, start decreasing 1 DROP at a time… wait… another DROP… wait… and so on. This method is certainly experiential, but we want to get out from under with as little withdrawal difficulties as possible – better to take more time than necessary than hit ‘the wall’. For techies interested in pursuing this method, here are some details from our personal ‘research’. We have 3 different syringes – 5 ml, 3 ml and 1 ml.
The 5 ml is way too coarse to measure gradations as precisely as we need, so for convenience we will use a combination of the 3 ml at first and the 1 ml syringe at amounts of 1 ml and below. When we hit 7.5 mg exactly, we will just use the 1/2 tab and go back to 2.5 ml for awhile, again allowing the brain to adjust. (Throw the odd tablet pieces away – they may oxidize or otherwise lose potency if retained). I have measured that, held vertically, using the 3 ml syringe yields slowly dispensed drops at a RATE very close to 300 drops for the entire 10 mg (10 ml) original dosage.
The smaller 1 ml syringe, probably because the nozzle end is also a trifle smaller, yields 400 drops. This means a steady decrease of 1 drop per day from a 3 ml syringe = 300 days to completion, or 10 months; 1 drop per day decrease from a 1 ml syringe = 400 days, or 14 months. Even this ‘per day’ decrease seems a trifle too fast to us; a 1 drop decrease per day from a 3 ml syringe = 30 drops per month = approximately a 10% decrease per month, quite a lot and too fast for many. Waiting an additional day in between a 3 ml syringe single drop decrease pushes the days to completion out to 600, or 20 months… and 28 months for the 1 ml syringe; so we will play it by ear.
Perhaps the ‘wait time’ could be alternately daily or every other day, again, experiential. If we hit a (hopefully smaller) ‘wall’ at any time during this process, we are committed to maintain that current dosage, whatever it is, until the crisis subsides, then perhaps more cautiously continue on downward – it has become a desperate, now or never situation – we can’t live like this any longer. To make this long time span to completion more palatable, we plan to make this slow downward decrease a part of our normal daily routine; coffee (a must!), breakfast, medicine, then go on with our day.
The bad news is that this rather lengthy process, as ‘safe’ as it hopefully will be, allows this poison, even though steadily decreasing, to be present at relatively high levels for quite some time; and we also don’t want to accelerate, say, below 5 mg, thinking it’s safer to increase the per drop decreases at relatively lower absolute levels (many say their experience is that this crap remains dangerous right down to the wire), so it’s steady as she goes all the way to the end. The good news is that sooner or later, this poison must release its hold on our lives and we will win… it will be us one, medical establishment zero!
3. If any other bloggers have used or have an opinion about this method, we would appreciate feedback through this forum.
We will advise from time to time to let you know how this method turns out. May our 2016 escitalopram experience be better than it has been in 2015! Thanks again… you are not alone.
I have been on lexapro 10mg for 12mths, before that I was on cipramil which just stopped working. I decided to wean off because I wanted to ‘feel’ proper emotions again and most of the original stressors in my life had gone. I went down to 5mg for 6 months, 2.5mg for 6 months (very hard to do even with pill cutter) an then on 16th Nov 2015 I stopped completely.
I had read some previous people’s comments about feeling great at first, almost euphoric and energized, and I went exactly the same way, but after two weeks the symptoms of withdrawal set in, all of them. I am two and half months into being off lexapro and some symptoms have subsided (headaches, zaps, dizziness also now sleeping ok) but each day the anger, irritability, tiredness and flu-like symptoms get worse. I now, like some others, want to leave my other half and be on my own (animal instinct perhaps to hide and get well?)
I find this new me unlikable and nasty with a tendency to lash out very quickly. I am taking all the suggested vitamins, fish oil etc, seeing a Phsycologist, but nothing is helping. I seem to be going down not recovering. My question is this, do we damage or shut down our own brain’s ability to produce the ‘feel good’ chemicals by being on artificial ones, even for a short time? Some are still suffering months and even years after stopping.
It is very dispiriting as there are not many positive comments out there. I send my prayers and blessings to all walking alongside me on this road.
Your symptoms seems to be from serotonin deficiency. I recommend you try L-Tryptophan or 5-HTTP supplements. Also a magnesium, vitamin D3, and B-complex can help dramatically. A healthy diet and exercise are very important too. Also if you are near stressful situations such as at work or have other responsibilities while recovering, they may be making the problem worse.
I’ve been taking lexapro for over a year now. When I went in to get my refill from the pharmacy they told me it hadn’t been a month yet, which doesn’t make sense to me because I take one a day nothing more! So I was forced to stop cold turkey about 5 days ago because didn’t think about calling my doctor.
The second day I experienced chills and major headaches, and then yesterday my heart was acting up and ended up in the E.R., but I have history of heart problems. Today I am extremely dizzy every time I get up I feel like I’m going to fall. I believe all of those symptoms are due to withdraws. I’m glad I know why I feel this way now!
I had been on Lex for 8 years for GAD up to 20mg at one point. Recently tapered down from 10 to 5, then 2.5 over the course of a couple months. I’ve been completely off now for 4 weeks. I’ve had all of the typical symptoms such as headaches, insomnia, diarrhea, brain zaps, nausea, lethargy, etc. Those have gone, except for brain zaps which get less frequent and more mild by the week now I believe.
But now I am experiencing wild mood swings and irritability as my brain tries to moderate itself. This is very disconcerting and I’m struggling as difficult life events are testing me hard right now. But I have an iron will and I refuse to go back. I am hearing a lot of estimates, from 3 months to 3 years, in returning given my duration on the drug. It varies so much by testimony that I can’t set my expectations and that uncertainty in itself is stressful. I’ve been taking vit D, fish oil, and magnesium.
You can try L-tryptophan or 5-HTP as well. They help boost serotonin levels. Also a good B-complex is very important for recovery.
Reading this makes me want to cry, my doctor had me on one and a half 20mg tablets a day, about 2 years use, she refused to refill my prescription because she wanted me to see a psychiatrist, (but I had no insurance) which forced me to taper myself down. It’s been 4 days since my last pill, and my main symptoms are dizziness and nausea. The dizziness is making my life hell. I’m a waitress and I feel like I’m going to fall over constantly. I tried dramamine today which helped with the nausea, but not the dizziness. Anyone have any tips to help combat this? I don’t know if I can last months like this.
It’s been 10 days since I am off 10mg lexapro. I understood that every week has different withdraws for me. 1st week was the brain zaps and dizziness. Now at the second week my brain zaps almost completely vanished (maybe from fish oil I am taking for 5 months now). I still have dizziness and flu-like feelings, but the worst is my panic attacks and anxiety. 3rd week maybe it will be depression who knows. But I have hope and I believe I will be normal in 2 months from now
This is the second time that I have tried to get off of 10 mg Lexapro having been on it over six years after the death of my mother. I did the taper throughout the entire month of November 2015. The first week totally off of it I felt amazing! I had energy as I titrated down. Last Monday I hurt my back so I was convalescing. Somewhere during this time I fell apart.
I’m exhausted, I have little appetite, I’m depersonalized. Last night one of my cats that rarely will get on my lap was all over me and got underneath the blanket on my recliner and was just purring up a storm. My thought was, she’s like the cat in the nursing home who can sense when someone is going to die. And all that night as I went to sleep is what I could think about was not waking up.
I’ve been often on antidepressants through out my marriage of 35 years. I was melancholy growing up but generally happy. I want to be free from my brain feeling like it needs antidepressants! I’ve gained 20 pounds and for a while although I wanted to do was stay in bed anyways so I wasn’t even sure that was working. I just feel like my brain is broken.
I’m so tired and here it is the holiday season and I don’t care. When will I feel normal again and be my happy self? Why did I feel so good during the tapering and the first week after I was totally off of them? And now I can barely get out of bed even don’t want to watch TV. I’m really discouraged.
A short story – a family member was mis-prescribed for this Lexapro poison almost 3 yrs ago (10 mg). Life with it is intolerable for all of the above noted symptoms – depression!, spaciness, dizziness, nausea, insomnia, sweating and more, but attempting to quit has been a recurring nightmare. It depresses her even worse because she thinks she is stuck with this crap for life.
Both of our lives have been ruined and her hatred for her “doctor” for doing this to her/us is bottomless. In sheer desperation, after any number of aborted attempts, we have gone to a part tablet, part liquid regimen starting late in 11/2015. Our plan is to use a simple pill splitter (to help with accuracy of the tablet cut) and supplement the tablet with liquid on a controlled downward withdrawal.
We cut a 10 mg tablet in half, then one of the halves into quarters, then supplement that with a controlled graduated syringe. Presently at 8.2 mg and dropping .1 mg each day, yes, DAY – about 3 drops). Results? Horrid as you would expect, but the only way to get this junk out of our lives is, well… to just get this junk out of our lives. Better to feel awful on the way down and out than to go back on it and begin this rat-wheel existence yet again.
Justice? The “doctor” who did this to her ought to be force fed 40 mg of Lexapro for about a year and then forced to go cold turkey. Assuming he lived through the experience, it would be the last time he would ever so obtusely prescribe any SSRI for any of his patient / victims. We will advise from time to time to let you know how this method turns out. Thanks… you are not alone.
I’ve been taking Lexapro 20mg for over a decade. I’m 33, a marathon runner, and a PhD student, who started lexapro for generalized anxiety disorder (biggest problem was having panic attacks while driving after a bad accident). I didn’t have any side effects while on lexapro, and I did a cold turkey stop over a week ago.
So far, pretty minimal withdrawal. A light headache one day, and a few weird electroshock feelings in my head, but I put in 100 solid hours of publication work over the past week, so I haven’t been too affected. We shall see if this continues, but after reading some of these comments, I think I’m in for a rough ride!
No timestamp. Do you have an update? Over a decade here too, 31, MA student.
I have been on lexapro for almost a year and decided that in the last couple of months my anxiety and just generally not feeling as good as I did when I initially started this drug. I stopped taking it 4 days ago and have had no side effects so far. If anything I am feeling more energy and less anger and not so much if any at all of having anxiety.
I had been taking 20mg since the first day my doctor prescribed it. I hope this gives others some hope in wanting to come off this drug whether it be slowly or cold turkey. I also gained over 30 lbs with taking it. So for now I am really feeling good and no side effects so far.
I tried multiple times to stop taking lexapro 10 mg (I had no problem going from 20 to 10). I could never get past the first three weeks after decreasing to 7.5 mg – I would get all jumpy and irritated. I googled and read all kinds of information. Finally found an article stating that one needs to decrease by 10% at a time to avoid side effects.
How do you decrease by 10%?? LIQUID lexapro! I have had NO side effects – other than feeling real again! I went down by 10% until I got to 5 mg. After that it was by .5 mg at a time (otherwise it was going to take over a year to get to 0 and after 5mg. the decreases are so small.) I also read and follow the advice in The Mood Cure as far as taking 5HTP supplements and in Dr. Weil’s “Spontaneous Happiness” for other advice and supplements.
I am at 1 mg now and not even sure I need to take this, but I am keeping with the plan and will be lexapro free by the New Year! Woo HOO!!
Have been on Lexapro 20mg for seven years. Several months ago I started taking 10mg every other day for 3-weeks. Then 10mg a day for 3-weeks. I repeated this process alternating 10mg and 5 mg for 3-weeks then 5mg for 3-weeks. Last step was 5mg every other day…for 3-weeks and I stopped. Headaches…you bet…have been taking Advil when needed.
Water is important. Concentration has been hard and frustrating…just have to push your self. Upset stomach due in part to all the Advil I’ve been taking and my appetite is all over the place. Biggest concern is irritability. Have on a couple of occasions snapped at people…nothing major but something to watch. I have a feeling it will take me a bit of time to shake the effects.
Lexapro has served me well. Depression, Panic Attacks, Anxiety…got to experience the whole gamut. Time…positive attitude…exercise even if it only to walk once a day…eat healthy…and learn to smell the roses! Good luck, God Bless…and stay strong!
I took Lexapro for 12 years, ending at 20 mg. I tried to go to 10 several times but it was hard. Then 2 weeks ago, I took 1/2 pill, then 1/4 and have been pill free for 10 days. I’m a bit bitchy but am aware enough to hold back and realize what’s happening. The big thing is that I can cry again. I’m actually relieved at that little tidbit! Not that I want to cry all the time but I haven’t cried in years, even when I really wanted to.
The ability to shed tears has got to be a metaphor for what was going on in my body all these years. Let me say that Lexapro might have saved me all those years ago. I know my children had better upbringings because of it. I stopped yelling and stressing about every little thing and life was much better for them. Now I want to be me again, even if that means being an emotional mess sometimes.
I’ve been lucky so far with only some dizziness and insomnia after two weeks. I think I was actually getting immune to the Lexapro over the last few years because I had horrible headaches and anxiety and depression. That is one of the reasons I decided to try Cold Turkey again. I figured if things were bad on the stuff, it couldn’t be much worse off it.
And now that my brain is re-learning how to cope, I’m thinking the lexapro was becoming less and less effective over the last year and I was doing my detox without knowing it. I don’t recommend Cold Turkey for everyone and from reading this blog, I see there’s a holistic supplement as well as B12 and other things you can take for problems. Good luck everyone and hang in there if you want to get it out of your system.
I have been taking 20 mg of lexapro for close to 4 years now but stopped taking it about 7 days ago. Previously I haven’t been able to go this long without it because of the severity of withdrawal symptoms, mainly migraines and brain zaps. However, I decided since this past week since I’ve been in the comfort of my family’s home and care that I would begin to get the worst out of the way. Insomnia and the brain zaps have been the worst thus far.
I’m really hoping to stay off of it because it really worries me to be on something that adversely affects me this badly when I don’t take it. I really appreciate everyone’s insights into what has helped, especially the supplements. Does anyone know a good place to get the pharmaceutical grade fish oil and other supplements? I have 2 weeks left of grad school and would like to be as comfortable as possible during this time, as well as alleviate the heart palpitations and sweating that has also started up. Thank you all!
First off I just want to say that this thread of hundreds of people’s experiences with lexapro is AMAZING. I feel very lucky to have dodged several of the physical symptoms. I took 10mg a day of Lexapro for 14 months , and stopped September 1st of this year. I only tapered down my dose for about a week. I was under the impression that I was on a very “low” dose , that was obviously not true at all.
After almost 3 months off of the drug I feel like I’m coming back to normal in some ways yet in other ways I feel changed, like something deep inside me has been altered. I am an artist, I wanted to stop taking lexapro because I felt all of the creativity had been drained out of me. So I did, yet I don’t feel the same way anymore about making art or being creative, it’s like the fire that used to burn inside me has sort of just slowly gone out over time.
I know that this will probably take much more time to reset itself than I originally thought. My question is for anyone who chooses to read this, When did you start to get over the “depersonalization”? The feeling that you’re here in the same body yet feeling almost like a different person. I was honestly very driven in the pursuit of my passion but now it just doesn’t seem to matter very much anymore. Has anyone felt their personality return it a normal state? Your answers are very appreciated!
Yes I felt the same way… Dr told me that I am on ‘extremely low dose’ of 2.5mg lexapro, but in fact when I tapered gradually it still hits me pretty bad. Stopped in September 2014. Between that time and 3 months after that everything is completely fkd up. OCD, digestive problems and everything… it’s a nightmare. It’s been more than a year since I stopped, digestive problem is still pretty bad, can’t drink coffee, OCD is still there (but getting a bit better hopefully).
In terms of your depersonalization, I started to feel like I am myself again before the drug use around September 2015. So it was about just 1 year after I stopped. The ‘double personality’ feeling did come off… but still battling the other side effects even until now. Horrible acid reflux… hopefully I can be cured soon… any thoughts?
Took Lexapro 10 mg for 7 years for GAD. Began stepping down my dosage on 6/13/15 to 7.5 mg, then 5 mg on 7/13/15, 2.5 mg on 8/11/15. First day of being Lexapro-free was 9/11/15. My main issues during withdrawal and even now, two months after 9/11, have been irritability, anxiety, lightheadedness and dizziness.
I had one episode of syncope since 6/13, but had many episodes while on the drug over 7 years. Doctors, regardless of their specialty, are no help. They show little interest and poo-poo the symptoms as being related to Lexapro withdrawal. However, they have been unable to find any other cause of the dizziness. I am very frustrated with the entire life experience and will never take an SSRI again.
I am just trying to tough it out and hope the anxiety and dizziness will go away. Meclizine helps some and a very low dose (1 to 2 mg) of diazepam helps me sleep. I have not experienced any increased libido or weight loss as a result of stopping Lexapro. Any weight loss I am experiencing is due to eating healthy foods that taste awful.
Starting Taking this drug about two weeks ago for aniexty. Just stopped today. Your comments have been helpful. Thank you all. I wish my doctor would have discussed the withdrawal issues.
I am glad to find this website. It has helped me tremendously to read everyone’s posts. I have been on 10mg of Lexapro for a little over a year now. I decided to quit cold turkey because I never went by to pick up my last refill. I have been of the medication for a little under 3 weeks now. The withdrawal symptoms are coming in waves. I have had a headache everyday since I have stopped.
Every 3 or so days I have a day of intense depression. The irritability is at it’s worst, I snap at every little thing. My poor boyfriend is getting the brunt end of all of my symptoms. Although he does know I’m going through withdrawal symptoms, it is understandably difficult for anyone to realize just how bad the withdrawal symptoms are until you experience them. My Dr was extremely nonchalant about me tapering off.
I had 5 10 mg pills left and she told me to split them in half and take a half over the next 10 days and that it would be enough for me to taper off. Wow was she wrong. I figured after a few weeks the symptoms would subside, but the headaches continue, irritability is worsening, and I have crying spells that come out of nowhere. I have 1 more refill left of the Lexapro and these symptoms are so bad, I want to go pick up the refill.
Should I get the refill and taper off even more slowly or will this just continue to feed my withdrawal symptoms? I wish the withdrawal symptoms were discussed before I ever went on this medication. I will never take something like this again.
I last posted in August and this process is exhausting. I’m still at 5 mg but have started reducing the Friday dosage to 2.5 mg. Yes, it’s slower than most would prefer but knowing how my responds to medication I felt it was the only way I might be successfully. I started my taper from 10 mg a year ago and still have frequent times when I feel angry for ridiculous reasons, sad and crying for no reason and as if living is just not worth the frustration.
I’m highly sensitive to most medication and that’s why I chose the long taper but this ride is tiresome and I would love to see some success stories posted. Stories from someone who was on lexapro for years and has successfully tapered and been off for years. I’ve been on Lexapro for 12 years and tried unsuccessfully to taper off before. I’ve also gained 30/35 lbs. in that time. Hoping to be totally off before another year rolls around.
Hi all, I was on lexapro 10mg for around 6 months but was on effexor before that for approx 2 years. I have now been off lexapro for 5.5 weeks and have been suffering from withdrawals as well. I am in a conundrum as what to do- to either go on another antidepressant or to just try and ‘ride out’ what may be these withdrawals. I have had extreme dizziness which comes out of no-where, nausea, re-bound depression, extreme anxiety, constant headaches and this weird feeling of ‘pressure’ in my head, trouble sleeping and irritability and paranoia.
It’s got the the point now where it’s affecting a reasonably new relationship I am in which is worrying me. Are there any success stories here of people coming ‘out’ the other side? I also have the brain fog thing which is really hard for me with my job. I also have gained 5kg in the 6 months of being on this drug and have wondered if anyone has managed to lose that weight since coming off the drug? My GP seems to just give me very generic answers. Hoping for some help.
I have been having withdrawal symptoms for over a year now. At one time I was taking 30 mg a day for over 3 years. The dizziness and nausea are the worst. I also have many other symptoms that are aggravating.
Joyce, I had terrible nightmares (along with everything else) but most of all was the irritability that after being off it for a little over two months, made me go back on it. You can read my blogs above. I felt bad about going back on it but there was no way I could continue to have a job, family & friends and absolutely no patience. Hope you do better than I did. ;(
I have been taking Lexapro 10mg for 11 years for anxiety. This dosage heed me tremendously, I was able to experience emotions, but they were held at a reasonable level. I truly believe this drug and a high level of spiritual faith, was a miracle for me during YEARS of issues that would have taken down the strongest. I recently started experiencing symptoms similar to the symptoms that made me start taking Lexapro in the first place.
Rather than taking a higher dose, I decided to start weaning off the drug all together. I knew it would be difficult due to the length of time I was taking it. Although I prepared myself for the brain zaps, brain fog and high levels of anxiety, I was not prepared for the ‘flu like’ symptoms. Nausea, sweats, headaches and fatigue have been awful. But there is one more symptom that I have not seen listed anywhere and I’m hoping others will see this and open the discussion…
I have been experiencing sleep paralysis. At first I thought it was an anxiety attack, but the brain zapping along with dreaming with my eyes wide open, overwhelming feeling of doom and evil and being frozen with fear has me rethinking coming off the drug. Overall, I am a healthy and active person. Lexapro was the only medication I took, so I am completely drug-free and that is one of my motivators to stay off this drug. I want to also add that it has taken me about 20 minutes to write this simple message, the brain fog is bad! Has anyone experienced these nightmares and paralysis?
FOLINIC ACID & B12 SPRAY are amazing with knocking the withdrawal symptoms. Make sure its Folinic Acid not Folic Acid. Have 2 Folinic Acid tabs a day and 2 sprays of B12 a day. I have been on Lexapro 30mg for 18 yrs and thought I would never get off it due to withdrawal symptoms when I tried to cut back. I started dropping 5mg each week then went from 10mg to nothing. Still brain zaps for two days and now just tremors but otherwise I couldn’t complain. Give it a go…
It was such a relief to read this and to know that I am not crazy. I had been taken Lexa pro for 10 months (20mg) and my doctor just went up to 30mg because I was feeling emotionless on 20mg, so I thought a higher dose (30mg) was the answer. However, it was after getting the higher dose I started thinking that maybe it was the higher doses (started out on 5mg and was increased by 5mg at a time to the 20mg and then jumped to 30mg over a short period of time) that was making me feel emotionless.
So, I decided to quit taking my Lexa pro cold turkey without consulting my doctor. By day 2 of no Lexapro, I started feeling these weird electrical shocks. I had know idea what it was or what it was from. I thought I was having mini seizures or something like that. By day 3 of this I not only had the electrical shocks, but I could harldy get up and move around without extreme pain, dizziness and nausea and of course, the electrical shocks.
I started trying to think about what had changed in my routine. The only thing I could think of was I had stopped taking my Lexapro. I immediately turned to the Internet to Google my symptoms and abruptly stopping Lexapro. I cannot tell you how received I was to get an answer for what I am experiencing. I am now 6 days Lexapro free and although I my withdrawal symptoms have not improved (they have actually worsened to include insomnia and difficulty concentrating) I am relieved to at least know what is going on and that it will eventually pass.
Had I known the severity of sudden withdrawal symptoms, I probably would have spoken with my doctor and tapered off, but I not interested in going back on Lexapro just to come back off.
Could anyone help me out? I was on Lexapro for a very long time, about 9 years. I tapered from 20 mg slowly down to 2.5 mg, which I sustained for 2 months. I began to feel great on 2.5. Now I’m off of it completely and it’s been pretty bad, which I didn’t expect since 2.5 mg to nothing doesn’t seem like a big change. The idea that it could last for months is really depressing. Do you think this is likely, or if I readjusted nicely on the 2.5mg, do you think this won’t last too long either?
Just from reading this whole comment section, I think you are ahead of the game. Others have suggested natural supplements. You might want to read back a year, see what they were. Good luck!
Glad to have found this site. I have been on Lexapro for the past 10 years. I was having trouble with my anxiety and wasn’t sure why. Later I would find that I had Lupus and when it flared, it tends to exacerbate the anxiety. But when I didn’t know, it seemed as if I didn’t start the Lexapro or something, they would disregard my being open to what was happening to me.
Long story short, 5mg seemed to work for me. As I’m sensitive to medications anyway, it seemed like that would do the trick. In honesty, as they treated the Lupus, I got better with how the flare affected the emotions. Long story short, flash to now. In the last two months, I’ve experienced the loss of my father brutally to cancer, my godfather died 4 months later. We have an empty nest as our youngest headed off to college.
Then there is the job issues with my position hanging in the balance. All of this seems to have produced a Lupus flare, but of course, the docs think it’s all the stress I’m under. Sigh. I hate that. so they want me up to 10mg. Tried to do it. Went up to 7.5 and after five days of headaches, sweating and insomnia, I thought no…I’m not doing this.
Went back down to my five. I am having symptoms after such a short period, but I have the insomnia, sweats, stomach issues, etc. Does that make sense to anyone?? I read about these 6 years, etc. But coming down after a few days? That said, I was having symptoms going up, so I suppose. Any help would be appreciated.
Everybody here whos suffering from withdrawal symptoms or knows of somebody needs to go to RXISK (dot) Org and report your side effects in order to make this medicine safer. Please guys a team of doctors started this website and is trying to help us. Just takes 10 minutes and they send a copy of your report to your country medical regulators! The medical community is unaware this can even happen which causes doctors to prescribe more meds to fix a problem that the meds caused, which only compounds the problem! Rxisk (dot) Org!
This is my second time coming off lexapro. I really didn’t want to even go back on it but was not coping at the time and had no choice. I was on it for 18 months. Decided to wean off due to terrible fatigue and feeling no emotion. I have found it so much harder to come off this time! I was only on 10mg. The first time I just remember having the brain zap sensation for about a week and then being fine. This time I had the brain zaps for 2+ weeks.
Then the emotions hit. Everything makes me want to cry or laugh and I have mood swings. I’m at the two month mark and have had mild depression as well. Both seem to be improving but I’m afraid I wont get better and will have to go back on lexapro. I really really do not want to go back on it ever again. I like having energy and emotions! I actually feel like I want to avoid any stressful life situations so I never have to go through all this again. It’s horrible!
I’m now 14 days free of taking any Lexapro after twelve years. Tapering and quitting was the most difficult thing I have ever done. I wrote about how I was successful here https://lifewolexapro.wordpress.com/.
11 October 2015 – 08:48 PM. Hello…I’ve been tapering from 20 mg and now at 1.6 mg liquid soon to 1.4mg one of the biggest problems I have experienced is terrible bloating, pain, pressure & nausea feel like I’m going to explode sometimes 2 or so weeks after cutting dose. Wondering if others experience this? Also I experience withdrawal more than once after dose reduction maybe a week apart…and am tired all the time.
Anxiety and depression are usually short lived maybe a day or so here and there. I have had insomnia for months just can not sleep for more than a few hrs a night. Lots of other things as well. The most glaring are insomnia, gas, bloating, and nausea…wondering if this stuff is normal…please feel free to offer suggestions that may help in my endeavor. TY.
I am noticing that most if not all of the posts from previous users were on 20mg or less. I have been taking 60mg/daily for 4 yrs and my meds were just changed three weeks ago when I unfortunately had a huge meltdown. I suffer from anxiety, depression and slight OCD. I feel like garbage! I can barely function. Between the nausea and dizzy spells all I really can do all day is lie down. Do any of you have any advice on how to deal with these withdrawal symptoms? I would be forever grateful just to feel a little bit better as seeing from previous posts this isn’t going to end any time soon.
Were your meds decreased? Have you tried taking Wellbutrin to help? I’m sorry you’re in such a state. Ask your Dr. about Wellbutrin.
This is really helpful. I was on 40 mg for about 15 years and my doctor recently took me off because of all the research showing that SSRIs are ultimately counterproductive for bipolar patients. I’ve been on and off almost everything out there, and this SUCKS. But, reading this blog entry as well as other people’s experiences makes me feel less crazy and more hopeful. It can be so hard to remember that things like this are temporary, even as a veteran mental health patient with a neuroscience degree.
I’ve been on Lexapro for almost 10 years off and on. This time has been the longest I’ve taken it uninterrupted (~5 yrs). I did the taper method, and much more conservatively than the Dr. recommended; 5mg/wk for 4 weeks. I started at 20mg and I was completely off last Friday (9/25). I’m surprised that I feel just as bad as I did when I stopped cold turkey one time. But having done some research, that is likely due to the longevity of the dose taken.
I can manage many of the “discontinuation symptoms” such as the low grade headache, insomnia, increased energy and decreased appetite, inability to focus, dizziness…
I really don’t like the “brain zaps.” It feels like someone has put my head on an elevator and cut the cables at the top floor. That’s really what causes the nausea for me. I’m not particularly fond of the sweating either, but I did that anyway (GAD) just not quite so badly. Has anyone experienced being extremely cold as one of the discontinuation symptoms? I can’t get warm to save my life…
I am hoping that these symptoms will subside in the next week b/c I don’t think I can handle feeling like this for 3 months. I do remember in previous discontinuations, the “major” symptoms only lasting 2 weeks and being symptom free in 4 weeks. We’ll see though — I’ll keep you posted.
Yes I have experienced being cold. I live in South Texas and the temperature today 11/03 is still in high 80’s and after 2 weeks no lexapro I’m wearing sweats! I’m freezing!
I’ve been on lexapro for about two years. I felt like a zombie with no feelings, I didn’t get mad, but I didn’t get happy either. I went on it shortly after having my second daughter. I think I had some postpartum depression. I have always been against these drugs, but now I know they do help people with depression, and it did help me a lot…but after being on it for a couple of years, I decided I didn’t need it anymore.
So I went to the doctors and told her that I’m not depressed, but I feel like I don’t have any emotions either. She though maybe the lexapro was not doing anything for me. So we decided to try Wellbutrin. Well, I decided that I don’t want to be on anything and decided to stop. Well its day 4 with out, the previous week I took one every other day. The 2nd day I stopped completely, I had a major panic attack, which I have had these before and they’re not fun.
Had to take a .5 of a ativan to calm me. So decided to research the withdrawal symptoms…so glad I found this post, cause I’m not sure of what I’m going through and if it was normal or not. Brain zaps wow, feeling a outside of my body feeling, yep. Dizziness, yep, But I have noticed I am starting to feel a little more. I have always been a high energy person, even on the lexapro, meaning I always got my stuff done.
I don’t think that has changed cause yesterday regardless of how I felt, I still had the to do, going for me. But today I woke up in a fog. Very tired, feeling of a high. I have a strong mind, and I am determined to get through it. Hoping this feeling does not last long and I get my pre depression self back!! I just want to feel my emotions again!!
Holy cow How many of us are out there? I am in absolute disbelief how such a massive secret can be swept under the rug by the medical community. I’m with you NAN. I’m 13 months off that damn poison and I don’t feel normal yet. Granted some things have improved dramatically but this is ridiculous! Can we all get together and write a book, or sue the damn drug companies who withheld all the Withdrawal information?! It’s bullshit and there are so many of us in the same spot. We are not a minority in this. Most people don’t get off these meds, and when they do, doctors tell them the side effects are in their head. We need to stop the madness!
I took 20mg of Lexapro for eight years. The reason I was prescribed Lexapro was because I couldn’t sleep. I was having some anxiety at the time, and the sleeping pills being prescribed were either not working or had terrible side affects. I never had any issues being on Lexapro, so it was easy to continue to take the drug. However, about three years ago, I was diagnosed with sarcoidosis. Since that diagnosis, I have taken steroids to deter the symptoms, and they did not work.
Last year, the doctor wanted to prescribe a chemo pill, and that is when I decided to do some research to see if there was a holistic approach, which I did. Since September of last year, I have changed my diet to 75% alkaline and 25% acidic foods in order to keep my body’s PH balance neutral. Since all medication is acidic, I decided to stop taking Lexapro and gradually reduced my dosage for approximately a month and a half. This process began in December of last year.
The first symptoms I endured were anxiety, crying, chills, and nausea. I could not get warm. I had to run a hot tub bath every day/night in order to get warm. The next symptoms were brain zaps, fatigue, clumsy, and constantly feeling car sick. That lasted for at least a month. The worst of the symptoms lasted for at least four months. Although the worst of the symptoms are over, I still experience extreme body sensations in the middle of the night and a desire to cry.
I sometimes experience these body sensations during the day, without the desire to cry. I also am still clumsy. At this point, nine months being off the drug, I still don’t feel normal. I, like so many others, would never have taken this drug if I had known the withdrawal symptoms would be so awful. I hope that soon I will begin to feel like my normal self. It is sad to know that I have gone through all of this because I couldn’t sleep.
I read most of the comments on here and I’m sorry if this is a repeat. I, like you, thought I could easily come off Lexapro without weaning, because my doctor told me there wouldn’t be any side effects. Wrong, so very wrong. Anyway, I saw some were asking about how this drug effects pregnancies. I have had three children, while on Lexapro. Here is how it went for me.
Boy 1- I was assured Lexapro should still be taken for my mental heath. I continued on the same 10mgs. He was born at 8lbs 15oz. He wasn’t floppy, but he did have lower tone. He was a W-sitter and his joints are still very flexible and lax. I nursed him for 11 months and weaned him by 13 months. He did not walk until he was 16 months old due to low tone and the laxness of his body. He received physical therapy for 6 months to help strengthen his muscles and help him learn to walk. He had no withdrawal symptoms, perhaps because he was weaned off my milk. He is very happy go-lucky, laid back kid.
Boy 2- I wanted to prevent the low tone, so I cut the Lexapro to 5mg. I was so miserable with this pregnancy from beginning to end. Looking back, I wonder if I had been going through a little withdrawal from backing down the med. On top of that, I was so sick the entire time. It makes me wonder how this drug effected him, if he too was going through withdrawal. He was born at 9lbs 3oz and walked the week of his first birthday. I’m not sure it was worth it, because this child screamed ALL day. If he wasn’t sleeping, he was screaming. It was hell. They said he had severe reflux. We put him on Zantac and Prevacid at the same time. I stopped nursing by 2 months due to his inability to tolerate my milk. Eventually, we ended up on soy, which seemed to help. He was a miserable child until at least 9 months of age when he started becoming normal. He is still quirky, and we did have him tested for autism, but they ruled that out. He is a nervous child and a worrier. He is now 6 years old and he is starting to adjust to life. It’s been a long, difficult road with him.
Girl- Somehow I convince my husband to have another. He said if the second had been born first, we would never have had any others! Three always felt right for me. I went back up to 10mg of Lexapro. The pregnancy was easy, no complications and was much like Boy 1. She was born at 8lbs 6oz. Girl is a W-sitter, but was never as low tone as Boy 1. She did not walk until she was 14 months old, which isn’t too bad. The concerning thing was that she would pull her feet up and refuse to put weight on her feet. She had physical therapy as well for about 3 months. She also nursed until she was about 12 months old and was weaned. She is also laid back, happy-go lucky. I never notice any withdrawal symptoms with her either. I always thought it was interesting the differences with the pregnancies. There are no studies done, that I know of.
I don’t think they ethically can do studies of pregnant women using drugs. I was taken off of lexapro for each pregnancy. My first son is extremely flexible and began walking on his first birthday. One of my twins is not as flexible, the other doesn’t like putting weight on his legs, and neither are walking yet at 16 months.
The oldest didn’t talk much until after two to two and a half and while the babies can say a few things they, too, prefer not to. The oldest is nearly four and flat out refuses to potty train. But he has an incredible vocabulary and is very creative and mechanically inclined. I think he may be aspie like me.
I have been on lexapro for almost 8 yrs, 20 mg. I went on because I was having multiple panic attacks every day, beginning a few months after my dad died. I am also on Wellbutrin (for 6 yrs) because the lexapro screwed up my dopamine levels. (Apparently this happens to 15% of people who take lexapro.)
I have tried to go off lexapro 4-5 times. I am trying again w/ a slow tapering off. Have been on 15 mg for almost a month, and will go to 10 mg at 30 days. Then I will see how I do, before attempting 5mg. The longest I have made it before, after tapering to 10mg, is 6 weeks total.
Having tried before I know some of what to expect. This site helps validate that my symptoms aren’t just in my head. (Thank you!!) It is the anger & anxiety that have proven to be my worst problems. Plus I’ve gained 40 lbs while on the drugs. (My doctor denies that is why.)
This time I am also taking some supplements & keeping a journal, so I am hopeful I can get off it for good. Reading everyone’s stories helps too. Knowing I am not alone. Wish me luck!
So far so good. From 10 mg since sometime in 2006 to cutting those pills in half 5 mg for two weeks. It has now been six days. The most prevalent symptom is a form of brain zap and feeling a little weird. I don’t think I would call it full fledged depersonalization. Overall I am good!! I really wanted to share that it is not all bad.
I have had the worst withdrawal symptoms after being on Effexor for years. Back then it took me 9 months to taper off, and I promised myself I would never get back on any antidepressants. Until last year when I struggled with difficult life events. I took some Escitalopram for a year and stopped last week after dropping from 10mg to 5mg for a week. Same symptoms as with my previous experience of SSRI withdrawal.
My doctor mentioned that I should not have any, as well as my spouse, who is a doctor as well. They both undermined the effects of withdrawal which makes me think that most health professionals don’t mention those to patients about to start and/or quit the medication. I feel dizzy, I have no emotion and feel lifeless. I am confused (probably because I am so dizzy all the time), my eyes feel strained, I have restless sleep because of the crazy vivid dreams I have all night, and I have sweats and hot flashes that force me to bring extra clothes at work and change at least once during the night because I wake up drenched in sweat.
I know from experience that these symptoms will go away eventually, but they are difficult to manage while they last. Good luck to all of you out there going through it like me! It gets better eventually :)
I can’t tell you how relieved I am after reading many of these comments and this article. I truly thought I was permanently screwed up! Was on Lexapro for close to 10 years – first for post partum depression then for my second child PPD and the death of my father. Really didn’t feel any benefit and had unexplained weight gain and NO libido. NONE. So I tapered off very slowly and my doctor gave me Wellbutrin to aid with withdrawal and it really seemed to work. Normally I wouldn’t think of starting something new but I know how bad withdrawals can be.
The Wellbutrin really helps but I still have concentration trouble, I have ZERO patience with my kids (this is the part that kills me the most), and I am anxious. Begging my husband to hang in there, that my mood swings are normal, but I understand he’s frustrated. I wish I could just fast forward because I’m not the mom I want to be, but I know that being on something isn’t the answer for me. Thanks to everyone who shared – it has helped!
I hope you are evening out now. Hang in there. I have the same impatience with my children who are now older teens. Knowing others feel this when they go off Lexapro really helps.
I always suffered from Pre-menstrual dysphoric syndrome, much worse than ordinary PMS. I never sought help because I didn’t think there was any help available and my gynecologist wasn’t much help. I thought that after menopause my hormones would change and it would go away. That didn’t happen. I couldn’t find anything about this in any literature, so couldn’t decide between treatment from a psychiatrist or a different gynecologist. My family doctor put me on Lexapro for crying, irritability, aggression, etc., eventually 40 mg, which I took for 2 years.
I guess I reached a plateau, so I quit by tapering off myself. My irritability, depression, crying, etc. have returned. My side effects seem to consist of night sweats, wakefulness, and daytime dizziness. But, how do I distinguish some of these from hormonal imbalance or needing another psychiatric drug? Sometimes the depression, crying seem so cyclical. That’s why I’ve always believed it was hormonal. I’ve been toughing this out for years on my own. Any thoughts? I’d really like to see a psychopharmacologist.
I was on lexapro for about 6 months for depression. The highest dose I was on was 10 mg, I cut to 5 mg because I was feeling super sleepy during the day. I decided to stop altogether several months ago and I reduced the dose by half every couple of weeks – yes I was only taking .125 mg a day when I stopped. I initially got headaches but they went away pretty quickly.
What really bothers me is the vertigo/dizziness. I’m determined to stick with it since I have more energy and am a lot less sleepy during the day. I’m going to try the supplements suggested in one of the comments below. Thanks for all the helpful information.
I stopped taking 15mg of Lexapro abruptly in December of 2014. I know it was a mistake but I really don’t want to go back on it. The discontinuation syndrome is horrific. It’s still very bad. It made my tinnitus much worse. The brain zaps are still around. They’re not nearly as bad, but they’re there. I have this type of tension headache that sticks around… it moves around my head, gums, roof of my mouth, teeth… all around my head.
There’s nothing wrong with my sinuses or teeth, it’s the withdrawal. I’m really congested. I have a tingling in the middle of my spine and there’s nothing wrong there. It moves around, I think it’s from the withdrawal. The depersonalization is bad, the anxiety is absolutely horrible. The depression is quite bad. I have this intense look in my eyes and have a hard time looking at or talking with people for very long… and I love people, normally.
I just don’t want to back on any drugs. It’s a tiny bit better then a few months ago, but it’s still very bad. I have absolutely no libido… zero. You have to be a real fighter bear this kind of torture.
There are no magic pills. Antidepressant withdrawal is daunting, not to be trivialized. Be careful.
I have been on Lexapro 10mg for about 8 years. I felt I didn’t need it anymore. My doctor told me to cut it to 5mg for about a week then stop. I have to say I always drank wine while taking this drug. I have a pretty good social life and now worry about drinking and this drug. Well I have been off it for about a week and feeling not right. First of all I have having problems sleeping, feeling dizzy, headaches and bloated. I start back to school soon and
not sure how I am going to deal with this. Any suggestions?
Pay close to attention to your body and mind. For me, it didn’t get really bad for several weeks to months. If I had to do it over, I definitely would have taken MUCH more time to wean off… 8 months later, I’m still thinking about going back on.
Figured I’d add my own story to chain. Currently withdrawing from both 30mg mirtazapine and as much as 20mg lexapro. It’s been a week since my last crumb of either. Most of my symptoms I had while on the drugs: anhedonia, concentration problems, insomnia. Like Kevin above, I quit because I was tired of feeling numb to the world (not to mention downstairs). I have no idea how long it will take my neurotransmitters to rebalance, or if I will be able to maintain my career in the process, but life on SSRIs is not living; it’s existing.
Committed to 5mg Lexapro until I stabilize. I had hoped for a shorter trip but not totally disappointed as I’m still moving forward. August has been tough and at this point I plan on continuing 5mg the entire month of September. Please keep posting progress.
I have taken escitalopram 10mg for six months, now a month ago I have stopped taking it. I experience the same side effects mentioned above except insomnia, I feel brain zaps and some kind of wheezing sounds in my ears all the time specially when jogging or walking. My depression and irritation have returned even more worse than before. Should I restart Escitalopram? Kindly suggest me.
So I decided that I wanted to quit taking lexapro (20mg) for the second time. The first time I tried cold turkey but couldn’t stand those “zaps”. I went back on it and slowly tapered off but I don’t think I did for long enough because those “zaps” came back. I tried different type of all natural pills and medicines and nothing worked. Until I took only two 5-HTP pills and woke up with those “zaps” immediately gone. So I high recommend it and it did wonders for me. Good luck !
Changed my dosage August 1 and even the slight 5% has me feeling withdrawals. Having been on 10 mg of Lex for 12 years I can see this is not going to be a short trip. I’ve stated before that I don’t care how long it takes but with feeling withdrawal at a 5% decrease is disappointing. I also noticed my BP is elevated. Is this associated with the decrease or something else? I’ve felt punk since around August 5 and hoping the 15th will bring improvement. Really amazed with people who successfully made it through the taper process and those who went cold turkey…oh my, you’re tougher than me.