Question posted by auntybiotic on 1 Feb 2005
Last updated on 18 December 2019
Does anyone have any experience from withdrawing from Lexapro (20 mg for one and a half years)? My daughter is having a tough time tapering off lexapro. She is getting sweats, anxiety, moodiness and manic like actions.
Let me know if anyone has successfully weaned off a SSRI and what happened along the way. Thanks
Ive never written on a forum before but i think its important to share my story being it was a POSITIVE outcome! I was on 20 mg paxil for about 3 years and tried to get off two or three times. The first time i failed miserably after having crying episodes almost everyday. The last time i was able to stop taking the meds for 3 months and the withdrawal symptoms wouldn't go away. I felt terrible and sad and went back to the psychiatrist. He put me on lexapro. I took 10mg for about a year. The past three months i have tapered off and would like to say all is well!!!
My advice is this taper s l o w l y and keep a log. A log keeps you on track and motivated. I went down to 5 mg for about a month, then 2.5 for a month and then 2.5 every other day. Half the battle of tapering off these meds is the FEAR and uncertainty that it wont work and youll have to go back on it. So many of these forums have negative stories with bad outcomes. I want to say that i have been successful.
You will have bad days and maybe lash out on people or become easily emotional. Just try to brush it off and KEEP GOING!!
I know i wanted to go off this medicine in case i wanted to start a family one day. (Im a female) whatever reason you would like to go off antidepressants: You can do it too.
I also started taking the following supplements: vitamin B and fish oil
I try very hard to get to the gym to work out as it helps!! Even 20 minutes of getting my heartrate up a bit makes me feel better mentally.
Hopefully i stay feeling OK. My personality has definitely changed a bit. Im more quiet... I think more and talk less. People at my job have definitely noticed but after a couple of weeks the questioning "whats wrong" passed.
I hope my story helps anyone out there looking for some light at he end of the tunnel.
Thank you so much! I was starting to feel a bit down with this all. I’m trying to come off 20mg but I think my dr is tapering me a little quick - dropped fown to 10mg strait away. I’m glad it can work. How did you manage the exercise? I find I’m too exhausted but manage a walk daily...
@yotaf they say it takes 21 days to break (or make) a habit.
Pick a time of the day where you will go for your walk and STICK with it for 21 days. Once you get through that, see how you feel... i bet it will just come naturally to go on your walk (or jog, or bike ride?) I also find it easiest to work out first thing in the morning to get it out of the way.
Working out in the morning gives you a “win” to start your day. Mentally this helps a lot for me.
Make sure you stay withing 30-45 time frame so you arent exhausted for the next day of working out. I hope this helps... i had someone teach me this and i have built/broke TONS of habits.
Thanks so much! Funny- my husband has been saying the same thing about forming habits. He also mentioned exercise is one thing that may be able to assist in sorting out my brain while it readjusts to no meds. Will definitely be trying the walk/gym daily!
I'm having trouble from Lexapro or Escitalopram as well... My doctor CT'd me off since it was making me feel worse (I was on for three months at 10,20, 30, then 40mg doses)... I don't know if this is withdrawal but it has been so hard... extremely depressed, brain fog/dp/dr, increased anxiety, horrible crying spells... I've been off for about a month..will this ever end?
Whah can be done to recover sex drive after stopping lexapro?
Ive been on lexapro since I was 16. I'm 19 now. I take 20mg every night before I go to bed. I suggest that for everyone that gets tired throughout the day. I don't have issues sleeping when I take it. And I don't have issues waking up in the morning. I have never experienced the weight gain. I've actually lost weight. I did however try to come off. The dizziness and the jolts are a real thing. And so is the meltdowns and feeling like I'm going crazy. It works for me. So I don't see a need to come off. I control myself better when I'm on it. I experience the night sweats also. Just drink lots of water before you go to bed and when you wake up. Besides going through the withdrawal I don't have any bad side effects with the medicine. Except the sweating at night when I sleep. Hope this helps!
Hi -- Just thought I'd add my experiences. I'm being treated for Hepatitis C Virus (things seem to be going well, thank you) and my Doctor added 10mG Lexapro to the regimen to offset the possible depression caused by the other drugs I'm on. I've been bothered by restless leg movement while trying to sleep, I wake up a lot, I'm generally very tired and for some reason the meds caused my face to break out. That was kind of annoying for a 51 year old man. Hard to know what is causing what since I take so many pills and injections. Treatment for HCV is kind of a rocky road. Lots of blood work, red and white cell count problems and lately my liver enzymes started climbing. The Doctor suggested I stop the Lexapro (the least needed of the drugs I'm on) and felt there was no need to taper off. That was two weeks ago.
It took a few days to affect me (guess Lexapro has a half-life of about 36 hours)and then I developed a dry cough, dizziness, the 'brain zaps' mentioned in a few places. That hit about day 4 after stopping. I was a lot more tired than usual. I'm now up to day 12. I feel better, I'm not quite as dizzy and the little electric feelings have decreased. The good news is that a test of liver enzymes 7 days after stopping showed a marked improvement. AND my face has stopped breaking out. How about that?
Kind of glad this is out of the way. Would have been a bear to go through almost a year of uncomfortable treatment and then have to deal with a couple of weeks of withdrawal.
So - for what it's worth...
Luck to us all,
Ed
Ed
So I've been taking lexapro 25mg for a while, i think about a year. Before that I took Celexa and before that Paxil. I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder back in high school. I went to a lot of "doctors" but they just want to fill you will pills, which is what I have been doing until now, I've been wanting to get off of drugs for a while now (I'm 22 now so it'll give you an idea of how long this has been goin on). I realized that there are places that will treat anxiety without giving you a handful of pills to cure it. I don't think there is a cure, but there are other ways to cure it. I finally said enough is enough, and I stopped taking Lexapro about 4 days ago, I am already experiencing withdrawl symptoms of being really tired, feeling kind of dizzy and just plain 'out of it', feeling like if i turn my head fast it takes a second for my brain to catch up with the rest of my body.
After reading on some forums i found I should taper off this horrible drug so i'll start tomorrow with taking half my normal dosage of 25mg. And it gives me great hope to know that the symptoms DO go away, but it will take a long time. I've been on meds too long and ready to be free.
I just got my dosage of lexapro upped to 20 mg from 10 mg and am a bit hesitant. I saw a new doctor for a only a few minutes and my dosage got doubled. I org. took it for social anxiety which seems to have come back after going away for a while. I have been on the Lexapro for a year now. I am also going to start therapy in a month and am wondering whether to wait for the increase until after a few therapy sessions and a good chat with the Psych. about side effects. What I'm most worried about is going off the Lexapro in the future, and upping my dosage will just make it worse. Is it worth it?
P.S. I am so relieved to see people describe the shocking sensation in the face. I thought I was imagining the feeling. Everytime it happened I thought I was just super dizzy for a second, but then actually related it to being electrocuted in the face for a moment, mostly in my chin. I noticed it to happen if I skipped/delayed a dose. What an odd side effect.
I read that the withdrawal symptoms can last between 1 and 8 weeks, so maybe you're one of the ones that might take a while to get rid of the side effects. I never had any severe withdrawal side effects and mine were basically gone in 2 weeks.
I've read on some other forums that people had bad withdrawals for up to a couple of months, but they all said they finally disappeared. Other people went back to taking a tiny dosage off and on until the effects wore off. So you may just have to hang in there for a bit longer. I really think exercise, especially aerobic, helps all around, keeps your seratonin levels high and tires you out for better sleeping. Good Luck!
Thanks to all of you who've shared your experiences. It's helped me realize I am not having a stroke...
I was on 10mg of Lexapro for 8 months. Due to all the side effects mentioned on this forum, I decided to wean off. My dr. suggested taking 5mg every day for a week; 5mg every other day for one week; then stop altogether. I followed her instructions, ending about 2 weeks ago. Since then, I've been experiencing weird sensations in my brain and in my vision as well as dizziness. I was beginning to think I was having mini strokes. I've never heard of brain 'shivers' and now know that's what been happening.
I agree with those of you who say Lexapro is not a good drug to be on or wean off. Although, there are times that warrant being on for a short time until we work through our emotional hurts that put us on in the first place. I hope the best for you in your endeavor to be emotionally whole, without Lexapro :)
I take Lexapro 10mg, i've been off of it for about 3 weeks now, without any other anti-depressants also, the first week i was kind've depressed, but it was nothing serious, now I feel fine.
When a person is on an antidepressant for a period of time it must be weaned off slowly and I mean slowly. Everyone is different and if your daughter is having problems getting off it is imperative that you take her to your psychiatrist. She may need another medication to help her through the weaning off process. If she was on the drug 2 years it may take her 2 years to get off the drug. Because she is a teenager I would also check to make sure that she is not taking any other drugs (legal or illegal) that may be interfering with her slow taper. People weaning off these types of medications can have seizures so they may place her on xanax or some other antianxiety medication. Remember all psych drugs have the potential to be habit forming either physically or psychologically and this may be a long haul. You may need to see a doctor that specializes in medications. Hopefully this will be a shorter problem than you are thinking. Good Luck Irish
OK, my dizziness got so bad last night and this morning. It was almost dangerous to drive. I took a 1/4 of a 10mg this morning and I feel half better now. I guess I will take a 1/4 every other day and then stop again after about 10 days.
I have been tapering off of Lexapro after taking 10mg a day for two years. I was taking 5 mg a day for the past three weeks and then stopped all together four days ago. I feel dizzy just walking or making sudden movements. I also feel a little lethargic. I hope this goes away soon.
I am just now withdrawing from 20 mg. Lexapro after a year and a half.
I tapered off at a 10 mg level for 3 weeks, then went to 10 mg. every-other day for about 2 weeks. There are a million different ways to taper, but the key point is that you are doing the right thing by tapering. It think in your daughter's case it is probably better that you are doing it very slowly; her body is likely smaller than alot of adults, and 20 mg. is a fairly high Lexapro dose.
One thing I think you should keep in mind is to employ as much critical thinking as you can about this drug, it's effects, withdrawal, etc. Everyone contributing to this forum is simply a user and can only share their experiences, not diagnose your daughter, including myself.
Having said that, from some medical case study literature I read on the net, including this website: http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/addiction-withdrawal.htm, I would guess that the drug itself is causing the symptoms, not an inherent chemical imbalance in your daughter's brain if she never experienced that before going on the Lexapro. The literature links in the website I included above talk about infant withdrawal after birth from mothers using Lexapro during pregnancy, with many of the same syptoms you are describing such as anxiety and irritability.
As for me, I had night sweats when I first decreased my dosage. They subsided. Now that I'm completely off, I've experienced the seemingly common anxiety and irritability, along with some visual symptoms (jerky nerves when moving eyes) and a bit of vertigo. I also experienced increased appetite, especially for starchy foods. This makes sense because these foods (as well as many others) affect seratonin levels in the brain.
My suggestion to you would be to read as much scientific information as you can get your hands on, including how these chemicals work in the brain, how that affects our minds, etc. Unfortunately, medical doctors don't always know as much as we would hope. We have to rely on ourselves to investigate this information. I would do this for any drug my doctor wanted my child to take. A Physicians Desk Reference can give you alot of information; so can the internet if you are looking at real scientific studies, not antecdotes.
As for the question people often ask about why you are taking your daughter off this drug, I say this. I'm a low-level depressive person and used Lexapro as a step toward recovering from a depressive period in my life, in conjunction with therapy. I, and my therapist, simply don't feel that I need the drug anymore, so why should I pay good money every month to put a chemical into my body that isn't necessary? This would be like taking cold medicine indefinitely. Of course, for more serious cases of depression this is not an option. And, while I experienced many good effects from Lexapro, I was not my true self in many regards. Now that I'm off of it my passion for many things that was lost has returned, including playing the piano. I think these are great reasons for getting off the chemical.
I agree that the doctor made a huge error in judgement putting her on Lexapro. I hope that your daughter (and you) hang in there, get through this, and return to a normal life. And I hope it helps to know that others have experienced this along with you and your daughter.
I am so excited to hear your description of tingling in the face and lips. I had no idea this could be a withdrawal from Lexapro. I cut back my 10mg to every other day for several weeks, now I have been off completely for 9 days. The first 6 days went smooth. Now I am dizzy and my face is tingly. I took Lexapro for 7 months. I put on 19 pounds.Any success in getting rid of the pounds quickly?
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