Hi

Go see your Dr today! Could be a bad reaction to Lexapro. I spent two days in the foetal position after taking ONE dose of Effexor took me a week to recover. I went back to my Dr two days later, (rather angry) and he said you had a bad reaction to it (effexor) no ******** SHERLOCK. I got a script for Lexapro as I had taken it before, and new that it worked and agreed with me. If you took Paxil before you may want to consider using it as your drug of choice, if you really really have to take something. I start lexapro at 2.5mg for a week and then go up to 5mg thats all I need its a strong drug. The first time I took Lexapro I was told to start at 5mg and go to 10 after a week needless to say I fried. Dont let Doctors push you around and consider your options, I wish I had not taken an ssri and opted for psychotherapy or CBT when I first fell ill. And remember nothing lasts forever including your current state of mind!! It Will pass

LL

[Taylor1]

Yea this hasn't been a good experience at all... I wish I knew not to start with 10 mg and go slow like u did... It's been 5 days and I'm still feeling like ********. Hope this passes soon... Going to see my doc today

[Aeroman]

Originally Posted by auntybiotic

Areoman,

Contact me privately and I can share a plan of amino acid and supplements that may improve you to normal pre lexapro finctioning in about 8 to 10 weeks....unbelievable? You know me and my research. It is far too intense to go into on this thread but all natural supplements and has been proven to work on those who cold turkeyed off of SSRI's and actually did damage to the neurotransmitters and were unable to produce serotonin due to the receptors dying off. (This I believe is the reason you cannot experience pleasure, joy,,,,,,,,,,,,,, because your body is unable to produce serotonin on it's own. Most all supplements will be available at health food stores but you must follow guidelines used in a clinic that has treated thousands of alcoholics, drug addicts and those suffering withdrawal from SSRI and Pian Killers.

There is a amino acid that will cause your body to produce it's own suppply of serotonin and when taken along with vitamins and minerals....the results have been astounding.
Again, I am not a doctor but have spent years researching this horrible drug, lexapro. There is a Recovery Clinic that this program is adopted from. I do not have the time it would take to explain in detail for thousands here (or should I say millions??) to read here. Not even sure if I can share the details here since they are adopted from a Recvcovery Clinic.

I just e-mailed you directly, thanks!

[Aeroman]

Originally Posted by gigerchild

Hi

Go see your Dr today! Could be a bad reaction to Lexapro. I spent two days in the foetal position after taking ONE dose of Effexor took me a week to recover. I went back to my Dr two days later, (rather angry) and he said you had a bad reaction to it (effexor) no ******** SHERLOCK. I got a script for Lexapro as I had taken it before, and new that it worked and agreed with me. If you took Paxil before you may want to consider using it as your drug of choice, if you really really have to take something. I start lexapro at 2.5mg for a week and then go up to 5mg thats all I need its a strong drug. The first time I took Lexapro I was told to start at 5mg and go to 10 after a week needless to say I fried. Dont let Doctors push you around and consider your options, I wish I had not taken an ssri and opted for psychotherapy or CBT when I first fell ill. And remember nothing lasts forever including your current state of mind!! It Will pass

LL

Please don't even mention Paxil. There is a website dedicated to the withdrawal of Paxil, www.paxilprogress.org

[Taylor1]

Had another panic attack last night.... Can't wait until this is over.. Every time I try to get some sleep, I start getting these hot electric like flashes through my body... Does this happen to anyone else?? Really disturbing, I'm sooooo tired of this, Im completely drained

[TriciaJ]

I'm going through Lexapro withdraw now. My Dr. had me on 10mg a day for a little less than 2 years, I went to the doctor two weeks ago and she told me to take a 1/2 a pill a day for 2 weeks and stop and I feel like CRUD! I am tired and extremely dizzy. I can't wait for this to end!

[Pugcrazy]

This is so terrible as I read what we are going through with the lexapro. My irritability seems better tonight. Not much but I have a hair more patience. I am just taking one day at a time. Things just have to get better. I never felt this bad when I was "depressed" before I started lexapro. I guess the doctor just gave me med's because that is what he is supposed to do. What I feel the most depressed about is the darn weight gain. So easy to put on so difficult to take off. I rather be depressed over weight than irritable and nasty. I wish I knew about this taper process because I would of done that but now I could never go back to taking the lex. Gonna try to grin and get through it.
pugcrazy

[rujoking]

for those of you who are new here you may want to search this thread and read about the benefits of Omega 3 fish oil and magnesium - those supplements cetainly helped a lot here during this process.

you should also look up antidepressantfacts.com - very enlightening reading

try to limit any caffeine or alcohol or other psycho tropic drugs - all can make this much worse - time and patience are the best healers!

ruj

[Pugcrazy]

Ruj, thx for the info I plan to look those up now. One question though are you completely done with withdrawal and if so how long did it take.
Thx again pugcrazy

[randomact]

first off thanks for takign the time to answer all these posts and sharing in the rollercoaster ride of emotions, physical distress, and dependencies that can accour while comming off of lexapro.

I started taking LEXAPRO a year ago for anxiety issues based on my doctors recommendation. I started with 5MG then I went to 10 and for the last 4 months I have been at 20 MG.

I recently decided to get off of the drug COLD TURKEY, and have noticed a very strong feeling of tiredness, light headed, dizziness, combated with a little fatigue. I am going on day three without anything in my system. I am wondering how long this will last and if the effects could get worse. I have managed to gain 20 pounds in a year, become more numb to things around me, and lost alot of ambition to do things. I thought it was in my best interest to stop and that's exactly what I did.

Can anyone else let me know how long the effects of withdrawls can last until I feel normal again by stoping cold turkey?

I was also curious if my problems I had before related to anxiety could be resolved because lexapro got my brain firing properly?

Thanks so much for all your answers and support through this crazy journey we call lexalife.

[mims]

It's possible you might have a quicker recovery if you go back on the meds and then taper off. I'm not sure anybody really knows if going back on after 3 days off would be helpful - you should probably ask your doctor, even though doctors don't have all the answers about SSRIs either.

But many of us who have been there and done that ( cold turkey) would say cold turkey is the wrong thing to do, especially dropping from a high dose like 20mg to 0 mg all at once.

That's not to be considered medical advice, just a suggestion from somebody who cold-turkeyed and regretted it.

And I would say that cold-turkeying off lexapro got my brain mis-firing in the worst way for a long time.

[Pugcrazy]

Hi mims your right as I states before is would not do the lexapro cold turkey ever again.I still feel irritable today but not as bad as yesterday. I am very tied but I went to bed late and got up a little to early probably. The tired feeling is pretty annoying but I am sure it will pass eventually. When I first went cold turkey before I new about withdrawals from this drug I would toss and turn at night getting minimal rest then when I got my kids off the to school I would come back to bed until a couple of hours before they came home from school.
Pugcrazy

[Aeroman]

Originally Posted by randomact

first off thanks for takign the time to answer all these posts and sharing in the rollercoaster ride of emotions, physical distress, and dependencies that can accour while comming off of lexapro.

I started taking LEXAPRO a year ago for anxiety issues based on my doctors recommendation. I started with 5MG then I went to 10 and for the last 4 months I have been at 20 MG.

I recently decided to get off of the drug COLD TURKEY, and have noticed a very strong feeling of tiredness, light headed, dizziness, combated with a little fatigue. I am going on day three without anything in my system. I am wondering how long this will last and if the effects could get worse. I have managed to gain 20 pounds in a year, become more numb to things around me, and lost alot of ambition to do things. I thought it was in my best interest to stop and that's exactly what I did.

Can anyone else let me know how long the effects of withdrawls can last until I feel normal again by stoping cold turkey?

I was also curious if my problems I had before related to anxiety could be resolved because lexapro got my brain firing properly?

Thanks so much for all your answers and support through this crazy journey we call lexalife.

Get back on your original dose and taper off 5-10% every 4-6 weeks. Stopping cold turkey or tapering off too fast increases the chances for much more intense withdrawal symptoms and prolonging the suffering.

No one can tell you how long the effects will last. But what I do know is that i has been almost 16 months for me and I have made improvements since last summer but still suffer that brain fog (anhedonia) you describe.

Trust me, you are lucky to find out ahead of time to make your own call. Reinstating after 3 months plus may backfire and cause worst reactions.

Good luck,

Aeroman

PS Do yourself a favor and read past posts from me and others (not newbies but 12+ months old posts).

[randomact]

how do you know that stopping cold turkey caused more long term side effects? I know that tapering off is probably the best thing for keeping the withdrawls to a minimal. But to me your prolonging the innevitable, it just doesn't hurt as bad vs stopping cold turkey.

You think there is worse damage to be caused to the brain stopping cold vs weening off of it? If thats the case I will get back on it and slowly ween off.

So far I mainly feel a little tired and light headed. Other than waking up every hour then passing back out I feel I am doing fine.

I dont want any long term side effects from going from 20 to 0, but really there is no conclusive evidence that rules out taking lexapro in any dose can't cause some form of long term misfiring if you will. Any doctors here

[Aeroman]

Originally Posted by randomact

how do you know that stopping cold turkey caused more long term side effects? I know that tapering off is probably the best thing for keeping the withdrawls to a minimal. But to me your prolonging the innevitable, it just doesn't hurt as bad vs stopping cold turkey.

You think there is worse damage to be caused to the brain stopping cold vs weening off of it? If thats the case I will get back on it and slowly ween off.

So far I mainly feel a little tired and light headed. Other than waking up every hour then passing back out I feel I am doing fine.

I dont want any long term side effects from going from 20 to 0, but really there is no conclusive evidence that rules out taking lexapro in any dose can't cause some form of long term misfiring if you will. Any doctors here

How do I know? You are communicating to the proof! I, like you, questioned all the anecdotal information I read on this forum and an another. I wanted off Lexapro bad - I had gained a lot of weight and I had no sex drive. I wanted off, fast!

So I make an appt with my psychiatrist. Yes, the M.D. who is trained, schooled, and informed by the pharma companies how to use the drug. I used 10-mg of Lexapro for 2.5 years. After telling him my dilemma, he told me to ween off it using a 1-month schedule. I said, what?! One month? Why so long, I asked him. He said, "Oh, Lexapro has a very short half life and leaves your system very fast. Therefore, we must slowly taper you off".

But I asked again, one month??? Cant I just get off it sooner? He said, no, bad stuff can happen. So, here I go, Mr Obedient Patient I am, went from 10mg to 5mg for two weeks, then 5mg every other day for two weeks, thats it. I then said, La La la la, skip skip...all is ok....until...................


Day 4.


I woke up..."pissed". No reason whatsoever. I then went to a salsa class with my wife and guess what? I didnt know my left to my right (6th class I had attended). I had trouble thinking. And then to my amazement, I couldnt remember where I put this, or that. My short term memory was poor!

How can this be, i asked myself? I am an engineer, I am young (32 at the time), I can do Calculus upside down, in the dark, etc but now I have trouble multiplying numbers?!

Then.....


Day 7.

<eyes open> It's 3am and still dark. Ummm, why am I feeling anxious? Oh, this butterfly in my gut is weird?! Let me get up and get a drink of water...

WHOA!!!!!!! The room is spinning!!!! What the? What's going on, i asked myself?

5 hours later.....head pounding....a headache? How can this be?

1....2.....3....4.....5 days pass, and still a headache. 3-4am wake up calls with anxiety. Oh oh, now I feel nausea.

1 week....2 weeks.....headache gone, nausea gone, dizzy still present, but sleep is - unrestful.

About this time, I Googled "Lexapro Withdrawal" and found this site. I joined and asked around if my symptoms sounded familiar. 10-15 people screamed YES YES YES, it is withdrawal! But you tapered too fast!

I then asked, what!??? What do you mean I tapered too fast?! I did exactly what my health care professional told me to do. Again, they tell me, GET BACK ON and taper slower! After doing the math, I figured it should take me 10-months to taper off 10mg of Lexapro. WHAT!!!!!!!!???????


No way! I want off this stuff NOW! Besides, it's been 2 months I am feeling better except for the lightheaded thing and sleep issue. I am not depressed and I am ready to take on the world!

Again, the folks here told me to GET BACK ON and TAPER SLOWER!!!! I said, no way! Good luck everyone....







4 months later:

OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! heart racing....clammy hands.....no appetite......dizzy......restless....butterflies in my gut.....

1-2 weeks later.....flat. Colors were no longer vibrant. Food had no taste. Sleep was non-existent....hobbies meant nothing to me....people meant nothing to me....I couldnt love.....nothing.

Then the aches and pains came. How can this be? How can that little white pill do this to me? Man, I am going to call my doctor again because he knows whats best for me.

BUT, before I made the call, I did something different. I did my homework and found out that reinstating Lexapro or any other SSRI MAY cause some nasty effects. But I am feeling ********py, what can I do????????????

The Answer:

TIME.


If you find it hard to believe, feel free to join www.paxilprogress.org and start exchanging notes with other SSRI sufferers. The majority of members there are Paxil users (ex-users) but totally cater to anyone on SSRI's. There are a grip of ex-Lexapro users on there who share many of the same trends.

Go ahead and tell a medical professional about SSRI protracted withdrawal. The most you will get is that w/d only last a few weeks. Or better yet, they'll want you to take Prozac to "lessen" the w/d side effects...sure - then you might have to suffer from Prozac w/d.

Good luck.

[Aeroman]

"I dont want any long term side effects from going from 20 to 0, but really there is no conclusive evidence that rules out taking lexapro in any dose can't cause some form of long term misfiring if you will. "

hit the back button and see how many replies, views this thread has gotten alone. Also, check how long ago this thread was started.

[boogie2]

This is to all of my "Last Summer" friends (Aeroman, Mims and etc) who helped me deal with my summer problems. Last summer, when it started to get hot, I began having early morning surges. I would wake up early with anxiety, hot and with my heart racing. Thinking that part of the problem was Lexapro, I weaned off of it. It took me three months but I finally got off. I didn't start to feel good until November, when it got cooler. Now, guess what---four weeks ago I started to have the same symptoms---early morning waking up, slight anxiety and depression, weak feeling, can't stand to be in the heat, and nausea in the morning. My question is this---could I still be going through Lexapro withdrawal. I am going to a new gyn and she is really trying to help me. I have told her that I will not take another antidepressant. She has scheduled me for a catscan of my middle section to see if my adrenal glands are working correctly. And another thing, by night time I feel great. I also sleep good until early morning. Thanks again for all of your help. I would not have made it through last summer without you all.

[Aeroman]

Originally Posted by boogie2

This is to all of my "Last Summer" friends (Aeroman, Mims and etc) who helped me deal with my summer problems. Last summer, when it started to get hot, I began having early morning surges. I would wake up early with anxiety, hot and with my heart racing. Thinking that part of the problem was Lexapro, I weaned off of it. It took me three months but I finally got off. I didn't start to feel good until November, when it got cooler. Now, guess what---four weeks ago I started to have the same symptoms---early morning waking up, slight anxiety and depression, weak feeling, can't stand to be in the heat, and nausea in the morning. My question is this---could I still be going through Lexapro withdrawal. I am going to a new gyn and she is really trying to help me. I have told her that I will not take another antidepressant. She has scheduled me for a catscan of my middle section to see if my adrenal glands are working correctly. And another thing, by night time I feel great. I also sleep good until early morning. Thanks again for all of your help. I would not have made it through last summer without you all.

Hey Boogie! Sorry to hear about your setback...yeah, just for peace of mind, get your adrenals checked. I have a gut feeling everything is going to come back normal. From what I have learned, SSRI w/d is not linear, meaning, it doesn't get better in a straight line. And, that "waves" occur when things seem to be good for some time and then you get a setback. Every one is unique but you can tell there is a trend...

I too have the exact same thing - feeling better at night. Thats the time I turn up the music in the computer, joke with my wife being playful, and maybe read. Sleep comes easier for me now and the morning have been more tolerable. I know that if I ever wake up with morning anxiety, I follow the teachings of Dr. Claire Weekes. Take care.

[rujoking]

Originally Posted by Aeroman

How do I know? You are communicating to the proof! I, like you, questioned all the anecdotal information I read on this forum and an another. I wanted off Lexapro bad - I had gained a lot of weight and I had no sex drive. I wanted off, fast!

So I make an appt with my psychiatrist. Yes, the M.D. who is trained, schooled, and informed by the pharma companies how to use the drug. I used 10-mg of Lexapro for 2.5 years. After telling him my dilemma, he told me to ween off it using a 1-month schedule. I said, what?! One month? Why so long, I asked him. He said, "Oh, Lexapro has a very short half life and leaves your system very fast. Therefore, we must slowly taper you off".

But I asked again, one month??? Cant I just get off it sooner? He said, no, bad stuff can happen. So, here I go, Mr Obedient Patient I am, went from 10mg to 5mg for two weeks, then 5mg every other day for two weeks, thats it. I then said, La La la la, skip skip...all is ok....until...................


Day 4.


I woke up..."pissed". No reason whatsoever. I then went to a salsa class with my wife and guess what? I didnt know my left to my right (6th class I had attended). I had trouble thinking. And then to my amazement, I couldnt remember where I put this, or that. My short term memory was poor!

How can this be, i asked myself? I am an engineer, I am young (32 at the time), I can do Calculus upside down, in the dark, etc but now I have trouble multiplying numbers?!

Then.....


Day 7.

<eyes open> It's 3am and still dark. Ummm, why am I feeling anxious? Oh, this butterfly in my gut is weird?! Let me get up and get a drink of water...

WHOA!!!!!!! The room is spinning!!!! What the? What's going on, i asked myself?

5 hours later.....head pounding....a headache? How can this be?

1....2.....3....4.....5 days pass, and still a headache. 3-4am wake up calls with anxiety. Oh oh, now I feel nausea.

1 week....2 weeks.....headache gone, nausea gone, dizzy still present, but sleep is - unrestful.

About this time, I Googled "Lexapro Withdrawal" and found this site. I joined and asked around if my symptoms sounded familiar. 10-15 people screamed YES YES YES, it is withdrawal! But you tapered too fast!

I then asked, what!??? What do you mean I tapered too fast?! I did exactly what my health care professional told me to do. Again, they tell me, GET BACK ON and taper slower! After doing the math, I figured it should take me 10-months to taper off 10mg of Lexapro. WHAT!!!!!!!!???????


No way! I want off this stuff NOW! Besides, it's been 2 months I am feeling better except for the lightheaded thing and sleep issue. I am not depressed and I am ready to take on the world!

Again, the folks here told me to GET BACK ON and TAPER SLOWER!!!! I said, no way! Good luck everyone....







4 months later:

OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! heart racing....clammy hands.....no appetite......dizzy......restless....butterflies in my gut.....

1-2 weeks later.....flat. Colors were no longer vibrant. Food had no taste. Sleep was non-existent....hobbies meant nothing to me....people meant nothing to me....I couldnt love.....nothing.

Then the aches and pains came. How can this be? How can that little white pill do this to me? Man, I am going to call my doctor again because he knows whats best for me.

BUT, before I made the call, I did something different. I did my homework and found out that reinstating Lexapro or any other SSRI MAY cause some nasty effects. But I am feeling ********py, what can I do????????????

The Answer:

TIME.


If you find it hard to believe, feel free to join www.paxilprogress.org and start exchanging notes with other SSRI sufferers. The majority of members there are Paxil users (ex-users) but totally cater to anyone on SSRI's. There are a grip of ex-Lexapro users on there who share many of the same trends.

Go ahead and tell a medical professional about SSRI protracted withdrawal. The most you will get is that w/d only last a few weeks. Or better yet, they'll want you to take Prozac to "lessen" the w/d side effects...sure - then you might have to suffer from Prozac w/d.

Good luck.

Excellent post Aero!!!!!!!!!!
Nice of you to take the time to come here and offer your help! Did you ever hear from aunty regarding the amino acid? Wonder why she feels she can't post it here?

BTW - how is your back?

Boogie - try not to worry - I agree with Aero - could just be a small 'wave' good go get things checked out though - let us know what you find out!

ruj

[rujoking]

Originally Posted by Pugcrazy

Ruj, thx for the info I plan to look those up now. One question though are you completely done with withdrawal and if so how long did it take.
Thx again pugcrazy

Pug -

I am one year off today and no I don't believe I am done withdrawing - I still have morning anxiety - a very low tolerance to stress and upper back tension - compared to last year this is a great improvement however -


Everyone is different so this does not mean that is how it will be for you - there are many stories and med histories here - you just take your own w/d one day at a time! I must say coming here has been reassuring during this process - reading older posts and advice really does help!

ruj

[Aeroman]

Originally Posted by rujoking

Excellent post Aero!!!!!!!!!!
Nice of you to take the time to come here and offer your help! Did you ever hear from aunty regarding the amino acid? Wonder why she feels she can't post it here?

BTW - how is your back?

Boogie - try not to worry - I agree with Aero - could just be a small 'wave' good go get things checked out though - let us know what you find out!

ruj

Hi Ruj! I did get an e-mail from her, I responded and waiting for her reply. I dont know why it cant be posted here? Maybe she can explain!

My back is the same...low back pain, chronic, no root cause! Basically, if I go walking, this weird aching pain creeps up after 20-30 min of walking. The same if I remain standing. Sitting is more tolerable. I mean, this whole back pain started june 2008 and it wasnt until I did acupuncture it improved. I have read about others also having back pain with no history of chronic pain before. I firmly believe it is caused by Lex w/d...just my opinion.

The morning anxiety will go away on its own!!!!!!!!!!! I did nothing, it just went away after 8 months after last dose.

[boogie2]

Aeroman, again thank you for responding. You are the best. I just tried to take a nap and after 15 minutes I woke up hot and my heart was racing. Do you think I could have a sleep disorder?

[boogie2]

Ruj!

Thank you for your kind words! It helps to have people to chat with.

[rujoking]

boogie - this sounds like classic anxiety to me - I looked for your old posts but do not see any - did you re-register here? How long since you stopped taking the drug? Do you have any other symptoms since last summer?

hang in there!

ruj

[mims]

Originally Posted by randomact

how do you know that stopping cold turkey caused more long term side effects? I know that tapering off is probably the best thing for keeping the withdrawls to a minimal. But to me your prolonging the innevitable, it just doesn't hurt as bad vs stopping cold turkey.

You think there is worse damage to be caused to the brain stopping cold vs weening off of it? If thats the case I will get back on it and slowly ween off.

So far I mainly feel a little tired and light headed. Other than waking up every hour then passing back out I feel I am doing fine.

I dont want any long term side effects from going from 20 to 0, but really there is no conclusive evidence that rules out taking lexapro in any dose can't cause some form of long term misfiring if you will. Any doctors here

I don't think there's much conclusive published evidence about anything when it comes to SSRIs; (that's my opinion, not necessarily a fact). But it does seem that there are alot of cold-turkeys complaining of long-term problems on this site. Some people who taper report some pretty bad complaints, also.

However, if you go to lexapro.com and look at the recommendations of the pharmaceutical company, they do recommend tapering. Look at the prescribing information on the website. Your pharmacist would be another good source of advice.

There are no doctors posting here on this thread that I'm aware of. So do ask your doctor's opinion about tapering, and also do your own research about lexapro.

Unfortunately, it seems that many doctors have no idea how to get off this drug, or what to expect when you quit. Even though doctors don't always have the answers for us, I think it's a good idea to check with a doctor if you're feeling terrible, because there are other conditions that can either mimic withdrawal, or conditions may be caused or made worse by withdrawal. for example, my blood pressure problems (which have now gone away).

It's possible I would have had the same long-term withdrawal experience even if I had tapered, there's no way to know. I cold-turkeyed, then a month later went back on the drug to taper off over several months. I think going back on the drug a month later was probably not a good idea, but I really can't say for certain if things ould have been any different for me.

[mims]

Originally Posted by boogie2

This is to all of my "Last Summer" friends (Aeroman, Mims and etc) who helped me deal with my summer problems. Last summer, when it started to get hot, I began having early morning surges. I would wake up early with anxiety, hot and with my heart racing. Thinking that part of the problem was Lexapro, I weaned off of it. It took me three months but I finally got off. I didn't start to feel good until November, when it got cooler. Now, guess what---four weeks ago I started to have the same symptoms---early morning waking up, slight anxiety and depression, weak feeling, can't stand to be in the heat, and nausea in the morning. My question is this---could I still be going through Lexapro withdrawal. I am going to a new gyn and she is really trying to help me. I have told her that I will not take another antidepressant. She has scheduled me for a catscan of my middle section to see if my adrenal glands are working correctly. And another thing, by night time I feel great. I also sleep good until early morning. Thanks again for all of your help. I would not have made it through last summer without you all.

boogie,

I'm sure I've had "waves" of lexapro withdrawal symptoms.
I completely quit lexapro around August 1 2008, and felt a little better at times during the fall, then had a major setback during the winter months with breathing problems and sleeping disorder. I think my body was having trouble regulating my temperature when I would fall asleep; I would get ice cold chills, and my throat would block off as I fell asleep. This started sometime in December, got worse until I finally went to the doctor in March when the throat problems got really scary. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea; my throat was closing off throughout the night. Anyway, I've been sleeping on my side at night to breathe better per doctor's advice, and also having acupuncture; which I think is helping overall; and the cold chills stopped, possibly due to warmer weather.

I found medical journal articles linking sleep apnea to SSRI use, and also learned that serotonin is what keeps your throat open at night. So, I really feel this was all caused by changing levels of neurotransmitters in my brain, even though there's no way to prove what caused it. Oh, yeah, during that time, I also had the return of "head rushes", high blood pressure, tinnitus, including some new variations like ringing noises. All this is getting better now.

So my point is that I think this was caused by lexapro even though I had quit the lexapro many months earlier. Also, my internal vibrations would go through times of improvement and then worsening. Currently, that problem is so much better I can't believe it!

Most of my symptoms are improving now, but not completely cleared by any means.

Hope you find an answer to your early morning problems. I still have some mornings when I wake up at 3 AM with anxiety and some vibrations, but it's getting better.

[Aeroman]

Originally Posted by boogie2

Aeroman, again thank you for responding. You are the best. I just tried to take a nap and after 15 minutes I woke up hot and my heart was racing. Do you think I could have a sleep disorder?

Hi Boogie, nah, not the best, but thanks! Just trying to help each other out - it is frustrating when you have to place your life on hold until the brain has recovered.

It seems like your adrenaline is firing! I do not think you have a sleep disorder but check this out, get a sleep study done! I did and what did they find?

NOTHING!

They did tell me I was a bit restless before going to sleep (and I slept for 3-4 hours). I told them I got off Lexapro 5 months ago at the time and they didnt respond to that. So I figure they were clueless about SSRI w/d.

[mims]

rujoking,

for the past week, my vibes have been almost gone some nights, and when they do happen, they've recently been so mild I can sometimes ignore them.
What a relief -- hope it lasts! I'm right behind you!! So, you keep on getting better, as I'm following in your steps.

I've still had some of the "sleep paralysis", only if I'm really tired and fall asleep on the sofa. It's not nearly as bad as it used to be. Still some throat problems, but better!

aeroman,

No offense, but the thought of you trying to take salsa lessons while suffering from lexapro withdrawal was just too much!! I have felt so dyslexic and uncoordinated and clumsy. Can't imagine trying to dance, but the very thought of it made me laugh!

[rujoking]

mims - so glad to hear of your improvement!!! Since I got to that same place last month I have not improved much beyond that but still I have hope - I seem to get the internal vibrations whenever I encounter any stress no matter how small - I am sure it is and anxiety reaction due to the CNS being in overdrive for so long - back is some better but it still bothers me a lot - seems to be slow going at the end but them we are all just so tired of this garbage......how is your visoin?

I had to laugh at the Salsa lesson remark also - I would have been on the floor on my rear for sure!

Babybottom - are you out there????

take care all, ruj

[Pugcrazy]

Your post has been my withdrawal also. Your post is exactly how I feel or felt at some point during this withdrawal period. I am at the anger irritability phase of this process. I bought rescue remedy drops from whole foods and it seemed to help wonderfully today. Tomorrow I will post the exact name and info. I am actually happy to say that I am laying in bed ready to fall asleep. I have not been this tired in a long time!