Lexapro Withdrawal Unwanted Side Effects (Page 12)
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I have been taking Lexapro 10mg once a day for about a year. I have had many unwanted side effects which according to my doctor there are very few side effects from Lexapro. He says it is a clean drug. Wrong. It did nothing to help me and I want off. My doctor refused to give me anti-anxiety meds to help with the withdrawals from Lexapro because once again, there are no withdrawals from Lexapro. Why do doctors lie about this. Why do pharmaceutical companies lie about this? I have read so much about people just losing it while trying to stop taking Lexapro. I have not taken it in about ten days after weaning off for about two months from 10mg to 2 mg a day. My nerves are a wreck, I am extremely irratable, and have slight headaches. This is a horrible drug with many long lasting withdrawal symptoms. The makers of Lexapro, Forrest Pharmaceutical, should be ashamed of themselves. Do not lie to so many people just to increase the market strength of your company.

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good to hear hear that you are feeling great. did you not have ANY side effects at all? Did you do anything not to have the withdrawal symptoms which others are talking about.
Thanks for sharing.

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Hi Jennifer. I am wondering how you are doing with your Lexapro withdrawal. I have been off of it for about a month now. While the zaps and left inner ear noises are better, I still have daily migraines and nausea along with irritability. I have to ask at this point how much of my symptom profile is due to withdrawal versus a return to depression. It is hard to know what my baseline is, given that I was on SSRI's for many, many years!

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Being on this drug is a horriable thing. i have been off of it for two weeks. the only advise i can give is to pray.. and don't give up. She is going to have to learn coping skills and how to manage with out it.. It is going to be hard but she can do it. Keep a journal and don't give in no matter how hard it is. i feel dizzy, and tired, and depressed but i have been assured by my friend who is a counselor that this will pass it will just take a while.. don't get discouraged and don't give up.. I read the Bible and i pray and that is the only thing that gets me through. Jesus is real and if anyone can help your daughter beat this it is Him.. I am going through this too.. you are not alone..

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I took my last Lexapro on December 31, 2012. I knew what to expect because I had already experienced similar withdrawal syndromes from other SSRI's in the past. However, this one is and continues to be the worst. I have the brain zaps, dizziness, sensitivity to light and sound, extreme irritability, intolerance, agitation - many of which are symptoms of depression itself. So, it is very easy for people to simply say, "Well, your depression is returning, and that means you need to restart the Lexapro." NOT SO, kids! Listen, as I have persisted through the withdrawals, the symptoms have gotten better throughout January! Now I still have that boing boing sound in my left ear drum when I move about, but the full brain zaps are gone. The irritability has decreased, and I am beginning to feel "clear". This stuff should be off of the market!!!!!!!!! I will NEVER EVER EVER take another SSRI!! It isn't just Lexapro. These meds are affecting our brain chemistry in ways that are unsafe.

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Verwon, you cannot possibly be comparison the consumption of orange juice to addictive chemicals. Fellow Lexapro withdrawal sufferers, please do NOT listen to Verwon. That post sounds like one from the Lexapro manufacturer trying to minimize the lies.

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I took my last Lexapro on November 28, 2012 and I am just now beginning to feel half way normal again. I have been the worse experience of my life getting off this awful drug. I was taking 10 mg for 10 years. I was having involuntary moments and went to a neurologist and he told me to go off Lexapro before he tested me for nerve related diseases. Called my doctor and she said to scale back the dose for a week and there were no withdrawal side effects. Boy was she ever wrong. I started feeling very different but it took a few weeks before the really bad stuff started to happen. I was fatigued with high anxiety, rapid heart beat, chest pains, anger outbursts, crying constantly, depression, horrible headaches, insomnia, hot flashes, very moody with low tolerance for anything, basically just horrible to be around and the worst for me was the constant nausea and just feeling as if I were in another dimension at times and feeling like I was removed from the situation at hand. I felt dizzy and would have trouble keeping my balance, I had major brain zaps and although those have gone away I am left with problems finding the right words and having memory problems that I never had before. The remaining withdrawal effects that I am still going though are sounds, smells and lights are so magnified, my taste buds have totally changed and foods and drinks that I used to love like my coffee I cannot drink anymore. Nothing really tastes great anymore. Life for me has totally changed. I basically stayed in bed or on the couch for a month with horrible headache, stomach problems and such nausea that I could barely turn my head with throwing up. I couldn't work and my family became less and less sympathetic. This has been without a doubt the most horrible experience of my life. I think that I am on the other side of the worse withdrawal effects now. I am taking vitamins, exercises and trying so hard to stay positive. I hope that eventually I will be myself again but better without the horrible poison in my body. All I can say is there were so many times that I thought that I was going crazy and would never make it through. I have read from other people coming off Lexapro that it can take 8 months when you have been on the drug as long as I have to feel normal again. I would never have survived with support from the blogs because my doctor knows nothing about this and just wanted to give me Xanax to get off of this one. Patience is the key but it is very hard to come by in withdrawal and if you believe in God praying helped me a lot also. Stay strong and you will survive. Although I felt good on Lexapro for almost ten years it was doing damage to my body that I had no idea was happening. In my opinion this drug should be taken off the market.



.

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I've been on 40 Mg of lexapro for 6 years. For the most part it did a good job of treating my depression until recently. Within the past 8 months I've been very depressed, despite taking the anti-depressant. Along with the depression these past eight months I have also been struggling with an inability to take action to help myself. Can't explain it too well, but I was feeling sort of paralyzed emotionally. So I thought I'd stop taking the drug. Here's how I'm managing: asking God to keep me safe each day, exercise--running, strength training, eating healthier and taking omega 3 fish oil, vitamin D. I took my last dose of Lexapro on December 24, 2012.

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Dude, it's ok. Maybe it's better for you to wean off slowly rather than stopping cold-turkey. Don't worry about it. Just take your time and work with your body.

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Sorry could"t take the withdrawal. Am back on the meds . Feeling better but feel like a total failure for being unable to stop the drugs.Am feeling a bit spaced out though and get occasional spells of dizziness.

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2nd attempt to quit, day 6 or so? I've been on some kind of antidepressant as a migraine suppressant since elementary or middle school. The particular drug has changed over the years, but I've been on 10mg of lexapro at least since late highschool (23 now).

I tried to stop it back before starting college. I don't remember much, but I know after a month I still felt like I was swaying all the time--since I'm already prone to motion sickness this was even worse. My doctor suggested just returning to the drug for the time being, because I wasn't having any bad effects from taking it. I did so for the 4 years of college.

Now I'm in graduate school and my doctor suggested switching from lexapro to wellbutrin for unrelated reasons. My mom is a physician, so I mentioned it to her and she thought it was a good idea. Switch from lexapro to wellbutrin, then eventually taper that off to be drug-free. She said that having a replacement drug would make the transition better, but I've been practically bedridden the past two days--but only parts of the day. When I first wake up I actually feel almost normal, but as the day progresses I get worse.

I'm too dizzy to feel comfortable driving. I am nauseated and imagining eating anything makes me want to gag. I started crying yesterday for no reason. My mom talked to my doctor (they work together) and decided I should go back to the lexapro and try weaning it off, rather than abruptly switching drugs. I also have meds to deal with nausea and vertigo. I'm to make an appointment with my doctor for next week.

Last time I tried to quit I couldn't, and I don't know if this time is worse or it just seems worse since I'm living it right now. I can't work or attend classes at this rate. And most people experience *months* of this? I don't think I have the strength of will to feel so bad for so long, and no idea where the end might be since I've heard people quote weeks and months before they were normal again.

I'm afraid that there really is no end to the withdrawals and that if I want to be independent of the drug I will have to live the rest of my life like this.

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I have been off Lexapro for a month now. I was on 10 mg a day for ten years. I can't imagine how long it is going to take for me to feel somewhat normal again. I feel like I have the flu or a horrible stomach virus. The nausea is the worse. My family has had enough and has lost patience with me. I cry over everything and am very irritable. I stay in bed a lot and my work is suffering. My doctor said there were no side affects and to just cut back for a week and go off completely. That is what I did and I feel like I am loosing my mind and I feel awful. Has anyone else been on Lexapro for this long and gotten off? I can't live like this much longer and so want just to see improvement.

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I have been on a variety of antidepressants and anxiety meds since I was 13 yrs old, and this week I will be turning 27. In September 2012 I came off 300mg of Wellbutrin XL with my dr's help. I didnt really need to wean myself too slowly and the withdrawals weren't all that bad. I then started to wean myself off of Cipralex (Canadian version of Lexapro) last month. I was on 20mg a day, so I slowly weaned myself by cutting the pill into quarters and taking one piece away and staying on that dosage for a good 9 days before decreasing more. It has been almost 2 weeks since I have taken any Cipralex. At first the withdrawals didnt seem to be too bad, just headaches, confusion, and strange brain/body zaps.. but a few days ago I started to feel really tired, have had horrible acid reflux to the point of vomitting for 3 days straight now, and I get awful nightmares and am constantly transitioning between hot and cold flashes. I also get severe stomach cramping and also suffer from endometriosis and it seems like coming off this med is just making the pain from my endo worse. I just got hired at a job last month and have already missed two days of work this week alone from being so sick. I am thinking of going to the ER to see if they can give me something to help with the pain of withdrawal, but I am worried they will try to convince me to go back on Cipralex. By the way the reason I am stopping these drugs is because I started to experience seizures while on them. All advice is welcome, I would really love to try to find all natural methods that may be of some help to me while going through this. Can somebody please help?? :(

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thank you - I am also taking klonopin which I am down to 1mg a day. I was taking 4mg a day for years!!!!!!! So the past doctors I guess thought this was okay. The only good thing my current doctor did was wean me down to 1mg a day. First of all I have been depressed of and on for as long as I can remember. This new male doctor just wanted me to stay on lexapro. NOT-so I weaned myself off. I have an appointment coming up and I will tell him that I need something else maybe wellabrutin SR or something more affordable. What I really can not stand is this doctor knows I do not have health insurance and would not work on a scale for me. So I pay $90 a month to see this doctor and almost $100 in prescriptions. NOW IF THAT DOESNT MAKE YOU EVEN MORE DEPRESSED. I am tired of the doctor not listening to ME and making money for ten minutes of bulls*** and supporting the drug companies. I am at whits end so I spoke to someone who does counseling that I may use as an option -no drugs included. Also I have no sex drive at all, I could care less. Tired of feeling tired, irretated, short tempered. I do not know when the last time I have been happy! I try to keep strong for I have a 12 year old daughter. I do not know if this matter but I am a 52. Also has anyone had luck with wellabrutin or any other low cost anti-depressant. SORRY FOR THE MISSPELLINGS

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Linda, the dizziness is a definite side-effect of getting off of Lexapro, as well as other anti-depressants. It will get better I promise. I hated that feeling of my eyes and brain being a split-second out of synch with each other, but you'll make it through.

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I'm not a doctor, but I doubt if the sensation you're feeling in the tip of you penis is any type of cancer. I'm middle-aged and had the same sexual side-effects (I actually didn't mind the delayed orgasm/ejaculation, or should I say the ladies didn't mind ;) ) Hang in there and it will get better.

I'll never tell a person with depression to 'get over it' but I've found that my problems were more related to getting into a negative feedback loop with my emotions and feelings. I've gotten back into exercising outdoors and trying to literally make myself laugh several times a day along with some other cognative therapy changes.

Hang in there and try to laugh more and just enjoy life as much as you possibly can. Find something bigger than yourself to put your energies into and stop thinking about yourself. It seems to be working for me so far (fingers crossed) and I'm never going to get back on artificial drugs unless I absolutely have no other choice.

Good luck.

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I'm not a stoner, but marijuana has helped me tremendously in mitigating the withdrawl symtoms from Lexapro. Don't laugh or knock-it until you give it a try.

Besides, it's thousands of times safer than the Lexapro and you don't get addicted. People can become dependent on cannabis, but it is actually less addictive than caffeine.

It helps with the irratability and brain zaps and I've actually lost weight, regardless of the munchies. Just try to snack with healthy foods if the increase in appetite becomes an issue.

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I have had the same problems with my doctor and decided to just take myself off of Lexapro. I seen no changes while being on this medication and if anything my side affects been worse. I was still irritable, gained weight, could not sleep, and still depressed. Now I am experiencing dizziness after weaning off. Can not be sure whether this is connected to the Lexapro.

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This is really for anyone: I started taking 10mg of lexapro. No real benefit but as a male I did experience the sexual side effects I.e. the inability to ejaculate. My doc prescribed Wellbutrin to counteract that part. Soon after I got this sensation in the very tip of my penis-not really a tingling so much..but feeling like I needed to pee constantly. My doc ran urinary tests for uti etc and all were negative. I started to think u had prostate or bladder infections/cancer (health anxiety). My doctor said this was a potential side effect. I tapered off my lexapro quickly as well as the Wellbutrin. I had horrible brain zaps, fatigue, muscle aches etc for three weeks. Then they went away. Now my pee sensation which previously went away is back. I have no other symptoms down there-no pain, no hesitation etc. when I need to pee I pee fine. However the rest of the time the very tip just tingles like I need to pee 24-7. Has anyone else had this? I have extreme health anxiety and though my doc previously said its nothing but the med...now that I am 4 weeks off of it my mind is fighting that logic. All I can think about is this and the thought that its cancer causing it. Please help! It's ruining my life. All other withdrawals are gone though I cannot say that I might not be still having depression. Is it possible to have most side effects abate and then have this pop back up? :( I hate anti depressants.

Thanks,
Joe
25 years old.

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Thank you all for this site . I have been taking some form of ssri"s for quite a few years now and weaned myself from Lexapro after 3-4 years of taking the drug.I have been feeling miserable and am taking ayurvedic medication from a good doctor as I live in India and the symptoms are bearable. I take Klonopin asneeded SOS and drink lots of water. The dizziness and spacey feeling has slowly receded, and I'm drinking a lot of water, doing yoga and deep breathing, and praying that the symptoms become less with time.

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Just want to let everyone know that you can wean yourself off lexapro when you get ready. I was taking 20mg/day. I noticed bad side effects when i would miss a few days (headaches, nausea, brain shocks). I cut back to 10mg/day for a week or so, then 5mg/ day for another week or so, then i would wait a few days and take 5mg only when i felt the side effects. I quit taking the 5mg doses after a few weeks. Basically get a last refill on your prescription and start cutting back. Ive been off the pills for a few years now. I hope this info helps someone. Withdrawls are scary.

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