Lexapro Withdrawl
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My doctor put me on 10 mg of Lexapro after I started school and my anxiety was getting pretty bad. I have not ever had problems with depression besides the occasional sadness or bad day. Lexapro worked so well for my anxiety as soon as I started taking it. About a month into taking this drug I met the love of my life. I was very happy and life just seemed perfect. About 9 months later, I decided everything was going so well that I would stop taking Lexapro. For two weeks I cut my dose in half and then quit taking it cold turkey. Biggest mistake I have ever made. For the first couple weeks I felt great, still happy as ever, me and my boyfriend had had many conversations about getting married and making future plans for about the past 4 months. Then one day I woke up and it's like a switch had went off. Every little thing someone said pissed me off, I didn't wanna see anyone or talk to anyone. I had looked at my boyfriend and for the first time ever could not feel the love deep in my heart that I had felt nonstop for the past 8 months. I immediately ran to the bathroom and threw up. I had never felt so low. 3 weeks ago I couldn't wait to marry this man and now it was like he was a stranger to me again. It has gotten a little bit better once I talked to him about it and I have read about how depression can numb your feelings of love for someone. Because it's not just him, I find myself doing the same towards my family and friends. I just desperately pray that this gets better. I wanna wake up and enjoy life again. I wanna wake up and get that overwhelming feeling of love that I had for so long. This is hell :( how can life go from being so amazing to being a struggle to wake up every morning. I want my life and my emotions back. I'm not completely blaming this on the Lexapro, but literally everything was so good before the withdrawals set in.

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Se foi desta forma,tomou,deu certo,parou...deu errado,não vejo nada mais lógico do que voltar a tomar o Lexapro,para o resto da vida,se preciso;como se fosse 'insulina dependente'.

Google Translate (may not be 100% accurate):

If it was this way, it took, it worked, it stopped... it went wrong, I do not see anything more logical than to take Lexapro again, for the rest of my life, if necessary, as if it were 'insulin dependent'.

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I know exactly how you feel, although I wish I did not. I have a congenital disposition to severe depression and I have used antidepressants for years. Unless I want to suffer miserably, and further inflict my misery on those I care about, I need to keep taking them. I know this, but...

The side effects suck. And when I start feeling optimistic, I start wondering if I really need this stuff. So I quit. I can't remember how many times I have done this over the past 40 years, and the results were awful every time. These things ARE extremely addictive for many people.

If you really want to get off the drug, I would suggest tapering back the dose by cutting tablets in half, then quarters. Another thing that has ALWAYS worked for me is long hours of exhausting work. I was a Marine Engineer for 40 years and I never had a depression problem at sea, without medications, because I was working 12 to 16 hours, 7 days per week, in very unpleasant conditions. When I went on vacation I knew to start the anti-depressants again right away, because I was exhausted to the point of wanting to sleep 24 hours a day and wake up wondering why life sucks so bad.

If you can get off this drug, and I hope you can, you should. If you keep taking it, you should carefully consider the problems it is going to cause you. I have done so, and found that taking the drug (luckily generic escitalopram works well for me) is preferable to not taking it.

The upside: if a particular drug works for you, allowing you to be the loving, considerate person you clearly want to be, you should probably take it unless there is an alternative you can live with. The drugs do work for many people. You might be OK with 5 mg, which works for me. If this is the case, I suggest not mentioning that to the doctor. Get your prescription for 10 or even 20 mg and cut the tablets in half or quarters--it's much cheaper that way.

The downside: Side effects. If you have not experienced any, I don't want to suggest that you should worry about it. Personally, the side effects I notice are not life-threatening. That's about the best I can say. Severe depression is definitely life-threatening, so I would say the drug is better than wishing I would die most of the time.

Cost: Excessive. The drug companies are robbing us to an extent beyond imagination. You can, however, legally have your prescriptions filled in Canada at about 1/10 the US cost. This is still grotesquely overpriced. Another option is to take a trip to a Mexican border town where you can purchase antidepressants over the counter at a very reasonable price.

Annoyance: Getting prescriptions renewed. Now your doctor wants a piece of that big fat drug company pie, and she is going to dig deep into your pocket -- unnecessary appointments and blood work every six months or more, attempts to switch medicines to something the insurance company likes (bad idea; if it works, don't switch. If you quit and restart, it may not work the second time) and various meddling are not only annoying, but dangerous. I know someone sheeplike is going to say, "OH, it's for your own good..." B.S. It's to inflate the bottom lines of doctors, labs, and drug companies. If you don't care about being robbed, by all means go along with it. Personally, I resent it deeply, and I am willing to assume responsibility for my own health.

Loss of employment opportunities. I have been denied employment because I foolishly told the truth about my medication. This was before the insurance companies became so eager to send your personal information to anyone who asks for it. Now, it seems you have no right to privacy, particularly if your employer is paying for your medical insurance. You may never know that taking a "psychoactive" drug has kept you from being hired or promoted.

My personal solution: Now my doctor refuses to renew my prescription unless I submit to a raft of unnecessary blood work every six months. Against my better judgment, and after being assured that the cost would be "30-35 dollars," I agreed to this last year. A few days later I received a bill for nearly $400. I refused to pay. The evaluations included things that have nothing to do with escitalopram and everything to do with their corrupt interaction with Quest Diagnostics. I told them to sue me, and explain to the judge why I had to pay for diagnostics I did not authorize. They gave up. A week later I received a bill for $125 for "interpretation of my results." I had already paid for two office visits, one of which was to "discuss the results." Again I refused to pay, and invited them to explain to a judge exactly what they did for $125. Again they declined to do so.

Now I am up against the same thing, and I'm not entirely stupid. I'm planning a trip to Brownsville and I intend to purchase the drug in Matamoros. It is legal to bring 90 days supply across the border. I expect to do this several times. Yes, I realize that the AMA recommends physician monitoring, and no, I'm not going to submit to it. When it comes to the point I cannot obtain the drug anymore, I will do without it before I let them rob me again. Most people don't agree with me, and if they want to go along with the robbery, that's their business. What's not their business is decisions I make about my personal health. I suggest that people do a google search regarding unnecessary and dangerous medical diagnostics and procedures before they blindly go along with whatever a doctor demands. There is a lot of information out there, and it all indicates that YOU CANNOT TRUST ANYONE involved with the hideously corrupt US medical/laboratory/insurance industries.

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Thank you both so much for replying! While I don't wish this on anyone it does help to know that other people have been here too. The things that are bothering me the most now are psychological issues. I will occasionally get headaches, brain zaps, and fatigue but it comes and goes. I want to feel better mentally so bad. I've been off completely for a little over a month and I'm just numb. I can't feel the goosebumps and overwhelming love towards my boyfriend even though I know I love him. I don't look forward to going out with family and friends but staying home just makes it worse :/ things are slowly getting better, I'm probably just being impatient trying to get my old self back. All I can do is pray about it and time will tell. Thank you again!!

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Hey there,
Aww I'm so sorry to hear what you're going through.
I was on 20mg of lexapro a day for 3 years. Went (kinda) cold turkey. So glad I did. Two months leading upto it I actually started skipping random days of meds. Sometimes I'd feel a little off but I had a feeling it was what my body wanted me to do. I pretty much made myself go into withdrawal a couple of times a week and as soon as I felt off I would resume my meds.
I had read about people difficulties with weaning off and it seemed like I'd have to spend a year weaning off if I wanted to avoid months of horror.
When I fully quit I got REALLY sick for 2 weeks... Lots of throwing up. Every day. And food didn't seem to digest properly. It would just sit in my stomach. Yucky!! I was so tempted to get back on my meds or at least wean off them but I figured I'd just get it all over and done with quick as I could. Thought I'd try to shock it out of my system, so to speak. And you know what? It worked! After 2 weeks I was fine. Never got any 'brain zaps'.
It is my (completely uneducated) opinion that I prepared (and then shocked) my brain into making its own seretonin all on its lonesome :-) I think it was being fully forced to rely on itself a couple of days a week for those two months before I fully quit. Perhaps you could try something similar? Get back on it, wait a month until it is working, and then skip a day every 3 or 4 days?. My dad got off anti d's the same way but increased the time in between taking meds to two or three days. Not conventional but it worked for us.
I'm no scientist but it makes sense to me.
Good luck sweetie! May God help you find the best option.
Also, if things don't get any better, I'd personally just go back on it and figure out what to do while you're feeling normal! Xx

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I am very sorry about the problems you've had, but as reported by the FDA, that can happen, when you abruptly stop such a medication. Other withdrawal effects may possibly include nausea, chills and diarrhea.

It may take 4 to 6 weeks for things to start to return to normal. If they do not, or if it gets worse, you should consult your doctor.

I've dealt with it, before. I was on Zoloft for a long time, to treat OCD, and stopped abruptly, it was horrible for a little over a month.

Is there anything else I can help with?

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