Lois: Withdrawal Help Lexapro

[Lois]

Hello folks I am somewhat new to this forum and have been reading a lot. I have been taking Lexapro since 2004 10mg then upped to 15mg two years ago when my mom passed. In the meantime, I was put on a PPI Protonix for reflux. Bad idea because I think the ppi increased the serum levels of Lexapro in my brain to mimick a higher dose.

I need help with my symtpms.
In the last week I dropped my Lexapro back to 10mg after 2 years at the higher 15mg. And I also stopped taking Protonix. What percentage did I drop?

I am not sleeping as I am dealing with severe chest tightness, increased heart rate, and muscles are so tight, also strange numbness. I have no appetite. Is this normal? I am so afraid and the docs I have seem to think this doesn't happen.

I want to try and stick this out how long will this craziness last.

I appreciate anyone's experience and advice.

Edited December 3, 2016 by scallywag
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[PatriciaVP]

Hi Lois,

 

Welcome to SA! So glad you found the site. I know it's been a huge help to me and I trust it will be the same for you.

 

Moderators will be along shortly to offer more specific help, but in the meantime, let me reassure that everything you are experiencing is very common in Lexapro withdrawal. I am also not surprised that your doctors don't recognize any of these symptoms as withdrawal. This too, unfortunately, is very common.

 

Just know you are not alone. Many of us are walking this road with you, and can say without a doubt that healing, though slow, does happen.

 

Peace, love and healing.

[Lois]

Thanks so much for replying and for your kind words. Sometimes it just feels so hopeless and mornings are terrible for me as I know they can be for most. The not sleeping and feeling so full of tension and tightness are the worst for me. I do have ear ringing and headaches. I have had so many medical tests that show nothing. Need some better days than the bad ones.

 

Lois

[AliG]

Hi Lois . Welcome. I'm so sorry you're experiencing these symptoms. Unfortunately , they are common in withdrawal and it sounds like you are in the midst of this after dropping your dose too quickly - about 33% approximately which is faster than we recommend.

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

Do you want to taper off Lexapro totally?

 

How long were you on the PPI and how fast did you taper ? If you can add a few more details to your signature, it would be helpful and then we can answer your questions more concisely. 

Ali

[Lois]

Ali,

 

Thank you for replying.

 

I figured that I was dropping a bit fast with the lexapro but my doc said that it would be fine. Little did I know I would feel so bad. I did taper the ppi from 40mg to 20mg then some evry other day then stopped.

 

I updated my signature with more information.

 

When might I stabilize from this drop that I made a week ago at the end of Nov? My appetite is weak when im this anxious. I do have mild nausea and I force myself to eat. I want to stay at 10mg for now.

 

Thanks,

 

Lois

[Frogie]

Ho Lois:

 

Welcome to SA. You have come to the right place to get help. The thing I can stress the most is please listen to the moderators. And Altostrata. They know what they are doing.

 

I was stupid and didn't listen to them. I listened to my dr instead and I'm reaping the consequences now.

 

I cut my Lexapro in half in June and have been nauseous every morning since. Had I found SA before that I probably would be better. But then I decided to do some other things (read my signature) and I'm sick because of all of this.

 

But I know now. I'm listening to everything they have to say and I will get better.

 

Everyone has their own type of withdrawals. Mine happens to be nausea. I know people on here that have insomnia, and others with other symptoms.

 

We are all here for each other. If you want to talk, I'm here.

 

Good luck.

 

Keep in touch.

 

Take care,

Frogie xx

[PatriciaVP]

Dear Lois,

 

Mornings are always the worst, at least they are for me. The nausea and cortisol spikes can be so overwhelming. Some info on why the mornings are difficult for many of us can be found here - http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/33-waking-with-panic-or-anxiety-managing-cortisol-spikes/

 

It has taken a long time (almost a year actually), but I have finally come to the point where I can accept these symptoms as withdrawal which will pass. I realize now that a misguided attempt to escape negative emotions is what ultimately brought me so low, and it is only through accepting them and considering what it is they are trying to teach me that I can ever be free of them.

 

Try your best to avoid fighting the worst of the symptoms and try relaxing into them. I use deep breathing and repeating mantras like "I am healing" and "This too shall pass" when I am in the worst of it.

 

No matter what path you choose to take from here, you WILL heal. I have no doubt. Just trust your body and brain to bring you back into perfect balance, and they will.

[LexAnger]

Just chime in and welcome you on board to SA Lois!

 

I stopped my PPI in middle of my tapering Lexapro. I got immediate withdrawal reaction from that, and I updosed from 2.7mg to 4.5 mg assuming the PPI would incraese the serotonin level while taking together with Lexapro up to 50% ( I read a research paper about this). Now looking back, I know I increased too much and ever since then, I have been dealing with Lexapro reaction effect on top of WD. I would guess it better to guess the PPIs effects are about 20-30 percent.

 

Have you saw the dose vs. serotonin concentration chart? It shows beyond 10 mg of Celexa ( half of potency of Lexapro, so 15 mg lex is equivalent to 30 mg Celexa), serotonin level doesn't increase much with dose increase. So I feel you may want to try to ride it out.

 

I will post the chart in the next post, please note the chart is for Celexa not Lexapro.

 

Hope you feel better soon.

[LexAnger]

Hmm, didnt get the attached work, trying again

[ChessieCat]

This is the link to the discussion about the graphs:  Why taper paper: dose-occupancy curves

[Lois]

LexAnger, thanks so much for the info! I appreciate your validating my suspicions about lexapro and the ppi. Doc was not sure. I guess I'm going to try and ride this out and see how far I get.

 

I have had heartburn most of the day today and will take 150mg of zantac tonight. I hope to get some sleep tonight.

 

Lois

[LexAnger]

Oh, Zantac is very similar to PPI.

 

I was on PPI ( Prevacid) for many years, then the doctor switched me to Zantac while I was stable on the lex tapering. I started feeling some mild WD symptoms from lex when I switched to Zantac even I didn't drop lex. I stayed on Zantac for two months before stopping it suddenly when the severe WD of lex started.

 

Basically Zantac is about 94% as strong as a typical PPI.

 

I know how intolerable the heartburn can be, I don't know if you can try a smaller dose of it to take care of the heartburn.

How long have you been off PPI? I would guess getting back tips PPI will also make the real reduction lex less by increasing the serotonin level.

 

I wish I had got back to PPI at that time point instead of increasing lex, a bad guessing game resulted in years severe reaction to lex and took my originally fair taper to a complete chaos.

 

Be careful about every new thing you do as it could blow your mind off later on and change the path completely.

[Rockingchaircat]

Oh for goodness sakes, this sounds almost like what I went through during my withdrawals at their worst. It's not easy doing any withdrawal because one's body has a way of adapting to the introduced meds. It's called tolerance.

 

The best thing for such, when being polydrugged like you are- is to taper one drug at a time. Yeah it takes longer, but it's also easier on the body when you do that. 

I've noticed during my Benzo use that my serotonin levels did seem to elevate excessively as well.

 

And I made the mistake of trusting the doc about dropping dosage levels quickly. 

 

I wish you the best, during  your withdrawal and eventual recovery, Lois.