Fightinglikehell: Lexapro withdrawal

[Fightinglikehell42478]

I am 6 weeks post Lexapro discontinuation 

Started med November 29th 2017

Also discontinued .5 Xanax which I also started on November 29th

Switched to Valium May 19th

 

[Altostrata]

Welcome, Fighting.

 

I am sorry you're going through this. What is your daily symptom pattern? Please keep daily notes on paper about your symptoms, when you take your drugs, and their dosages.

 

How much Valium are you taking, at what times of day?

 

What is your sleep pattern?

[Fightinglikehell42478]

Thank you.  I developed severe migraines and dizzyness while on lexapro, which has not gotten better since discontinuing 6 weeks ago.  I also am extremely fatigued, have trouble being out in public, or even engaging in simple coverstation.  My appitite is terrible, and I am essentially numb.  I was a very confident, successful media sales consultant, who relied on my ability to speak fluently, present data effectively, and develop creative marketing proposals and ad campaigns; I can now barely write this summary.:/  I currently take 1.75 Valium as needed..every other day or so for inner restlessness, and am having luck with 2.5 mgs ER Meletonin for insomnia.  I need advice as to how I can cope through acute withdrawals and return to my life as a wife and mother.  I hate that I ever put this crap into my body, and desperately want to heal my CNS.

[Altostrata]

How did you go off Lexapro? What was the last dosage you took, on 6/1?

 

We're going to need you to track your Valium intake and daily symptom pattern.

[Fightinglikehell42478]

I began my taper by reducing from 10mgs-7.5 for two weeks, then again to 5mgs for 3 weeks, and once I got to rehab we compounded a liquid formula, and went down by a mg per week until final dose of 1 mg was taken on 6/1.  I know it was fast, but I was so sick on the med that I could not handle a slower taper.  I began on 10 mgs Valium, around the 19th of May, and decreased by 5 mgs after two weeks, down to 2.5 a week later, and then stopped.  I do still take it PRN.

[Altostrata]

What do you mean by "I was so sick on the med that I could not handle a slower taper"? Did you have adverse reactions to Lexapro since you started it in November 2017? What were these symptoms?

[Fightinglikehell42478]

Yes.  All of the “start up” side effects such as increased aggitation, reduced appitite, trouble sleeping, blurred vision, migranes, dizzyness, burning underneath my skin...those never subsided as I hoped they would have by 4-6 weeks into uptake. By then I knew it was not the right med for me, but my doctor insisted there must have been something else phisiogically wrong with me, since I had never had this reaction to lexapro in the past. I never had health issues prior to restarting the lexapro, and Im convinced I got a bad generic this time around.  I knew I had to get off of it, and just had to wait for school to be out and for my parents to be able to come down for the summer to be with my kids while I went through this ordeal.

[Rosetta]

Hi FLH,

 

You will be going home in about 5 days.  I'm sure you are looking forward to that.

 

You will get back to your old self.  The time it will take to do that might seem quite long or you could be a person who comes out of this rather quickly.  There's no way to know in advance.  Despite quite intense symptoms your situation could change at any time.  You need to keep that thought in mind.  This is definitely not permanent even if you start to think so.  Never lose hope.  The brain is perfectly capable of healing from this.  What you want to do is avoid using any substances that irritate your nervous system more.  That is the most common mistake people make after quitting an AD.  They desperately swallow everything they hear might help a normal person who never took ADs.  Your system is very different from that of a normal person.  It's very sensitive, and can be irritated easily.

 

Could you put in your signature block 1) the frequency at which you took the Xanax; 2) the day you switched to Valium (May 19th);

 

I understand you are taking Valium as needed or every other day? Is that correct?  Please get a print out from the hospital showing your Valium intake while you have been there.  Also, if you are not yet taking Valium everyday, you may want to avoid it as much as possible.  It's addictive.  If you can avoid becoming dependent that would be nice, but if you are all ready addicted, it would be a mistake to stop it cold as that would cause irritation to your nervous system.  If you post here how often you take Valium, one of the Moderators may be able to help you determine whether you are hooked.

 

With regard to the Valium, pleade take a look at the thread on cortisol mornings.  The anxiety caused by cortisol will very likely cause you to believe you need Valium every morning.  However, it is a natural event for all people to have cortisol made by the body to help them wake up.  For people in WD it is too much and it causes a morning anxiety that is difficult to endure.  As it wear off during the day, the anxiety lessens somewhat.

 

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/17471-waking-with-panic-or-anxiety-managing-cortisol-spikes/?page=16

 

I'm curious about two things: whether you started taking Valium at the same time you tried to restart the Lexapro (edit: maybe you did not restart at any point -- it caused you problems from the beginning. If so, my mistake.) and secondly, whether your Valium dosing is causing symptoms.  If you keep notes as Alto requested about the time you take the Valium and the timing of your daily symptoms, Alto might be able to help you discern whether you are dealing with interdose issues or whether the Valium is causing some of your symptoms.  For some people it's very hard to do the symptom diary, but it is extremely important.  It is very important for people who take Valium PRN.  

 

By the way, some of the substances that irritate our nervous systems include:

caffeine (it's a good idea to wean off of this)

alcohol (alcohol is particularly bad for people in WD, please don't risk it),

marijuana (whatever the possible benefits to normal people, MJ is quite irritating to people in WD),

B vitamins,

adrenaline based numbing agents at the dentist (there is a non-adrenaline alternative one can ask for),

and all sorts of supplements.

 

There are two supplements that SA moderators feel are safe enough to try: magnesium and fish oil, but you want you try them in small doses and one at a time.  Once you feel there is no reaction to one, you can try the other.  Most people try about 1/8th to 1/4 of the dose recommend on the bottle.  Then they raise the dose slowly after there is no reaction.  The point of this is to be able to determine which supplement is causing a reaction.  I take the magnesium at night because my body follows the typical pattern of AD WD -- anxiety in the mornings and calmness at night.  This way I don't confuse morning anxiety caused by my natural cortisol with a reaction to the magnesium.

 

One last thing:. Please don't start having medical procedures that require sedation or anesthetia.  Many people ruin weeks of healing by doing this.  Those drugs irritate the system.  All sorts of strange and worrying sorts of symptoms come up in WD.  They cause us to run to the doctor and have test after test.  Almost anything we put in our bodies can irritate our nervous systems so some people check in here and ask what others experiences have been with MRI contrast drinks, etc.. Medical tests are often the source of more misery.  Doctors have no idea.

 

Good luck, Rosetta

[Carmie]

Hi FLH, 

 

How are you doing?💚