lexapoison: 3 weeks off Lexapro / escitalopram

[lexapoison]

Please

[Sassenach]

Hi Lexa

Will be in touch this evening between 5 and 7 p.m. UK time.

Sassenach

 

[lexapoison]

I don’t feel like a human being any more. I’ve lost my mind I need to seek medical help today. Any advice would be grateful as my symptoms are completely unbearable. I took an Ativan last night because I had legitimately lost my mind and felt some what normal so it gave me hope. 

[Sassenach]

Will be home in 90 minutes, need answers to following questions unless someone else responds sooner.

A complete list of ALL drugs and supplements you are currently taking.

What time did you take Atvian?

When was your last nicotine vape?

Do you have Lexapro available, is it tablet or liquid?

Do you have any Celexa?

Without the above info, I will be unable to help.

 

Sassenach

Edited August 14, 2019 by Sassenach
wrong name, same med

[lexapoison]

-I take fish oil everyday and have for a long time. 

-I was taking CBD for a bit to help the anxiety and to help with sleep but haven’t been taking much of that any more.

-I’ve taken like 5 Ativan in my entire life. 1 was last week (didn’t help much), then one like 4 days later (helped a bit), then one like 3 days later (helped), and then 1 yesterday (helped tremendously almost felt normal).

-I have lexapro available in tablet form.

-I have celexa available it’s my moms but she said I can have some.

 

 

Drug history:

 

Started Lexapro April 2019 10mg for 5 weeks

tapered to 5mg for 2 weeks

tapered to 2.5mg for 2 weeks 

then to zero. Had insane side effects the entire time and up until now.

 

its been about 4 weeks and about 4 days since I’ve been at 0. Part of me feels SO much better but part of me feels at my all time worst all at the same time.

[Sassenach]

Hi Lexapoison

 

2 hours ago, Sassenach said:

When was your last nicotine vape?

Need to know please.

 

22 minutes ago, lexapoison said:

I have celexa available it’s my moms but she said I can have some.

You should never use anyone else's presciption. You do not know whether your doctor would prescibe this going forward.

 

24 minutes ago, lexapoison said:

-I’ve taken like 5 Ativan in my entire life. 1 was last week (didn’t help much), then one like 4 days later (helped a bit), then one like 3 days later (helped), and then 1 yesterday (helped tremendously almost felt normal).

Ativan is a Benzo so you have now added potential additional W/D symptoms.

ChessieCat has spent a good deal of time corresponding with you with very little feedback.

We are all volunteers whose only wish is to help with the effects of these drugs, but there is no magic bullet.

If we do not have your full co-operation you make it impossible for us.

 

The only known way ( other than waiting it out ) to mitigate A/D W/D is to reinstate a small dose of the drug, or a drug in the same class.

As Alto suggested a dose of .5mg Lexapro would be a good starting point.

It essential you understand that more is not better here. If you need a higher dose to stabilise you can increase with our help, take too much and you will further sensitise your CNS ( central nervous system).

As you only have 10mg tablets it will difficult to cut accurately.

If you can make a liquid using the following instructions

how-to-make-a-liquid-from-tablets-or-capsules/

Accuracy is important. If you do not feel well enough to do this I suggest you contact the doctor ASAP and ask for liquid Lexapro or even better Celexa.

Please let us know when you have the necessary meds.

 

Sassenach

 

[lexapoison]

Thank you so much! It’s been 2 weeks since I’ve vaped. Will never touch it again. I’m going to try to get some celexa from my psychiatrist he laughed when I mentioned liquid celexa and he said no way. 

 

A big question I have is if I do get taken to a mental hospital, which I probably will if I continue like this is it better in your opinion to take the smallest dose of celexa they will offer or the smallest dose of say something like Zoloft a different a/d they will offer? I feel like getting on celexa/Lexapro is probably not the wisest decision but was wondering if something different like Zoloft has the potential of getting rid of withdrawal side effects?

[Sassenach]

If you go into hospital they will decide what dose to use and it will be high, because that is standard procedure.

They may well add in at least one extra drug or more, for the same reason.

21 minutes ago, Sassenach said:

It essential you understand that more is not better here. If you need a higher dose to stabilise you can increase with our help, take too much and you will further sensitise your CNS ( central nervous system).

It is a common misconception that because you are in W/D from one drug, it will be better to take another.

That simply destabilises you further.

You have obviously spoken to your psych

As I understand it if Celexa is not available as a liquid, Lexapro certainly is.

I suggest you tell him you want that, if you cannot make the liquid yourself.

You have the rest of the day to sort it and get yourself on the reinstatement route.

The choice is yours but you should only go into hospital if you feel your life is in danger.

[bubble]

Also, don't tell your psychiatrist that you are planning on taking 0.5 mg because he will not only laugh but refuse to prescribe. Just say you are feeling unwell and would like to go back on the drug.

 

Before I found this site I had a number of cold turkeys and fast tapers and reinstating always helped me. I would feel better pretty soon but fuller recovery would take a lot longer, I could say depending on how long I was off and traumatised my brain. Even if it doesn't work it's easy to stop such a low dose.

[lexapoison]

I think I’m in a window. Oh my gosh. This is what you guys speak of. Just to confirm it’s best to reinstate Lexapro/celexa over Zoloft even though I had a bad reaction with Lexapro? Thank you guys very much 

[Sassenach]

Yes Lexapro liquid if you cannot make your own.

 

@bubble good point, thanks

 

Sassenach

[Altostrata]

lexapoison, please read this topic from the beginning. Reinstatement has already been explained in detail.

 

You have withdrawal syndrome from going off Lexapro too fast. Your symptom pattern is not unusual. Recovery can be rocky and take a long time. Your sleep is poor but not as bad as it could be. Stress like a new job can make the symptoms worse.

 

If your psychiatrist laughed when you asked for liquid citalopram to titrate up on reinstatement, you need a new psychiatrist.

 

Any doctor can prescribed these drugs, it doesn't have to be a psychiatrist. You could request a prescription from your GP. Or, you can make your own liquid from tablets.
 

If it seemed like there was a better alternative, we would have told you about it.

 

Yes, if you commit yourself to a hospital, they probably will not know a bean about withdrawal syndrome. It's highly likely they will load you up with drugs. Your choice if you want to do that. We're just an Internet forum, we can't make decisions for you.
 

To help us out, follow these instructions Please put your drug and withdrawal history in your signature You may need to use a computer to do this.

[lexapoison]

I just reinstated .5mg of celexa at 1am today. I am terrified I hope it goes good I need relief.

[Sassenach]

Try and get some sleep.

 

Sassenach

[ChessieCat]

You will need to be patient and calm and try not to add extra stress.  It is also important not to panic.  When we panic we can make bad decisions.

 

It takes about 4 days for a dose to get to full level/steady state in the blood and a bit longer for it to register in the brain.

 

Because improvement may be subtle it is a good idea to keep daily notes of your symptoms improvement/worsening on paper so that you can be a bit more objective.  You might also find it helpful to rate your symptoms.

 

Please read:  Reinstatement

 

 

[lexapoison]

Thank you guys. Everyone tells me not to listen to you guys but I know you guys are the only ones who know and have the knowledge to help. I will let you guys know how I feel everyday.

 

Before yesterday was the worst day I’ve ever had. The entire day was panic, panic, panic being awake for 40 hrs I believe attributed to it.

 

Yesterday, woke up with a ton of anxiety then started feeling decent. Felt decent up until the afternoon then just felt unbareably awful the rest of the day/night. 

 

We’ll see how today goes when I wake up.

 

Have a goodnight/morning/day to everyone 

[lexapoison]

Wow. What a night. I was completely exhausted and knew if I closed my eyes for a second I’d pass out into sleep. But as soon as I reinstated and took the .5mg of celexa I literally felt the insomnia take over me. I literally feel how I felt when I started 10mg lexapro for the first time. Exhausted, but can’t sleep. As soon as I close my eyes my anxiety starts raging and burning my chest and the closer I get to sleep the worse the anxiety gets preventing me from sleep. Throughout the night i’d also get these short moments of extreme agitation, racing thoughts and rapid heartbeats and after a few moments it would die down. I feel so weird and got zero sleep. Going to have to quit my job today as there’s no way I can go in on 40 hours of no sleep again.

[Sassenach]

You took the Celexa immediately before bed, is that correct?

It is normal to take these drugs first thing on a morning.

It is possible you are having an adverse reaction.

We normally move doses only a little at a time but as you have only taken one dose.

I suggest you do NOT take a dose tonight and see how you sleep.

Take the dose in the morning ONLY if your symptoms have settled down.

If they have not, do not take and contact us.

 

Sassenach

[lexapoison]

Reinstatement is truly my only hope. I cannot continue how I’ve been. Do you think it would have been better to take lexapro instead of celexa? I feel as though my wd symptoms could have possibly gotten a bit better, but I’m getting start up effects similar to those I had when I started up lexapro minus the crazy racing thoughts?

 

Yes, I took it right before bed. 

[Sassenach]

Are you sure you only took .5 ie. half a miligram and not 5mgs.

How did you cut the tablet or did you make a liquid?

[lexapoison]

100% sure I took .5 mg. I mixed a 20mg tablet in 40ml of distilled water. Waited until it completely dissolved and then consumed exactly 1ml of the liquid. I really want to continue with reinstatement I’m just not sure if I should continue with celexa or switch to lexapro. I think I do feel an improvement in wd symptoms but it’s hard to say as they always fluctuate everyday. The burning in the chest with anxiety is still strong though but ive had this before when I started lexapro and slightly a couple of times during dosage changes. The only thing that was really weird was the racing thoughts I’d have for a minute or so a few times last night. 

[lexapoison]

I can really feel the medication right now, maybe .5mg was too much?

[Sassenach]

Good job.

 

Don't take before bed, wait till morning.

I will be around.

Post how you feel as soon as you can.

Hope you sleep better.

[lexapoison]

I felt the medication earlier almost felt high. Crazy since it’s such a low dose. It has definitely balanced out now. I do feel better after the reinstatement only problem is this burning chest anxiety is strong whenever I lay down or relax and now head starting to feel a bit brain zappy. I would really like to continue w the reinstatement either w celexa or lexapro but I will wait until morning like you requested even though I know these symptoms won’t be gone by then because I’ve had them before.

[lexapoison]

Had a horrible wave followed directly by a window. If I get the green light tomorrow I almost feel I should switch to .25mg of lexapro (from what I understand to be the equivalent of .5mg of celexa) but I have no idea. My family is a heartbeat away from checking me into a psych ward and I can’t blame them.

[lexapoison]

I honestly think .5mg was too much judging by my reaction. Symptoms I’ve felt from .5mg include the symptoms listed before, clogging of ears, stomachaches here and there and feeling like a zombie at times like I was on too high of a dose of something. Not gna lie though sometimes i felt alright though. Def thinking reinstatement is the way to go but possibly at a lower dose and possibly on lexapro would love to hear what you suggest 

 

Thank you

[Sassenach]

How old are you?

[lexapoison]

32

[lexapoison]

I feel so different this morning it’s crazy

[lexapoison]

What should I do?

[bubble]

2 hours ago, lexapoison said:

I feel so different this morning it’s crazy

 

In what way do you feel different?

 

Sassenah probably asked you about your age because you wrote your family wants to take you to hospital. But if you are 32 you can decide what happens with you. 

 

It takes 4 days for the drug to reach even concentration in the system so it might be too early to say what its exact effect is. Also your reports of the effects sound a bit contradictory: it seems like some things are better and some are words. Stabilising after reinstatement always takes time, withdrawal still continues for  a while. I would give it a chance for a few more days.

 

In the meantime take time off work and give yourself time and space to heal. I know it is very hard and scary but try not to panic and behave helplessly in front of your family. Find the soothing techniques which work for you and practice them. 

[Sassenach]

Hi

 

How are you feeling now?

[lexapoison]

I feel different as in I can feel the medicine. I feel like I am medicated it’s hard to describe. And I know it sounds contradictory, it’s because I never feel better or worse it’s always just “different”.

 

The burning in my chest diminished significantly and I slept a pretty good amount last night. Woke up shaking. Main symptoms right now are anxiety with some panic.

 

So I continue with .5mg of celexa? I feel like it was too strong thoughts on a lower dose and taking lexapro instead?

[Sassenach]

 

11 minutes ago, lexapoison said:

it’s because I never feel better or worse it’s always just “different”. 

This is why it is so difficult to describe to others how you feel.

 

12 minutes ago, lexapoison said:

Woke up shaking.

Cortisol spikes, you will have experienced them before.

 

On 8/4/2019 at 1:52 AM, Altostrata said:

You may wish to take Lexapro's kinder, gentler sibling, Celexa, instead.

Yes continue with Celexa for two reasons:

First, explained by Alto above.

Second, as you rightly said

14 hours ago, lexapoison said:

.25mg of lexapro (from what I understand to be the equivalent of .5mg of celexa)

This means it is easier to get accurate doses at such small levels.

If you feel .5mgs is too much then half the dose but do it today.

You can always increase if necessary.

You have been asked to submit a diary and not done so.

We can only help if we monitor you carefully and a diary is the only way.

We do not have time to keep going back through several post to find info.

Start a paper diary today and we will need it online in future.

We want to help you but our voluntary time is precious

The diary should be in the following format.

[Sassenach]

DATE:

  

6 a.m. Woke with anxiety
8 a.m. Took 2.5mg Lexapro
10 a.m. Stomach is upset
10:30 a.m. Ate breakfast
11:35 a.m. Got a headache, lasted one hour
12:35 p.m. Ate lunch
4 p.m. Feel a bit better
5 p.m. Took 2.5mg Lexapro
6 p.m. Ate dinner
9:20 p.m. Headache
10:00 p.m. Took 50mg Seroquel
10:20 p.m. Feeling dizzy
10:30 p.m. Fell asleep
2:30 a.m. Woke, took 3mg Ambien (NOT "took 1/2 tablet Ambien")
2:45 a.m. Fell asleep
4:30 a.m. Woke but got back to sleep

[lexapoison]

My whole family and I have hit a wall and tomorrow I am being admitted to a hospital. Any tips? Just a few months ago I was a normal guy. Lexapro has ruined me.