Sovenator Posted August 17, 2022 Share Posted August 17, 2022 Hello, 👋 I’ve been on Lexapro for almost 1 month (7/21/22) at 10 mg for Generalized Anxiety Disorder. I want to get off the med because I’m positive it’s created notable visual disturbances (blurry vision) and increased my anxiety since starting it. My anxiety seems to line up perfectly with the peak time of the med throughout the day too.  My doctor wants to up my dose to 15 mg, but I talked to them about tapering off instead while I receive therapy and also learned this anxiety is situational to a trauma. The PCP is clueless about tapering so I wanted to ask: My question: is a 10% reduction per month still necessary with such a relatively short time on the med?  TL;DR : is a 10% reduction per month dose necessary after 1 month on Lexapro, or how can I accelerate? Link to comment
Moderator Onmyway Posted August 24, 2022 Moderator Share Posted August 24, 2022 (edited) Hi @Sovenator, welcome to SA. In general people get dependent on these drugs after about 3-4 weeks. It is hard to tell if you could get away with just a very quick taper - halving for a week and then halving for another week since you have been on the drug for a shorter time. You could try halving your dose and see how you react to it in a few days. If things get bad we can then proceed with the 10% taper. Lexapro is one of the harder drugs to come off of so I'd rather you didn't spend years on it in a 10% taper.  Depends on how risk averse you are. Your success may depend on whether you have been on these drugs before, whether you have had issues with other psychoactive substances including alcohol. During this quick taper I'd advise abstaining from any other drugs/supplements/vitamins/alcohol etc.  Why taper by 10% of my dosage? - Tapering - Surviving Antidepressants Why taper? SERT transporter occupancy studies show importance of gradual change in plasma concentration - Tapering - Surviving Antidepressants  Pls let us know what you decide and we can go from there.  OMW Edited August 24, 2022 by Onmyway "Nothing so small as a moment is insurmountable, and moments are all that we have. You have survived every trial and tribulation that life has thrown at you up until this very instant. When future troubles come—and they will come—a version of you will be born into that moment that can conquer them, too." - Kevin Koenig  I am not a doctor and this should not be considered medical advice. You can use the information and recommendations provided in whatever way you want and all decisions on your treatment are yours.  In the next few weeks I do not have a lot of capacity to respond to questions. If you need a quick answer pls tag or ask other moderators who may want to be tagged.  Aug 2000 - July 2003 (ct, 4-6 wk wd) , citalopram 20 mg,  xanax prn, wellbutrin for a few months, trazodone prn Dec 2004 - July 2018 citalopram 20 mg, xanax prn (rarely used) Aug 2018 - citalopram 40 mg (self titrated up) September 2018 - January 2019 tapered citalopram - 40/30/20/10/5 no issues until a week after reaching 0 Feb 2019 0.25 xanax - 0.5/day (3 weeks) over to klonopin 0.25 once a day to manage severe wd March 6, reinstated citalopram 2.5 mg (liquid), klonopin 0.25 mg for sleep 2-3 times a week Apr 1st citalopram 2.0 mg (liquid), klonopin 0.25 once a week (off by 4/14/19- no tapering) citalopram (liquid) 4/14/19 -1.8 mg, 5/8/19 - 1.6 mg, 7/27/19 -1.5 mg, 8/15/19 - 1.35, 2/21/21 - 1.1 (smaller drops in between), 6/20/21 - 1.03 mg, 8/7/21- 1.025, 8/11/21 - 1.02, 8/15/21 - 1.015, 9/3/21 - 0.925 (fingers crossed!), 10/8/21 - 0.9, 10/18/21 - 0.875, 12/31/21 - 0.85, 1/7/22 - 0.825, 1/14/22 - 0.8, 1/22/22 - 0.785, 8/18/22 - 0.59, 12/15/2022 - 0.48, 2/15/22 - 0.43, 25/07/23 - 0.25 (mistake), 6/08/23 - 0.33mg  Supplements: magnesium citrate and bi-glycinate Link to comment
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