Potatertot: Lexapro Taper

[potatertot]

Hi there, I've been on Lexapro for anxiety/depression for 10 years. With my therapist and psychiatrist's approval, I've been weaning off Lexapro to see what my baseline is since I've been on it almost my entire adult life. I've been in therapy for many years and have many more tools now than I did when I was younger and in a very stressful schooling situation. Not knowing any better and listening to my doctor, I started what I know now is an aggressive taper. I was doing fine but am having some trouble at the lower doses as follows:

 

2013-2022: 10 mg Lexapro

Jan 2023: Taper to 7.5 mg, no noticeable withdrawals side effects

Feb 2023: Taper to 5 mg. Improvement in sexual dysfunction and range of mood, a few small manageable mood swings

March 2023: Taper to 2.5 mg, a few small manageable mood swings, a few bouts of irritability

April 2023: Discontinuation of Lexapro. Withdrawal effects within 24 hours. Incredibly irritable, unable to sleep. Talking fast, discomfort in body. Felt very wound up. Only off it for 3 days, then back to 2.5 mg.

May 2023: Held at 2.5, found this forum, went to doctor for liquid.

May 5, 2023: Taper to 2.25 mg, started tracking symptoms. Low mood for first week then stabilized. Bout of irritability still occasionally happening. 

 

I'm curious if the withdrawals I'm feeling are normal since they are relatively doable, besides when I discontinued, but now I know how big of a jump that was even though I had false confidence from my tapering not feeling anything. I plan to move forward with the 10% taper as suggested by this forum, which is much easier now that I have liquid medication. 

 

Thanks to everyone who has posted here. This has been a comfort and gave me great talking points when I saw my primary care doctor (who also suggested too aggressive of a taper until I pointed him towards this information). 

 

 

[Onmyway]

@potatertot

I'd stop tapering for a couple of months to give your body time to adjust to the aggressive taper so far. 

 

It's good that the symptoms seem mild now but it is always better to be careful.

 

Also,  can you pls fill in your drug signature with your drug history? Look up how to do it on the site. 

 

Omw

[Emonda]

On 5/17/2023 at 4:54 AM, potatertot said:

I was doing fine but am having some trouble at the lower doses as follows

 

Welcome to the forum @potatertot,

I’m relatively new here, but I thought I’d drop you a line.

 

My situation is not too dissimilar to yours. I dropped from 15mg to 7.5mg of a different AD relatively ‘easily’ over a similar time period to you. When I dropped again to 3.5mg, that’s when it got a bit ugly. I reinstated the previous dose that I felt ok (7.5mg), and stability returned over a month or two. 

 

As onmyway said, give your body a few months to recover. I held at 7.5mg for 5 months before adopting the 10% taper. I’m now at 3.65mg and using the brassmonkey approach: 2.5% reduction per week for four weeks, then a two-week hold.

 

Time and patience are your friends in this process. It’s taken me 17 months to get here, and I reckon I’ll go slower from here.

 

As onmyway said, remember to add your drug signature. It makes it easier for the moderators to see at a glance your drug history rather than having to scroll through your introduction to find it.

 

Wishing you well.

[potatertot]

Thank you so much for your responses @Onmyway and @Emonda. I will hold where I am now for a few months to recover. The irritability has been decreasing over time  so that's a good sign - I'd say that's the most prominent side effect I've been experiencing. I'm not a fan! I can't wait to be patient again, lol. 

[Onmyway]

Thank you for doing your signature @potatertot. Lexapro is a very powerful drug so holding is good. I didn't feel anything until I went from 5-0 on citalopram (Lexapro's sister drug - 2.5 on Lexapro is the same as 5 on citalopram). And then all hell broke loose. 

Look at this paper - the lowest doses are particularly potent for these drugs and so need to be tapered extra carefully. 

 

Patience will return, the more careful and slow you are the fewer symptoms you will feel. 

 

OMW

[thereishope33]

@potatertot Thanks for sharing your story this far. I’m curious, did you have any side effects from transitioning from the pills to the liquid?

[potatertot]

On 5/19/2023 at 7:36 PM, thereishope33 said:

@potatertot Thanks for sharing your story this far. I’m curious, did you have any side effects from transitioning from the pills to the liquid?

 

Hi @thereishope33! Thank you for reading. I didn't notice any side effects between the tablet and the liquid. The liquid is flavored like peppermint, so that's fun.

[potatertot]

I think I'm having some rebound depression symptoms now - having my first depressive episode since starting the taper in January. About a week of less than 5/10 mood, some irritability, and emotional numbness today. Unfortunately, this seems longer than how my episodes used to be (2-3 days max), so that implies to me that it's withdrawal related and not symptom reappearance. It's doable, I'm able to function well enough, and helpful to remember that this may be a stage in the withdrawal process. Mood and symptom tracking has been so helpful to see overall trends thus far.

[potatertot]

Updating this - no longer experiencing irritability regularly, but I’ve had significant anxiety since January. I also moved and experienced significant stress which may have contributed towards my generalized anxiety. Instead of giving myself more time to adjust, I lessened the dose again in February and should not have done that. I am considering updosing a little to help with the anxiety - maybe going back to 2 steps up at 2.14 mg. Still no depression symptoms but my nervous system feels pretty fried. 

[thereishope33]

I had to up my dose back to 4.2mg in December.

i felt relief a day or so later.

since then i have quit using nicotine, got engaged, and my best friend died of an overdose.

so im not tapering as scheduled, but am in a pause pattern.

 

[potatertot]

@thereishope33 I did read that sometimes tapering too aggressively can cause us to be less resilient to stressors - definitely what I’m feeling. I’ve felt like a basket case at times these past few months! Glad you’ve assessed how you were doing and felt a little better - so sorry for your loss and congratulations on your engagement!

[Emonda]

5 hours ago, potatertot said:

Instead of giving myself more time to adjust, I lessened the dose again in February and should not have done that.

 

I read another member here saying, "Any reason to hold is a good reason to hold", and another, "If in doubt, wait it out".

 

When you don't feel stable, it's best to pause your taper until you do feel stable. If that takes months, that's ok. It's not a race.

 

I've up-dosed once from memory, and that was to the previous dose I felt ok. Did you feel ok at 2.07?

 

When considering up-dosing, I draw a line in the sand and tell myself that if I still feel rotten in two weeks, I'll consider it. I do this to try to prevent/delay a panicked decision (I'm not suggesting you are panicking).

 

Hope this helps.

[potatertot]

@Emonda thanks for the reply. I honestly was a little discouraged that I’ve only been able to taper from 2.25 mg to 2 mg in the last almost full year, but you’re right, it’s not a race. I also know that Lexapro is stronger per mg than other drugs. I honestly haven’t felt well since last December when I moved. I’ve had panic attacks and generalized anxiety that I’ve never had before. I think I probably will updose by 1 step for a few weeks (back to 2.07) and see if it provides any relief. I’ve been feeling crummy for a full month now, so I think enough time has passed for me to warrant that. 

[paaugustine]

Thereishope - what method did you use to taper your abilify at lower doses? I know that is over a year ago for you now but I am reading your posts and am curious

[thereishope33]

1 hour ago, paaugustine said:

Thereishope - what method did you use to taper your abilify at lower doses? I know that is over a year ago for you now but I am reading your posts and am curious

I was a bit uneducated at that time but If i had to classify it it would fall under a quazihyperbolic method.
If I could go back, I would do the hyperbolic method by the book, and jump off at a much lower dose.
I had bad post acute withdrawl following discontinuation.

[potatertot]

I talked with my doctor about my panic attacks and we decided to go back up to 2.25 mg, since that was the last time I felt stable. I’m already not having waves of nausea from worrying about literally anything, feeling out of control, and crying from the inability to relax and am feeling a lot more stable. Anxiety is still there but is manageable. I’ll hold at 2.25 for the foreseeable future until I feel able to start the taper again.