Swordfish: Withdrawal from Lexapro

[Swordfish]

Hello all,

 

I am a 26 year old male living in the midwest of the United States. I had my first bout of depression when I was about 14. It’s been pretty up and down since then. I had been struggling for a while to adjust to the stresses of college and I kept getting beat down with anxiety and depression so I finally reached out for help to my GP. I was prescribed 50mg of Zoloft in October of 2017. I started with half a dose and it really did seem to lift my spirits and give me confidence I really noticed when talking to other people. Anxiety and shy/insecure feeling when talking to others is something I have always felt, and this was exciting to see a change in. I went up to 50mg after a couple weeks and after a couple more weeks there decided to go back down to 25mg as it started to make me apathetic. I also lost libido and interest in the opposite sex which was a scary feeling to me as a young college student. The Zoloft began to make me extremely lethargic and fatigued to the point where I could barely get out of bed, and I felt like my body was just heavy and weak. This annoyed me for a couple weeks then I went cold turkey off of it in January 2018. I was on it for a total of about 4 months. I experienced acute withdrawal for around 2 weeks and had brain zaps along with extreme irritability, but it passed and I was fine withdrawal wise. I still suffered from anxiety and depression, however, and in October 2019 I tried again to take Zoloft 25mg but quit again after about two weeks as it just made me too fatigued. In July of 2020 I was really depressed and went back to the dr. This is when I was prescribed Lexapro 10mg. The Lexapro really helped me, and my overall contentment was up, anxiety/depression were down, and I was doing pretty well. This lasted for around 7 months (till January 2021), where I realized that I was once again apathetic and more tired than usual but not bed ridden. The sexual side affects were strong as well, and having a girlfriend at the time, this bothered me a lot. I was apathetic enough around this time to stop caring about her as much and although there were other problems with our relationship I attribute the meds to a large part of the reason I broke up with her. I went down to 7.5 mg and gained some libido and energy. I was doing pretty well for the next few months although the breakup was hard. In October 2021 I went down to 5mg and stayed there until about December of 2022. I had been extremely fatigued once again and blamed the Lexapro, so I started to taper but very quickly - I went down to zero in around a month (January 2023). I started to experience panic attacks and feeling like I was going to pass out. I felt completely out of control of my own body and it was terrifying. I tried Buspar for about 2 weeks to help with this but gave that up as well. I went back up to 5mg Lexapro until April and tapered down to Zero over the next two months. June 6, 2023 was the date I fully got off Lexapro. I have been suffering since. My main side effects are extreme anxiety and depression, feelings of utter hopelessness, feelings of intense fear, shakiness, cold intolerance, panic attacks, and muscle aches in my arms, chest, neck, and legs (feels kind of like growing pains). I do experience the windows and waves, although the windows are not “normal” feeling, just patches where I am doing better rather than worse. 

[FireflyFyte]

Hi swordfish,

 

Welcome to SA. Please summarize your drug history in your signature by following the instructions at How to Summarize Your Drug History in Your Signature. You may need to be on a computer to complete this.

 

While you are past the ideal window to reinstate, you can still consider reinstating a small amount of Lexapro to see if it alleviates your current symptoms. You can read more at About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms. If this is an option you want to consider, I can confer with other moderators and recommend a dosage.

 

Regardless of your next steps, it is important to rely on Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms. Gentle exercise such as short walks and non-strenuous yoga can often help as well.

 

Thanks,

 

Firefly

[Swordfish]

Hello Firefly,

 

Thank you for your response. I would consider reinstatement at a small dose if you guys think it would help, but I am already 7 months off and I have no more pills as I threw them out so I would have to go back to the GP and that does not sound fun. I did take a 5mg dose (I know this was too high) in early august just once out of a moment of desperation and it induced what felt like a panic attack.

 

Regards,

[FireflyFyte]

23 minutes ago, Swordfish said:

I would consider reinstatement at a small dose if you guys think it would help, but I am already 7 months off and I have no more pills as I threw them out so I would have to go back to the GP and that does not sound fun.

 

If you feel like you can handle your current symptoms, you may want to avoid reinstatement.

 

23 minutes ago, Swordfish said:

I did take a 5mg dose (I know this was too high) in early august just once out of a moment of desperation and it induced what felt like a panic attack.

 

Yes, this would be a much higher dose than we would recommend for reinstatement.

[Farm24]

On 1/2/2024 at 8:24 PM, Swordfish said:

Hello all,

 

I am a 26 year old male living in the midwest of the United States. I had my first bout of depression when I was about 14. It’s been pretty up and down since then. I had been struggling for a while to adjust to the stresses of college and I kept getting beat down with anxiety and depression so I finally reached out for help to my GP. I was prescribed 50mg of Zoloft in October of 2017. I started with half a dose and it really did seem to lift my spirits and give me confidence I really noticed when talking to other people. Anxiety and shy/insecure feeling when talking to others is something I have always felt, and this was exciting to see a change in. I went up to 50mg after a couple weeks and after a couple more weeks there decided to go back down to 25mg as it started to make me apathetic. I also lost libido and interest in the opposite sex which was a scary feeling to me as a young college student. The Zoloft began to make me extremely lethargic and fatigued to the point where I could barely get out of bed, and I felt like my body was just heavy and weak. This annoyed me for a couple weeks then I went cold turkey off of it in January 2018. I was on it for a total of about 4 months. I experienced acute withdrawal for around 2 weeks and had brain zaps along with extreme irritability, but it passed and I was fine withdrawal wise. I still suffered from anxiety and depression, however, and in October 2019 I tried again to take Zoloft 25mg but quit again after about two weeks as it just made me too fatigued. In July of 2020 I was really depressed and went back to the dr. This is when I was prescribed Lexapro 10mg. The Lexapro really helped me, and my overall contentment was up, anxiety/depression were down, and I was doing pretty well. This lasted for around 7 months (till January 2021), where I realized that I was once again apathetic and more tired than usual but not bed ridden. The sexual side affects were strong as well, and having a girlfriend at the time, this bothered me a lot. I was apathetic enough around this time to stop caring about her as much and although there were other problems with our relationship I attribute the meds to a large part of the reason I broke up with her. I went down to 7.5 mg and gained some libido and energy. I was doing pretty well for the next few months although the breakup was hard. In October 2021 I went down to 5mg and stayed there until about December of 2022. I had been extremely fatigued once again and blamed the Lexapro, so I started to taper but very quickly - I went down to zero in around a month (January 2023). I started to experience panic attacks and feeling like I was going to pass out. I felt completely out of control of my own body and it was terrifying. I tried Buspar for about 2 weeks to help with this but gave that up as well. I went back up to 5mg Lexapro until April and tapered down to Zero over the next two months. June 6, 2023 was the date I fully got off Lexapro. I have been suffering since. My main side effects are extreme anxiety and depression, feelings of utter hopelessness, feelings of intense fear, shakiness, cold intolerance, panic attacks, and muscle aches in my arms, chest, neck, and legs (feels kind of like growing pains). I do experience the windows and waves, although the windows are not “normal” feeling, just patches where I am doing better rather than worse. 

How have you been Swordfish? Did you wait it out or reinstate?

[Swordfish]

17 hours ago, Farm24 said:

How have you been Swordfish? Did you wait it out or reinstate?

Hello Farm,

 

The last month or so has been the best through this whole withdrawal I would say. When I wrote my intro I was really in a bad spot. I had a really intense crash around the new year for a bout a week and then had some bright spots mid January and February. I haven’t felt depressed in probably 2 months. I don’t feel great but I feel a lot more functional. As it typically is with this I have good and bad days still, but it seems to be slowly trending upward since around the 8 month mark. Thank you for asking!

[Farm24]

4 hours ago, Swordfish said:

Hello Farm,

 

The last month or so has been the best through this whole withdrawal I would say. When I wrote my intro I was really in a bad spot. I had a really intense crash around the new year for a bout a week and then had some bright spots mid January and February. I haven’t felt depressed in probably 2 months. I don’t feel great but I feel a lot more functional. As it typically is with this I have good and bad days still, but it seems to be slowly trending upward since around the 8 month mark. Thank you for asking!

So glad!