Chep: Intro - 2 year Lexapro nightmare

[Chep]

I have found out about this form when searching for similar experiences to mine on Reddit. I have been on Lexapro for almost 2 years and for about the last 15 months I have been having constant daily neck pain and headaches to the point where I have only been able to work half days for the past year. I have had online 20 doctor visits in this time to try to solve the problem from blood tests, X-rays, and even a deviated septum surgery to see if that was the cause. Only recently I saw a couple people on Reddit with the same problem as me but they got off lexapro within a couple months of starting and I wanted to join this site to really see how many people have had this bad of side effects for almost the whole duration of Lexapro or another antidepressant. I also wanted to see if there are people who have went through this and have gotten off antidepressants completely and their physical health improved to back before they were in antidepressants.

Edited August 11 by Emonda
Name to title

[Emonda]

Welcome, @Chep

 

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2 hours ago, Chep said:

having constant daily neck pain and headaches

 

Sorry to hear this. I do know that people can experience all sorts of side effects from taking AD. I have heard of headaches being one such problem.

 

2 hours ago, Chep said:

I wanted to join this site to really see how many people have had this bad of side effects for almost the whole duration of Lexapro or another antidepressant

 

If you use the search function in the top right, you can search for all sorts of symptoms. There is also a Symptom and Self-Care are section.

 

2 hours ago, Chep said:

I also wanted to see if there are people who have went through this and have gotten off antidepressants completely and their physical health improved to back before they were in antidepressants.

 

If you read some of the Success Stories, you will see many recover from all the different side effects an WD symptoms from stopping.

 

If you are wanting to stop your medication, this is important:

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage? The reductions should get smaller and smaller each month, for example: 10mg, 9mg, 8.1mg, 7.3mg etc. This process involves a degree of trial and error, as there is no way of predicting how an individual will respond. Importantly, if you develop unpleasant side effects from tapering, halt the taper, give yourself time to settle, and once stable, taper more slowly and by smaller amounts moving forward. The experience of others suggests that the lower you go in dose, the slower you need to go with tapering.

Those that taper too quickly often develop very unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. This Daily Checklist of Antidepressant Withdrawal Symptoms (PDF) is a helpful summary of what many experience.

We don't suggest many supplements, but two that many of us find helpful are magnesium and omega-3 fish oil. Here are the links for info about those. Add one at a time and start with a low dose to see how it affects you. 

Magnesium

Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil)

Avoid alcohol.

Don't change the manufacturer of your AD.

Once again, welcome to S.A.

Emonda