Emilyt: 5 withdrawals in 7 months

[Emilyt]

Hi , I’m Emily 

I started Lexapro 20mg in 2016 for anxiety and took it up until March of 2024. I was getting anxiety and wasn’t sleeping and was throwing up everything. I was taken off Lexapro 20mg. Cut down to 10mg for 5 days then switched to sertraline 100mg. I was experiencing numbness in my feet, and tremor sensations in my body especially my neck (I blamed the sertraline) . i took sertraline for 3months still having bad anxiety and sleep problems. I was then given seroquel 50mg additional to help with sleep. I took that for a nearly 1 month feeling like a zombie , not being able to focus. I asked to be put on something else so I was taken off seroquel , fast taper over 5 days and taken off that. Then a week later I was taken off sertraline 100mg , reduced to 50mg for 7 days then was put on pristiq 50mg. I then began experiencing muscle spasms, migraines and body jerks, and still sleep problems. I thought it was the pristiq causing that so I only took that for 3 weeks before tapering off it in 3 days. I ended up in hospital because my body was in so much pain , all my muscle were cramping. My doctor woudlnt write a prescription for anything else so I put myself back on Lexapro 20mg. Then I was back to not sleeping still with the same symptoms. I was given lorazepam 1mg to help with sleep. I got a psychiatrist appointment and was put on mirtazapine 30mg as well as the Lexapro 20mg. after 1 week I began tapering Lexapro by 5mg per week over 4 weeks and took my last Lexapro dose 16/10/24. Now I’m just taking mirtazapine 30mg but now have so horrible what I have now realised are  withdrawal symptoms. I’d been blaming the medication I was currently on. 

Withdrawal symptoms im currently experiencing 

Tension head aches

Tingling/flickering sensation in head and behind eye

Blurry eye sight , sore eyes and eye strain

Facial twitching , numbness and tingling of face

Sore inner ears and crackling feeling when I hear loud noise 

Tremors in hands , neck and legs 

Stuffy nose 

Sore muscles , pulling sensations in some muscles 

Muscles spasms all throughout body 

Muscle weakness 

Jolting sensation throughout body 

Numbness in feet and down legs 

Jumpy especially to noise 

Irritability 

Trouble sleeping 

 

It’s been 12 weeks since I last stopped Lexapro with very little improvement in symptoms. Has anyone had a similar experience being on so many medications in a short space of time and recovered? 
Looking for some hope. 

Also can I recover from withdrawals  while taking anothere AD, mirtazapine 30mg? 

 

Edited January 9 by Emonda
Name to title

[FireflyFyte]

Hi Emilyt,

 

Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants. Thank you for summarizing your drug history in your signature.

 

12 hours ago, Emilyt said:

It’s been 12 weeks since I last stopped Lexapro with very little improvement in symptoms.

 

Are you noticing some improvements? It might be helpful to read up on The Windows and Waves Pattern of Stabilization.

 

13 hours ago, Emilyt said:

Also can I recover from withdrawals  while taking anothere AD, mirtazapine 30mg? 

 

Yes and right now, your system needs stability so I would not recommend making any changes to the mirtazapine. You have made a lot of changes in the last 10 months so would recommend holding steady for at least 3-6 months to see if you get an improvement in withdrawal symptoms before considering tapering again.

 

Thanks,

 

Firefly

[Amy98]

@Emilyt how are your symptoms now? What are you on? 

[Yesyes123]

Hi Emily, welcome to Surviving Antidepressants.

 

You have been on several drugs and are on different withdrawal timelines from them, which can cause different series of symptoms for an unknown period of time.

 

The good news is it does get better though, and since now you know not to add any more drugs and hold your current dose of your current drug until stable, it is likely you will see improvement in symptoms in a few months and it only gets better from there.

 

I wish you hope and healing

[Emilyt]

21 hours ago, Amy98 said:

@Emilyt how are your symptoms now? What are you on? 

All much the same with the symptoms,I’m 12 weeks off Lexapro , I’m going through a break up so the added stress wouldn’t be helping things at the moment. On 30mg mirtazapine still 

[FireflyFyte]

On 1/12/2025 at 2:50 AM, Emilyt said:

I’m going through a break up so the added stress wouldn’t be helping things at the moment.

 

Sorry to hear that you are going through a break up and you are right that the added stress might be contributing to your current symptoms. Be gentle with yourself and hopefully you will see an improvement soon.