MatGMax Posted March 25, 2015 Author Share Posted March 25, 2015 Thanks Altostrata, I was starting to think I was posting to thin air! Not that there is anything wrong with that. Fighting a weird Virus as the moment. Got muscle pains and swollen glands but no other symptoms. Hopefully better in the next couple of days. Probably got it from my 3 or 4 year ood. Hope you are doing well. How is it going on your taper? Cheers Damien Off all SSRIs as at November 2016. Been on SSRIs (mainly Lexapro) for around 15 years. failed attempts to go cold turkey before I got proper info on it. Over last 2 years I've slowly gone from 20 mg Lexapro to 2.5 mg Lexapro. on 25th Jan 2015 I've now moved to home made liquid Lexapro. Plan is to drop roughly 0.2 mg per month over the next 1-2 years. 25th Jan 2015 2.5 mg Lexapro liquid. 24th Mar 2016 1.0 mg lexapro (crushed tablet mixed and refilled into capsules) Planned to be at 0.0 mg lexapro by about October 2016. I also take 50-100 mg modafinil per day, no short term plans of stopping/tapering modafinil but will re-evaluate after I'm off lexapro. Link to comment
Administrator Altostrata Posted March 25, 2015 Administrator Share Posted March 25, 2015 Please let us know how you're doing. I've been off Paxil since 2004. Doing fairly well now, thank you. This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner. "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein All postings © copyrighted. Link to comment
Moderator Emeritus Fresh Posted March 26, 2015 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted March 26, 2015 Hi Damien , how long ago did you drop from 2.5 to 2mg? Muscle pains and swollen glands sounds suspiciously like w/d symptoms to me. Perhaps I'm on the wrong track . . . 1987-1997 pertofran , prothiaden , Prozac 1997-2002 Zoloft 2002-2004 effexor 2004-2010 Lexapro 40mg 2010-2012Cymbalta 120mg Sept. 2012 -decreased 90mg in 6months. Care taken over by Dr Lucire in March 2013 , decreased last 30mg at 2mg per week over 3 months. July 21 , 2013- last dose of Cymbalta Protracted withdrawal syndrome kicked in badly Jan.2014 Unrelenting akathisia until May 2014. Voluntary hosp. admission. Cocktail of Seroquel, Ativan and mirtazapine and I was well enough to go home after 14 days. Stopped all hosp. meds in next few months. July 2014 felt v.depressed - couldn't stop crying. Started pristiq 50mg. Felt improvement within days and continued to improve, so stayed on 50mg for 8 months. Began taper 28 Feb. 2015. Pristiq 50mg down to 45mg. Had one month of w/d symptoms. Started CES therapy in March. No w/d symptoms down to 30mg. October 2015 , taking 25mg Pristiq. Capsules compounded with slow-release additive. March 2016 , 21mg Link to comment
MatGMax Posted March 26, 2015 Author Share Posted March 26, 2015 Hi Fresh, I went from 2.5 to 2.0 in one go. (I know, I know..., I learn my lesson each time). I was just so happy the NAC and methyl B12/methyl folate were working. I had flu symptoms like this last year. I was pretty sure it was it was a cold, but it is possible it was withdrawal symptoms. Or a combination. I got through the grumpy stage 2 weeks ago so thought I was good to go. It is weird that I'm getting only swollen glands and sore muscles with no coughing or runny nose. and clearly not real flu as I can still move. If it is withdrawal symptoms how long do you think they would stay ? a week or 2, months ? I feel a bit guilty as it puts a strain on my wife if I cannot move properly. (I've got 3 and 4 year old boys) Also I've been doing a lot of exercise which has been helping, but cannot do it at the moment. I really should know better by now. Cheers Damien Off all SSRIs as at November 2016. Been on SSRIs (mainly Lexapro) for around 15 years. failed attempts to go cold turkey before I got proper info on it. Over last 2 years I've slowly gone from 20 mg Lexapro to 2.5 mg Lexapro. on 25th Jan 2015 I've now moved to home made liquid Lexapro. Plan is to drop roughly 0.2 mg per month over the next 1-2 years. 25th Jan 2015 2.5 mg Lexapro liquid. 24th Mar 2016 1.0 mg lexapro (crushed tablet mixed and refilled into capsules) Planned to be at 0.0 mg lexapro by about October 2016. I also take 50-100 mg modafinil per day, no short term plans of stopping/tapering modafinil but will re-evaluate after I'm off lexapro. Link to comment
Moderator Emeritus Fresh Posted March 26, 2015 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted March 26, 2015 Lol Damien , live and learn. I know I've had swollen neck glands and sore muscles at times with no other symptoms. It happened again recently during the month after a decrease in pristiq. My best guess is it will stay as long as it wants to stay , and then it will go. As far as w/d symptoms go , it could be worse . Hope you feel back on top soon. 1987-1997 pertofran , prothiaden , Prozac 1997-2002 Zoloft 2002-2004 effexor 2004-2010 Lexapro 40mg 2010-2012Cymbalta 120mg Sept. 2012 -decreased 90mg in 6months. Care taken over by Dr Lucire in March 2013 , decreased last 30mg at 2mg per week over 3 months. July 21 , 2013- last dose of Cymbalta Protracted withdrawal syndrome kicked in badly Jan.2014 Unrelenting akathisia until May 2014. Voluntary hosp. admission. Cocktail of Seroquel, Ativan and mirtazapine and I was well enough to go home after 14 days. Stopped all hosp. meds in next few months. July 2014 felt v.depressed - couldn't stop crying. Started pristiq 50mg. Felt improvement within days and continued to improve, so stayed on 50mg for 8 months. Began taper 28 Feb. 2015. Pristiq 50mg down to 45mg. Had one month of w/d symptoms. Started CES therapy in March. No w/d symptoms down to 30mg. October 2015 , taking 25mg Pristiq. Capsules compounded with slow-release additive. March 2016 , 21mg Link to comment
MatGMax Posted March 27, 2015 Author Share Posted March 27, 2015 Thanks Fresh. You are right. Not the worst symptom! Am feeling better today. Only a couple of muscles hurt and glands going down. It just took me by surprise the strength of it. I could barely walk for a couple of days. Yet another reason to take it slow. I won't be back to exercise till next week. Cheers Damien Off all SSRIs as at November 2016. Been on SSRIs (mainly Lexapro) for around 15 years. failed attempts to go cold turkey before I got proper info on it. Over last 2 years I've slowly gone from 20 mg Lexapro to 2.5 mg Lexapro. on 25th Jan 2015 I've now moved to home made liquid Lexapro. Plan is to drop roughly 0.2 mg per month over the next 1-2 years. 25th Jan 2015 2.5 mg Lexapro liquid. 24th Mar 2016 1.0 mg lexapro (crushed tablet mixed and refilled into capsules) Planned to be at 0.0 mg lexapro by about October 2016. I also take 50-100 mg modafinil per day, no short term plans of stopping/tapering modafinil but will re-evaluate after I'm off lexapro. Link to comment
MatGMax Posted April 2, 2015 Author Share Posted April 2, 2015 Hi All, I've been taking 50mg of Modafinil for about 2 years. It helped a lot when I was on 20 mg Lexapro and struggling to have any energy. Now a lot of water has gone under the bridge. I've found I had the MTHFR gene, started taking NAC, methyl folate, methyl B12,Coq10, magnesium and am down to 2 mg Lexpro. In general I'm feeling better and doing more exercise. I'm wondering if it is time to let the modafinil go. It was great when I started to take it, but I've probably developed a tolerance for it anyway. My preference would be to only take products that naturally exist in the body or in food. As far as I can tell modafinil isn't anywhere near as addictive as SSRIs are so I don't think I'd have too much trouble dropping.it. What do people think ? Cheers Damien Off all SSRIs as at November 2016. Been on SSRIs (mainly Lexapro) for around 15 years. failed attempts to go cold turkey before I got proper info on it. Over last 2 years I've slowly gone from 20 mg Lexapro to 2.5 mg Lexapro. on 25th Jan 2015 I've now moved to home made liquid Lexapro. Plan is to drop roughly 0.2 mg per month over the next 1-2 years. 25th Jan 2015 2.5 mg Lexapro liquid. 24th Mar 2016 1.0 mg lexapro (crushed tablet mixed and refilled into capsules) Planned to be at 0.0 mg lexapro by about October 2016. I also take 50-100 mg modafinil per day, no short term plans of stopping/tapering modafinil but will re-evaluate after I'm off lexapro. Link to comment
Moderator Emeritus Songbird Posted April 2, 2015 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted April 2, 2015 IMO you should take the cautious approach and taper it rather than just drop it. 2001–2002 paroxetine 2003 citalopram 2004-2008 paroxetine (various failed tapers) 2008 paroxetine slow taper down to 2016 Aug off paroxetine2016 citalopram May 20mg Oct 15mg … slow taper down2018 citalopram 13 Feb 4.6mg 15 Mar 4.4mg 29 Apr 4.2mg 6 Jul 4.1mg 17 Aug 4.0mg 18 Nov 3.8mg 2019 15 Mar 3.6mg 21 May 3.4mg 26 Dec 3.2mg 2020 19 Feb 3.0mg 19 Jul 2.9mg 16 Sep 2.8mg 25 Oct 2.7mg 23 Oct 2.6mg 24 Dec 2.5mg 2021 29 Aug 2.4mg 15 Nov 2.3mg Link to comment
compsports Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Agree with Songbird as one who tapered Adderall several years ago without any problems that I was aware of. Drug cocktail 1995 - 2010 Started taper of Adderall, Wellbutrin XL, Remeron, and Doxepin in 2006 Finished taper on June 10, 2010 Temazepam on a PRN basis approximately twice a month - 2014 to 2016 Beginning in 2017 - Consumption increased to about two times per week April 2017 - Increased to taking it full time for insomnia Link to comment
MatGMax Posted December 9, 2015 Author Share Posted December 9, 2015 Got that flu feeling again. Not so bad. Still not sure if it SSRI related or not. Hopefully it will pass in the next couple of days. I'm at about 1.1 mg Lexapro per day. On current schedule I'll be at Zero Lexapro about October 2016. Also I'm trying out a tdcs kit I got over the internet. It seems to help with depression as well as increasing my ability to focus at work (and enjoy it a bit more). Cheers Damien Off all SSRIs as at November 2016. Been on SSRIs (mainly Lexapro) for around 15 years. failed attempts to go cold turkey before I got proper info on it. Over last 2 years I've slowly gone from 20 mg Lexapro to 2.5 mg Lexapro. on 25th Jan 2015 I've now moved to home made liquid Lexapro. Plan is to drop roughly 0.2 mg per month over the next 1-2 years. 25th Jan 2015 2.5 mg Lexapro liquid. 24th Mar 2016 1.0 mg lexapro (crushed tablet mixed and refilled into capsules) Planned to be at 0.0 mg lexapro by about October 2016. I also take 50-100 mg modafinil per day, no short term plans of stopping/tapering modafinil but will re-evaluate after I'm off lexapro. Link to comment
Hopefull Posted January 7, 2016 Share Posted January 7, 2016 Hi Damian, How are you doing? Are the B vitamins helping you? Do you feel better? Cheers Hopefull DRUG HISTORY: November 2013- Zoloft, ( Bad reaction). January 2014 - March 2014 Seroquel.( Quit Cold Turkey). January2014- Mirtazapine, I was taking 15mg at one stage, reduced to 7.5mg, Pgad reactions to Mirtazapine. Doctor kept increasing it to 37.5mg, until July 2014. No improvement, experiencing panic attacks, on 37.5 mg. I had enough by October 2014. Began tapering. October 2014- Started tapering Mirtazapine from 37.5mg. September 2015- Down to 4mg of Mirtazapine. Crashed. September 16th- Up dosed to 5mg. Held this dose for almost 5 months. Stabilised. February 2016- Began tapering again. From 5mg to 4.5mg of Mirtazapine. (Rocking the boat, again)! Lol. Link to comment
MatGMax Posted January 7, 2016 Author Share Posted January 7, 2016 Hi Hopefull, The B vitamins only helped marginally. I'm still taking a low dose of them to get some of the methyl folate, but clearly no magic cure for me. The tdcs device seems to help more. I've had it about 3 weeks now. I'll post on it after 3 months. (3 weeks is too short to get a good feel for it). I'm exercising more and have given up sugar and alcohol (though this probably not permanent) to see how that goes. I'm also exercising more (from a very low base) So all up I'm doing ok. I'm down to 1.1 mg Lexapro per day and at current rate of taper I'll be down to 0 in October 2016. All up, life is improving a bit. Still lots of challenges including my younger boy on the autism spectrum, but life ok. Thanks for asking! How are you going ? Cheers Damien Off all SSRIs as at November 2016. Been on SSRIs (mainly Lexapro) for around 15 years. failed attempts to go cold turkey before I got proper info on it. Over last 2 years I've slowly gone from 20 mg Lexapro to 2.5 mg Lexapro. on 25th Jan 2015 I've now moved to home made liquid Lexapro. Plan is to drop roughly 0.2 mg per month over the next 1-2 years. 25th Jan 2015 2.5 mg Lexapro liquid. 24th Mar 2016 1.0 mg lexapro (crushed tablet mixed and refilled into capsules) Planned to be at 0.0 mg lexapro by about October 2016. I also take 50-100 mg modafinil per day, no short term plans of stopping/tapering modafinil but will re-evaluate after I'm off lexapro. Link to comment
Hopefull Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Hi Damian, Nice to hear that you are doing well. I am ok. I have my moments but I am still hopefull that things will work out in the end. Have you thought about hyperbaric chamber therapy for you son? Research it. It might help your son. Best wishes, Hopefull. DRUG HISTORY: November 2013- Zoloft, ( Bad reaction). January 2014 - March 2014 Seroquel.( Quit Cold Turkey). January2014- Mirtazapine, I was taking 15mg at one stage, reduced to 7.5mg, Pgad reactions to Mirtazapine. Doctor kept increasing it to 37.5mg, until July 2014. No improvement, experiencing panic attacks, on 37.5 mg. I had enough by October 2014. Began tapering. October 2014- Started tapering Mirtazapine from 37.5mg. September 2015- Down to 4mg of Mirtazapine. Crashed. September 16th- Up dosed to 5mg. Held this dose for almost 5 months. Stabilised. February 2016- Began tapering again. From 5mg to 4.5mg of Mirtazapine. (Rocking the boat, again)! Lol. Link to comment
MatGMax Posted March 28, 2016 Author Share Posted March 28, 2016 Hi all I'm trying out 10mg noopept in the morning to help with lexapro withdrawal/original depression. So far after 10 days it seems to help. But it could just be luck as my mood goes up and down regularly. I've tried many supplements and few have given regular benefits so if the past is anything to go the chances aren't good. Also noopept has two other things that make it possibly difficult. It is easy to take too much and have negative effects. It isn't approved for anything. Has anyone else taken noopept? Ps I'm down to less than 1 mg lexapro! Yay! Cheers Damien Off all SSRIs as at November 2016. Been on SSRIs (mainly Lexapro) for around 15 years. failed attempts to go cold turkey before I got proper info on it. Over last 2 years I've slowly gone from 20 mg Lexapro to 2.5 mg Lexapro. on 25th Jan 2015 I've now moved to home made liquid Lexapro. Plan is to drop roughly 0.2 mg per month over the next 1-2 years. 25th Jan 2015 2.5 mg Lexapro liquid. 24th Mar 2016 1.0 mg lexapro (crushed tablet mixed and refilled into capsules) Planned to be at 0.0 mg lexapro by about October 2016. I also take 50-100 mg modafinil per day, no short term plans of stopping/tapering modafinil but will re-evaluate after I'm off lexapro. Link to comment
Moderator brassmonkey Posted March 28, 2016 Moderator Share Posted March 28, 2016 Hi Damien-- We do not condone the use of any drugs to help with WD from ADs. If you want to play with this sort of thing it is up to you, but it is not material for this forum. From our experience nootropic drugs have no benefit for people in WD and like any other drug can cause more trouble than good. Noopept is a very new drug with limited to no testing and no proven benefit even as a nootropic. The reports I have been reading liken it to the street drug Krokodil and you don't even want to think about going there. 20 years on Paxil starting at 20mg and working up to 40mg. Sept 2011 started 10% every 6 weeks taper (2.5% every week for 4 weeks then hold for 2 additional weeks), currently at 7.9mg. Oct 2011 CTed 15oz vodka a night, to only drinking 2 beers most nights, totally sober Feb 2013. Since I wrote this I have continued to decrease my dose by 10% every 6 weeks (2.5% every week for 4 weeks and then hold for an additional 2 weeks). I added in an extra 6 week hold when I hit 10mg to let things settle out even more. When I hit 3mgpw it became hard to split the drop into 4 parts so I switched to dropping 1mgpw (pill weight) every week for 3 weeks and then holding for another 3 weeks. The 3 + 3 schedule turned out to be too harsh so I cut back to dropping 1mgpw every 4 weeks which is working better. Final Dose 0.016mg. Current dose 0.000mg 04-15-2017 "It's also important not to become angry, no matter how difficult life is, because you can loose all hope if you can't laugh at yourself and at life in general." Stephen Hawking Link to comment
MatGMax Posted August 28, 2016 Author Share Posted August 28, 2016 Down to 0.2 mg of lexapro per day.50 days to go to 0 mg. Cheers Damien Off all SSRIs as at November 2016. Been on SSRIs (mainly Lexapro) for around 15 years. failed attempts to go cold turkey before I got proper info on it. Over last 2 years I've slowly gone from 20 mg Lexapro to 2.5 mg Lexapro. on 25th Jan 2015 I've now moved to home made liquid Lexapro. Plan is to drop roughly 0.2 mg per month over the next 1-2 years. 25th Jan 2015 2.5 mg Lexapro liquid. 24th Mar 2016 1.0 mg lexapro (crushed tablet mixed and refilled into capsules) Planned to be at 0.0 mg lexapro by about October 2016. I also take 50-100 mg modafinil per day, no short term plans of stopping/tapering modafinil but will re-evaluate after I'm off lexapro. Link to comment
Moderator Emeritus ChessieCat Posted August 28, 2016 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted August 28, 2016 Hi Damien, That's good news. Thanks for popping in and letting us know. Don't forget to listen to your body and hold a bit longer if you need to. You are so close to being off it would be rotten if you let impatience get the better of you and rush the last bit. * NO LONGER ACTIVE on SA * MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: (6 year taper) 0mg Pristiq on 13th November 2021 ADs since ~1992: 25+ years - 1 unknown, Prozac (muscle weakness), Zoloft; citalopram (pooped out) CTed (very sick for 2.5 wks a few months after); Pristiq: 50mg 2012, 100mg beg 2013 (Serotonin Toxicity) Tapering from Oct 2015 - 13 Nov 2021 LAST DOSE 0.0025mg Post 0 updates start here My tapering program My Intro (goes to tapering graph) VIDEO: Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome and its Management Link to comment
MatGMax Posted November 5, 2016 Author Share Posted November 5, 2016 Yay! The long trip to 0 ssri's is complete. The final month of 0.1 mg doses is over. Is still get depression, but I've always had that and wasn't expecting it to go away. Will post once I've been of for a couple of months with a follow up. Cheers Damien Off all SSRIs as at November 2016. Been on SSRIs (mainly Lexapro) for around 15 years. failed attempts to go cold turkey before I got proper info on it. Over last 2 years I've slowly gone from 20 mg Lexapro to 2.5 mg Lexapro. on 25th Jan 2015 I've now moved to home made liquid Lexapro. Plan is to drop roughly 0.2 mg per month over the next 1-2 years. 25th Jan 2015 2.5 mg Lexapro liquid. 24th Mar 2016 1.0 mg lexapro (crushed tablet mixed and refilled into capsules) Planned to be at 0.0 mg lexapro by about October 2016. I also take 50-100 mg modafinil per day, no short term plans of stopping/tapering modafinil but will re-evaluate after I'm off lexapro. Link to comment
Moderator Emeritus bubble Posted November 5, 2016 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted November 5, 2016 Thanks a lot for posting regular updates. It is very helpful for us who are tapering. Wishing you all the best and look forward to your updates. Current: 9/2022 Xanax 0.08, Lexapro 2 2020 Xanax 0.26 (down from 2 mg in 2013), Lexapro 2.85 mg (down from 5 mg 2013) Amitriptyline (tricyclic AD) and clonazepam for 3 months to treat headache in 1996 1999. - present Xanax prn up to 3 mg. 2000-2005 Prozac CT twice, 2005-2010 Zoloft CT 3 times, 2010-2013 Escitalopram 10 mg went from 2.5 to zero on 7 Aug 2013, bad crash 40 days afterreinstated to 5 mg Escitalopram 4Oct 2013 and holding liquid Xanax every 5 hours 28 Jan 2014 Xanax 1.9, 18 Apr 2015 1 mg, 25 June 2015 Lex 4.8, 6 Aug Lexapro 4.6, 1 Jan 2016 0.64 Xanax 9 month hold 24 Sept 2016 4.5 Lex, 17 Oct 4.4 Lex (Nov 0.63 Xanax, Dec 0.625 Xanax), 1 Jan 2017 4.3 Lex, 24 Jan 4.2, 5 Feb 4.1, 24 Mar 4 mg, 10 Apr 3.9 mg, May 3.85, June 3.8, July 3.75, 22 July 3.7, 15 Aug 3.65, 17 Sept 3.6, 1 Jan 2018 3.55, 19 Jan 3.5, 16 Mar 3.4, 14 Apr 3.3, 23 May 3.2, 16 June 3.15, 15 Jul 3.1, 31 Jul 3, 21 Aug 2.9 26 Sept 2.85, 14 Nov Xan 0.61, 1 Dec 0.59, 19 Dec 0.58, 4 Jan 0.565, 6 Feb 0.55, 20 Feb 0.535, 1 Mar 0.505, 10 Mar 0.475, 14 Mar 0.45, 4 Apr 0.415, 13 Apr 0.37, 21 Apr 0.33, 29 Apr 0.29, 10 May 0.27, 17 May 0.25, 28 May 0.22, 19 June 0.22, 21 Jun updose to 0.24, 24 Jun updose to 0.26 Supplements: Omega 3 + Vit E, Vit C, D, magnesium, Taurine, probiotic I'm not a medical professional. Any advice I give is based on my own experience and reading. Link to comment
Moderator Emeritus bubble Posted November 5, 2016 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted November 5, 2016 I was trying to find more info about your cuts but can't seem to find it. Did you go down by 0.2 mg per month all the way down from 2.5 mg? You probably decreased once you got to 1 mg... Current: 9/2022 Xanax 0.08, Lexapro 2 2020 Xanax 0.26 (down from 2 mg in 2013), Lexapro 2.85 mg (down from 5 mg 2013) Amitriptyline (tricyclic AD) and clonazepam for 3 months to treat headache in 1996 1999. - present Xanax prn up to 3 mg. 2000-2005 Prozac CT twice, 2005-2010 Zoloft CT 3 times, 2010-2013 Escitalopram 10 mg went from 2.5 to zero on 7 Aug 2013, bad crash 40 days afterreinstated to 5 mg Escitalopram 4Oct 2013 and holding liquid Xanax every 5 hours 28 Jan 2014 Xanax 1.9, 18 Apr 2015 1 mg, 25 June 2015 Lex 4.8, 6 Aug Lexapro 4.6, 1 Jan 2016 0.64 Xanax 9 month hold 24 Sept 2016 4.5 Lex, 17 Oct 4.4 Lex (Nov 0.63 Xanax, Dec 0.625 Xanax), 1 Jan 2017 4.3 Lex, 24 Jan 4.2, 5 Feb 4.1, 24 Mar 4 mg, 10 Apr 3.9 mg, May 3.85, June 3.8, July 3.75, 22 July 3.7, 15 Aug 3.65, 17 Sept 3.6, 1 Jan 2018 3.55, 19 Jan 3.5, 16 Mar 3.4, 14 Apr 3.3, 23 May 3.2, 16 June 3.15, 15 Jul 3.1, 31 Jul 3, 21 Aug 2.9 26 Sept 2.85, 14 Nov Xan 0.61, 1 Dec 0.59, 19 Dec 0.58, 4 Jan 0.565, 6 Feb 0.55, 20 Feb 0.535, 1 Mar 0.505, 10 Mar 0.475, 14 Mar 0.45, 4 Apr 0.415, 13 Apr 0.37, 21 Apr 0.33, 29 Apr 0.29, 10 May 0.27, 17 May 0.25, 28 May 0.22, 19 June 0.22, 21 Jun updose to 0.24, 24 Jun updose to 0.26 Supplements: Omega 3 + Vit E, Vit C, D, magnesium, Taurine, probiotic I'm not a medical professional. Any advice I give is based on my own experience and reading. Link to comment
MatGMax Posted November 6, 2016 Author Share Posted November 6, 2016 Hi bubbles, 0.1 drop per 24 days (my capsule maker makes 24 capsules. All the way from 2mg to 0 Ie 20 lots of 24 days. 480 days So from 1.0 mg to 0 took 240 days. Same as rate as from 2.0 For better or worse I didn't slow down. Hoping that now that I'm not dropping that some of the annoying symptoms will go away. Cheers Damien Off all SSRIs as at November 2016. Been on SSRIs (mainly Lexapro) for around 15 years. failed attempts to go cold turkey before I got proper info on it. Over last 2 years I've slowly gone from 20 mg Lexapro to 2.5 mg Lexapro. on 25th Jan 2015 I've now moved to home made liquid Lexapro. Plan is to drop roughly 0.2 mg per month over the next 1-2 years. 25th Jan 2015 2.5 mg Lexapro liquid. 24th Mar 2016 1.0 mg lexapro (crushed tablet mixed and refilled into capsules) Planned to be at 0.0 mg lexapro by about October 2016. I also take 50-100 mg modafinil per day, no short term plans of stopping/tapering modafinil but will re-evaluate after I'm off lexapro. Link to comment
Hopefull Posted November 13, 2016 Share Posted November 13, 2016 Good on you Damian! Best wishes to you! Keep us posted to see how you are doing. DRUG HISTORY: November 2013- Zoloft, ( Bad reaction). January 2014 - March 2014 Seroquel.( Quit Cold Turkey). January2014- Mirtazapine, I was taking 15mg at one stage, reduced to 7.5mg, Pgad reactions to Mirtazapine. Doctor kept increasing it to 37.5mg, until July 2014. No improvement, experiencing panic attacks, on 37.5 mg. I had enough by October 2014. Began tapering. October 2014- Started tapering Mirtazapine from 37.5mg. September 2015- Down to 4mg of Mirtazapine. Crashed. September 16th- Up dosed to 5mg. Held this dose for almost 5 months. Stabilised. February 2016- Began tapering again. From 5mg to 4.5mg of Mirtazapine. (Rocking the boat, again)! Lol. Link to comment
Mentor Happy2Heal Posted February 19, 2017 Mentor Share Posted February 19, 2017 (edited) On 11/5/2016 at 5:07 PM, MatGMax said: Yay! The long trip to 0 ssri's is complete. The final month of 0.1 mg doses is over. Is still get depression, but I've always had that and wasn't expecting it to go away. Will post once I've been of for a couple of months with a follow up. Cheers Damien Damien, so glad to see that you made it to zero!! I hope all is going well for you! I am esp anxious to know how you are going, as I'm tapering off of liquid lexapro myself praying that no news is good news! Edited April 9, 2018 by ChessieCat changed quote - new member name Taking a break from mentoring, please do not message or tag me, thank you! Got some personal stuff to deal with and am not able to give you my full attention. I will remove this reminder when I am back. Keep on swimming, my friends. 😊 pysch med history: 1974 @ age 18 to Oct 2017 (approx 43 yrs total) Drug list: stelazine, haldol, elavil, lithium, zoloft, celexa, lexapro(doses as high as 40mgs), klonopin, ambien, seroquel(high doses), depakote, zyprexa, lamictal- plus brief trials of dozens of other psych meds over the years started lexapro 2002, dose varied from 20mgs to 40mgs. First attempt to get off it was 2007- WD symptoms were mistaken for "relapse". 2013 too fast taper down to 5mg but WD forced me back to 20mgs June of 2105, tapered again too rapidly to 2.5mgs by Dec 2015. Found SA, held at 2.5 mgs til May 2016 when I foolishly "jumped off". felt ok until Sept, then acute WD hit!! reinstated at 0.3mgs in Oct. 2106 Tapered off to zero by Oct. 2017 Doing very well. Nov. 2018 feel 95% healed, age 63 Jan. 2020 feel 100% healed, peaceful and content PRESENT DAYS: Loving life! ❤️ with all it's ups and downs Link to comment
MatGMax Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share Posted February 20, 2017 (edited) Hi H2H Thanks for the reminder. All going well. Life throws all the normal challenges, and I still get mild depression (probably my natural state), but I've accepted that. Both my boys are in school now which helps (C's ASD symptoms have moderated and he clearly won't need a special school). He is the third week of 'prep' (Australian's first year of school is called 'prep') and we haven't had any big issues. He turns 5 in March so is near the youngest in his class. I pretty sure none of my remaining issues are SSRI related. My biggest dilemma at the moment is whether or not to take modafinil. Without modafinil I'm lazy (probably my natural state) and easy going. With a low dose of modafinil I'm much more energetic (which helps at work and around the house), but can be a little more hostile and possibly more likely to catch colds. But either way I can make the choice day to day or month to month and modafinil is nothing like the SSRIs in mechanism or long term effects. I'm thinking I might ask my wife about it to see which she prefers... The SSRI (lexapro) 20 year stage of life I'm pretty sure has been put to bed. Cheers Damien Edited April 3, 2022 by ChessieCat changed member name Off all SSRIs as at November 2016. Been on SSRIs (mainly Lexapro) for around 15 years. failed attempts to go cold turkey before I got proper info on it. Over last 2 years I've slowly gone from 20 mg Lexapro to 2.5 mg Lexapro. on 25th Jan 2015 I've now moved to home made liquid Lexapro. Plan is to drop roughly 0.2 mg per month over the next 1-2 years. 25th Jan 2015 2.5 mg Lexapro liquid. 24th Mar 2016 1.0 mg lexapro (crushed tablet mixed and refilled into capsules) Planned to be at 0.0 mg lexapro by about October 2016. I also take 50-100 mg modafinil per day, no short term plans of stopping/tapering modafinil but will re-evaluate after I'm off lexapro. Link to comment
Administrator Altostrata Posted May 30, 2017 Administrator Share Posted May 30, 2017 How are you, Damien? This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner. "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein All postings © copyrighted. Link to comment
MatGMax Posted July 5, 2017 Author Share Posted July 5, 2017 Hi Altostrata, Sorry for the delay getting back to you. Having trouble at the moment. I'm off SSRIs for 6 months and the last 2-3 months has been hard. I don't think it is SSRIs related though. I'm getting lots of weird symptoms that could be related to heart trouble but nothing shows up on the ECG. Going for a stress heart test tomorrow. My symptoms could be lack of sleep/stress related as well. My wife was pressuring me to go back on anti-depressants. She has had previous boyfriends go 'off-med' with bad consequences. She isn't a science person so explaining the difference between lithium treatment for her ex's near psychosis and ssri treatment for depression is hard work. She just sees that I cannot do as much house work as I used to. It true I've had depression like symptoms (and not at good a husband/father as I'd like). My best bet at the moment is a heart condition, perhaps related to 'pectus excavatum' (a divert in the chest I was born with). But I'm not really sure. No blood test come up with anything yet. I'm not keen to go back on SSRIs just to convince my wife I'm doing everything I can, especially when I have chest pain. If she insists though it is hard, she has a very strong personality. thanks for thinking of me. Damien Off all SSRIs as at November 2016. Been on SSRIs (mainly Lexapro) for around 15 years. failed attempts to go cold turkey before I got proper info on it. Over last 2 years I've slowly gone from 20 mg Lexapro to 2.5 mg Lexapro. on 25th Jan 2015 I've now moved to home made liquid Lexapro. Plan is to drop roughly 0.2 mg per month over the next 1-2 years. 25th Jan 2015 2.5 mg Lexapro liquid. 24th Mar 2016 1.0 mg lexapro (crushed tablet mixed and refilled into capsules) Planned to be at 0.0 mg lexapro by about October 2016. I also take 50-100 mg modafinil per day, no short term plans of stopping/tapering modafinil but will re-evaluate after I'm off lexapro. Link to comment
rupa Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 Damien,How are you? Hope you and your family doing good. Cold turkeyed risperidone (1m.g)and trihexyphenidyl combination drug out of ignorance,In August 2016 after one month use. Withdrawal symptoms settled at dreamful,disturbing sleep. Thus introduced to olanzapine for sleep.Started using olanzapine out of ignorance. Tapering olanzapine 10 m.g from February 2017. May 2018 :Still suffering dreams,Still tapering olanzapine at 0.625.100ml water+2.5 mg olanzapine. June 2018 22.5ml=0.57mg.July 2018 20ml,August 2018-17.5ml,September 2018-15ml,October 2018 10 ml,December 2018 7 ml, BrassMonkey slide method so far at lower doses.2 nd December cold turkeyed , only to reach minure doses as reinstatement to cutshort endless tapering process.4rth December started 1ml. Almost no symptoms and sleep is better,So started 0.5 ml from 17-12-2018. "0"from31-12-18.Re birth happened from 10- 2020,as rejuvenation took whole2019.Completely recovered now. Link to comment
MatGMax Posted April 8, 2018 Author Share Posted April 8, 2018 (edited) Hi Rupa, Thanks for reaching out (I think that's what the young people say...) Doing ok. Not great but ok. I'm back on 5mg lexapro and have been for 8 months. I've got no plans to change dosage. I think the SSRIs have taken out part of my brain and it just won't grow back. 6 months after tapering to 0 (4 years of tapering I think) I got almost bed ridden with all sorts of weird symptoms. It is possible if I hung in there for 3 or 4 months more my brain might have started to heal itself but I had to make a choice and for my children as well. Also involved in that choice was the realization that 5mg lexapro doesn't give me any bad side-effects that I can tell. They only side-effect I notice is a positive, (I won't go into details but you can probably guess, it is a man thing). Within a week of going to 5mg most of the weird debilitating symptoms left me. I still get mild to occasional moderate depression but just accept that. It isn't the worst thing in the world. I'll revisit it in 10-15 years time once kids have grown up and medical science has advanced. This will be the last post here for me. Thanks to everyone for their support. I'm hoping to enter a profession that I'm just a little bit more visible than previously and my personal details are all over this log. The internet is just not the same place it was when I was growing up and forums like these are just a bit to visible for my liking. I should have made it anonymous from the start. Also I don't have a heap more to add as I'm just planning to take 5mg lexapro for the next 15 years. For the record I also want to say I never found any other medication/supplement that helped much despite trying lots. I currently take cold showers each morning and that helps depression 'a little bit' but is certainly no cure. I still take a low dose (50mg) of modifinal occasionally and it helps a little with energy levels. Strangely enough I also use a nicotine patch if I have something very important like an exam and that helps (About once every 3 months or so), I don't suggest that to anyone, just mentioning it for completeness and it is more of performance enhancement than depression treatment. (I've never smoked). If there is an administrator who can 'anonymize' all the references to my member name, subject and log to something like 'MatGMax' or something like it would be appreciated. I'm ok with my name Damien being out there, it is effectively anonymous. Cheers all and I wish you all the very best. Again as the young people say 'thanks for taking the journey with me'. Edited April 9, 2018 by ChessieCat changed to "member name" Off all SSRIs as at November 2016. Been on SSRIs (mainly Lexapro) for around 15 years. failed attempts to go cold turkey before I got proper info on it. Over last 2 years I've slowly gone from 20 mg Lexapro to 2.5 mg Lexapro. on 25th Jan 2015 I've now moved to home made liquid Lexapro. Plan is to drop roughly 0.2 mg per month over the next 1-2 years. 25th Jan 2015 2.5 mg Lexapro liquid. 24th Mar 2016 1.0 mg lexapro (crushed tablet mixed and refilled into capsules) Planned to be at 0.0 mg lexapro by about October 2016. I also take 50-100 mg modafinil per day, no short term plans of stopping/tapering modafinil but will re-evaluate after I'm off lexapro. Link to comment
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