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I was in Lexapro 10 and 20mg (mostly 10) for 15 years. I was put on it when I was 19 after going through a breakup with my high school girlfriend. Also , I have dealt with minor anxiety issues most of my life and have a family history of anxiety and depression. Everything was going ok until I herniated a disc in Jan 2018. What felt like a nervous breakdown ensued. My GP stopped Lexapro cold turkey and started me on Luvox and this made things worse. I cold turkey quit everything for a couple months and things continued to get worse. My GP then put me on Effexor 150mg and Klonopin 1mg twice daily. Things improved for a while. After 6 months, I decided to taper Klonopin because I had found this site and benzobuddies. I am down to 0.25 mg of Klonopin daily and still on Effexor. I am living a life of waves and windows now. I am a middle school teacher and coach. Thankfully, God has strengthened me enough to continue to work through this WD process.

Hello all! I found your forum and figured I should ask for thoughts regarding my Lexapro withdrawal experience. I’ll post a brief overview paragraph, but if you have time or want to know more, I tried to be as detailed as possible describing my symptoms to see if they sound familiar to anyone here. Short explanation: I took Lexapro for around 2 years, maybe a bit longer. The dose was 10mg, but it’s possible it was a little higher for a short while. I lowered the dose to 5mg at some point in 2014 and was on that dose for a year. I then spent the bulk of a year tapering from 5mg to 0mg. The last dose I took was so small that it was a tiny piece of powder on my finger, which is what I had gotten it down to over time. I am on here because I have been off of the medicine completely for almost four months and still have some odd slight-dizzy/floating feelings sometimes, which typically aren’t very strong or long lasting, but I also have fatigue most days. I sleep very well and get 7-8 hours a night, but feel the need to lay down for a few minutes several times a day. I never had these issues until I started messing with my Lexapro doses. Thats the short story, but I can get more in-depth. Fatigue details: The fatigue used to be so bad a few months ago that I could easily fall asleep within 3 minutes; I would often take a few minute break at work and immediately fall asleep in my car and set a short 6 minute timer and wake up and feel a lot better. I would do that a few times a day especially after work. Now days I don’t instantly fall asleep, but resting my eyes for a few minutes helps. I take a 20 min nap at lunch and a 20 min nap after work and for both of these I fall asleep and jolt awake when the alarm goes off, but feel a lot better. When it happens, I can often feel the tiredness growing in a short period of time, often within an hour or even 15 minutes. The tiredness is usually just to the level of being annoying, but sometimes it becomes so strong that I literally just have to close my eyes at my office desk for awhile. When it’s really bad I notice I even close my eyes for a couple seconds when I am walking or doing simple things. This isn’t like when a driver starts closing their eyes without noticing it; I very purposefully close my eyes just for a second or two to get a vague feeling of minor relief. Usually I feel like my mind is actually still working and I am wanting to stay productive, but my eyes and head just get tired even though the rest of me seems to have energy. Its almost like a synthetic tiredness, as if my water was spiked several times a day without me knowing; it’s very different from a normal tiredness. Often if I am at home I will feel it kick in and just have to drop what I’m doing, lay down and set my timer for 5-15 minutes just to recharge and then get back up and continue what I was doing. Then it might kick in two or three hours later and I’ll have to do the nap/timer session again. Before I go out and do anything, such as meet a friend or go to a movie, I preemptively take a short nap to prepare my body. Also, when I wake up in the morning after a full 7 or 8 hours sleep, I am typically a bit groggy for awhile inevitably. Before I started changing my meds I would often wake up and have energy and used to love my morning time during the weekends. Now mornings aren’t horrible, but they aren’t really much to look forward to. On weekends I often take one of my quick naps within an hour or two after waking up because I get so groggy I just have to lay down. Dizziness details: My dizziness from time to time gets bad enough to become an issue that really bothers me. These periods where it is bad usually only last for a few days, but more often the dizziness is a very minor symptom and just makes me feel a bit “off” for a half hour or so. It’s hard to explain and there are actually several different feelings of dizziness I experience. “Dizziness” isn’t even always the best word, but its the only one that I can think of that fits. Often it is just a vague sense of feeling disconnected and unbalanced. Sometimes when I am showering I do literally feel slightly unbalanced, but it is a very minor feeling and I never *actually* feel like I am loosing my balance. Another feeling is almost like the whole room is spinning, but at such a very, very slow rate that it is just enough to make me feel slightly uncomfortable. Sometimes another feeling happens where I feel slightly cloudy headed and if I turn my head quickly, it takes a second for my brain to readjust. This usually doesn’t last very long, and in fact, most of these dizzy feelings come and go within a half hour and don’t interfere with my life very badly. Oh, and another one is a vague “floating” sense that I sometimes feel when I walk down a hallway, for example. Again, pretty minor, but just enough to make me feel a little off. I should also mention that sometimes the dizziness transitions into tiredness; the dizziness evaporates and I am left feeling like I need to lay down from sudden fatigue. Additional issues: When I first got off Lex completely, I had really sore muscles in my back and shoulder blades within a few days. One of those curved self massage sticks really helped with that. I used to also have a really bad pressure in my head during the tapering process (but went away after a few weeks of stopping lex) and the massage stick also relieved a lot of that head pressure that I used to get. I no longer have the tension in my back, but my shoulders themselves often feel like they get tense, like there is a “grip” on them. Sometimes this is combined with a slight feeling of dizziness. When I am around my father to give my shoulders a quick massage it relieves a lot of the dizziness as well as the tension. I have read that anxiety can cause tension like this, but I have had anxiety my whole life and never have felt this shoulder “grip” before. But it may be an indirect, subconscious anxiety causing this tension, as opposed to a direct result of lexapro withdrawal. Typically a short period of laying down helps with this also. Waves/Windows: I have read different parts of this forum and found them helpful. I feel that the “waves/windows” idea is in line with what I have been going through. I feel that I am getting better, and then all of a sudden I will feel way worse for several days or a week, then I will start feeling better again for a week or so. However, looking back on the whole process, overall I think I am improving in the big picture scheme of things. I went to the doctor yesterday and of course he told me it couldn’t have anything to do with Lexapro because I have been off of it for a few months. I also am having blood work done just in case it is anything else. I guess my big question is do these things sound familiar to others and will these symptoms go away over time?

Hi, I'm new here. I don't know where to start...I feel so hopeless and desperate. I've been on and off lexapro for 5 plus years after being diagnosed with panic disorder. Recently have come to realize that I've never given myself the chance to push through withdrawal because my GP had always assumed it was relapse. As I result she would put me back on meds, lexapro. So it's been this sort of cycle for sometime. I typically don't experience withdrawal, "relapse", symptoms till months later, 3 months or so. This time I wanna push through, but I am struggling hard. Recently divorced with two children, so the timing isn't great but when is it really? I'm here for support. I'm falling apart. I have a lot of anxiety, depression, and panic. Heart palpitations, trouble breathing, dizziness, can't sleep past 4 am, and I've lost a lot of weight. Dr. Gave me a prescription for lexapro again, 10 MG, and believes I should get back on it and try tapering later at a "better time". I fear doing this because chances are, I'm going to be back where I started, again and again. But I feel like I'm drowning...trying to cope and manage my symptoms while living a new life a single working mom. I feel like I'm constantly failing. Please help 🙏

Hi guys, Figured i'd join this community for support and to support others. For a bit of background I was prescribed Escitalopram for OCD in early March this year. (Tried regular citalopram first but it was gross and refused to take a second pill) Worked my way up to 15mg of escitalopram by the fourth month. The whole time i was wary of being on them and wanted to get off sooner rather than later, always felt like they were bad news but was essentially out of options. Over this time period I worked extremely hard in therapy/ERP and made a lot of progress with my OCD in that time to the point where it was mostly under control. I was actually pretty happy. Month 5 i dropped down to 10mg. Noticed some mild symptoms (sweating, increased heart rate) but nothing major and they subsided quickly. A few weeks later i dropped down to 5mg. Definitely noticed some more intense symptoms this time, but still nothing that bad. I waited for a further 3 weeks before making the final jump to zero. Unsurprisingly this transition was when things got pretty bad. The first few days were fine, I actually laughed to myself and thought i'd got away with not having many withdrawals. You guessed it, i was wrong. I'm about 7 weeks off now, my memory isn't great atm but from what i can recall the first month was extremely uncomfortable. I can only really describe it as intense emotional pain/anxiety sort of burning inside my chest coupled with racing thoughts. I was extremely irritable, to the point of rage, had very broken sleep, vivid dreams, wild mood swings, sweats, very deep depression. I think around week 5 i had a sort of baby window where for 2 days i felt pretty good. Was stupid enough to drink on that night and woke up back in the pit (if not worse than it was before). I'm currently just over 7 weeks off, the rage has been replaced with irritability, my sleep has somewhat improved, however i'm far from recovered. Still experience very intense emotions (mainly depression, anxiety, anger and sadness), moments of overwhelming impending doom, brainfog, paranoia. There's more but i'm sure you get the point. Anyway, i'm aware i've tapered off far quicker than I should have done. But given all i've been through i'm reluctant to put that stuff back in my body. I'd rather just take the pain. I'm lucky enough to be in a position where i don't have much responsibility right now, however i obviously want to get back to living my life as this past year has been hell with the OCD and then w/d. Hoping given the relatively short time period i was on them for it won't last too long. However 6 months on the drug, i wouldn't be surprised if i need 6 months to recover, maybe more but hopefully not. So yeah, i'm here for the ride with you guys. I know how isolating of an experience it is. My family don't really believe that i'm still withdrawing nearly two months later.

Hello to all My joiurney with depression, anxiety and lexapro started in 2017 before which I had absolutely no clue about the nightmare I’d be stepping into. At my worst point I was on 20 mg of lexapro in the year 2020. Since then I’ve reduced to lexapro 5 mg after slowly cutting doses. I’m afraid to go down from here but desperately want to get off this medicine. I have several side effects from lexapro like sore breasts and night sweats for which I’ve been taking evening primrose oil which has led to even more problems with my menstrual cycle. 5 mg lexparo hasn’t been working very well for me the past year so I’ve been using cbd gummies, which also has been giving me side effects and I’ve had to stop it. I’m not sure if it was the cbd giving me side effects or the lexpro side effects worsening because of cbd. I was taking charlottes web full spectrum gummies 10 mg a day. I did some online research and found that taking cbd increases the concentration of lexapro in the body and can cause side effects to worsen. My doctor had no clue about anything and told me it was safe to take cbd with lexapro which is what led to this disaster. now I don’t know whether i should increase lexapro and go up to 10 mg and start going down from there to eventually stop or start decreasing right now from my current dose of 5 mg lexapro im not taking any other medications as of now, but can’t deal with lexapro anymore..please help me..I’m basically tired of having to deal with the constant side effects and taking one thing after another for my body to feel balanced and good.. is there a way out of this?

So I have been tapering off antidepressants for the last year by myself and I am looking for some support. I first was given Lexapro 20 mg about 6 years ago for an anxiety disorder. At the beginning it worked wonders (or so I thought) but after 2 years I started to experience major weight gain and sexual side effects that were unbearable and I decided to get off my medication. I was not informed of any potential withdrawal and ended up tapering way to fast and experienced extreme withdrawal. I ended up going back on the Lexapro and stabilized. After about 4 months I decided to try and get off again but this time I tried a slower taper. I tapered from 20 to 15 mg successfully and then tried from 15 to 10 but the withdrawal was too much. I went back to 15 mg but side effects were really taking a toll on me so I decided to add Wellbutrin. I experienced severe anxiety and could not continue on the Wellbutrin. I tapered off Wellbutrin and the next 2 months were complete hell filled with extreme anxiety. I also started to notice a weird tightness sensation in my stomach that disabled my movement. After 2 months my doctor recommended mirtazapine in addition to the Lexapro. I started to feel great after the addition of the mirtazapine but then after a month out of no where I started feeling extremely anxious and my stomach tightness increased 10 fold. I tried to stay on the medication as I was terrified to go into withdrawal again but after 6 months of the mirtazapine I could not continue. I tried to taper slowly off the mirtazapine and again experienced severe withdrawal and decided to see a psychiatrist (the worst thing I have ever done). She put me on Rexulti in addition to the Lexapro and mirtazapine and I experienced the worst restlessness I have ever felt but the anxiety was slightly reduced. I read online that the restlessness goes away after a while so I continued with the rexulti and the restlessness eventually went away. I then tapered completely off the mirtazapine and my stomach issues resolved slightly. I was still experiencing sexual side effects so my psychiatrist switch me from Lexapro to Vibryd. She told me there were no side effects but I ended up experienced the worst weight gain and sexual dysfunction I have ever experienced. At this point I was so angry and disillusioned I told my psychiatrist off and decided to get off everything. It has been about a year of slowly tapering and every little bit of medication that I get off of the better I feel. That being said I feel as if I am deteriorating mentally. When I do tapers now I start thinking that I am permanently damaged and become suicidal even though I eventually start feeling better every time. I am currently in the middle of a taper and I am feeling pretty hopeless. When I taper I experience a loss of coordination, blurred eye sight, extreme anxiety, stomach tightness that I have started to notice in my spine, suicidal thoughts, slurred speech, headache, and extreme anger. These symptoms describe a condition call Ataxia and I am beyond worried that I have acquired a permanent condition. I know I start to feel better but when I am in severe withdrawal I can't help but worry about permanent damage. I just haven't had enough time of feeling good over the last 6 years to confidently know that I am not permanently damaged. These guys need to pay for what they are doing to people. I hope that this information is used to put a stop to this horrific system.

Hi there First of all I want to say "sorry" for my english - I try my best to make it as clear as possible! I'm a 38 yo woman with no significant psychiatric prehistory. In january 2022, after Covid-19 hit me, my life, as many others, turned upside down. 10 days after my initial infection (from one day to another) I felt completely depressed, couldn't sleep anymore, was in a unhuman state of panic and my whole sculp was tingling. I ended up for 5 days in an psychiatric hospital. Even the strongest sleep medication couldn't send me to sleep. I really thougt "this was it" and the only reason for not "bringing it to an end" were my beloved two girls. Please note at this point: I had NEVER EVER suicidal thougts my whole life. Doctors told me, that I have Long Covid and put me on Escitalopram. I felt weird and unnatural high on this drug and had a lot of side effects. More and more symptoms appeared and I never knew if this was due LC or due the SSRI. But I didn't care. I was in a such dark place, physically and mentally and was thankful for being at home with my family and slowly my sleep improved. After a few weeks "fight or flight" hit me again and my psychiatrist forced me to updose to the max. After that the nightmare continued and I ended up in hospital for two weeks with what I think is known as "serotonine syndrome". My whole body was shaking and I was completely agitated and over the edge. I felt like going into psychosis and had accustical hallucinations. The only thing I knew at this point was that I have to downdose my medication. I felt completely disturbed. I felt agitated, extremely tense and had the worst mood swings, which I never had before. My sleep was ruined again and they wanted to put me on Z-drugs but I refused and took 25 mg Quetiapin known as Seroquel/Sequase instead. After maybe six weeks something like stabilisation happened but still on a very bad baseline. I never felt like me and couldn't except that I have to be on these drugs now. So I decided to come off. There was nothing to loose. After every try of reduce I got new symptoms plus the old symptoms came back fullforced and lastet for a few weeks. I still never knew what was LC induced and what was drug induced. After months of tappering my psychiatrist decided to wean off from 8 mg in about 4 weeks and put me instead on 25 mg Sertralinum. For about 4 weeks I felt great and during this time I had 4 H.E.L.P. apharesis for my LC symptoms. Then we got the flu and I felt like I was hit by a train and completely new symptoms appeared. Since then a had only a few weeks where my symptoms were manageable. Current symptoms: • morning anxiety • diarrhoe • panic attacks • anxiety spikes/adrenal rushes • intrusive thougts • shakiness • internal vibrations • Tingling/burning sensations • extreme moodswings • short term depression (only a few minutes/hours/days) • brain zaps when falling asleep • electric jolts in my body when falling asleep • anxiety after napping • catastrophizing • heart palpitations • blurry vision • very dry eyes • light/sound sensitivity • extreme tense neck muscles • sharp ear pain • twitching muscles • in fight or flight about everything • fear of everything • nausea + headache • extreme PMS Current intakes: • 25 mg Sertralinum • 25 mg Quetiapin • 1 mg Lorazepanum if needed (maybe 1-2 / months) • some supplements like magnesium, fishoil, turmeric, ... Please note: All these symptoms are changing over the day. They come to go and go to come again. Do you think that it's possible that I'm withdrawing or was it Covid-19 that ruined my nervous system ? Thanx 1000 for your ADVICE 🙏🙏🙏

Hi, Looking for a glimmer of hope here. I stumbled upon this website yesterday and some of the success stories are great. I am a mother of two. I met my husband while on Lexapro. I was put on for social anxiety for around 10 years. I just kept mindlessly taking it and taking it. I tried CBT, but was young and naive and just wanted a quick fix or a magic pill. When I told my then boyfriend about being on the meds, he said he didn’t care and he loved me for who I was. Fast forward 9 years and we are married with two beautiful babies. I tapered off the drug during my pregnancy with my first. Went back on after I had her reluctantly. My anxiety was really bad and I chalked it up to postpartum anxiety. Weaned myself off and then got pregnant again with my son. Spring 2020 rolls around and I had been off the drug roughly around 2 years not including the pregnancy. My lower legs were starting to go numb. I am extremely active and started noticing these changes in my body. Skin crawlers, tremors. Went to the dr and told him it felt like withdrawal symptoms from the AD. He told me I was silly and put me on a low dose of lexapro. They did blood work and everything came back normal. Ultimately, I had manifested in my head that I had MS. Google is a b****. It was the pandemic, I was isolated and I’m a stay at home mom so I have a lot of time on my hands. I was referred to a neurologist who sent me for an mri. Found nothing. Finally, after a few weeks of insomnia, I tried to take my own life by way of overdosing with 5 mg lexapro tablets. I was rushed to the ER and luckily it was such a small amount of the meds they didn’t pump my stomach. After this event, you guessed it, they put me back on lexapro. I was on for a year and my psychiatrist agreed to wean me off. That was May of 2021. I took my last pill. Sleep was awesome for an entire year. No other crazy effects until last week. My husband was gone on business and I woke up in the middle of the night to use restroom and never fell back asleep. Ever since then my sleep has been spotty. I know what this is this time and it’s not anxiety!!!! It’s my body saying that it wants this drug back. The only difference now is that I know what’s going on and I have tools and supplements to help me through. I have been meditating and taking Valerian root to sleep. This is my story. It feels good to get it out there. Thanks for reading.

Hello all .. I do not speak English so I will write and do the translation and paste the conversation here so that you may understand my words ... My story began exactly 15 years ago, I don’t know exactly whether it was a sudden fear or of my father’s death I don’t know but I was very worried and went to the psychiatrist He gave me a prescription for a variety of medicines, but I settled on Seroxat with a dose of 20 mg per day, then a year ago, I replaced Seroxat with Cipralex, a dose of 15 mg, and now I want to get rid of it because of lethargy, laziness and lack of sexual desire completely, so I started a week ago with a dose of 10 mg Cipralex and now I suffer from depression and sad feelings, by God Success

Hello everyone! Forty+ male from Germany here. As you can see in my signature, I've been on psychiatric medications, i.e. antidepressants, for most of my adult life. It all started in 2004 (maybe a lot earlier, but more on that probably later) when I was no longer able to sleep, felt like a piece of sh*t and could no longer go to university to finish my studies. Went to a psychiatrist after an amount of nagging by my girlfriend and was put on a low dose of amitryptiline, which actually helped with sleep for a while, but did not seem to do anything besides. Finally quit university after a while and sacked the shrink and amitryptiline on my own in early 2007. Until that no other therapy except meds. Fast forward to the summer of 2007 where I got into another crisis concerning my education and my future in general. Suicidal. Went to my GP who referred me to a different psychiatrist who ordered a course of mirtazapine and CBT. The mirtazapine helped me sleep (a lot) and made me gain weight (a lot). CBT was interesting and, in the beginning, helpful. When my therapist got pregnant at after about a year, I decided I'd had enough of therapy for the moment. Life went on, rough at times, and as the mirtazapine lost its effect, it was time to try Fluoxetine, as this was supposed to be more effective at lifting my mood (or so I was told). As I could not sleep without the mirtazapine, my doc added Trimipramine to the Fluoxetin. The fluoxetine regularly gave me diarrhea and after another (deeper, I'd say the absolute worst until then) crisis in 2012 which had quetiapine added to my cocktail, I ended up with clomipramine and quetiapine. The clomipramine was terrible during the first weeks to months: I was sweating like a river and short of breath at even the smallest exertion, could not have an orgasm, but at least my anxiety was gone. Quetiapine was discontinued quickly in 2015 after blood tests showed it affected my liver function. (And I blame it for my type 2 diabetes which was discovered in 2016, but try telling that a doctor...) After that my doctor recommended a switch to escitalopram as its side effect profile was supposed to be more tolerable compared to clomipramine. Pregebaline was added as escitaloprame was not as effective as clomipramine in killing my anxiety. Stopped the pregabaline for a while after I weighed over 90kg (about 198 lbs) at ca. 170cm height (about 5 feet 7 inches if I am not mistaken). To make a long story short: In 2021, when I was stuck at home due to the pandemic, I decided I'd had enough of those meds and started a, retrospectively, very quick taper: if I remember correctly I went from 20mg escitalopram to 0mg in about four weeks. I cannot say that I felt really bad during that time -- I was more energetic, but unfortunately also a lot more aggressive (my poor wife... now I know it was probably withdrawal) and as summer was approaching, my anxiety and mood swings kept returning. I discontinued the doxepin as well, but more slowly. I do not remember how exactly, to be honest. In July, as I desperately wanted to enjoy my summer holidays and not battle with anxiety, sleepless nights and mood swings, I went up from 0mg to 20mg abruptly. Nausea for one or two days, then I felt als I had always felt while taking escitalopram. Indifferent to anything and everything. For me, escitalopram is a real I-don't-care-at-all-pill. But I could function and sleep. Ok, now am I here in spring 2022 and want to get rid of my psych meds for good. I started tapering in autumn '21 and am currently at 7,5mg escitalopram. My current schedule is reduction by 2,5mg on a monthly basis. I often feel reasonably well, but unfortunately am experiencing some mood swings on a day to day basis. Sometimes I just long for the day to be over so I can go to bed. As today is a day that could be a lot better 😆, I am not sure if I will take the next step to 5mg which would be due on the next friday. Thanks for reading that far and I'd be glad to hear from you! N.

I'm so glad I found this page. I've already read so much my brain feels overloaded but in a good way so I can only share a little bit here at the moment. I'm 62 years old have been on antidepressants for I'd say 25 odd years with very few breaks at all. Where I am at the moment is coming to the realization I don't want to spend the rest of my life feeling "comfortably numb" but being also afraid of who I may become without Lexapro. I've taken the plunge about 4 months ago tapering off my 10mg dose by half over a period of 2 months approximately. I then went on an overseas holiday so stopped talking them totally from there. I've been through the brain zaps which was pretty much the only physical symptom I've had. All in all I feel reasonably good apart from an occasional angry outburst and like I've read from others elsewhere questioning who the real me is. Will I like who I am when my emotions are not being controlled by the medication. This is all I can write for now.

Hello, I've read this forum for a while and it has helped me much. I've been putting off creating my own thread as getting my thoughts straight has been quite difficult. I will attempt to be as accurate as possible but some dates are estimates. I am a 24 year old male. To be brief, as a young teenager I had some trouble fitting in and this presented me with emotional difficulties, Due to prevelence of the idea in the culture, online especially I was led to believe this was something called 'depression' and the treatment was pharmaceutical drugs. At around 15 years old when school was becoming difficult I presented to mental health services seeking allieviation of my struggles. I believed I had ADHD due to difficulty concentrating and this was a popular meme online when researching difficulty with applying yourself to schoolwork and studying. Naturally I pursued medication for this also. After some tests I was diagnosed as having this condition. I was prescribed 100mg sertraline and 50mg vyvanse after some medication trials. This kind of quieted down my negative emotions for sure and it did help me concentrate somewhat on schoolwork. I took these drugs for 7-8 years. I did take a year off sertraline when going to university, but reinstated due to severe difficulties a year later. I switched this to 15mg escitalopram shortly after this reinstatement. this was roughly 2020 I think? I was on the escitalopram for a year or two but it's foggy. And I came to the conclusion it was harming my ability to feel emotions and have meaning in my life so I discontinued after a short taper. For 9 months there were tolerable symptoms such as simple low mood. Something changed at around 9 months in and I started to experience severe distortion of my cognitive functions. I was hence unable to perform but the most simple daily tasks. This was In april 2023 (this year) I believe. I found this forum and related to many of your experiences. This gave me hope for improvement. I am posting here because I am hopeful to one day find the cause of this disease and promote awareness to doctors and the public alike to the systemic changes these drugs can induce. Afterall serotonin mediates processes throughout the entire body, it is not simply the happiness switch but a key player in keeping all the systems of the body functioning properly. One idea I have had is some of these symptoms could be the result of an alteration of blood flow. Serotonin influences blood vessel tone. Reduced blood flow in the brain could explain reduced cognitive ability many experience and potentially reduced blood flow would also result in reduced erection function and PSSD. My blood vessels for example have adapted to a certain serotonin signalling over 7-8 years so it seems feasible to me. I also struggle with exercise, becoming light headed after a simple walk. My reaction time is substantially slower in video games also for example. My hands and feet are constantly cold. I can go into details with symptoms but really they are very much in common with those details by most people who are brought to this website. Anxiety and head pressure, over stimulation etc. I hope this is reasonably coherent, it is difficult! Thank you.

Hi all, new to forums. Not new to meds, 11 years and counting on Lexapro. So about 6 weeks ago I dropped dose. I probably went down too fast I realise now having read on these forums now that I should use the hyperbolic model, and drop less an less at a time the lower I go, but since the same percentage taper last time was completely smooth it didn't. cross my mind. So I went from 10mg escitalopram to 5 mg aprox one year ago. I at that point had no thought of ever tapering off the meds, I just wanted to see if I could do on less since I had been on them for so many years and felt more stable and ready to handle my GAD with other methods. . Only side effects of being on meds I've had is weight gain and the need to nap daily and they have helped me immensely I have to say. Since that taper a year ago I've noticed I'm less tired in the daytime and I've finally started being able to lose weight. Had zero issues going from 10 to 5 mg. Since I was doing really well on 5mg for en entire year (I had planned to stay on that dose for the foreseeable future), I went down by half again 6 weeks back. So to 2,5mg about. First weeks have been fine, zero difference for 5 weeks. But now the past week I've developed burning feet. My feet ache and burn all the time, day and night. I've never had this ever before. This is my only symptom. I have no brain zaps, nightmares etc, slightly more night sweats possibly but minimal. Perhaps slightly more emotional but this is mostly a good thing. Only feet burning, no other body parts have the same symptom. This is a really uncomfortable symptom. Obviously it could be from something else, I know it's a common thing for people also not on meds. So I can't be sure it's due to taper. But IF it is temporary (weeks or so) I think I can put up with it with the help of ibuprofen etc but now I'm starting to get scared that I've damaged myself permanently? Do I go up a bit to say 3mg? or do I stick it out? which is safer? 2011-Escitalopram 10mg for Severe GAD 2013- tried to start tapering off (slowly) but started having anxiety regularly on a lower dose. Tapered back up, stabilised again. 2016- Escitalopram 15mg for 6 months during rough patch in life (family death) Late 2016 tapered back to 10mg - zero issues with taper Mid 2021 tapered to Escitalopram 5mg - zero issues with taper July 2022 tapered to 2,5mg Sept 2022 started having burning feet. Started supplementing with Magnesium a couple of days ago. No other meds.

I was on 40 mgs Lexapro. started on 20 mgs then increased over 5 years. Have been on various antidepressants for over 20 years. Seeing a Homeopath and trialing remedies. Told by Psychiatrist reduce 20 mgs a week. Frightened by all withdrawal horror stories. Have to work to pay mortgage. Suffering from discontinuation Syndrome. -suicidal thoughts - brain fog - anxiety - panic attacks -stomach upsets - debilitating lack of concentration - constant fear of living My family are supporting me Dont want to go back on meds but scared this may continue for years. Any advice welcome.

Hello, my name is Dylan. In 2013 I was prescribed 10mg Lexapro for anxiety and depression. I never felt better on it but not worse either so I stuck with it. Year 3 on the drug I decided I need to get over my fear of WD and dropped down to 5mg on my own. Just cut my pills in half. Felt the same still. Went on like this for almost 2 years. I asked 2 doctors about getting off Lexapro and they both said you don't get withdrawal and I can stop whenever. This seemed hard to believe. I decided to cut my 5mg pills in half. So for about 2 months I was on 2.5mg. Sometimes skipping a day. Felt no difference still. So one day I just stopped. I mean, that's what 2 doctors told me to do. It's been almost 3 months since my last dose and I'm suffering. 3 weeks ago the symptoms started. I randomly would feel off and weak. Then I would get rushes of anxiety at work and on the road. Causing huge panic attacks. The fatigue shortly set in. My head feels heavy and off. I sense of hopelessness and sadness has fallen over me. One day I would randomly cry. I have been out of work for almost 2 weeks using all my vacation. Monday I must return, as a mess. I have had less anxiety lately but I feel that's because I've been basically housebound. Also, my Dr prescribed me 20mg capsules of Prozac yesterday and I'm terrified to take it. I don't know what to do. I have to go to work Monday. Guys. This is the most miserable I've been in my life. I need support. My family is giving up on me because I won't take Prozac. I'm starting to think about taking it...

Good Day, I wish I could say that my withdrawal symptoms from quitting Lexapro are the worst, but quitting Xanax takes that title. I have been off Xanax for two years and six months. The first day was the worst, the first year was the worst, and I am not feeling any Xanax issues now except waking up in a cold sweat every night since 2014. Anyway, I have not looked back or taken Xanax ever again. During that entire ordeal, I was still on Lexapro. I didn't quit it also because I didn't want to do too much at once. I finally quit Lexapro on the 25th of Dec 2016. Side note: To help me quit Xanax, I was put on Seroquel and Neurontin at rehab, and I gained 20kgs in 6 months which I am still trying to lose. I have lost half of it, but for some reason, my metabolism is no longer the same. I can't lose weight after rehab. I quit Seroquel cold turkey and tapered off Nuerontin. I took it for about six months and stopped when the weight piled on. Back to why I am here: The first month after quitting Lexapro was alright. Just brain zaps and nothing else really. I thought, "Wow! Quitting these antidepressants is very easy! I should have done it earlier." I was basing my experience on Xanax, which is harder at the beginning and easier with time. I didn't expect things to begin falling apart later, and boy are they falling apart. Month two drug free was also not too bad, but it was filled with episodes of sadness. Month three became worse than month two, and I felt withdrawn and my lust for life started disappearing again. Month four was worse than month three and I felt myself losing more joy, being darker than I have ever been. Month five, my current situation, is a hot mess! My anxiety is back, my depression is back, and actually they are back and worse than ever. My obsessive thoughts are back. Oh, and my sexual urges are back, after years of thinking that I might be asexual. The problem is, my sexual urges are disconnected from my emotions, so as horny as I am, I still don't feel like having sex with my husband, and the whole thing is making me panic for several reasons. My insomnia is back. I am weepy and frustrated. My pessimism is back. I hate life right now. My face is braking out and for this last week, I have been unable to eat so I also feel awful due to that, I am sure. I could go on for days about how awful I feel right now. I have not left bed for a week! I have made music though. Actually, I started having the urge and will to create music around month 3 of quitting. Before that, I though I would never make music again. So, there are pros and cons to this quitting, more cons than pros though, currently. I was thinking of going back on Lexapro when I happened on this website. I have now changed my mind. I thought I was just getting worse and worse until I end up committing suicide, however from the posts I have read, it gets better apparently, and none of my torture is unusual. I was suppose to start a family this year but now I have doubts. I would wait a year but I am 35 in three months so... I am taking, and have been for over a year, Magnesium (a high dose), Iron Fumarate (I have severe anemia), Vitamin C (a very high dose), Probiotics, L-Theanine, Vitamin B Complex and Vitamin B12 on top, 5HTP and Valerian, camomile tea when I have the strength to make it. Mood: Very Blue. Like in the pic.

Hey guys, ive been lurking on this forum for a while but decided to sign up and join in with the discussions and be a part of this community that I'm both grateful and resentful of (only resentful because none of us should have ever been put on these drugs in the first place). i was on lexapro for 4 years from the age of 21 - 25 and like all of you I've never been the same since. i won't bore you with the symptoms because you all have been through them yourselves. I'm pleased to say that I am seriously noticing improvements. March 2018 will be the 3 year mark of antidepressant withdrawal for me. Through the help of neurofeedback I've been able to regain some cognitive function and am so much more stable than I was 2 - 3 years ago. I've been able to work full time without a significant amount of sick days, I've gotten back into the gym and lost 12 kilos and The emotional lows and crying spells are happening less and less often. I've also been able to self motivate some online study which I struggled to do even before ever touching ssri's. my main concern now is persisting pssd and anhedonia. I have read on these forums that these are usually the last things to recover. I guess I just need some reassurance that I'll one day be back to normal emotionally. Being a young single woman who can't orgasm brings about many challenges especially in today's hook up culture. Ive had some improvements in my sexual functioning. I can feel my muscles contracting when I orgasm but there's no pleasure there. I still have the desire and arousal but the arousal sensation is not as strong either. Im hoping for my recovery story someday...as I hope all of you get yours too.

Hi everyone, I am glad I found this web-site. I did read some of the topics similar to mine, still it seems each case is unique. Thank you for reading my post. I was on 10 mg of Lexapro from July 2017-July 2018 for anxiety and mild depression. Felt good right from the start, no side effects from taking it. From July 2018- June 2020 I was on 5 mg of Lexapro. Felt good too. I started tappering in June 2020 with very little knowledge as I can see now. I was impulsive and wanted to get it over with. So, over the course of the next 3 months ( or little less since I can’t say for sure) I would take 5 mg every second day for a couple of weeks, then 5 mg twice a week for a couple of weeks, and lastly once a week until I stopped August 1st 2020. First 2 weeks after I stopped were emotionally hard since all the fears that I haven’t had before, like losing people I love, to getting dying old in matter of seconds, to just being scared for no reason. Next 2 weeks were physically horrible, from the constant trips to the restroom, nausea, my whole body tingling, chills and just wanting to reap my skin off. I survived it. I must mention that during this time I visited homeopath and was given some kind of remedy that possibly made it worse for me as remedies of this type tend to do. Next 5 weeks has been just mix of everything, with physical sympthoms lessening but also changing. Like my body doesn’t tingle anymore ( hands from time to time) but back of my head feel tight and I feel chill there too. Emotionally, it just seems that I can’t shake off some of the fears I mentioned at the begining of my post and sometimes I think they make my body feel worse. It feels like I am getting better but it feels like micro mini steps. I need to be patient I realise. I am still wondering, do I just continue like this with no drugs OR should I try to go back on a smaller dose then tapper much more slowly??? 10 mg Lexapro from July 2017–July 2018 5 mg Lexapro from July 2018– June 2020 Tappering from June—August with 5 mg August 1st 2020– drug free

Hi everyone, Well, i tried, and it worked. A little bit over 3 months CT on Lexapro, 4 months Clonazepan . Just for info -i was on 10mg Escitalopram and 4mg Clonazepan, for years. It has not been easy, i have to say. I did experience withdrawal symptoms. -Extreme anxiety -Insomnia -Slight akathesia I do not recommend this unless you have a plan and are completely aware of the symptoms youll have to tolerate. What worked for me? -Reiki: restablished the balance of my chi (fundamental life force) - i actually thought it was BS, but it couldnt hurt, so i took 3 sessions. You have to go regularly, unless youre some kinda Zen master and can do that yourself. -Meditation (this takes time and effort, you will feel anxious and unable to reach alpha, but with practice, you will) - the whole point, try to understand and actually believe that good things come from within, you cant let outside events or people affect you. -Tai Chi Chuan (its believed to be meditation in motion) - besides the spiritual part, Tai Chi is a great entry exercise for us, most of us are not in shape due to our condition, we dont feel like jogging or doing squats, so we get lazy. Tai Chi is gentle, im pretty sure it would be good for anyone. Besides you go out and probably meet new people if you feel like it. -Found myself something to do... to keep busy. Thats just me, i dont have a regular job, i kinda just work when i need to or i want to. But besides money, i needed to work to keep my head busy. -In that something to do, i spent some time researching to set up a dietary plan that would suit my needs. I gained 15 pounds since all this started, and got back to my normal weight after a month or so. I do recommend this because it gives you extra confidence to look fit, o maybe lose a few pounds when you go back to normal life. -Insomnia was awful, maybe the worst part of this... Id be up for 48 hours sometimes, then fell asleep due to exhaustion... i almost got back to clonazepan, but the combination of not having money to pay for it and the doctor being on vacation, helped me a lot. Word of advice, if you have insomnia, try to maintain your schedules, do not just sleep anytime you can... you feel like sleeping at 3 pm? well try not to... youd wake up in the middle of the night with nothing productive to do... thats a good time for your head to start messing around with you again and conspiring against the plan. -Anxiety... this one was a tough one too, add it to insomnia and its a molotov cocktail. During this past 3 months, i think ive seen over 100 movies, the whole "breaking bad", "heroes" and "dexter" shows... it kinda kept my head busy during those long nights awake. -Sex Drive: i was not being able to reach orgasms while on the drug, that got me pretty upset. Well, it got back to normal about a month or so... i did start to feel horny about 3 weeks after this CT thing started, way too horny maybe, but its now ok, it just goes away with intercourse. Well, i´ll keep posting just in case i have any other delayed symptoms, i hope not. As i said, if youre to go CT on lexapro, be 100% committed to this and be aware of symptoms, i have done this before, and they do happen. What im trying to say here, is be prepared... do not wait to go get movies, or hire netflix, or buy camomile tea or whatever works for you... if you like company, try not to be alone too much... well, this is very personal, noone knows you better than you yourself, be prepared for whats to come. It is possible, there is a way out.

Hey everyone! Feel blessed to be here and You guys are extremely helpful. Here’s my story. I was on 10mg Escitalopram for 1 years, started feeling better with no anxiety after 3 weeks of stating Escitalopram 10 mg but would suffer with horrible side effects like head ache all day, Nasal congestion, blurred vision and. I did my Pill check (DNA testing) and found out that Escitalopram is not suitable and considered as dangerous drug for possible many side effects. Dr. advised me to tapper dose to zero and be off of it. Only if needed to go for suitable Anti-anxiety drug. I started feeling all my symptoms go worst after week of not talking escitalopram. are these really side effects that worst after stopping and how long does it take normally to feel better again? Heavy head (Migraine) double vision Shakes Dizziness ear ringing Nasal Congestion (Feels like difficulty breathing) numbness, tingling and weakness in my hand, legs Back and neck pain Dry mouth and dry and painful eyes Brain Zap The list goes on! Any support or guidance would be appreciated

Link to Introduction topic: ☼-dan998-cold-turkey-reinstatement-and-tapering-citalopram I never got around to writing a success story because I never really considered myself a success. Sure, I got off the drugs, but it always felt like I had some residual brain damage. Presumably caused by 14 years of taking SSRIs and then the subsequent traumatic experience of stubbornly trying to force my way through a cold-turkey withdrawal, reluctantly reinstating and then rushing my taper. However, I recently had a realisation that has made me reconsider this point of view. I got a bit bored during the pandemic. Instead of filling the void by getting drunk and watching Netflix in my underpants. I decided to be proactive. I’d learn a new skill. Designing websites was something that looked interesting and would fill the long hours of lockdown. So, I enthusiastically threw myself at this task. Immersing myself to the point of becoming totally obsessed by it. After months and months and months of perseverance, I managed to teach myself how to put together a half decent website. However, the most important thing that I actually learnt was that my mind wasn’t as badly damaged as I’d incorrectly assumed it was. Thinking back to the debilitating cog-fog of those early days of withdrawal, where I couldn’t even process a few simple sentences, I came to realise just how much I have healed and grown over the last 7 years. It’s amazing the extent to which my brain has recovered. It's gone from being a completely useless drug dependent mess to a fully functional wonder of nature that is able to think, reason and learn. Creativity, concentration, logical thinking, problem solving and memory. All these abilities had returned and I didn’t even realise until I pushed myself beyond what I thought I was capable of achieving. Time has truly worked its magic in slow, imperceptible increments. It feels like I am almost back to how I was before an antidepressant had ever passed my lips. A lot older, fatter and with more grey hair than I’d like. But, finally glimpsing the version of me that I expected to see when I first came here all those years ago. Of course there are scars. There will always be scars. I don’t think it is possible to go through such an extreme experience and not be fundamentally changed by it. I still occasionally have flashbacks and I get anxious sometimes. But, I try to not let it bother me and I get on with my day. Withdrawal no longer defines my identity. It has become just another chapter in the story of my life and, thanks to this forum, there are now many blank pages eagerly waiting to be written. Thank you Alto and all the moderators for your hard work and tireless dedication. My withdrawal journey can be found here - ☼-dan998-cold-turkey-reinstatement-and-tapering-citalopram

Hi all, I am looking for a bit of support as I am now three weeks off of lexapro. I had been on it for about 2 years and felt it was not working for me anymore. I was tired, bloated, unmotivated and absolutely obsessed with my weight. My husband and I also want to start a family, so, I decided to taper. My dr suggested 15 and 10 EOD, then 10 every day for two weeks, then 10/5 EOD for two weeks, then 5 every day for two weeks and then 5/0 alternating. I then went to 0 and have been without it for 3 weeks. My symptoms have included panic attacks, fatigue, crying, lack of appetite, fog and vertigo. The increase in anxiety has been debilitating. I read on other platforms that getting off SSRI is just impossible- and most go back. How do I know if this is just part of the process? Do I give up? Continue on? some positives of getting off of lexapro: I have my libido again! My husband also said I am so much more like myself- he felt I was distant. any advice is so appreciated- you all are amazing.

Hello everyone glad I found somewhere to find good information and support . I'll just give a little introduction. I've been off Ciprelex 30mg for 6 months now after being on the ssri for 7 years.The side effects were far out weighing the benefits. My doctors seemed clueless when it came to the tapering, from what I know now as well as the withdrawal I am currently feeling . I tapered fairly fast from what I read on this forum.My main symptom at first was abdominal pain,panic, discomfort and very poor digestion. I lost 30 lbs in the first month and I know for some people that's good but for my build, not so good. Most of my symptoms at first were digestive related and my doctors didn't suggest withdrawal. Has anyone in here experienced horrible digestive issues right away ? So I had a million tests run, which came with months of worrying about every disease in the book. My tests came back clean which was good. However I am still feeling alot of discomfort, sensitivity in the stomach(feels like I'm bruised) coupled with fatigue, vivid dreams and insomnia. I have been experiencing all this while working a Fulltime job, which I love. I have missed more days than I wanted to for the obvious reasons. However I've decided to ask for time off because my body hasn't recovered and I feel the only way for a better recovery is to get away from my schedule and take extra time for myself. I see two different doctors. The one I saw today wants me to start a pain med and believes my stomach pain is related to migraines I used to get, which at times still show up. I am so scared of all medication but want this stomach pain to go away. I have improved over the 6 months so I'm leaning towards staying the natural course. Does 5HTP help for withdrawal?? After all the suffering I have gone through in the last 6 months you would think my doctor would give a note to go on sick leave,but apparently that's like pulling teeth. They just see a healthy young man complaining . Either way I need time for myself and recovery and sorry if I'm ranting. I'm glad to be hear in this forum and look forward to have a place for support and information because I feel my doctors are out too lunch on this topic. Mort

Hi I'm 3 months from cold turkey lexapro 10mg, I have read many people going on years with withdrawl from cold turkey, would it be advised to reinstate liquid lexapro at 1mg? Or ride this out. I think I'm getting windows already, but symptoms are still debilitating, I was hit withdrawls basically day one of stopping or my body just refused the drug. I ended up in hospital from mistakenly taking 20 mg over 2 days instead of 10mg heart went into SVT major panic attack, violent diarheah and intense shaking fever etc persisted for a full week 10 minutes or so after taking my normal 10mg until I cold turkey stopped.

Hello - I attempted a direct switch from a high dose of lexapro to Sertraline under doctor guidance - I now realise from reading this website that I may have kindled my nervous system. I subsequently increased the lexapro dose and have reduced it again, probably making matters worse. The biggest effect I have had is a noticeable cognitive impact, my brain literally can't solve complex problems the way it could only a few months ago and I have had to step back from a senior executive role. I really don't know what to do - I stupidly halved my lexapro dose 4 days ago and think I should updose - but by how much? Have I done permanent brain damage because it feels like I have? My memory is shaky and complex math that was easy to me is now beyond me, almost like i've had a stroke or something.