rosalynx1 hello! - physician mother put me on Lexapro

[rosalynx1]

hello! after some very tough years, and a lot of anxiety and depression my mother finally convinced me in a moment of weakness to take lexapro, I took 2.5 and then 5 mg for a while, then upped it to 10 mg for a few weeks and now decided to taper it off. I hate the Idea that something is altering my brain no matter how anxious I am. hey its just me as a person.

the thing is i have been taking this medication for a little over 3 month, i am slowly tapering but for such a short time is such a slow tapering necessary? , I have reduced to 7.5 mg for about 10 days, and now reduced it by 10% and seeing how it goes, but if I taper by this rate , my tapering time will be much longer than the time I actually used and maintained the drug...

 

[KarenB]

Hello Rosalynx,

 

Welcome to s/a - good on you for being so quick to realise the drugs are a bad idea. 

 

A mod will have some advice for you, but it's generally a very good idea to start slow and see what your nervous system can handle.  Better than finding out the hard way that you started to quick. 

 

Have a look at http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1024-why-taper-by-10-of-my-dosage/

 

I also began ssri's in a moment of weakness for anxiety and depression but was not nearly so quick as you to realise the mistake.  You'll get through this, and be on your way again.  Do you get counseling or other supports for the anxiety etc?  Check out http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1112-non-drug-techniques-to-cope-with-emotional-symptoms/ for other ideas to help you manage the tough things in your life.

 

You can also write a signature to help people help you better.

 

Hugs,

Karen

[Altostrata]

Welcome, rosalyn.

 

Unfortunately, if you take a psychiatric drug for more than a month, you are at risk for withdrawal syndrome when you go off.

 

How are you feeling now?

[rosalynx1]

thank you guys for the comments!
I think its been 3 weeks since I started tapering, first week i was down to 7.5, then second and third week I tapered down by 10%, I just cut the pill in half, then the half in another half, then smash it into dust and take about 0.7 of that dust, which gives me about 10% off of the 7.5 mg. I have been taking this for about 12 days, felt okay, and now I am tapering by another 10%. I know it all seems like weird calculations, but I am keeping track.
so far i feel the same as before, feeling a bit down, the thing is lexapro did not help me a whole lot with my depression, but with my anxiety attacks it did, no idea if the down part is because of the lexapro. anyway I radically changed my life and the factors that contributed to my anxiety are gone, which includes actually moving to another country and starting university at the ripe age of 23. so on one hand a new beginning is quite stressful and triggering but also I am very happy to not be where I was before. a necessary evil if i may say so
my plan is to keep on tapering by 10% every week, which is fast, but only until i get to 5 mg, because that is the dose i have been longest on, and i dont want to be above it for a very long time just because i took a dose of 10 mg for a few weeks. then when i am under 5 mg i'll taper more slowly.
I am taking a good multi vitamin, and spirulina. A few times I felt a bit nauseous and with lack of appetite, so I was drinking hot water infused by a lot of fresh ginger root, it helped a bit along with a banana. but I am just sticking through it. I am more scared of what might be after i get down to low doses or no lexapro at all than the process of tapering now.  
I will try to keep this website updated!