easmith625: Reinstating Lexapro trouble, please help

[easmith625]

Hi I'm new to posting here but have been on the site reading a lot. I've had issues with anxiety since I was a kid (now 28). I had been on Lexapro 20mg for the past 5.5 years and was stable, doing wonderfully, so I made the decision to come off the medicine the end of January. I tapered and came off within 2-3 weeks which I now know was not good. I experienced some brain zaps, but other than that have been fine for the past 3.5 months up until recently I started having issues with irritability and anger where it was affecting my relationships.

 

So this past Sunday I restarted my Lexapro at 10mg. Within 3 days, I started having horrible anxiety to the point where it was hard to get out of bed, it's constant 24/7, hard to sleep. So after 5 days of being back on the medicine I have stopped taking it the past 2 days. I'm not sure if it's the medicine that caused the onset, because in my past it has only taken one event to trigger months of this type of anxiety and I had a fight with a loved one the night I decided to restart my medication.

 

So I am looking for suggestions. Is it ok that I stopped the Lexapro after being back on for 5 days because I am afraid that it caused the anxiety? But at the same time, if the fight triggered the anxiety I'm not sure what to do. Im scared that one day I'll lose this battle with my anxiety and the medications won't help like they have in the past. I hate myself for ever stopping the medication because everything was perfect a few months ago, now I'm in a deep dark place that I haven't seen in 6 years.

[scallywag]

easmith -- Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants (SA)
 
I'm sorry that you didn't get proper information about discontinuing Lexapro. Doctors?!?!? Pharma companies $&@#!

Increased irritability and anger are known withdrawal symptoms. For a list of many (not all) w/d symptoms, you may wish to download one of the files in the first post of this discussion topic:
Glenmullen’s withdrawal symptom list.
 
A reinstatement (RI) of 10 mg 4 months after your last dose may have been too much for your system.  We probably would have suggested you consider trying a much, much smaller dose because your brain and CNS (central nervous system) have been working to undo the changes they made in response to Lexapro's effects. The information at these two links have good explanations about why this is so:
How your brain responds to psychiatric drugs - aka "Brain remodeling"
Youtube video, 4 minutes: Healing from antidepressants
 
Sometimes reinstating a low dose of the medication or of a closely related medication eases symptoms. Sometimes reinstatement has no effect or, in a few unfortunate situations, worsens symptoms. The symptom relief doesn't happen overnight -- it can take several weeks to notice an improvement. If you choose to reinstate and it works for you, the plan would be to allow yourself to stabilize at that dose then to slowly taper off in a safe manner to minimize the risk of symptoms.
 
Is low-dose reinstatement something you'd like to test? If so, please post your "yes" here and we'll give you some information to read and then offer a suggestion of a starting RI dose for you to consider.
 
What is your symptom pattern? Please keep notes on paper of your symptoms and the times of your dose(s). This post has a useful format for a daily log:
Take notes of doses and symptoms.

Many people experience cycles in their symptoms, waves of symptoms interspersed with windows of decreased or no symptoms. You can read more about that here:
The Windows and Waves pattern of stabilization.

In dealing with anxiety, many people find it helpful to develop non-drug practices. For ideas, please read:
Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms.
The Dr. Claire Weekes Method of Recovering from a Sensitized Nervous System

A request: Would you summarize your history in a signature -- drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-24 months particularly?

• Any drugs prior to 24 months ago can just be listed with start and stop years.
• Please use actual dates or approximate dates (mid-June, Late October) rather than relative time frames (last week, 3 months ago)
• Spell out months, e.g. "October" or "Oct."; 9/1/2016 can be interpreted as Jan. 9, 2016 or Sept. 1, 2016.
• Please leave out symptoms and diagnoses.
• A list is easier to understand than one or multiple paragraphs.
• You can find instructions in this topic: Please put your withdrawal history in signature
• If you are using a phone or mobile device, you need to switch to the "full" or desktop version of the site. Instructions are in Post 9 and Post 10

I hope you'll find the information in the SA forums helpful for your situation. I'm sorry that you are in the position that you need the information, but am glad that you found us.

[easmith625]

Ok I updated my signature I think I did it right My symptoms consists of having extreme anxiety from the exact moment I wake up until I fall asleep at night. Tingling/burning in the palms of my hands. And just obsessive thoughts that maybe this time it may not get better. I'm frustrated with myself because I've been totally normal for years now and I went and ruined it.

 

In your opinion, would it be best to give my system 4-5 days of being off the medicine since starting back on the 10mg was way too much of a shock before reinstating at a lower dose? And how low of a dose should I try? 5mg or ever lower?

My boyfriend thinks I should just try staying off the meds for a week since all this happened when I started them back and just see how I feel, which I'm willing to try. At that point could I try to reinstate at the low dose or should I just immediate try reinstating now after being off 2 days? Hopefully this all makes sense, any ideas and insight are much appreciated. I'm very thankful I found you all, because it helps knowing others are out there. I'm worried to be one of the ones on here who don't heal for awhile but trying to remain positive.

[KarenB]

Hello easmith,

 

I think I would be inclined to remain off the Lexapro, since you were only on it for 5 days, and you are already outside of the ideal time-frame for resinstating after your initial fast taper in Jan/Feb.  (Though as Scallywag says above, there is always a small chance reinstating could work). 

 

If you do choose to reinstate, we would suggest a very small dose, say 1mg. 

 

Personally, I'd focus on wrapping myself in cotton wool for a week or so, using some of the ideas here: Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms.  See how you go, and keep daily symptom and severity notes so you can track what's happening.  That makes decision making much easier.  Then, longer term, you can start to look at non-drug ways to manage anxiety and difficult relationship situations. 

 

Also:  avoid caffeine, alcohol, strenuous exercise, stressful situations and junky food.  Keep well hydrated and rested too.  These things aren't a cure, but they really do smooth the road quite a lot. 

 

Welcome to SA,

Karen

[easmith625]

Thank you for the helpful suggestions! I think I may try to remain off it and see if the awful anxiety symptoms get any better since I wasn't having these before starting back on the medication. I fear since I have triggered them that they will stick around like they have in the past when I've had these flair ups and in those situations it's taking months of therapy and medications to feel normal again. But I'm praying maybe I just over stimulated with CNS by restarting it and by stopping it and getting it out of my system things will starlet down some.

 

I will look through all the links y'all have given me and avoid caffeine, junk food, etc. I have a job interview on Wed which I'm super nervous about which I think may have also contributed to this anxiety onset on top of the medication restart. So I'm trying to stay relaxed and keep my mind occupied away from negative thoughts in the meantime. Just reading other people's stories on heee has been helpful in and of itself.

[Altostrata]

Welcome, ea.

 

You may wish to take these supplements

 

King of supplements: Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil)

Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker

 

Many people find they help a bit in recovering from withdrawal. Try a little bit of each, one at a time, to see how they affect you.

[easmith625]

Hi alto! I did take some magnesium last night and I was actually able to sleep a little better, only to find the symptoms flood back when I awakened of course. I will definitely try the omega 3s next to see how they do.

 

I've read numerous stories on here about people struggling for months up to years with these issues so I'm trying to push these awful thoughts out of my head that I could end up like that and ruin my current relationships.

[easmith625]

So I stopped taking the 10mg 3 days ago and my symptoms are unbearable, anxiety 24/7 won't go away. I got some minor relief last night from .75mg of Xanax, but Xanax scares me. I don't know what to do, I feel worse than I have in years. I wish I had never stopped the lexapro. I'm not sure if I should try taking 2.5mg since the 10mg for 5 days was too much for my system to see if I get any relief. Or if I should just stay off the medicine completely. The lexapro helped me before when I was on it but it probably took 7-8 months before I was back to normal when I started it. Please help, I feel like all hope is lost and I may never get better. I'm not sure what to do?

 

Haven't been able to eat in days or sleep more than a few hours at a time. I'll have little 30-60 second windows once an hour or so where I feel ok but other than that, I just wish I wasn't alive.

[bubble]

I'm very sorry we didn't get back to you sooner. What is the situation like now?

 

Did you reinstate?

 

I sympathise with you a lot because I also stopped Escitalopram cold turkey at one point so I know how horrible things can be. But I reinstated and got better.

 

Let us know how you are doing.

[Happy2Heal]

hi easmith625,

 

I am tapering off of the same drug as you are, are you able to get the liquid lexapro? if not, you can make your own liquid, there's instructions on the site somewhere. Basically you want to dissolve a 10mg tablet in 10ccs/mls (ccs are the same as mls) of water.

 

shake very very well, and make sure it's all dissolved. you can then use a 1ml needle- less syringe to draw up a VERY small dose of lexapro

 

I made a lot of mistakes in my taper off lexapro, you don't need the details but the part that may interest you is this:

when I decided to reinstate, I did so at a much lower dose than the one suggested to me. it was suggested that I take 1mg.
Instead, I took a tiny fraction of that. 0.02mgs or about the smallest amount I could draw up into the syringe.

I waited and I paid attention to how I felt.

within 4 hrs of that tiny dose, I noticed a small change in my anxiety level. It was just enough for me to believe that reinstatement was the right decision.

 

over the next several weeks, I slowly increased the dose, ending up at 0.3mgs (still much less than the 1mg suggested)

 

I held at that dose for awhile (probably not long enough) and am now tapering down.

 

it seems you are super sensitive to lexapro, which is why  I am telling you about my story, in case it's something you might want to consider.

 

You  need to do what is best for you.

 

My thinking was that  if I started super low, I could always go up in the dose if needed, but If I went back on at 1mg, and it was too much, I would immediately be trying to go back down too fast, or just suffering thru it.

HOWEVER, I did NOT get better quickly. It took several months for me to stabilize. During that time, I had symptoms every day, BUT the symptoms also decreased nearly every day.
Each day, I could find something that improved.

 

this method worked for me, but it may not be what will work for you.

 

I'm just putting it out there as another option to reinstating at 1mg, which is of course very sound advice, given your symptoms.

 

all the best to you, I hope you've gotten some relief!

 

[Happy2Heal]

sorry My mistake, I reinstated at 0.05mgs not 0.02mgs

 

[Altostrata]

Those are good points, H2H. 10mg Lexapro may have been too high a dose, a very little bit might be better.

 

easmith, since you found magnesium helped a bit, you might make a habit of dissolving a little mag citrate powder in water and sipping it throughout the day.

 

Now that the 10mg has worn off some, do you feel better or worse than when you were taking it.