MountainManGuy: Escitalopram 10mg

[MountainManGuy]

Hello,

 

I recently stopped taking Escitalopram and wanted to share my experiences with you all, as well as receive any advice you may have for me on this journey to proper mental health. 

 

My old doctor told me I was tightly wound, which makes me a good candidate for anxiety.  A few years ago my older sister had a heart attack at the age of 27 (I was 24 at the time), and I quickly became a hypochondriac.  I thought I was next.  I started getting bad acid reflux(anxiety increases stomach acid production), which over time irritated my esophagus causing chest pain and heartburn.  Any time I would experience chest pain my body would freak out thinking I was having a heart attack.  The anxiety quickly escalated to random pins and needles type nerve pains all over my body.  It was about 1 needle prick every 3 seconds when it was at it's worst.    I had a full blown panic attack at work and passed out, woke up laying on the floor with paramedics standing over me...

 

I was put on 5 mg Escitalopram at first, and then not long after that my doctor upped it to 10mg.  He actually wanted me to take 20mg, but I refused because the dose felt high to me and I don't really like taking medicines.  They also prescribed me lorazepam, which I only took a handful of times because I read about the dangers of benzos.  I took the Escitalopram daily for 4 ish years, and was generally pretty stable and happy.  Recently I started feeling like the Escitalopram was making it so that I didn't really experience true emotions anymore.  It felt like this blanket was placed over my brain and I wasn't my true self, so I started weening off it.  Also, I accidentally went on a vacation without my medicine and was without it for an entire week, and that was awful.  The dizzy spells(brain zaps) were intense.  This dependency made me want to stop taking the medicine. 

 

My doctor told me to just start taking it every other day for a week or two, and then move it to every 2 days, etc..  During this taper process I experienced INTENSE mood swings, and I was worried for those around me.  It felt like I could explode with anger or sadness at any given moment.  Fast forward to now, I last took the med on Jan 31st of this year and I still don't feel normal.  

 

Here is what I'm currently dealing with. 

-Brain fog.  I feel like I'm looking through a thick fog.  I can't write sentences as well as I used to, can't speak as fluently as I used to, and I'm just slower in general.  Sometimes when I speak now I may stutter my way through the sentence.  My vision doesn't seem as clear either.  

-Insomnia.  Sleep has become difficult after coming off the medicine.  I have to take melatonin to even fall asleep at all, and I wake up a lot more than I used to.  This is actually the same sleep patterns I've been dealing with my whole life.  The Escitalopram actually helped my sleeping drastically.  I feel tired all the time now which is probably due to not sleeping deeply all night like I was before.

-Appetite.  I have lost a LOT of my appetite after stopping the medicine, and in turn have lost 15 lbs.  This is currently my number 1 concern.  I am underweight and need to get that weight put back on, but it's hard for me to eat enough calories per day.  When I was on the medicine it was easy, but now I'm hardly ever hungry and I can't eat very much when I do eat.

-Headaches.  I don't know if this is related to the med or not, but I've recently experienced some workout induced ocular migraines, where after I do cardio my vision goes blurry and later I'll have a minor headache for the entire next day.  The blurry vision lasts about an hour.  

 

My brain is so foggy right now I can't really write anything else even though there's more to write.  I just wanted to share and get some feedback from you.

[Gridley]

Hello, MountainManGuy, and welcome to SA.

 

The symptoms you are experiencing are typical withdrawal symptoms from a too-fast taper.  To help you understand what you are experiencing, here is some information on withdrawal:

 

What is withdrawal syndrome.

 

Glenmullen’s withdrawal symptom list.

 

When we take medications, the CNS (central nervous system) responds by making changes over the months and years we take the drug(s). When the medication is discontinued, the CNS has to undo all the changes it made. Rebuilding the neurotransmitter production and reactivating the receptor and transporter cells takes time -- during that rebuilding process symptoms occur.  

 

Youtube video, 4 minutes: Healing from antidepressants

 

Please be aware that sometime withdrawal symptoms don't appear immediately after a too-fast taper.

 

Delayed onset of withdrawal symptoms

 

We don't recommend tapering by alternating doses, which is equivalent to dropping your dose by 50%.   The half-lives of almost all psychiatric drugs are too short for this to make any sense. It causes the amount of the medication in your bloodstream to go up and down, battering your nervous system, and makes withdrawal worse. It is like playing ping-pong with your brain.

Your brain likes stability, to be treated gently.  It is ideal if you can accommodate it to lower and lower dosages. Move it slowly down a ramp by gradually decreasing dosage by an amount it may hardly notice. SA recommends tapering by 10% of your current dose with a hold of at least 4 weeks before your next decrease.The 10% taper method is a harm reduction approach to going off psychiatric drugs. This is explained in the attached links:

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

Tips for tapering off Lexapro (escitalopram)

 

This link explains the importance of a slow taper.

 

Brain Remodelling

 

Reinstatement of a very small dose of the original drug is the only known way to help alleviate withdrawal syndrome.  The only other alternative is to try and wait out the symptoms and manage as best you can until your central nervous system returns to homeostasis.  Unfortunately no one can give you an exact timeline as to when you will start feeling better and while some do recover relatively easily, for others it can take many months or longer.  Please read:

 

About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms. -- at least the first page of the topic

 

Reinstatement isn’t a guarantee of diminished symptoms for everyone, but it’s the best tactic available.  You’re still in the time period where reinstatement predictably works, up to three month after last dose or dose reduction.  We usually suggest a much smaller reinstatement dose than your last dose.  These drugs are strong, and when updosig/reinstating it is better to start with a small amount and increase of symptoms remain unbearable.  If you take too much it may be too much for your brain and can cause you become unstable.  Sometimes it can be hard to regain stability after this happens.  

 

After you complete the drug signature described in the next paragraph, we can give you a suggestion as to what dosage of Lexapro we recommend you reinstate.

 

To give members the best information, we ask them to summarize their medication 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. 
• Link to Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature.

 

We don't recommend a lot of supplements on SA, as many members report being sensitive to them due to our over-reactive nervous systems, but two supplements that we do recommend are magnesium and omega 3 (fish oil). Many people find these to be calming to the nervous system. 

 

Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker 

 

Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) 

 

Please research all supplements first and only add in one at a time and at a low dose in case you do experience problems.

 

While it is often a first response to stress to take a B-Complex, in withdrawal it can be overstimulating.

 

Hypersensitive to B Vitamin or B-Complex  

 

Many members have found the techniques in the following two links helpful in coping with withdrawal.  

 

The Dr. Claire Weekes Method of Recovering from a Sensitized Nervous System

 

Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms.

 

This is your introduction topic -- the place for you to ask questions, record symptoms, share your progress, and connect with other members of the SA community.  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 I am glad that you found us.

 

Edited April 2, 2018 by ChessieCat
removed white space

[MountainManGuy]

Thank you so much Gridley!!  I've been browsing through these links you posted and that one about "What is happening in your brain" is one of the most reassuring things I've read since I started this journey.  Holy crap, it just resonates with me so well on the part of the physical symptoms during nerve regeneration.  

 

It makes me so mad that out of all the doctors I've seen, none of them have given me any solid info like you have here.  Why do they even prescribe the medicine if they don't fully understand it, or do they just not have the time to fully explain it all to me?  

 

Also, I really wish I would have stumbled upon a post like yours prior to my rapid taper, because I don't think I can get back on the escitalopram now, even if trying to reinstate to lessen the withdrawals.  I think I'm just going to try and stick it out unless things just get really bad.  I would love it if I was mostly back to normal by summer time, because that's my favorite time of year.  

  

I've done a little reading on the magnesium and fish oil and that may be something I try and see if it helps.  There's a trader joe's about 5 minutes from where I live so it wouldn't be hard to acquire.   

 

I'll try and add dates to my signature here in a bit.

[ChessieCat]

5 hours ago, MountainManGuy said:

Why do they even prescribe the medicine if they don't fully understand it, or do they just not have the time to fully explain it all to me?  

 

Because the information they have is what the pharmaceutical companies tell them.  Gwen Olsen was a drug representative for 15 years:

 

We are trained to misinform (6 minutes)

 

Manipulating Doctors (10 minutes)

 

Interview:  Confessions of an Rx Drug Pusher (51 minutes Gwen Olsen - ex pharmaceutical representative)

 

You might find these topics helpful/interesting:

 

How do you talk to a doctor about tapering and withdrawal?

What should I expect from my doctor about withdrawal symptoms?

[Gridley]

I understand your decision to stick it out without reinstating.  It is an individual decision.

 

Please keep in mind the previous links about non-drug methods of coping.

 

The withdrawal symptoms will come and go. Unfortunately, in the beginning it will be more come than go, but it will shift after a time.  This link will explain more:

 

Windows and Waves Pattern of Stabilization