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Chair: tapering Lexapro - confused


chair

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This past spring there was a major death in my family. It was a protracted illness and was brutal to watch. My family members were also not handling it well at all. I became almost traumatized.'

 

So I went back on 5 mg which had worked for me years ago. Felt some increased anxiety and sleeplessness but it was difficult to tease that out from the emotional fallout, you know? I started therapy, which is a little helpful at this point. Mid June the doc bumped me to 10 (I felt better after some rough s/e) and returned to eating and sleeping. After 17 days doc thought I could do better because I was still showing some signs of anxiety so bumped to 15 mg. Two weeks after that I stopped sleeping/eating and have been very shaky during the mornings and anxious during the days.

 

Two weeks after I went to 15 I started to have terrible insomnia and lost my appetite.  I want to get the heck down to at least 10 mg. but here is my question: if I've only been on 10/15 mg for 6 weeks does that mean I need to spend about a year weaning all the way off? It seems like it hasn't been in my system long enough to warrant pumping it into myself for so much longer.


I had a genetic test done that shows I am a slow metabolizer and I suspect the lexapro was too high for my tolerance. So I'd like to taper back to 12.5 or 10 mg before I can finally get in with the new psychiatrist (5 weeks from now) to review this horror show, figure out a new med and/or a plan to wean.

 

PDoc also gave me Librium, Xanax, Lunesta to deal with the rough patches. I freaking hate having a laundry list of meds but sometimes feel so bad.

____________________________________________________________

2000-2012, Celexa 10 mg

2012, Escitalopram 5 mg

2017, Escitalopram taper (3.75, 2.5, 1.25, ~1 over the course of 8 weeks)

brain zaps, irritability, headaches

 

Escitalopram 2018

April: 2.5 mg - 2 weeks ; 3.75 mg - 2 weeks

May-June 15: 5 mg - 6 weeks (general startup anxiety, insomnia and lack of appetite)

June 16: 10 mg - 17 days (jittery but able to eat and sleep)

July 6: 15 m - 23 days (2 weeks in and everything went sideways --- insomnia, no appetite, shakiness, racing thoughts)

 

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  • ChessieCat changed the title to Chair: tapering Lexapro - confused
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Hi Chair, welcome to SA.  Thank you for filling in your signature, it is very helpful. I am sorry to hear of your loss, loss of a loved one is devastating. 

 

Can you tell us when in 2017 you tapered lexapro?  When a person has been on and off a drug they are often not able to tolerate the same doses and you could have still been experiencing some withdrawal. Often people do well with a very small dose when reinstating, less is definitely best at this time. When you were experiencing side effects from the reinstatement dose your doctor increased the dose when it really needed decreasing. You might try going to to 12.5 if you have only been on 15 for 2 weeks.  You will need to hold for a while at that dose because it takes a few days to reach a steady dose in the blood. Hopefully that will help. Because you were taking it for years, and have had these problems this time you will need to taper slowly. We have some people who have only taken a drug for a few days and have to taper very slowly because they are so sensitive to changes and have gone into withdrawal on stopping. 

 

I will get some topics for you to look at so that you might understand a bit more about what is happening.

 

about withdrawal syndrome

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/603-what-is-withdrawal-syndrome/

 

About reinstating, this explains why a small dose is better.

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/7562-about-reinstating-and-stabilizing-to-reduce-withdrawal-symptoms/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**I am not a medical professional, if in doubt please consult a doctor with withdrawal knowledge.

 

 

Different drugs occasionally (mostly benzos) 1976 - 1981 (no problem)

1993 - 2002 in and out of hospital. every type of drug + ECT. Staring with seroxat

2002  effexor. 

Tapered  March 2012 to March 2013, ending with 5 beads.

Withdrawal April 2013 . Reinstated 5 beads reduced to 4 beads May 2013

Restarted taper  Nov 2013  

OFF EFFEXOR Feb 2015    :D 

Tapered atenolol and omeprazole Dec 2013 - May 2014

 

Tapering tramadol, Feb 2015 100mg , March 2015 50mg  

 July 2017 30mg.  May 15 2018 25mg

Taking fish oil, magnesium, B12, folic acid, bilberry eyebright for eye pressure. 

 

My story http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/4199-hello-mammap-checking-in/page-33

 

Lesson learned, slow down taper at lower doses. Taper no more than 10% of CURRENT dose if possible

 

 

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Sorry to take so long to respond.

To answer your questions: I tapered from July into Aug. (maybe 6 weeks? 8?)

 

I lowered my dose to 12.5 mg for the past 5 days. I'm shaky still in the morning and feel anxious most of my waking hours (improves later in the evening). But my main problem is this debilitating insomnia. And no one can tell me if this anxiousness is *mainly* from the recent painful experiences in my life or is it amplified by the lexapro. I want to get back to 10 mg sooner rather than later but as most people here are, am wary of the S/E of withdrawal. (And I'm scared I really do need the AD for a while)

 

Have an appt with a new psych in a matter of weeks but that seems so far away. 

2000-2012, Celexa 10 mg

2012, Escitalopram 5 mg

2017, Escitalopram taper (3.75, 2.5, 1.25, ~1 over the course of 8 weeks)

brain zaps, irritability, headaches

 

Escitalopram 2018

April: 2.5 mg - 2 weeks ; 3.75 mg - 2 weeks

May-June 15: 5 mg - 6 weeks (general startup anxiety, insomnia and lack of appetite)

June 16: 10 mg - 17 days (jittery but able to eat and sleep)

July 6: 15 m - 23 days (2 weeks in and everything went sideways --- insomnia, no appetite, shakiness, racing thoughts)

 

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