Zakalwe: Lexapro discontinuation

[Zakalwe]

Hello,

 

It's been 3.5 months since I stopped taking lexapro.  I still can't get an alcohol buzz.  I don't experience any euphoria just the dizziness.  Has any else experienced this?  Did you regain the ability to feel a buzz?  This seems so unnatural.  I wonder what is happening in the brain.  

 

Thanks.

[SkyBlue]

Hi Zakalwe,

 

This is a site for helping people come off antidepressants. We don't help people regain their alcohol buzz.

 

Alcohol can be really destabilizing for people in SSRI withdrawal.

 

Are you experiencing symptoms of withdrawal? 

[Zakalwe]

I'm still experiencing PSSD, insomnia and tinnitus.  There is a lot of information here on these symptoms but not on alcohol buzz.

 

How is alcohol destabilizing?  I remember reading on the forum that at least one person said that it helped with the insomnia.

 

I'm not looking for information on how to regain a buzz.   I'm asking how long it took for people to be able to feel a buzz again (time frames).

 

Since my post I found some people who said it took more than a year to be able to enjoy alcohol a bit.

 

Thanks.

[Noloft]

Hi there,

 

i am am pretty sure the last thing you should be thinking about right now is how you can get drunk again.  If you are in withdrawal, alcohol should be avoided. In fact, if you are trying to feel healthy again, and don’t want to deal with PSSD anymore, the last thing you should be doing is drinking booze-that is not going to help you regain your sexual functioning at all. Not many people realize that alcohol can also cause sexual dysfunction. Not to mention, it also has terrible effects on your ability to get restorative sleep. Drinking will perpetuate whatever it is you are going through. 

 

I dont mean to  sound condescending I just feel you need to be more concerned with overall recovery and less on how you can get drunk again. 

 

 

 

 

[Zakalwe]

I would like to enjoy a beer or a glass of wine with a meal.  Why are you assuming I want to get drunk?

 

Do you have PSSD?  Did not drinking alcohol help you regain your sexual function?

 

I realize that alcohol can cause sexual dysfunction.  I never had a problem with sexual function before I took an SSRI.

[ChessieCat]

Q:  Have you taken any other psychiatric drugs prior to Lexapro?

 

If you have taken other drug/s please add to your drug signature so we can see your drug history.  For the last year we need details of dates, ALL drugs, and doses.  For older than 2 years just years and drug.  No symptoms or diagnoses please.  Thank you.  Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature

 

I'd like to explain why SkyBlue and Noloft have responded as they have.   This site was started in 2011.  The last thing on the mind of many members of this website is enjoying alcohol.  They are struggling to get through a day at a time, and sometimes even an hour at a time, and sometimes minutes at a time.  I've been there myself.  There are members on this site who have become bedridden, lost jobs, had to move in with relatives and/or can't leave their house.  Their lives have been totally wrecked because of psychiatric drugs.

 

Your initial post voices your concern about not being able enjoy drinking alcohol even though you later mention that you are experiencing PSSD, insomnia and tinnitus.  I've added links to SA's topics for the symptoms you mentioned.
 

I've stopped drinking caffeine during tapering because it increases my anxiety.  We have members who have become sensitised to other things as well, eg light and noise, medications and supplements.

 

Edited September 15, 2018 by ChessieCat

[Zakalwe]

No other psychiatric drugs prior to Lexapro.  The only pills I took were multivitamins, fish oil capsules and fiber capsules.  
 

I realize now how much I took my prior health for granted.

 

Thanks for the explanation ChessieCat.  I realize that my symptoms are nowhere close to the level of other people's symptoms.  This actually was not my initial post.  In my introduction post I mentioned the PSSD and the insomnia.  I posted about alcohol in the symptoms area and then it got moved to the introduction area.  I've already done a lot of research on this forum and other forums about the PSSD, insomnia and tinnitus but I couldn't find a lot about alcohol.  I'm already taking supplements for the PSSD and insomnia and rotating them as well.  I think I'm getting used to the PSSD, insomnia and tinnitus so I inquired about alcohol.

 

Thanks.

[ChessieCat]

2 minutes ago, Zakalwe said:

I'm already taking supplements for the PSSD and insomnia and rotating them as well. 

 

Q:  What are you taking?

 

Q:  And what do you mean by rotating them?

 

Depending on what you are taking, there is a possibility that they may be slowing your brain from regaining homeostasis/factory settings.

[Zakalwe]

I'm taking magnesium, glycine, niacimamide and nothing on alternate days to prevent poop out.  I think that the magnesium helps with blood flow problems as well.  I try to follow Altostrata's regime for sleep and supplements.   My insomnia is not that severe compared to others.

 

For the sleep hygiene part I also try to stay away from coffee and diet coke.

[ChessieCat]

Magnesium works best taken throughout the day.  The other supplement SA recommends is Omega-3 Fish Oil.

 

I'm pleased to see that you aren't taking any so-called "natural" drugs which affect the brain.

 

Please be aware that some things which you were able to tolerate prior to taking the Lexapro may now cause issues.  If you find that your symptoms worsen or you develop a new one, try not to panic, but to look back over the week before to try and work out if something changed.  Even an outside stress, eg an argument, or being sick, can worsen symptoms.  Dr Joseph Glenmullen's WD Symptoms Checklist

 

And if you haven't already realised, it is most probably best if you stay away from psychiatric drugs or the "natural" type (eg St Johns Wort, etc - use the search function or google and include survivingantidepressants.org in your search term).

 

Which leads me to ask Q:  What was the reason you were prescribed Lexapro?

[Leo1983]

Im blown away by your alcohol question.

 

When did the tinnitus start? Before during or after medication?

 

Does the tinnitus affect your sleep?

[Noloft]

Your original post mentioned trying to gain a buzz—that to me is getting drunk. Semantics I guess.

 

I do have PSSD and it has improved slightly with abstinence from everything. Not perfect yet but it has improved and I do believe alcohol will keep you from improving in this area. 

[PoetJester]

On 9/14/2018 at 4:50 PM, Zakalwe said:

Hello,

 

It's been 3.5 months since I stopped taking lexapro.  I still can't get an alcohol buzz.  I don't experience any euphoria just the dizziness.  Has any else experienced this?  Did you regain the ability to feel a buzz?  This seems so unnatural.  I wonder what is happening in the brain.  

 

Thanks.

Hi Zakalwe

 

i did drink for a while in withdrawal.  about two years into stopping zoloft and zyprexa, i started going down to the bar for 2 or 3 pints of beer a night.  this was summer of 2016.  My sleep had been terrible before the drinking and the two or three pints did help me knock off for a while, but my sleep quality was still awful from the beer induced sleep ( i still had depressed vivid dreams) and it also led to severe gastrointestinal problems.  my tolerance was way down, too.  two pints would sometimes make me drunk.  three pints and i was sure to get the spins.   it almost felt like a bacterial thing in the guts in my case.  i eventually got really sick even from the moderate drinking. 

 

 By January of 2017 i had to stop drinking altogether because i had developed a violent allergic reaction to even small amounts of beer/liquor.    One beer, and an hour later i would begin puking my guts out and then be huddled up on my kitchen floor feeling like death for an hour.   It's called Sudden Onset Alcohol Intolerance and from what i read is either SIBO or parasite related.   

 

even after the first night of having a couple pints in July of 2016, i had noticed an immediate change in my digestion, i woke up the next morning and had no appetite whatsoever anymore, and severe gastroparesis where i always felt full of stool- not constipated, but all backed up with mucky stool- it sucked.  i even developed a fecal odor from my lungs/esophagus/stomach related to the slow transit.   i later found out i had a partial blockage in my stomach and also a major infestation of intestinal worms, as crazy as that sounds.  it's awful and i am still dealing with it.

 

For me, it had been nice (outside of the digestive problems it had caused) to go down to the bar several times a week, since i live in a suburb that feels like a graveyard after 8pm.  i could kind of have a social life and be among the living instead of always in my apartment wondering how to sleep and feeling ill or else sitting on facebook medication related groups.  

 

Poetjester

[Zakalwe]

Hi PoetJester,

 

I think it was your posts that I read where you mentioned that a couple of drinks helped with your severe insomnia.  Alcohol does nothing for me now.  It is like drinking water that gives me a headache.  I only get the headache.  It is not enjoyable.  It sounds you like could still get a buzz.  Otherwise why go for 2nd and 3rd drink.

 

I'm sorry to hear about the worms.  Where did the intestinal worms come from?  That is not a side effect of zoloft, zyprexa or alcohol as far as I know.  Did the worms cause the Sudden Onset Alcohol Intolerance? Did the alcohol or the worms cause the severe GI?

 

I tend to self-isolate.  I recently joined some Meetup.com groups to get out and socialize more.  It has been helpful for me because otherwise I'd just be in my apartment watching Netflix or browsing message boards as well.

 

Zakalwe