Kronos18: Lexapro withdrawal

[Kronos18]

Is POTS from withdrawal going to fix as time passes or one needs to do something about it in order to pass?

[ChessieCat]

postural-tachycardia-syndrome-pots

 

[Kronos18]

1 minute ago, ChessieCat said:

postural-tachycardia-syndrome-pots

 

Thank you cc, i had a look at that but i don’t really know what is to be done.Is it going to go in time or i have to adress to it?

[ChessieCat]

I suggest you ask your question in the PoTS topic.

[Kronos18]

1 minute ago, ChessieCat said:

I suggest you ask your question in the PoTS topic.

Oh i understand.Thank you Cc.

[Kronos18]

Guys, this might sound weird.But actually, my POTS gets high during the day and almost inexistent at night time.Symptoms are still here, faint feeling, diziness, vertigo, weakness, muscle twitches, but my pulse when standing in maximum 90 at night, during the day goes up to 130 when standing. Is 3:26 here and i went in the kitchen to eat something, and randomly took my hb with an apple watch.Surprising, my average hb was 85 after 5 minutes of standing.This withdrawal is really weird.

[andrewalexandenyc]

i just joined.  Kronos, literally have the same experience as you. its been 14 months, im still twitching, vibrating, sometimes dizzy, crawling feeling mostly in left hand and leg? really odd. thought it was MS,  had a brain MRI , clear.  Initially my symptoms started after stopping 20Mg zoloft cold turkey (was on Zoloft for about 14 months). i felt fine for 3 months after quitting, then i had a fever and some type of flu?? all of a sudden the symptoms listed above all started. i started focusing on all of my sensations and it has been driving me crazy ever since. maybe is hypervigiliance? i don know even what to do anymore. as soon as i wakeup i question myself how am i feeling? am i vibrating? do i still feel weak?  am i still  dizzy? and so it goes on =/ 

Im terrified of all these major diseases MS, ALS, Parks. but then i also have to admit that I've always made my biggest fears produce symptoms. im also 28 so it would be rare to have any of these. 

 

At this point i think my only option is to say to myself" hey if you have one of these illnesses, and if they kill you, well then its just your time, it is what it is. why be afraid of the  inevitable . 

But i think my withdrawal has made me hold on to these symptoms through my old and anxiety.

It has to end. one way or another

 

Edited July 14, 2019 by ChessieCat
changed caps to LC

[Kronos18]

On 7/11/2019 at 7:40 AM, andrewalexandenyc said:i just joined.  Kronos, literally have the same experience as you. its been 14 months, im still twitching, vibrating, sometimes dizzy, crawling feeling mostly in left hand and leg? really odd. thought it was MS,  had a brain MRI , clear.  Initially my symptoms started after stopping 20Mg zoloft cold turkey (was on Zoloft for about 14 months). i felt fine for 3 months after quitting, then i had a fever and some type of flu?? all of a sudden the symptoms listed above all started. i started focusing on all of my sensations and it has been driving me crazy ever since. maybe is hypervigiliance? i don know even what to do anymore. as soon as i wakeup i question myself how am i feeling? am i vibrating? do i still feel weak?  am i still  dizzy? and so it goes on =/ 

Im terrified of all these major diseases MS, ALS, Parks. but then i also have to admit that I've always made my biggest fears produce symptoms. im also 28 so it would be rare to have any of these. 

 

At this point i think my only option is to say to myself" hey if you have one of these illnesses, and if they kill you, well then its just your time, it is what it is. why be afraid of the  inevitable . 

But i think my withdrawal has made me hold on to these symptoms through my old and anxiety.

It has to end. one way or another

 

I know how horrible it is.I’m just the same with scanning symptoms, I think everyone does it, as we want to get rid of them, but i really believe it does end.I’m 22 and i’ve been on Lexapro for 2 months and lorazepam 2 weeks, some symptoms have gotten better, others come and go but in the end, one day we will be free of this, no matter what.Are you taking any supplements?i’m doing breathing exercises and finding them helpful in critical moments, they really calm anxiety.Wish you all the best, one day we will be free of it.

[Kronos18]

Hello.It looks like I have a urinary tract infection and I need to take antibiotics.They gave me norfloxacin for 10 days or cefixime for 5 days.Which one should I take? Thank you

[Kostas]

Hi, 

Are you sure you have a uti? 

Did they find  microbes in your urine analysis? 

Did they make an antibiogram to find which andibiotic is the best to fight them? 

I had various uti symptoms during my withdrawal, they could not find any microbe but were giving me antibiotics without reason! 

Symptoms were fading away gradually, without them! 

[eymen23]

2 hours ago, Kronos18 said:

Hello.It looks like I have a urinary tract infection and I need to take antibiotics.They gave me norfloxacin for 10 days or cefixime for 5 days.Which one should I take? Thank you

 

Kronos,

 

Please make sure they have performed a urine culture and identified an infection (and which type) before considering which drug to take. As Kostas notes, genital and urinary issues can be symptoms of withdrawal syndrome. 

 

I want to caution you that norfloxacin belongs to the fluoroquinolone class of antibiotics and these are known to sometimes cause very adverse reactions. The FDA added a black box warning to all antibiotics in this class, noting ‘disabling and potentially permanent side effects’ can involve the tendons, muscles, joints, nerves and central nervous system. 

 

Having quickly googled cefixime it has potential adverse reactions, but at least on paper appears to be the safer option. 

 

As always, your mileage may vary and it should be noted that there are no guarantees when it comes to how one will react to drugs or supplements, especially when experiencing withdrawal syndrome. 

[Kronos18]

1 minute ago, eymen23 said:

 

Kronos,

 

Please make sure they have performed a urine culture and identified an infection (and which type) before considering which drug to take. As Kostas notes, genital and urinary issues can be symptoms of withdrawal syndrome. 

 

I want to caution you that norfloxacin belongs to the fluoroquinolone class of antibiotics and these are known to sometimes cause very adverse reactions. The FDA added a black box warning to all antibiotics in this class, noting ‘disabling and potentially permanent side effects’ can involve the tendons, muscles, joints, nerves and central nervous system. 

 

Having quickly googled cefixime it has potential adverse reactions, but at least on paper appears to be the safer option. 

 

As always, your mileage may vary and it should be noted that there are no guarantees when it comes to how one will react to drugs or supplements, especially when experiencing withdrawal syndrome. 

 

21 minutes ago, Kostas said:

Hi, 

Are you sure you have a uti? 

Did they find  microbes in your urine analysis? 

Did they make an antibiogram to find which andibiotic is the best to fight them? 

I had various uti symptoms during my withdrawal, they could not find any microbe but were giving me antibiotics without reason! 

Symptoms were fading away gradually, without them! 

Hi Kostas and Eymen.I have a confirmed UTI from urine analysis, is not something severe but is definately something.I’m trying some pills now, not antibiotics bit something natural, I really hope those will help me.I don’t really want to use the antibiotics as I know they are very dangerous during withdrawal.I will let them be as the last last option, definately not norfloxacin.Thank you very much guys.How are you feeling?

[Kostas]

Still OK Kronos, 

In a window? ( I still cannot believe that I am off the woods!) for 2 years now, and without drug for 6 years. 

It seems that there is hope after all! 

All the best to you. 

[Kronos18]

On 8/13/2019 at 8:51 PM, Kostas said:

Still OK Kronos, 

In a window? ( I still cannot believe that I am off the woods!) for 2 years now, and without drug for 6 years. 

It seems that there is hope after all! 

All the best to you. 

Congratulations man! Keep it up!

Is local anesthetic safe? I need to have a tooth extraction next week.

[ChessieCat]

dental-surgery-dental-medications-tooth-discoloration

 

You might find it better to get the non-adrenaline injection.  It doesn't last as long.

 

Here is the search in the above topic where this is mentioned:  https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/search/?q=adrenaline&type=forums_topic&item=13754

 

[Kostas]

1 hour ago, Kronos18 said:

Congratulations man! Keep it up!

Is local anesthetic safe? I need to have a tooth extraction next week.

I don't think you have to worry too much about it. 

The stress for the upcoming procedure, will do more harm! 

Try to be relaxed about it, as much as possible. 

Best of luck! 

[Kronos18]

On 8/16/2019 at 10:29 AM, ChessieCat said:

dental-surgery-dental-medications-tooth-discoloration

 

You might find it better to get the non-adrenaline injection.  It doesn't last as long.

 

Here is the search in the above topic where this is mentioned:  https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/search/?q=adrenaline&type=forums_topic&item=13754

 

 

On 8/16/2019 at 11:50 AM, Kostas said:

I don't think you have to worry too much about it. 

The stress for the upcoming procedure, will do more harm! 

Try to be relaxed about it, as much as possible. 

Best of luck! 

Hi guys, sorry for the late response and thank you very much for the advice.The tooth extraction went well, everything is fine, the infection is gone now, i didn’t need antibiotics.

[Kronos18]

So, things are not so bad now, I’m 7 1/2 months off, physical symptoms are getting better, I can do more now.I’m still dealing with dr/dp, POTS comes and goes, still balance problems, internal vibrations, muscle twitches, my most concerning symptom now is the vision.I don’t know if it’s the derealization going on or the vision itself, but here ar my symptoms:

-when I look at certain things, they look like vibrating, bending.

-blurry vision still going on.

-Once in a while I get eye pain and redness in the eyes.

-Disorted vision (vision just doesn’t seem right at all).

-Colors are darker than usual.

-bright light gives me eye pain and discomfort.

 

This things I surely didn’t have before withdrawal, so surely pills are the cause.

 

Will these things get better?

[lexapoison]

Kronos this is awesome news!! I’m so happy you’re feeling better! How bad were you in the beginning? When were you able to start leaving the house? We have similar amounts of time on Lexapro so this is good to hear!

[Kronos18]

On 9/7/2019 at 11:13 PM, lexapoison said:

Kronos this is awesome news!! I’m so happy you’re feeling better! How bad were you in the beginning? When were you able to start leaving the house? We have similar amounts of time on Lexapro so this is good to hear!

Hi Lexpoison.I was so bad I couldn’t see anyone without severe anxiety, I felt severe anxiety 24/7 and panic.Cortisol mornings, everything was scary, every touch, movements, literally EVERYTHING.Now is better, I still deal with it, but is a little bit less, now I can see close friends, drive, talk to people.I still deal with faint feeling which is the worst one ever, POTS on and off,dr/dp, weakness, disorted vision, fatigue, muscle twitches, tinnitus, swaying feeling but it got better.I couldn’t belive when someone was saying “let the time pass and the healing will come”.It’s hard to believe even now, but I got some improvements and i’m sure the best is yet to come.My advices:

-Believe in yourself

-breathing exercises(I do 4-7-8 and it really helps in the long run)

-stop reading horror stories

-STAY BUSY(I know is very hard, but it’s one of the most important!!!)Don’t obsess about the symptoms, let them be

-laugh, joke, have sex, take walks, talk to people

-rest a lot and eat healthy food (I eat fast food every couple days)

-do what you’re afraid of, you won’t get hurt, no matter what.You won’t go crazy, no matter how bad the dr/dp is.Don’t obsess about in NEVER.Don’t research, don’t focus on it.

[Leo1983]

Well done!

 

You took the advice and now your on your way.

 

keep going.

[Kronos18]

15 minutes ago, Leo1983 said:

Well done!

 

You took the advice and now your on your way.

 

keep going.

Yes my man, it really helped me to keep going.Thank you.

 

Hope you are well.

[Kronos18]

Hello.So I had a flight today, got back in London for my gf's birthday and it was exhaustimg.Since couple days i had an worsening in POTS symptoms randomly.i'm proud of me taking the flights with these symptoms, I was feeling very very very faint in the airport.My questions are:

-Should I rest in withdrawal a lot?I try to be as active as possible, meet friends, laugh, but these symptoms are depressing me a lot.

-Should I go out more, no matter how I feel?

If I go out more, will I delay my withdrawal?

POTS for me comes like this : I stand more than couple minutes, then start to feel dizzy, lightheaded, weak,tremors, swaying feeling comes in, headaches, heart beats around 125 bpm.I try to do as much as possible but it's nearly impossible with these symptoms.Also, seems that most of the anxiety comes from POTS symptoms, not from meeting people and things.

[ChessieCat]

It's up to you to try and work out how much of what you should/can do.  There are a couple of things you can do to help figure this out.  Pacing yourself, so not doing too many things in a day or over a period of time (so include rest periods) and/or easing your way into something if possible.  Keeping a basic diary of your activities and noting how you feel/your symptoms each day might help you to see what causes an increase in discomfort/symptoms.  As an example I had a pain in my back on Sunday and the only thing I did differently was that I cleaned the inside of my car windows late Friday afternoon.  I was a bit hesitant to put that as the cause and wondered if I had slept in a position which caused it.  However, my daughter commented that if I was a bit sore on the Saturday I might have been holding my body in a different position and that might have caused the pain on the Sunday. 

[Kronos18]

On 9/23/2019 at 11:08 PM, ChessieCat said:

It's up to you to try and work out how much of what you should/can do.  There are a couple of things you can do to help figure this out.  Pacing yourself, so not doing too many things in a day or over a period of time (so include rest periods) and/or easing your way into something if possible.  Keeping a basic diary of your activities and noting how you feel/your symptoms each day might help you to see what causes an increase in discomfort/symptoms.  As an example I had a pain in my back on Sunday and the only thing I did differently was that I cleaned the inside of my car windows late Friday afternoon.  I was a bit hesitant to put that as the cause and wondered if I had slept in a position which caused it.  However, my daughter commented that if I was a bit sore on the Saturday I might have been holding my body in a different position and that might have caused the pain on the Sunday. 

Thank you CC.My symptoms work like this : I get up from bed, within couple mins I start to feel faint, dizzy, weak, tremors, I feel like I will fall at any minute and my anxiety ramps up, dr dp stronger and everything is worse.Then I lay in bed, head pressure and headaches kick in, muscle twitching, buzzing feeling in head, feelings of vibration in the whole body, tingling in hands, the vision problems I have all the time are worse(disorted vision, things vibrating,lots of afterimages).Seems like my CNS is severely damaged with no let up to this date, only days of feeling a little bit better, not something too noticeable.I'm very concerned as not many people I see here have these symptoms, I don't really know what to do any more as it's been 8 months feeling like this, i'm afraid of being like this for years and years.

[Leo1983]

mate it does let up eventually.

[Kronos18]

On 9/26/2019 at 4:30 PM, Leo1983 said:

mate it does let up eventually.

Thanks mate.Really appreciate it.My case it's a little bit different as for me benzos did the worst harm, after only 2 weeks of use leaving me with POTS.Every symptom I have it's related to dysautonomia, it's been 8 months since last pill of lexapro with no let up, 10 months of hell after only 2 weeks of benzos and I'm starting to doubt my recovery.It's worse as ever, I was never thinking that only 2 weeks of benzos can cause this damage.

[Kronos18]

Hello.

 

Somebody here who gets sleep paralysis? I never got it before the pills and now I already had it for 5 times in 8 months.

I found this :

"Rapid eye movement. Rapid eye movement (REM) is the stage of sleep characterized by rapid saccadic movements of the eyes. During this stage, the activity of the brain's neurons is quite similar to that during waking hours. Most of the vividly recalled dreams occur during REM sleep."

It connects with what happens to me because every time it happens, my dreams feel so real before I wake, I know that I am in a dream and I can't wake, then sleep paralysis happens.It feels like my whole body vibrates, feelings of doom called "sleep demon", they say it's normal during sleep paralysis.

Hope you guys are ok, sometines is too much.

[Kronos18]

Hello.

Can anyone relate to these visual symptoms? 

-Afterimages(powerful lights stay even around 1 minute when I close and open my eyes I can see them)

-Light sensivity (My eyes hurt a lot)

-Light flashes (I have some sort of sand in my backyard, when I look at it, seems like if flashes)

-Problems switching from low light to bright light

-Tiny white dots moving in my vision(doing circles)

-A lot of floaters

-Blurred vision

I mention that this whole nightmare started for me after the benzo use(2 weeks). Will I recover from it? I had no problems like this in the past.

It's been 11 months feeling like this after benzos and is worse as ever.

[Leo1983]

Hi man.

 

Have you been to GP?

 

You could ask for a electroreinogram. Its a range of tests which examine the electrical activity in your eye basically. Looks at the whole eye and the optic nerve. 

 

Again if the eye looks ok??? its likely a time thing.

Electro retino gram.

[Kronos18]

1 minute ago, Leo1983 said:

Hi man.

 

Have you been to GP?

 

You could ask for a electroreinogram. Its a range of tests which examine the electrical activity in your eye basically. Looks at the whole eye and the optic nerve. 

 

Again if the eye looks ok??? its likely a time thing.

Electro retino gram.

Thanks Leo. I will have a look into it.

This thing is so crazy, but as I never had this issues before the pills i'm pretty sure it's withdrawal.

[Kronos18]

This thing is really wierd.In this state, even exitement creates anxiety and ramps up symptoms.I was in the kitchen with a friend, I got excited about a car, and i felt everything x10 worse.

[fullonmonet]

I have read through most of your thread and I see you questioning quite a bit if what you have is really withdrawal or something more. I just wanted to say I am going through exactly what you are describing. I also never had any of the symptoms before the pills which made me question if I have something like MS but 4 years after only being on zoloft for at most 5 months and still dealing with symptoms and them worsening makes me feel in my gut it is something more serious. So i decided to rule out everything else before settling on withdrawal. I hope everything goes well for you and that you do look into going to your doctor for more information. 

[Kronos18]

First of all, happy new year guys.So much time passed and some of us are still struggling.I’m currently 11 months off Lexapro after being on it for 2 months and things are improving, physical symptoms are very slowly fading, morphing, the ususl story.

One weird thing happened to me, I tried CBD oil for 2 days.I took couple drops, felt more spaced out like high sensation. After 1-2h i took another couple drops and something strange happened.Physical symptoms have worsened, i had my right arm and leg numb, explodin head pressure, a little swaying sensation and weakness.I had those symptoms bad before, they improved to a better baseline and now, after CBD oil they are worse again, but like 70% of the acute withdrawal.Also dr/dp worsened a bit, visual disturbances worsened aswell, but the strangest thing that happened is that my emotions got more blunted, including one of the biggest problem for most of us, anxiety.In total, I took in the first day around 12-14 drops, they recomend 3-4 drops x 3 times a day.I fell asleep well in the first night, slept like a baby, felt a lil bit better physically next day, took again CBD oil 2 times, 3 drops per portion then decided to quit it as it was making my physical symptoms worse.It’s been more then 36 hours since I took it and physically i’m a little better, but still not as before CBD oil.My questions are:

-Is there someone who had the same experience with CBD oil?

-Should I consider this a setback or is something that will pass fast? 
-Is the CBD oil actually downregulating receptors? from what i’ve read they stimulate 5HT1-A receptors.

 

For anyone who is reading and thinking he is doomed.I came from being bedridden to going on vacation with my parents and enjoying it, still nowhere near as before.BUT THINGS ARE IMPROVING.When I first came here i didn’t know what was happening to me.I couldn’t leave the house for long periods, spent a lot of time alone, scared for no reason.When Altostrata and the moderators mention “this process is slow and frustrating, things are very slowly getting better” there is no joke.PURE TRUTH, VERY VERY SLOWLY BUT SURELY.

 

Thank you very much.

 

[Leo1983]

I told you didnt i when we spoke on the phone.

 

Well done my friend 

[Kronos18]

Just now, Leo1983 said:

I told you didnt i when we spoke on the phone.

 

Well done my friend 

Leo, long time no see friend.I remember perfectly, you gave me hope friend.You were completely right, things are getting better, but I still have a lot of physical symptoms and vision to heal, so it will be a long road.How are you feeling friend?