Alix12: antidepressant discontinuation syndrome

[Alix12]

Good evening! I Am sorry for my bad english but i Am italian and i found this site on the web. I have been taking Escitalopram for 10 months, then, according to my doctor, i stopped to take It three weeks ago. Now i feel very bad, i feel anxious, i want to cry, i can't Sleep Well. Are these symptoms normal? When will they finish? Will i be better? Thanks for replying me

[ChessieCat]

Hi Alix and welcome to SA,

 

What you are experiencing and withdrawal symptoms from stopping your drug too quickly.  See:

 

Dr Joseph Glenmullen's WD Symptoms Checklist

 

The only known way to reduce withdrawal symptoms is to take some of the drug that you have stopped taking.  Because you have only been off your drug for 3 weeks reinstatement has a very good chance of being successful.  The sooner you reinstate the better chance it has of working.  Please read Post #1 of this topic:

 

About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms

 

Because your brain will have already made some adjustments to not getting as much of the drug you will not need to take as much.  I suggest that you start taking 3/4 of the dose you were taking.  For example if you were taking 10mg you would take 7.5mg,  if 5mg you would take 3.75mg.

 

It takes about 4 days for a dose to get to full level in the blood and a bit longer for it to register in the brain.  However, you might start to feel some improvement during the first couple of days.

 

Please keep daily notes about your symptoms, what improves, what worsens, so you can see how the reinstatement is affecting your symptoms.

 

This topic explains how to get the dose you need:

 

Tips for tapering off Lexapro (escitalopram)

 

After stabilising, which might take 2 or 3 months, or more, you could then taper followong SA's tapering guidelines: 

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

I will provide more information in the next post.

 

This is your own introduction topi where you can ask questions and journal your progress.

[ChessieCat]

When you are feeling a bit better please create your drug signature using the following format.   Keep it simple.  NO diagnoses or symptoms please - thank you.

• details for last 2 years - dates, ALL drugs, doses
• summary for older than 2 years - just years and drug/s

Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature

 

 

 

CT and Fast Tapers

 

Reinstatement

 

Here's some additional information which might help you to understand what is happening:

 

Recovery isn't linear it happens in a Windows and Waves Pattern

 

Withdrawal Normal Description

When we take a psychiatric drug, we are adding chemical/s to the brain.  The brain then has to change to adapt to getting the chemical/s.  It might have to change something to do with A and then once that change has been made it affects B so another change has to be made and so on down the line.  It is a chain reaction, a domino effect.

 

The same thing happens when we take the drug away.  That's why it's possible to experience such a vast array of withdrawal symptoms, and they can change, and be of different intensity.

 

are-we-there-yet-how-long-is-withdrawal-going-to-take

 

These explain it really well:

 

Video:  Healing From Antidepressants - Patterns of Recovery

 

On 8/31/2011 at 5:28 AM, Rhiannon said:

When we stop taking the drug, we have a brain that has designed itself so that it works in the presence of the drug; now it can't work properly without the drug because it's designed itself so that the drug is part of its chemistry and structure. It's like a plant that has grown on a trellis; you can't just yank out the trellis and expect the plant to be okay. When the drug is removed, the remodeling process has to take place in reverse. SO--it's not a matter of just getting the drug out of your system and moving on. If it were that simple, none of us would be here. It's a matter of, as I describe it, having to grow a new brain. I believe this growing-a-new-brain happens throughout the taper process if the taper is slow enough. (If it's too fast, then there's not a lot of time for actually rebalancing things, and basically the brain is just pedaling fast trying to keep us alive.) It also continues to happen, probably for longer than the symptoms actually last, throughout the time of recovery after we are completely off the drug, which is why recovery takes so long.

 

AND

 

On 12/4/2015 at 2:41 AM, apace41 said:

Basically- you have a building where the MAJOR steel structures are trying to be rebuilt at different times - ALL while people are coming and going in the building and attempting to work.

It would be like if the World Trade Center Towers hadn't completely fallen - but had crumbled inside in different places.. Imagine if you were trying to rebuild the tower - WHILE people were coming and going and trying to work in the building!  You'd have to set up a temporary elevator - but when you needed to fix part of that area, you'd have to tear down that elevator and set up a temporary elevator somewhere else. And so on. You'd have to build, work around, then tear down, then build again, then work around, then build... ALL while people are coming and going, ALL while the furniture is being replaced, ALL while the walls are getting repainted... ALL while life is going on INSIDE the building. No doubt it would be chaotic. That is EXACTLY what is happening with windows and waves.  The windows are where the body has "got it right" for a day or so - but then the building shifts and the brain works on something else - and it's chaos again while another temporary pathway is set up to reroute function until repairs are made.  

 

 

[Alix12]

Thanks for your replying! I used to take 20 mg/day of escitalopram for 8 months and then 10 mg for two weeks, mg doctor Said that...

[ChessieCat]

It is better to start with a lower dose than to risk taking too much.  You could start with 7.5mg and keep notes.  If after 1 week you symptoms are still unbearable then you could try increasing by 1mg.

 

The idea of reinstating isn't to get rid of all withdrawal symptoms but to reduce them so that you can live with them.  As your brain adjusts to not getting as much of the drug over a few months the withdrawal symptoms usually lessen.

[ChessieCat]

My own experience of reducing my drug too quickly:

 

I was taking 100mg Pristiq and because it is only available in 50mg and 100mg doses I started taking 50mg.  Over a 2 week period my brain fog got worse and worse and even walking took my full concentration.  It was at this time that I researched and found SA.  They suggested that I increase my dose but I wanted to find out more about what they were suggesting and of course the brain fog made it difficult to take in the information I was reading.  However, a couple of days after joining SA I was unable to type.  I have been a professional typist for 40+ years so I knew something was wrong.  I decided to take extra Pristiq and after only about 4 hours I was able to type again and the brain fog was lifting.  I had a benchmark so I had proof that it was the lack of drug that caused the brain fog and inability to type.  The difference was like night and day.  I also knew that there was no way that this was wishful thinking etc.

 

After a few months I started tapering following SA's tapering recommendations and I'm now down to 2.75mg.  During my taper I have still experienced some withdrawal symptoms but they have been mild, except during times of stress and/or sickness when I have found that they do increase.