Hopepersists: searching for best way to get off Celexa

[Hopepersists]

Has anyone experienced an increase in symptoms due to getting a Cortizone shot?   I’ve been feeling really wonky this week and wondered if it could play into things. I tried searching through the site but I mostly just found mentions of people saying that they were getting a Cortizone shot.  
 

Last, Sunday I tried to taper from 14.5 mg to 14.4 mg.  And the second night at this does my body felt like it was humming with electricity for a few hours before bedtime. It felt physical rather than emotional.    The feeling didn’t go away with meditation, magnesium and only eventually went away with .125 mg of Xanax (couldn’t think of what else to do is the sensation was making it hard for me to fall asleep.).  I had also felt some inter-dose withdrawal jitteriness which I had not had before that change.  
 

I went back up to 14.5 mg Tuesday morning and that electricity surge sensation went away.   

 

On Thursday, I saw my orthopedic doctor for my existing tennis elbow. He ended up administering a Cortizone shot in addition to giving me a physical therapy recommendation.  On the days since then,  I have been extremely fatigued in the afternoon, have more of the heaviness/ numbness feeling in my face & left side, plus just mild overall jitteriness.  
 

I sent my psychiatrist a note to ask her thoughts but wanted to see if anyone here had personal experience with Cortizone shots upsetting their withdrawal symptoms.  
 

on a sidenote, I do not plan to make any more Celexa changes until my body feels more normal.  

 

[Gridley]

22 minutes ago, Hopepersists said:

Has anyone experienced an increase in symptoms due to getting a Cortizone shot?

Steroids like cortisone can definitely increase symptoms.  

[Hopepersists]

Thanks @Gridley  i’m going to blame the slight brain fog for not connecting the words cortisol and Cortisone.  😁 

 

Crossing my fingers that this is going to be more of a short term disturbance than the full duration of the cortisone shot.  Live and learn.   
 

[Hopepersists]

It has been about a week and a half since I received a Cortisone shot for my tennis elbow and the Cortisone negatively impacted my withdrawal syndrome.  
 

I feel like the shot took me back about two months in time increasing the withdrawal sensations I have before my doses, which had been negligible.  it also took my wonderful sleep and made it hard to fall asleep do you do the p.m. cortisol rush. I’ve now been taking a quarter pill of my Xanax for the last week which is a bummer as I really don’t like taking it.  
 

I also have general jitteriness and fatigue in the afternoons which had significantly lessened before. I would say that I am about 40% improved since the day I got my cortisone shot, so I know that this will eventually get better. Just going through a bit of a mental wave as I know that I worked so hard to get to the point where I could titrate and I think I’m going to have to hold for a good month or two again.  
 

I appreciate any words of encouragement or humor.  
 

on the plus side, I am really committed to my work in physical therapy to get this elbow better so that I never have to deal with this again.  

[Leftyhelen1117]

Hopepersists- 

 

how are you doing now? I know it’s been almost a week since you last posted so hopefully things are on the up and up. I had posted this question a few weeks back and I didn’t get any answers as well.
 

 

I actually have bilateral tennis elbow and I need something for the pain. I have done everything in my capacity in order to control it but it’s not enough. I already canceled once because I didn’t want a sit back in my withdrawal as well.

 

Cortizone always gives me insomnia anyways but I just don’t want it to cause my mental symptoms of withdrawal to be more than they already are. 

 

I am at a loss of what to do

 

 

 

 

[Hopepersists]

Hi @Leftyhelen1117!  Thank you for the note. It has been about 2 1/2 weeks since I got my cortisone shot.  Time definitely helped a little bit with the effect of the cortisol shot, but recently my functional medicine psychiatrist suggested that I take a supplement called cortisol manager to help with the cortisol surge I had experienced after a shot.   The primary active ingredient is ashwaghanda.

 

 I know that people on the site have had mixed results with that herb but I had used it previously successfully. It’s an adaptagenic herb which helps to regulate cortisol higher or lower as needed.   since I obviously had a cortisol surge due to the shot, I was willing to give it a try.  I have taken 1/2 pill nightly for the last 5 nights.  On night 2, my insomnia went away.  This may be something you want to consider taking if you do get the shot.  
 

i’m currently in physical therapy twice a week and anticipate being there for at least 2 to 3 months since it’s not only my elbow but my PT thinks it’s my shoulder tendonitis which contributed to the tennis elbow.   Hopefully with PT I can get to a good place to where I won’t need the shots in the future. My doctor also advised me to make sure to limit inflammatory foods, such as gluten, dairy and sugar.   
 

my doctor thinks that the cortisol manager should help me to have a better time titrating in the future. We’ll see what happens.  She also advised me to increase my magnesium from 100 mg to 200 mg after I’ve been on the cortisol manager for two weeks. I have a way to go with stabilizing on the supplements before I try to attempt a Celexa reduction.   The time alone should help with my next step down.  Fingers crossed.  
 

I hope is to try as 0.2 mg reduction in early August.   

[Leftyhelen1117]

I am glad the cortisol med helped ! 
I am set to get them at 215 today ! 
I am hoping for good results and not a major set back with my withdrawal! 

[Hopepersists]

It’s now been about a month since my cortisone shot and I’m feeling about 80% of my WD normal I felt before it. 
 

The functional medicine psychiatrist I saw 3 weeks ago recommended doing 3 things to help me.  She told me to make one change every two weeks while holding everything else constant. 

 

1.  Add 1/2 pill of cortisol manager to my daily routine to combat the effects of the shot, which included hot flashes, insomnia and increased fatigue and jitteriness.  My insomnia went away after day two (which was awesome as I got rid of the Xanax - haven’t taken it since), the hot flashes diminished and I noticed that my interdose WD gradually diminished.  
 

2. increase Mg from 100mg to 200mg

I have now been doing this for four days.  I have been sleeping longer at night. With the cortisol manager, my sleep had gone down to 6 to 7 hours a night and now it’s back up to 8 1/2.  
 

3.  Add a GABA supplement.  I would start this in a week and a half, after I’ve completed two weeks at my new magnesium dose.   

 

@getofflexI believe I saw that you take GABA. Do you feel like it was helpful to you?  I don’t want to take a ton of supplements but this one seems to be well regarded by many of the people on SA and it makes sense from a scientific basis with how the brain operates.  
 

The other suggestion my doctor had is to add a low dose of Prozac (like 2mg) to help me reduce the Celexa since it has been hard for me to do that. Prior to the Cortisone shot I was only able to go down 0.5 mg out of my 15 mg dose (3.3%).  I was able to very ridiculously slowl cho away at another 0.1 mg over a few weeks so that I could get my morning and evening dose to be the same.  (7.2 mg each)

 

I don’t want to add another SSRI to the mix however I would like to be able to go off the Celexa at some point.  My doctor said that I could take the Prozac for just a month to help reduce some of the Celexa but I’ve definitely seen many people on essay who added some thing for a short period of time and then he had withdrawal symptoms from it  

 

I hope that by staying at the same Celexa dose for about 2 months before I even try to taper, I will be able to shave off a bit more.  

 

I also wonder if perhaps I had started tapering too soon in June after the ups and downs I had from January through April. Maybe that’s why I was only able to taper a bit.  I followed the essay protocols in terms of feeling WD normal but wonder if I should maybe just hold longer without making any changes?

 

Any thoughts/advice are welcome. 

 

[getofflex]

2 hours ago, Hopepersists said:

@getofflexI believe I saw that you take GABA. Do you feel like it was helpful to you?

 I'm not sure if it is doing anything for me.  I started it years ago after reading a book about depression promoting the use of it.  I'm only taking it now because I haven't managed to wean off of it.  I tried to do this several months ago, but there was other stuff going on, so I decided to put off the GABA taper. I'll probably wait until I'm completely off the Lexapro to get off the GABA.  However, altostrata was helped by GABA when she took it with magnesium, as she describes in this thread:  

 

GABA

 

 

Instead of adding another AD, why not just taper off the Celexa extremely gradually?  The more various drugs we add to the mix, the more the risk of confusing and destabilizing our nervous systems, and causing further problems. Doctors seem to have a penchant for wanting to add more drugs.  It seems to me like robbing Peter to pay Paul.  

2 hours ago, Hopepersists said:

 I followed the essay protocols in terms of feeling WD normal but wonder if I should maybe just hold longer without making any changes?

It never ever hurts to hold on your current dose (unless you are experiencing severe adverse effects).  The slower we taper off, the easier it is on our nervous systems, and on us.  Many of us follow what our body tells us, instead of holding to a specific date.  So, sometimes, I wait 8 weeks to reduce my dose, instead of just 4.  There are so many variables that can affect us - stress, weather changes, hormonal shifts in our bodies, dietary changes, seasonal changes, etc. etc.  For example I reduced my dose on 6/15, but then I had my second Shingrix vaccine in early July, and that affected me, so I'm not tapering yet, even though it's been over 4 weeks since my previous taper.  

 

Not only that, the lower we get in our taper, the more slowly and carefully we should taper.  Even at very low doses, AD's affect a high percentage of our receptors.  Please see this thread, and especially pay attention to the chart.   

 

SERT Transporter Occupancy Studies

 

2 hours ago, Hopepersists said:

It’s now been about a month since my cortisone shot and I’m feeling about 80% of my WD normal I felt before it. 

I'm very glad to hear this. Keep up the good work!  It sounds like you are being prudent and careful.  

Edited July 24, 2021 by getofflex

[Hopepersists]

Thanks @getofflex - your words were just what I needed right now.  I am someone who listens to my body first and foremost which is why I held after the cortisone shot.  I knew tapering would be too much for my body to handle.  
 

it’s good to remember that it won’t always be like this.  Once the impact of that shot diminish and my brain heals more, I should be able to taper again. 
 

btw, I hear you on vaccines.  When I got my Covid vaccines back in February and March, I think it exasperated things.  
 

have a great weekend!

[getofflex]

I'm glad that I was able to help.  I'm pretty much vaccined out. I've had 3 of them in the past 9 months.  (2 shingrix, one covid19).  I'll probably not take any for a while now.  

[Hopepersists]

I’m in Maine with my husband on vacation.  We’ve been here almost a week.  
 

ive been trying to keep to the plan - no sugar or caffeine.   I had half a glass of wine the first night (Monday)and none since as I noticed I felt worse the next day.  

yesterday, we drove for about 5 hours in the car to our next locale (after I forgot my liquid meds at the prior hotel - oops).    Didn’t really have any down time. Last night, I felt awful with my left face going numb, my legs were shaky and I was nervous about waking the one block from dinner to the hotel.  
 

this morning, I still have some of the facial numbness and am somewhat jittery- maybe a cortisol surge?  
 

is this just a wave from being on vacation?  No changes in meds or supplements.   I feel really bad that we had to cancel our morning boat tour since I didn’t feel up to it.   Have done multiple meditations.  My husband is understanding but bummed.  We don’t fly home until Thursday.  
 

this all just really sucks.  I know you all understand.  It’s also made me really think about my doctor’s recommendation to do a cross taper to Prozac.  I haven’t wanted to do it, but I hate being a shell of my former self.  I’m 44 and have the limitations of someone twice my age.  

[getofflex]

On 8/1/2021 at 10:33 AM, Hopepersists said:

I had half a glass of wine the first night (Monday)and none since as I noticed I felt worse the next day.

Good job on listening to your body!  We suggest that people avoid alcohol while in WD.  

 

On 8/1/2021 at 10:33 AM, Hopepersists said:

s this just a wave from being on vacation?  No changes in meds or supplements.

Perhaps not a wave, but just a way of your system telling you to slow down, and that perhaps the activity and drive were just too much on a sensitive and fragile nervous system, as many of us in WD have, myself included.  

 

On 8/1/2021 at 10:33 AM, Hopepersists said:

My husband is understanding but bummed

I'm glad he understands.  He can always get out and do things on his own.  

 

On 8/1/2021 at 10:33 AM, Hopepersists said:

this all just really sucks.  I know you all understand.

Yes, it totally does.  I feel you on this.  I'm still trying to deal with the fallout from my Shingrix vaccine to a certain extent, and figure out some food sensitivities. 

 

On 8/1/2021 at 10:33 AM, Hopepersists said:

t’s also made me really think about my doctor’s recommendation to do a cross taper to Prozac.

Please just be aware that doctors' main way of helping people is to offer drugs.  Most have little to no idea of the harms these drugs can cause.  Big pharma makes huge money off these psych meds, and they have brainwashed most of the healthcare industry.   Of course this is your decision to make. 

 

On 8/1/2021 at 10:33 AM, Hopepersists said:

I haven’t wanted to do it, but I hate being a shell of my former self.  I’m 44 and have the limitations of someone twice my age.  

I, too, was a shell of myself in early recovery.  However, as I've gone on, I have been feeling more and more like myself.  The primary key for this is time and patience.  In time, you will eventually become yourself again.  If it were me, I would take a break from tapering, and give myself several months to take a breather.  It can do a tremendous amount of good.  I did this year ago, for 5 months, and it was a tremendous help.  By the way, I'm 60, but I still have a lot of hope for my future.  Hang in there, and don't give up.  Try reading some of the success stories.  Go to the home page, and they are about halfway down. 

[Hopepersists]

Thank you @getofflexfor the kind words and encouragement.  I’m usually a pretty optimistic person, but it’s been rough experiencing these recent limitations.  

It has been hard lately to think of how long this process may go on for me.  I had gone up to 15 mg from 10 mg for 3 weeks back in January and then due to a series of up/down change recommended by my doctor, I’m in this difficult place.  
 

I can accept that the situation is what it is.  I’m just bummed that after 6 months, I feel like maybe 50% of normal and have only reduced the drug by 0.6 mg total (to 14.4 mg). I was only able to reduce by 3% during my first attempt and then eked out an additional 1% the next month.  At this rate it will take me seven years to get off this medicine and I’ve only even been on it for three years.  

 

I’ve been holding now for almost a month.  I have an appointment with my doctor next week to go over the addition of the GABA supplement I previously asked you about.    I think I’m going to give it a try.  

 

I definitely don’t want to add another drug in the mix given that I think Celexa is an awful drug.   it’s just the desperation to want to resume my old life and activities.  My hope is that since my doctor is a functional medicine practitioner she will continue to help me find more natural ways to cope. I have found that those doctors typically like more natural solutions instead of Pharma. When I first met with her, she told me she was really happy to see that I was trying to get off of Celexa as she encourages all of her patients to get off the SSRIs. 

 

3 hours ago, getofflex said:

On 8/1/2021 at 11:33 AM, Hopepersists said:

Good reminder.  

Yes, it totally does.  I feel you on this.  I'm still trying to deal with the fallout from my Shingrix vaccine to a certain extent, and figure out some food sensitivities. 

I need to remember that I lost a bit of time due to my cortisone shot. That naturally put my progress on hold. Hopefully I’ll be in a better spot in the next few months.  

[getofflex]

On 8/2/2021 at 3:46 PM, Hopepersists said:

I have an appointment with my doctor next week to go over the addition of the GABA supplement I previously asked you about.    I think I’m going to give it a try.  

We suggest that you start with a low dose, and work your way up gradually from there to see how it affects you.  

 

On 8/2/2021 at 3:46 PM, Hopepersists said:

I definitely don’t want to add another drug in the mix given that I think Celexa is an awful drug.   it’s just the desperation to want to resume my old life and activities.  My hope is that since my doctor is a functional medicine practitioner she will continue to help me find more natural ways to cope. I have found that those doctors typically like more natural solutions instead of Pharma. When I first met with her, she told me she was really happy to see that I was trying to get off of Celexa as she encourages all of her patients to get off the SSRIs. 

I'm glad to hear that.  I've seen too many people add another psych drug, and then it complicated their situation and caused further issues.  Please try to be patient.  I have a note on my bathroom mirror that says "the holds aren't setting me back, they are setting me up for eventually successfully jumping".  Believe it or not, people who CT or fast taper often take longer to heal than those who do a careful prudent taper, because it throws their nervous systems into a big hot mess that often take years to recover from.  Read this:  https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/23081-are-we-there-yet-how-long-is-withdrawal-going-to-take/?do=findComment&comment=492497

 

On 8/2/2021 at 3:46 PM, Hopepersists said:

I need to remember that I lost a bit of time due to my cortisone shot. That naturally put my progress on hold. Hopefully I’ll be in a better spot in the next few months.  

It's good you are aware of this.  I too have lost time due to my Shringrix vaccine from a month ago, so I'm holding longer than usual too.  The keys to this whole thing are time and patience and flexibility.  Hang in there.  I believe that both you and I will be in a better spot once we get over the effects of our shots.  

 

 

[Hopepersists]

It’s been 5 months since I last posted.  Since that time I switched to a functional medicine provider as I wanted to address any underlying health issues that could be contributing to, and possibly worsening, my withdrawal.

 

As a result of seeing my new doctor, I learned that my body was deficient in B6 and alpha lipoic acid, and I had an imbalance of negative bacteria in my gut.  I am also very low in progesterone and estrogen for my age (44).  She had also suggested increasing the amount of magnesium I take as well as incorporating GABA and cortisol manager to help calm my nervous system.  
 

After four months on this protocol, I have significantly regained my energy, going up from a six to a nine out of 10. I can now do moderate exercise several times a week including yoga, Pilates and my elliptical.  I would say that I feel like 80 percent of my old self.   I have also continued weekly acupuncture and bimonthly massage (I was also in PT addressing tennis elbow over this time.)

i have continued to religiously avoid alcohol and caffeine, cut back white sugar to very rarely and significantly reduced dairy and gluten.  I just finished a 6 week gut healing protocol using biocidin, glutathione and Cal Mg butyrate.  
 

Celexa reduction is still slow going.  Just reduced by 0.1 mg this week and I felt it but could deal with it   I only make reductions but I’m feeling fairly good and not making any other changes or treatments.  My hope is that I will be able to make more frequent reductions in the future.  For now, I celebrate being almost 1 mg down from my starting point of 15 mg, while feeling much better compared to this Spring.

[Hopepersists]

Checking in 2 months later…

 

I am so grateful that I found this site in 2021 as it helped give me hope which I mentally refer back to when I go through difficult times. In particular the waves and windows metaphor has been extremely helpful.  
 

I ended up going down only 1 mg from me to December which was initially a bit disheartening. That said I have made tremendous strides in how I feel in terms of ability to do daily activities.  I definitely still feel cortisol surges and find that I am heavily fatigued after any kind of trip. My family was fortunate enough to spend a week in Cancun in December now that all four of us are fully vaccinated.  When I came back I was absolutely exhausted for about a week. That said while I was on my trip I had the energy to do water aerobics and other activities I couldn’t have dreamed of a year ago.   
 

i’m still working with the group of functional medicine doctors. I’m currently working with the hormone specialist to help me with my very low progesterone, high “bad estrogen” and suboptimal thyroid performance.  As some of you may know, the hormones all work together along with the adrenal complex so as my hormonal system gets stronger that should help my nervous system as well.    After about a week of taking progesterone ,I did feel a day of mild cortisol surges which is to be expected as your body can convert progesterone into cortisol. I think my body was just trying to help level set internally.   

I added a supplement called tyrosine to help support thyroid function.   I don’t have any thyroid disease just suboptimal performance, which my doctor believes is leading to the higher levels of bad estrogen in my blood as my metabolism is functioning too low to clear out toxins.      He also has me taking ashwaghanda at breakfast and lunchtime to help my body regulate its cortisol flow.   
 

I had issues with ashwaghanda earlier this year, finding it too stimulating for my cortisol.  Not sure if it’s timing or the brand he has me taking off at this one has been no problem.   For what it’s worth, my doctors a big fan of the biotics brand of supplements.   He’s a big believer in the purity of their products.  He also has me get my progesterone compounded from a local pharmacy.   I also support the idea of having fewer toxins in an already stressed body.   
 

my doctor also put me on biotics De-stress, which is made from lactic acid and basically helps calm your body down.  I take one before bedtime and it really helps me to fall asleep.  You can even take a second one if you wake up in the middle of the night.  Since taking this supplement I haven’t had any kind of insomnia problems. I have only had to take a total of 1/2 of a Xanax pill in the last three or four months.   The two times I took 1/4 pill was because I was anticipating a flight the next day not because of traditional insomnia.  You don’t have to take it every night you can take it when you need it.  
 

Currently, my doctor has me doing a 15 day detox cleanse from Biotics.  I didn’t know if the supplements or shakes in it would bother me but so far it’s been fine.   I get my hormone levels retested again after the detox.   The hope is that the bad estrogen will be decreased and my progesterone should be improved with the supplementation I’m taking. Also hoping to see better cortisol patterns.   
 

During all of this hormone work, I have kept my Celexa dosage flat at 14 mg since I know my body is trying to do so much other work.  My body is still very sensitive to changes in Celexa so I can’t do the normal five or 10% decrease as many folks on the site are able to do. I have noticed that I am usually able to shave off 0.05 mg of liquid every week when I’m not doing anything else, so I may try to shave a bit more off in February.  
 

The two doctors that I’m seeing at my practice both say that getting my underlying hormones and cut healthier should help my body to be more resilient as a taper the Celexa so hopefully at some point in the future I’ll be able to go a bit faster in my reductions. I constantly reminding myself that I need to just meet my body where it is at and if it’s telling me to go really slow in reductions now, I will. I hope at some point it will go a little faster but we’ll see what happens.

 

My doctors’ practice is Raden Wellness in Highwood, IL.  I see Dr. musec for psychiatry (help with the meds, gut healing and nervous system) and Dr. Alam for the hormones.  I have seen Dr. musec for online appointments so I’m sure that anyone in the US could see them.  
 

Lastly, I wanted to mention that I received my Covid booster vaccine right after US Thanksgiving. I felt lousy the next day but better than I did after my second shot.  I felt a little off for a few days but not bad.   
 

I will check in again in a few months or if I have any kind of breakthrough.   Best of luck everyone!  

[Hopepersists]

I’m now down to 13.8 mg of Celexa.  Feels like such a slow taper since I can only shave off 0.05mg at a time (weekly).  I then usually hold for up to a month.  
 

I keep trying to remind myself that the number is going down and avoid doing the math to think of how many years it will take me to get off of this drug.  
 

can anyone out there give some hope from their own microtaper?

[getofflex]

On 11/12/2021 at 9:56 PM, Hopepersists said:

After four months on this protocol, I have significantly regained my energy, going up from a six to a nine out of 10. I can now do moderate exercise several times a week including yoga, Pilates and my elliptical.  I would say that I feel like 80 percent of my old self.

This is great!  

 

On 11/12/2021 at 9:56 PM, Hopepersists said:

i have continued to religiously avoid alcohol and caffeine, cut back white sugar to very rarely and significantly reduced dairy and gluten.

Excellent!  I do most of the above as well. 

 

On 11/12/2021 at 9:56 PM, Hopepersists said:

Celexa reduction is still slow going.  Just reduced by 0.1 mg this week and I felt it but could deal with it   I only make reductions but I’m feeling fairly good and not making any other changes or treatments.

It's good that you could deal with it.  Since you felt it, that means you shouldn't make future reductions any bigger than this.  It's also very good that you are not making any other changes.  Your giving yourself the stability your system needs.  

 

On 1/2/2022 at 1:12 PM, Hopepersists said:

During all of this hormone work, I have kept my Celexa dosage flat at 14 mg since I know my body is trying to do so much other work

That's good.  

 

On 1/2/2022 at 1:12 PM, Hopepersists said:

I have noticed that I am usually able to shave off 0.05 mg of liquid every week when I’m not doing anything else, so I may try to shave a bit more off in February.  

Just be extra cautious when doing this, if as you say you are extra sensitive to tapering Celexa.  

 

On 1/2/2022 at 1:12 PM, Hopepersists said:

I constantly reminding myself that I need to just meet my body where it is at and if it’s telling me to go really slow in reductions now, I will.

I agree with this 100%.  Our bodies tell us when we are able to handle a reduction, and when we need to hold.  

 

15 hours ago, Hopepersists said:

can anyone out there give some hope from their own microtaper?

I haven't been doing a micro taper, but I can hopefully offer you some hope.  I've been tapering Lexapro since August 2017.  I didn't find this site until March 2019, so I was tapering too fast and updosing until then.  However, for the past 2 years I have been tapering slowly and cautiously, as this site suggests.  I am doing a thousand percent better than I was in 2017 and 2018.  I'm now 60 years old, and I'm in the 5th year of my taper, but I still don't regret slowing down and being cautious.  I've read of people who have cold turkeys or done a very fast taper, and sometimes it takes them years to recover.  Some of them are in severe withdrawal almost continuously for many months, even years.  If all goes well in the future, I will probably be off my Lexapro in 3-4 months.  I will be 61!  I started this journey when I was 56.  I will say that becoming a whole person, instead of feeling spiritually and emotionally like half a person, has been well worth it.  

 

You can try doing a search on "microtaper" and see who else is doing one.  This link tells how to do that: 

 

How to Search the Site

[Hopepersists]

@getofflexit is so nice to hear from you!  Wow- can’t believe you’re hopefully only a few months out from being completely off of Lexapro.  That’s so great that the end is in sight.  
 

I try to breakdown my goals into smaller ones so that I don’t get as frustrated.  My current hope is to get to 13.0 or lower by the end of this year.  
 

The functional medicine doctor that I see says that getting my hormones and got better balanced will enable my body to more easily make serotonin.   This intern should hopefully help my detox situation.  
 

I appreciate all your kind comments in support of me continuing to go very slowly.  What I’m trying to do right now is only decrease by an amount that doesn’t negatively impact my way of living.  Since I’m still so hyper sensitive I feel almost any change.  With the 0.05 mg changes/week (will go down 0.2 mg in a month and then hold for a month) I just feel a heightened alertness and a little bit of an adrenaline rush.  I don’t get the insomnia, numbness in my face, heart palpitations or any of the serious symptoms that I got at higher dosage changes.  

I will try to see if there is someone else doing a micro taper who would like to be a virtual buddy.  
 

btw, I wanted to let you know that your old advice from a year ago still resonates with me.  You told me that losing sleep is just uncomfortable. It won’t actually kill you.  That has really helped me with mentally addressing my insomnia.  I rarely use Xanax to help fall asleep and when I do it is only 1/4 of a .25 mg pill.  I even had a three month stretch where I didn’t take any Xanax.  

 

[getofflex]

On 2/25/2022 at 2:06 PM, Hopepersists said:

With the 0.05 mg changes/week (will go down 0.2 mg in a month and then hold for a month) I just feel a heightened alertness and a little bit of an adrenaline rush.  I don’t get the insomnia, numbness in my face, heart palpitations or any of the serious symptoms that I got at higher dosage changes.  

It sounds like you are doing a prudent and wise taper.  Keep up the good work. 

 

On 2/25/2022 at 2:06 PM, Hopepersists said:

btw, I wanted to let you know that your old advice from a year ago still resonates with me.  You told me that losing sleep is just uncomfortable. It won’t actually kill you.  That has really helped me with mentally addressing my insomnia.  I rarely use Xanax to help fall asleep and when I do it is only 1/4 of a .25 mg pill.  I even had a three month stretch where I didn’t take any Xanax.  

That's great!  I'm glad my idea was helpful.  

[jutland86]

How is your taper going, @Hopepersists? Hope everything is going good.

[Hopepersists]

Hi @jutland86 Thank you for checking in. My taper is slowly chugging along. I’m currently at 13.4 mg. I recently reached a goal of going off a total of 10% of my dose. It’s sometimes hard to think about because other folks can do 10% in a month, but it is what it is. 
 

I am still seeing a functional medicine doctor.  Long story short, it turns out that I have reactivated Epstein-Barr virus in addition to the hormonal imbalances.   Both of the hormone expert and the psychiatrist in the practice told me that they often see extreme sensitivity to medications and supplements in people that have a toxin, like a virus, in their body.  

I started a trio of supplements in May to boost my immune system and slowly kill the virus.  Those are the last three items in my signature.  The good news is that I was already taking the supplements when I got Covid in the beginning of June.  I felt sick from Covid the same way anyone else would be sick, no worse off, so I figured it was a sign that my immune system is doing OK.

 

My stamina has greatly improved over the last year where I was able to successfully travel overseas with my husband for 10 days in July and not be too negatively impacted afterwards.

 

My body does remain sensitive to extreme cortisol surges.  Unfortunately my hometown experienced an active shooter tragedy on July 4 this year and it took about six weeks for my cortisol to feel like it was closer to normal.  We took our kids to Disneyland in August for our family vacation which was crazy exhausting. I did OK while I was there but it’s taking me about a week to start to feel closer to normal at home.

 

In September I’m going to be doing a detox at my doctor’s suggestion and continuing to address the Epstein-Barr  while shaving down my Celexa when I’m able to. Currently I am only able to do 0.05 mg in a week but my hope is that as I treat the virus maybe I will be less sensitive and can go at larger increments.  

 

Good luck to you on your journey.   

[Hopepersists]

Update - 9 months later.  
 

I continue to slowly chip away at my Celexa usage. I will drop 0.05 mg in my liquid and then hold that for a week followed by another drop of the same magnitude and then I often will hold for a month or two before taking it down again. 

 

My dose is down 0.5mg vs last summer, to 12.9 mg. Super slow, but every amount down is a win.

 

I continue to work with my functional medicine doctor on my hormone imbalances, as well as the reactivated Epstein bar.   I am able to do a lot of activities like riding my bike and doing Pilates classes. I also have done weight watchers and lost 20 pounds versus last year at this time which can only help my overall health and makes me feel great about myself.
 

I still get the sensation of feeling a little bit lightheaded and get the cortisol surges even with the small dose changes so I’m just leaving this linear pattern of stop-and-go with small amounts. I know at some point I can try to do the ever decreasing 10% but for right now this has worked to help slowly get my dose down and I’m going to keep at it until I get to a better place with my hormones, etc.

 

good luck to everyone!
 

[bunchesofoats]

Hi @Hopepersists, how are things going for you now? It sounds like you have a great approach with a slow taper, healthy habits, and functional medicine.

 

I also take ashwagandha daily and have only had positive effects. I know many people report negative effects, such as an apathy. I do take breaks intermittently as I do with most supplements.

 

Another supplement I take occasionally for those cortisol surges is lavender under the brand name "calm aid". It does give me really bad heart burn though so I can't take it too close to lying down.

 

Hope your symptoms have continued to be mild and that you've been able to enjoy your life and family.

[Hopepersists]

Hi @bunchesofoats thanks for reaching out and encouraging me to come back and visit the site for an update.

 

I’ve been doing an incredibly slow taper as I work with my functional medicine doctor, on increasing my hormone levels, and detoxing my body.  Since June when I last checked in I’ve gone down 0.3 mg to 12.6 mg.  My current goal is to get to 12.4 by year end. 
 

My body is continuing to be very sensitive to many supplements, which I think is due to leaky gut.  Every time I increase my levels of progesterone or estrogen I don’t make any changes with my Celexa.   That said, I start shaving the Celexa whenever I’m in a stable place of my other medications. I’m actually planning to reach out to the Psychiatrist staff at the practice to see about leaving the hormones etc. as they are and I’m buckling up for some slightly larger drops at a time to help get this drug out of my system.  I’ve been working on getting rid of this for three years and I’ve only gone down 2 1/2 mg, but it’s still progress.

 

I think your plan is smart to convert to the liquid Celexa only for a month and then do your 10% drops each month. I really hope it goes well for you.  I’m still doing 10 mg of a pill with 2.6 mg of liquid but I have been considering going to half a pill and then the rest liquid as I get closer to 11 mg so that I don’t have to recalibrate from pill to liquid at 10.  
 

good luck!

 

 

 

 

 

[Hopepersists]

Just wanted to share an update in case this can help anyone else.

 

I am currently at 12.2 mg of Celexa: 2.2 mg liquid and 10 mg pill. I split my dose every day between 7 AM and 6 PM.  So I do 1.1 mg liquid plus half a pill (not exactly weighed so I’m sure there’s variation) each time. I use Baxter med syringes, which are marked to the 0.1 mg to help decrease. 
 

I have never been able to a set schedule because I’ve been working the last few years with the functional medicine doctor to help improve my hormone levels and some vitamin deficiencies.  I feel much better today than I did three years ago when I began and most days feel pretty normal.  I exercise multiple times per week,  take care of two teen daughters, etc.  I believe that a lot of this is because I dealt with some underlying health conditions that I didn’t realize I had plus have been going super slow on my titration.  
 

That said, I have decided to work with my functional medicine psychiatrist on decreasing Celexa while putting all of my other hormone work etc. on hold because I do not want to be on this drug another 12 years.  (I’ve been decreasing about 1mg per year.  My body tolerates changes of 0.05mg/week well.  I’ve held my Celexa when I was doing changes with hormones since progesterone triggers cortisol reactions in my body.). 
 

I’m going to be experimenting with increasing my dose change to 0.1 mg per week.  I’m also going to test that against continuing with 0.05 mg, but every five days instead of every seven.  I’m going to re-institute my daily meditation practice which has lapsed as well as going to acupuncture once a week as I found it really helps my nervous system. if I’m going to go more aggressive with my withdrawal, I’m hopeful that it will help.  Lastly, my doctor gave me the OK to increase GABA and to take lavender pills if I need them.  
 

I’m also going to be meeting with the hormone/integrative medicine doctor to see if I can wean off of some of the other supplements that my liver has less to process.  Will report back on what works.  

my reasonable wish for this year is to get below 11 mg (down 1.2 mg from now) but I’m secretly hoping to be able to get to 10mg. Fingers crossed. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bunchesofoats]

On 2/8/2024 at 6:32 AM, Hopepersists said:

I believe that a lot of this is because I dealt with some underlying health conditions that I didn’t realize I had

I suspect this is true for many of us.

 

It sounds like you have a great plan and are very thoughtful about your process. Wishing you well!

[Hopepersists]

Since January, I have focused all of my health efforts on reducing my Celexa.  I have eliminated some of the supplements that I used to help support my detox and come in closer compliance to the surviving antidepressants guidelines.   
 

I am happy to report that I was able to increase my weekly taper from 0.05 mg to 0.10 mg.  This is huge for me personally because I’ve always been able to only do very very tiny decreases since I first had my stabilization in spring of 2021.

 

I think that the hormone work I did with my functional medicine doctor helped, since there is such a close relationship between progesterone and cortisol.  
 

I was able to reduce 0.4 mg over the last 4 weeks from 12.1 to 11.7 mg, which is a 3.3% reduction.  
 

I’m taking a week off to allow my body to adjust and then in April I’m going to see if I can go to 0.2 mg per week, without any horrible side effects, which will get me much closer to the 10% per month figure.  If that rate works, I will keep at that level of weekly change  until I hit 8 mg, where I would reduce the amount to be in compliance with 10% per month.

 

If I’m unable to tolerate that amount, I will continue with the 0.1 mg reductions for quite a while.   
 

I’m just so thrilled to be where I currently am after only being able to shave 1 milligram a year the last 2 years because of all the work I had to do to stabilize my body with the functional medicine doctor.  I have already reduced by 0.7 mg this year and should be able to get rid of a total of about 3 mg this year if the pace continues as it is., without any change in speed.  

[Hopepersists]

I’m here to share another positive update.  I was able to increase my titration rate to 0.15 mg per week for the last two weeks and I will go to 0.2 mg this week.  In the month of April, I have gone from 11.7 to 11.3 mg and I plan to go to 11.1 this Sunday. This will mark a  decrease of just over 5% for this month.  
 

If the 0.2 mg/week works, I will be able to go down 0.8 mg in May, achieving a 7% decrease And putting me in a good position to be able to get to 10 mg before a trip with my family overseas in June.   I could just be pill only for the first time in 3 years while my body adjusts to the dose.  🤞 

 

As I draw closer to hopefully nearing the 10% per month decrease of the essay guidelines I am also continuing to scale back on my supplements.   I will be weaning off of two immune support supplements (NK stim and IGG) as well as my drops of iodine which I’m replacing with iodized salt at meals.
 

As I look ahead to 10 mg this summer, I am planning to buy the pills scissors recommended by @bunchesofoats To help me transition from pill to pill and liquid.  I can’t decide if I’m going to do a 2.5 mg pill + 2.5 mg liquid morning and night (I split my dose) or if I’m going to just work on transitioning pills to all liquid.   Does anyone have any advice on that?