Maybe Lexapro adverse reaction recovery

[Maybe]

Hello all,

 

In 2009 I had an adverse reaction to only 4 pills of Lexapro (Escitalopram) which took me around 4.5 years to recover from. My road was a very bumpy one as I had lots of waves, so it was very difficult for me to see where I was in the recovery process. And though it took a lot of time to really feel recovered, in the end I did.

 

So to everyone who is still in the thick of it, keep on going and remind yourself that even if you do not feel well at the moment, the next big recovery step can be right around the corner. I cannot recount how often I was about to lose hope when the next bad wave struck and I thought that this is my life now. But it isn't. I wish you all a steady recovery. As hard as it may seem now, it will get better eventually!

All the best,
Maybe

[getofflex]

I'm so sorry that you had to deal with 4.5 years of discomfort just from 4 doses of Lexapro!  I'm wondering if your system was sensitized from the previous Remeron taper?  Congratulations for persevering, and for staying off the psych meds.  Thanks for the success story.  

[keogh08]

Thank you so much for posting. This gives me so much hope! 

[Kimboslice]

Great news Maybe.. I’m 2.25 Years out and definitely improving. In a horrible wave right now and am starting to accept that this rocky road is how life Is atm and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Recovery stories like yours keep the fire burning inside and motivated to stay focused on the reaching the end goal so thank you. 👍🏻

[Paxil3days]

Hey @Maybe read your story, congratulations on your recovery so happy for you. 
 

questions for you : during about how many months did you notice change in your windows and waves pattern, and felt like recovery was happening? 

 

Currently 4 months in for me and recovery feels better than month 3 and waaaay better than month 1 and 2. 
 

they need to ban these drugs forever !!! 

[Leftyhelen1117]

This is me! 
I only took 4 pills as well of Lexapro! 
can you tell me what your symptoms were if you remember them?

I am two months in withdrawal and it hasn’t been easy.

i’ve learned to take one day at a time. 

I’m glad to read this story though.

[MaggieSmalls]

Hello @Maybe,

reading your story feels good and bad at the same time but I´m very glad that you made it!

You only took 4 pills and had a recovery of 4.5 years which frightens me. I always thought my 1 year experience on paxil would be to short to have such a long road to go but I never heard that just a few pills can have such an impact on our brains. I wish you all the best and enjoy your life now !

[Maybe]

Hello all,

Thank you very much for your postings!
For all that are still in the midst, just keep in mind, that it will get better eventually. Take it step by step. Waves and recovery can be very random, so it is NOT a bad sign, if a wave farther out is worse than one before.
Patience is the best remedy here, as hard as it is!

I will try to answer some of the questions that have come up below.

@getofflex:
I always wondered the same and some said back then, that it could have been. Especially, as I stopped the Remeron quite abruptly. But we will never know.

@Paxil3days:
To be honest, I cannot remember anymore. The whole episode feels like a bad dream now and I would have to read up all of my old postings to maybe see a real turning point. But I guess, as seen in my signature, that it happened around 3.5 years. Which doesn't mean that there weren't any good windows before that. There definitely were.

 

@Leftyhelen1117:

There were so many...I tried to write them down and I think I have come up with around 30 to 40 vastly different symptoms. From brain zaps over pain in my fingertips when touching certain materials to feeling outside my body or being highly sensitive to sound and movement. Too many to list

@MaggieSmalls:
Well, even small doses of drugs can have a tremendous impact depending on who takes them. I have no clue why that happened and never will. But don't be afraid because you took Paxil for a year. I had an adverse reaction and everyone heals differently.
When I was in the midst of it, I looked for other people's experiences (of course) and how long they took to recover. Whenever I missed their time frame, I was frustrated as hell and thought I was never going to recover. Don't do that! Everyone is different and you cannot compare yourself to others in this regard. I still did recover in the end and that is what counts

[MaggieSmalls]

@Maybethanks for coming back.

How did it feel to recover? Was there a day where you felt completely "normal" or was it more a slowly process?

Overall I feel much better than I felt the last years but I still have this constant feeling of being hungover with ear preassure / noises and congnitive problems + brain fog. Thats my status quo...and some days this feels way worse than the other days and now and than it feels less. One of the hardest things besides all the symptoms is that I forgot how it feels like to be healthy...I simply cannot remember "the old me" anymore. Though I know that as time goes be we all change but its like I lost so many years already that I don´t know how which person I am when this will all end. Maybe you know what I trying to explain. Would you tell me how that feels for you now as you recoverd?

[Waiting12]

Thank you so much for posting this. Adverse reaction recovery stories are hard to come by. I’m very grateful to hear this. Do you still feel like your system is sensitive to things after all this time, or can you live like a relatively ‘normal’ person?

[hehero]

Quote

hi @MaggieSmalls i can relate with you..i was on paxil for 6 months...now after 24 mnths my dizzyiess is gone but emotional symptoms are still there

 

 

 

[PsychologicalSafe15]

Hey just after 4 pill Oh my god. Did you also experience nightmares  or vivid dreams ?

[Jayy]

On 6/19/2021 at 5:07 AM, Maybe said:

Well, even small doses of drugs can have a tremendous impact depending on who takes them. I have no clue why that happened and never will. But don't be afraid because you took Paxil for a year. I had an adverse reaction and everyone heals differently.
When I was in the midst of it, I looked for other people's experiences (of course) and how long they took to recover. Whenever I missed their time frame, I was frustrated as hell and thought I was never going to recover. Don't do that! Everyone is different and you cannot compare yourself to others in this regard. I still did recover in the end and that is what counts

Hello, I took pristiq for about a month and had terrible side affects. Now 6 months off of the drug I still suffer from tinnitus and I never had tinnitus in my  life. I know my ears are extremely sensitive. I'm wondering if it is permanent from ototoxicity (which I didn't know about), and I am worried that the tinnitus is permanent. I am desperate to stop the ringing in my head. I also get aches in my brain daily just thinking/hearing the ringing. Every time I go on long runs it gets worse. I want to go back to before I took this sh*tty drug, because I knew it would cause me harm and Now I am worried I have to suffer for the rest of my life with a intrusive ring constantly in my head. Did tinnitus ever get better for you? I am desperate for hope that it will go away. 

[keogh08]

Hi 

 

I am 23 months out from a severe adverse reaction to a couple of doses. My titinittus has only just left in the last 3 months. So I wouldn't worry too much that it is permanent. 

 

I also never had a history of this lre reaction.

[StarShopping87]

On 7/10/2021 at 12:14 AM, Waiting12 said:

Thank you so much for posting this. Adverse reaction recovery stories are hard to come by. I’m very grateful to hear this. Do you still feel like your system is sensitive to things after all this time, or can you live like a relatively ‘normal’ person?

Are you still here? 

[Phoenixmama]

@Maybe Hello , I'm in a very bad place right now im 21 months past a adverse reaction from taking celexa for 3 weeks , i was doing fine almost healed i thought until the beginning of my 19th month , it went like this 

sept 2022 ~ 2 weeks intrusive thoughts , fear ect 

                      2 weeks of physical symptoms , chest pain , head aches , ect

                      1 week 95% my normal self 

 NOV 2022     everyday in november has just been strange its like im back in acute with

 

feeling very off , getting dizzy after eating , muscle twinges , feeling like im out side of my body , vison changes , confusion , crying , i did have some headaches but they just turned into like brain jolts or something , i broke down and went to my dr uggghhh i went because i figure hey im already 20 months out maybe im not in wd anymore and the doctor said oh you have migraines ugghh i refused the medicine and im just going through these symptoms wondering can this still be withdraw ? did you have a late wave ?? whats your opinion ? please help i am so torn , ty 

                     

                      

[Maybe]

Sorry to those whose questions I did not answer. I wasn't online very often in the past years and forgot about "my" thread here.

 

Now that I remembered I wanted to give an update. Unfortunately it is not a good one.

Ever since my adverse reaction to 4 pills of Lexapro, I had lingering symptoms. Very mild, though. Once in a while a feeling of losing my balance for some seconds that seemed to come my upper belly and some kind of very mild akathisia. 2 months ago I drank a coffee on an empty stomach and bang, I got real akathisia for the first time. It has been on and off for the past 8 weeks from mild to medium. One week inbetween completely without it.

 

If you are still in the midst of a severe reaction recovery, don't let that discourage you, though. I gradually got better and better and after around 4.5 years was close to 100% again. So even if one gets symptoms as far out as me (15 years), the body still heals to a point, where a normal life is possible again and most often completely. As the days and weeks without symptoms show me, it seems not to be something permanent.