Conner: help

[Conner]

I think the best way to go for me will be the brass monkey taper. I’m itching to get it going @ChessieCat

[Conner]

On 7/11/2022 at 1:02 PM, rmce72a said:

Hello Conner. I am a fellow sufferer trying so hard to taper from Effexor. I have found ChessieCat's advice to be so valuable and you can certainly depend on the guidance. I am curious about some of ChessieCat's comments: "When in poop out, generally what happens is that after making a reduction you can feel improvement and then gradually start to feel worse again, which is the opposite of regular tapering WD which generally happens soon after a reduction and then gradually improves." I think that's what happened to me after 20 years on Effexor. I just don't know what to do about it.  I wish you all the best in your journey.

Hang in there. I know it’s not easy and people not going through it don’t understand. I’m going to begin the brass monkey taper soon. I am hopeful it will be a success. I cannot take fmla again through all the pain I’ve been through so I think slow weekly reductions will be best 

[Conner]

Make the decision to bump down to 9.8mg. Going to hold 4-6 weeks as a test 

[Conner]

Even just a little bump you can feel the symptoms. A little spacey, “high” feeling. Forget when talking. At least it’s a small reduction. 

[Greatful]

@Conner

Hang in there.  Are you still doing the crossover to liquid?

[Conner]

Thanks @Greatful. Yup, 5mg pill and 4.8mg of liquid right now 

[Heath]

8 hours ago, Greatful said:

Are you still doing the crossover to liquid?

 

8 hours ago, Conner said:

Thanks @Greatful. Yup, 5mg pill and 4.8mg of liquid right now 

conner just to be clear you are not doing a cross over to liquid right now ? 

You are tapering with the 5 ml and 5 mg until you get to the 5 mg pill? 

 

Don’t forget to add  this in signature so the mods will understand. I promise you want them to understand easily if you get in trouble. 
 

maybe like this

crossover to 5ml&5mg jun ? 2022,

4.8ml & 5mg. Jul 19 2022,

 

the ml will tell them it’s liquid and mg will tell them it’s pill

 

I just realized we are neighbors! I live in Alabama! Nice to have good neighbors! 
 

take it nice and slow , stop and hold when you need too, lexapro is a strong drug. Hang on 💪

[Conner]

13 hours ago, Heath said:

 

conner just to be clear you are not doing a cross over to liquid right now ? 

You are tapering with the 5 ml and 5 mg until you get to the 5 mg pill? 

 

Don’t forget to add  this in signature so the mods will understand. I promise you want them to understand easily if you get in trouble. 
 

maybe like this

crossover to 5ml&5mg jun ? 2022,

4.8ml & 5mg. Jul 19 2022,

 

the ml will tell them it’s liquid and mg will tell them it’s pill

 

I just realized we are neighbors! I live in Alabama! Nice to have good neighbors! 
 

take it nice and slow , stop and hold when you need too, lexapro is a strong drug. Hang on 💪

I’ll make sure to adjust signature! Yeah I’m going to have to go super slow. I can tell it’s messing with me cognitively some but not intense. I’m eating a lot of veggies, salmon, fruits, grass fed butters etc. Hopefully it gets better. I just need to function as I am the money maker of this family. Speaking of that I am getting engaged soon. Looking forward to that. That is cool you are close! What part of AL? I’m in ocean springs 👍

[Heath]

I been same thing. I been putting up with minor symptoms up and down off and on and it still just accumulated. But I haven’t been eating rt.  
 

All I can tell you is just because it ain’t bad don’t mean it can’t be bad real quick.

 

there’s you some southern slang

 

I sometimes think minor symptoms are ok BUT if you aren’t keeping stress down it doesn’t matter. 

[Heath]

I’m glad it’s only a little cognitive. Omega 3 helps me with that. Go slow and Hang on ! Take care of yourself , just hold if you need to, and keep stress to a minimum! 

[Conner]

Thanks @Heath. I think at the moment a 10% drop every month would be too much. Just that little 2% hasn’t been bad but it’s messing with me some. I always get dark thoughts every time I am feeling spaced out  

[Heath]

@ConnerTotally agree it happens to me too. I don’t know why but wd can send you to the negative bottom less pit. But the practice and information and support here really helps to prevent that. 
 

 I tried the 10% taper also and it was too fast for me too. I’m doing about a 7% every month then holding 2 weeks. Im doing the brass monkey side. Of course I m gonna hold for a few months after last week’s wave. 

 

Just try and be as kind to your body as much as you can rt now. And hold at least a month or 2 and see how you feel. 

Edited July 23, 2022 by Heath

[Conner]

I wanted to post this about my situation as well.  I’ll say all my symptoms and craziness started a month after I took the vaccine. I was (Aug 2021). I had Covid in Nov of 2020 but all my issues started in September 2021. Only took one vaccine. I can’t really correlate if all this is Covid related or lexapro poop out etc. I was under a lot of stress at the time too.  I did talk to a nature path and he noted the vaccine can rev up your nervous system

[Altostrata]

Hello, @Conner

 

Unlikely it's the vaccination. You were making drug changes in September 2021.

 

How is the itching now? If you still have it, is it worse at any particular times of day? What time o'clock do you take your drugs, with their dosages?

[Conner]

Hey @Altostrata . Itching has subsided thank goodness. I usually take my dosage at 8am (5mg pill, 4.8mg liquid). Been having dark thoughts lately along with feeling spacey. I hate that. Sleep is good, exercising, eating clean, staying busy. My gf kinda broke down yesterday bc through all this I haven’t been showing much affection. I love her to death and care about her deeply, it’s just a lot on me. She understands but kinda doesn’t? I told her this stuff blunts my emotions heavily. I want to feel that emotion. I haven’t in over a decade but it took me a long time to realize what that drug was doing. 

[Altostrata]

When did the feeling spacey start?

 

@Conner I would not let your emotional anesthesia become a focus of your relationship. Put effort into enjoying your gf's company to the extent you can. This will get stronger as you decrease in dosage.

[Greatful]

@Conner

Maybe you and your gf can watch the documentary Medicating Normal.  It might help her connect to the effects these drugs can have on us https://medicatingnormal.com/

 

Try to let her know that this in not you but the drugs.  Let her know how much you appreciate her being there for you.  It's important to let her talk about how it's affecting her too.  I know I had to learn and I still am learning how to allow  for my husband to feel and deal with his own emotions with this.  Let her know that it's okay to get angry or be scared. 

🌞

 

[Conner]

23 minutes ago, Altostrata said:

When did the feeling spacey start?

 

@Conner I would not let your emotional anesthesia become a focus of your relationship. Put effort into enjoying your gf's company to the extent you can. This will get stronger as you decrease in dosage.

Thank you! I’ve felt it on and off since sept 2021. Just that little drop I have been spacey on and off since I dropped last monday. I think it’s a little more of my PPPD that I’m trying to heal from too. It can cause that. The pppd is from the meds 

 

https://www.neuropt.org/docs/default-source/vsig-physician-fact-sheets/persistent-postural-perceptual-dizziness.pdf?sfvrsn=889c5c43_2

[Altostrata]

1 hour ago, Conner said:

Just that little drop I have been spacey on and off since I dropped last monday.

 

You may experience small bumps while you taper. Please try to surf these, they should go away in a few days.

[ChessieCat]

SA strongly encourages members to learn and use

 

Non-drug techniques to cope

[Heath]

@Conner how do you take and what kind of magnesium do you take? Your signature says you take 500 mg. Do you experience side effects? 

[Conner]

On 7/30/2022 at 9:59 AM, Heath said:

@Conner how do you take and what kind of magnesium do you take? Your signature says you take 500 mg. Do you experience side effects? 

Hey, I take 500mg at dinner time every night. I use a company called “BioOptimizers”. It’s called magnesium breakthrough. I believe you can take up to 500mg a day. No side effects for me. It’s expensive but right now I don’t mind with all the stuff we go through. $35 or so a bottle. Here is a link 

 

https://bioptimizers.com/shop/products/magnesium-breakthrough

[Conner]

I just dropped to 9.6mg 

[Greatful]

@Conner  I looked up your link for magnesium.  How long have you been taking it?  Have you seen a benefit?

I take magnesium glycinate.  I was wondering if it would make more sense to take the one you do because it contains them, but it also has b6 in them.  I know they caution b vitamin on SA but not really sure what

b vitamins are the activating ones.  I couldn't  find how many mg in each capsule.

 

This was on their site.

When you take magnesium in the morning, it supports brain function and stress response throughout the day. In the evening, high doses of magnesium promote relaxation and may help with sleep. Therefore, it is best to divide your magnesium supplement doses throughout the day. If that is not possible, take whenever you can.  Right now I take 300mg-400mg throughout the day.

 

 

 

[Heath]

@Greatful. @Conner

I take this daily for about 3 weeks. I wished I would have started taking this maybe a year ago. Especially before the wave from 3 weeks ago. I started with one teaspoon and now I take 2 teaspoons. 
put it in a bottle of water and sip on all day. 
I can tell a huge difference especially if I walk. 
 

Natural Vitality Calm #1 Selling Magnesium Citrate Supplement, Anti-Stress Magnesium Supplement Drink Mix Powder - Original Flavor, Vegan, Gluten Free and Non-GMO (Package May Vary), 16oz 113 Servings https://a.co/d/aTqvJza

[Conner]

58 minutes ago, Greatful said:

@Conner  I looked up your link for magnesium.  How long have you been taking it?  Have you seen a benefit?

I take magnesium glycinate.  I was wondering if it would make more sense to take the one you do because it contains them, but it also has b6 in them.  I know they caution b vitamin on SA but not really sure what

b vitamins are the activating ones.  I couldn't  find how many mg in each capsule.

 

This was on their site.

When you take magnesium in the morning, it supports brain function and stress response throughout the day. In the evening, high doses of magnesium promote relaxation and may help with sleep. Therefore, it is best to divide your magnesium supplement doses throughout the day. If that is not possible, take whenever you can.  Right now I take 300mg-400mg throughout the day.

 

 

 

I’ve been taking it for amount 5 months. I use to split it up. 250mg in the morning and 250mg at night. They are 250mg a pill. I should definitely start splitting it up again. It definitely calms me down. My anxiety has definitely ramped up at night since I’ve started to taper. I also use a brand called “Doctors best” you can get on Amazon. Those aren’t bad at all either. I’ve been taking “Thorne” brand Super EPA for fish oil. I eat a lot of wild caught salmon, canned oysters, mackerel and sardines too. I hear these are super foods for your body/brain 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Doctors-Best-Absorption-Magnesium-Glycinate/dp/B000BD0RT0/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=1BDW40RLY3QIO&keywords=doctors+best+magnesium&qid=1659384387&sprefix=doctors+best+mag%2Caps%2C268&sr=8-3

[Conner]

I also take some things I shouldn’t be taking  per SA like NAC, glycine, and pharmaGaba. These are all through Thorne brand too. Expensive but high quality.  

[Greatful]

@Conner

I was wondering if BioOptimizers” which has more variety of Magnesium would be better viruses  one's that only has 1 variety  i.e glycinate, chilate, citrate, taurate, etc.  

Do you find one brand helping more than another?  Is BioOptimizer thorne brand?

could you link me to the omega 3.  I was taking omega 3 for a while and thought it might be causing me

anxiety🙄  Maybe I should try it again

 

Good luck on your cut🌞

 

 

@Heath

 

41 minutes ago, Heath said:

Natural Vitality Calm #1 Selling Magnesium Citrate Supplement, Anti-Stress Magnesium Supplement Drink Mix Powder - Original Flavor, Vegan, Gluten Free and Non-GMO (Package May Vary), 16oz 113 Servings https://a.co/d/aTqvJza

I heard citrate can cause loose stools?  Harder on the stomach?  

I have heard people like the calm magnesium I think this might be the one they are talking about.

[Heath]

1 hour ago, Greatful said:

 

@Heath

I heard citrate can cause loose stools?  Harder on the stomach?  

I have heard people like the calm magnesium I think this might be the one they are talking about.

This  calm brand is citrate. If I take it all at once it will cause loose stool.  But if I sip on it all day it seems to be ok. I will have to read more about what others use. 

[Conner]

I’m freaking out a little. I took my 5mg pill and 4.6 ml of liquid and got on with my morning. I use a cup to put the liquid in. I realized I filled up water in the same glass with leftover lexapro and started drinking it.  I really hope i didn’t screw my self up. I don’t know how much I took. I don’t think it was extravagant but this ain’t good.  I’m hoping it wasn’t 20mg worth. I also have a big thing today. I am asking my gf to marry me and I have an event set up for tonight. This would happen to me! 

[Conner]

Any response from the mods? @ChessieCat

[manymoretodays]

@Conner

Good stress, tough stress, it's all gonna be a factor in how you feel and manage now.

That being said.......best of best on your possible engagement!

 

Are you using a 5 mg tablet suspension, dissolved in 5 mL water?

And then another 5 mg tablet whole for your dosing?

If so, worst case is that you took a whole 10 mg today.

 

If, however you are dissolving a 20 mg tablet in 5 mL liquid for your liquid portion of your dose........sure, it's possible you picked up enough residue to have done a total dosage of 25 mg today, which may give you a jolt, some bumps too in the next week.  You won't be permanently offset/off kilter or "screwed". 

 

Good rule of thumb.....make a 1/1 suspension if at all possible, then the mg and mL's will be the same.

If you did do a 20 mg tablet or otherwise in 5 mL of water, and usually take 4.8 mL or 4.6 mL my best guess is you've been taking more than 9.6 mg total active ingredient for more than today, possibly a few weeks.

I am seeing 5 mg tablets available in the U.S., and so surely hoping that is what you are working with......as that will do you well in the long run.

 

So please clarify exactly what you are dissolving or further diluting in 5mL water.  Many thanks.

 

Fingers crossing, hoping for...... that you may have only updosed to 10 mg for one day........and that would smooth out in a weeks times.  

 

And then.....my best advice......stay put.......HOLD for a few weeks to a month.......as the excitement builds..........fingers crossed on that too.  Hope she says "YES"

 

Best, Love, peace, healing, and growth,

manymoretodays(mmt)

 

 

 

 

 

[Greatful]

@Conner  I don't think there is much you can do right about it at this point.  How much of the water did you drink?  How are you feeling?

These drugs turn us into the most paranoid people.(because they can cause uncomphrendable pain)   If I miss a dose and then take it late I am all worried and then my hubby just says it  will be fine.  UGH.  

 

[Conner]

14 minutes ago, manymoretodays said:

@Conner

Good stress, tough stress, it's all gonna be a factor in how you feel and manage now.

That being said.......best of best on your possible engagement!

 

Are you using a 5 mg tablet suspension, dissolved in 5 mL water?

And then another 5 mg tablet whole for your dosing?

If so, worst case is that you took a whole 10 mg today.

 

If, however you are dissolving a 20 mg tablet in 5 mL liquid for your liquid portion of your dose........sure, it's possible you picked up enough residue to have done a total dosage of 25 mg today, which may give you a jolt, some bumps too in the next week.  You won't be permanently offset/off kilter or "screwed". 

 

Good rule of thumb.....make a 1/1 suspension if at all possible, then the mg and mL's will be the same.

If you did do a 20 mg tablet or otherwise in 5 mL of water, and usually take 4.8 mL or 4.6 mL my best guess is you've been taking more than 9.6 mg total active ingredient for more than today, possibly a few weeks.

I am seeing 5 mg tablets available in the U.S., and so surely hoping that is what you are working with......as that will do you well in the long run.

 

So please clarify exactly what you are dissolving or further diluting in 5mL water.  Many thanks.

 

Fingers crossing, hoping for...... that you may have only updosed to 10 mg for one day........and that would smooth out in a weeks times.  

 

And then.....my best advice......stay put.......HOLD for a few weeks to a month.......as the excitement builds..........fingers crossed on that too.  Hope she says "YES"

 

Best, Love, peace, healing, and growth,

manymoretodays(mmt)

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the reply @manymoretodays. I take a 5mg pill and have a bottle of liquid as well. I just shoot 4.6 out of a syringe with my protein shake. I don’t dilute it into water or anything. Is that okay to do? I really don’t know how much I took but it was definitely some. Thanks for the kind words on today. Thank you as well @Greatful. I’m more paranoid knowing I don’t know the exact dosage I took. I’m feeling ok other than I’m exhausted bc my sleep this week is 5-6 hours.  I’m spaced out some but that is typical with this crap we take. When I was more leveled out I was getting 7 or so which isn’t bad 

[manymoretodays]

Sounds good then. 

As long as your Pharmacy Liquid is a 1 mg to 1 mL concentration, or 1 to 1 concentration.

Could be 5 mg to 5 mL, still 1 to 1.

 

You can breathe easy then.  

 

I would get a little more cautious and do your further dilution with water just to avoid any possible interactions with anything in the Protein Shake.  Escitalopram does interact with grapefruit juice, as you may know, and is undergo metabolized the CY450 enzyme system in the liver.  Always best to err on the side of caution I think.  You've got some time to do with your taper now......so good to get it all correct.  No rushing to the finish line.

It's fine with any other food item though.......so may not be crucial, if you keep it in your Protein Shake.

You do wan't to get all traces of it out of the glass......so you actually did good!

 

So you drank water out of your protein shake glass but only added 4.6 mg/4.6 mL anyway.

You're going to live!!!

And got your full 4.6 mg active ingredient dosage along with the 5 mg tablet.

 

Okay deep breaths and good luck young bachelor!  

This is just nerves.

 

 

Edited August 5, 2022 by manymoretodays
edited after 4 minutes :-)

[Heath]

@Conner sounds good 👌. You will be just fine no worries! Congratulations on engagement !