6ofclubs19: On Lexapro for 6+ yrs, considering weaning off soon

[6ofclubs19]

Hello, so I've been on 10mg Lexapro since 11/26/22. Just to update you on our home situation, the elderly lady we've been taking care of, she's 76 (not 72 that I may have mentioned earlier), well she's fallen twice, so she's in a rehab facility for the next 2-3 weeks, to get her stronger. It was so much work for my wife and I to take care of her, I won't lie. And it's been nice having her in the rehab facility so we can get a little break, I know that sounds terrible. She is a sweet lady, but just needs more care right now than we can do for her. We did so much for her, the very best care we could give her. After the falls, her care level went up, as you can imagine.

 

I put together a chart to start going down again at the beginning of the year, but if things are still unsettled at home then I'll hold 10mg for longer. There is no rush other than my internal urge to get off Lexapro, haha. I'm still going yoga 3-4 times a week, and my wife and the rest of the fam are getting along great so that's all good. Will keep everyone posted.

[6ofclubs19]

Hey Guys,

I updated my signature to reflect my taper continuation for 2023, starting 3 January. So far so good, nothing too crazy to report.

 

The old lady came back to our house from rehab and it a lot stronger. We make all her meals, wash all her clothes, and a few more "personal" things so to speak, so it is still a lot of work for us.

 

I have been a lot more irritated at some home stuff, so not sure if that's the Lexapro or if things are becoming apparent to me that my home life, well, I might just be really unhappy with how things are right now. I have to be honest here. It's not just the old lady, it's that I feel like the work isn't spread evenly between my wife, me and her brother (my brother in law) who also lives with us. My wife always gives him a "pass" for one reason or another to do chores or work around the house, and he ends up just slouching on the couch watching TV while we are literally doing work in the same room. I don't understand it.

[6ofclubs19]

Hello just wanted to check in and update my signature. I'm still stepping down and it still feels fine. I haven't had anything weird happen, in regards to my Lexapro.

 

OK so some big changes in my life: I left my wife on 16 Jan 2023 and am now living in a city 4 hours (300 miles/482km) away. On 21 Jan, my little sister and I went to my old house and got all my stuff into a moving van and moved everything to a storage unit in the new city. I'm living with my little sister and her husband for now, with my elderly cat and fish. It is very peaceful, I've been here for 29 days now. There is a lot of love in this house. I basically have 1/4 of the house all to my self with my own bedroom, office room, and bathroom. We have gated off the area for my elderly cat so she just stays in that part of the house. She's too old to be able to jump over the gate. It is all working out really great, to be honest, and I am feeling such a sense of a relief being gone from my wife. After some therapy and a lot of talking with my friends, basically I just left an abusive relation with an alcoholic, even though she's been sober for 30+ years. I am still trying to process it all, but it is all going really good as far as the logistics. My boss is allowing me to work from home, and my sister isn't going to charge me any rent so I can save money and maybe get a house of my own here in this new city, and a bunch more positive things.

 

I am looking into getting legal help for the divorce. 

 

Thank you all for your support and I'll try to update soon.

[6ofclubs19]

I'm now down to 8.17mg Lexapro that is taken as 5mg pill + 1/2 5mg pill + 0.67mL liquid Lexapro. I'll hold this for 3 weeks, then start another 6 week taper. What I noticed during the last 6-week cycle was that I feel the drop more after the 3-week hold. Once I get to the 3rd 2.5% drop of the 6-week cycle, my body seems to know what is coming. My symptoms so far are just I feel a little tired and a little foggy-headed, but not too bad. If I just put a little more effort into concentrating, it's not too difficult.

 

I am feeling extremely safe and much more relaxed since leaving my wife. It was a very toxic environment, abusive at times, and I had to get out. Living with my sister and her husband is very therapeutic and they both have great energy. Her husband even does the dishes! I've been going on 5-mile walks with my sister about 3 times a week, it takes us about an hour and a half. It hasn't been too hot lately, and we see lots of deer and other critters on the trail. We even saw a fox the other day in the wooded area beyond their back fence. The hummingbirds should be migrating through here soon, so we'll put out the hummingbird feeders for them pretty soon here.

 

I was doing an online therapist where you just like, text back and forth, but I get one long message from her a week so it is really hard to have a "conversation" and it feels very disjointed. So I made an appt with a 1:1 therapist starting 21 March, it's over a web-call, but I think that's better than frickin messaging. Plus I don't have to drive to the appointment, so I'll try it out.

 

Also still doing yoga regularly. My pulse has lowered down into the 50's now since I left my toxic home situation, and doing all these healthy things. 

 

Updated my signature. Thanks, talk to you all later.

[6ofclubs19]

My doxepin wasn't working anymore for sleep, was taking 10mg nightly. I was still waking up at 4:30am and was not able to get back to sleep, so I asked my Dr about it. I told him I wanted to get off it and could I get an Rx for lower dose to taper down. The 10mg comes in capsule-form, so you can't break it in half. He said that a lower dose Rx was really expensive and it was OK to just stop taking it. So I did a cold-turkey on 8 March 2023 and the first week was a little squirrelly but now I'm leveling out. It wasn't bad at all. I'm glad I'm off it. My sleep is still sh*tty, but I am hoping it gets better in the next few months as my wife and I navigate through the divorce. We are going for a no-fault, online divorce that's relatively inexpensive. 

 

Currently 2 weeks post-CT of doxepin, my appetite has decreased slightly, but I haven't noticed any weight loss.

 

I'm still doing yoga and walks regularly, the weather isn't too hot yet in Texas so I am enjoying the short-lived springtime. The bluebonnets are blooming and the beavertail cactus should be next. Hummingbirds are coming to the feeders, so that is wonderful.

 

I had a colonoscopy last week 16 March 2023 and they didn't find any polyps or anything, so my high-fiber diet is definitely paying off.

[6ofclubs19]

Wanted to give an update.

Quitting CT off 10mg Doxepin turned out to be harder than I thought it would me. My sleep suffered greatly, but has thankfully started to level out this week. I would wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to go back to sleep for 2 hours, every single night from 3/8/23 to about 4/15/23. After that I started to wake up in the middle of the night later and later, like instead of 2am it would be more like 4am, then 5am, etc. Now I'm just waking up at my normal time, usually 6:30am is when I get up to do yoga. Thankfully that's over. I knew it would be, but was difficult to get through. I just tried to not let it bother me and kept up with my yoga, AA meetings, walks with my sister and a few bike rides here and there. Very tranquil life here still, grateful for the quiet house all to myself during the day.

 

ALSO, my liquid Lexapro went up to 2.36ml because of my taper schedule and my digestive system had a very adverse reaction to it because of the sucralose sweetener. I already follow a low FODMAP diet, so upping the sucralose was not fun. So Saturday 4/22/23 I just stopped the liquid Lexapro and kept taking 5mg of Lexapro in pill form, which was a 32% drop from 7.36mg to 5mg and I've been struggling with that since Sunday, but today am starting to feel better. Monday was the hardest with brain fog and a little unsteady on my feet, but nothing too concerning. I just powered through it Monday and Tuesday of this week. Glad I'm feeling better today. 

 

So I'm not sure what I am going to do about my taper schedule. Maybe I can find liquid Lexapro without the sucralose, I am going to talk to my Dr here in my new city and see if she can help me out. Maybe talk to a couple pharmacies. In the meantime I am just going to stick to 5mg for a few weeks or months. I know there are ways to make your own liquid Lexapro too.

 

Will update my signature next.

 

Also the divorce hasn't been filed yet, my wife and I are still in the process of filling out the website forms. It is taking while to find time where we are both available at the same time for the exchange of information over text as we aren't talking over the phone right now.

[6ofclubs19]

Correction - the liquid Lexapro sweetener isn’t sucralose, it’s sorbitol. Typo on my part. Sorbitol is a naturally occurring carbohydrate in foods, it’s a sugar alcohol. As a person with IBS, I tolerate it poorly. I try to limit it in my daily diet following a low FODMAP diet. 
 

I’m still looking into whether I can obtain liquid Lexapro that’s sorbitol free.

 

I am still on 5mg Lexapro and holding steady. Not really any symptoms except that first week of the 32% drop, super physically tired but that is gone now.

[Fifree]

Yikes 32% is a mammoth drop when you’re below 10 mg! Glad you’re going ok and hope it continues. I understand the temptation to just go with even doses. 
 

I’m also trying to get off Lex. Always nice to meet a fellow Lex taperer. 

[Sveta81]

Thank you for sharing your journey. I’m tapering off Lexapro as well. Sorry to hear that it’s so difficult for you to obtain the drops, it makes tapering so much easier. 

It is nice to read how your life changed for the better after moving. Seems you can enjoy little things now, like spending time in nature and your yoga. Yoga and the philosophy around it has really been a great support for me during the tapering. It seems the nervous system can use some extra help during this period, and self care and moving away from toxic relationships and environments seems to be part of it. Wish you all the best.

[6ofclubs19]

Hello, it's been a while since I updated. Re: the divorce, all the documents have been signed, notarized, and filed by the lawyer. We entered have the 60-day cooling off period, so it will be mid-October when it's finalized. The DIY approach wasn't really working for us, so I bit the bullet last week and hired a lawyer. They did in 1 week what the DIY approach couldn't accomplish in 4 months haha. That's what money does, it gets things done. Thank god for credit cards, amirite?

 

Now onto the lexapro update. I've been holding on 5mg since 22 April 2023, and I plan to start back up on the 2.5% drop/taper per week this coming Monday 21 August 2023. I'm going to supplement 1/2 a 5mg pill with <2.5mL of the liquid lexapro with food. I realized I was previously taking the liquid lexapro with a higher FODMAP containing smoothie - think too many high FODMAP fruits - so when I took the liquid lexapro with the sorbitol, it crossed the threshold for my FODMAP tolerance. This is my theory, anyway.

 

I'm doing really well, mentally. My job is going great. Still doing yoga pretty much every morning, going to AA meetings, made lots of friends, getting along swimmingly with my sister and her husband, haven't really been going on walks because it's way too hot right now hehe. 

 

Wish me luck! Thanks to everyone here for your personal stories, words of encouragement, and the mods.

 

 

[6ofclubs19]

So to avoid the high FODMAP breakfast, I modified my smoothies to be lower in FODMAPs and I started taking the liquid Lexapro with a bigger meal later in the morning. Like a 2nd breakfast. Anyway, it was working great until this morning when I realized I forgot to take the liquid over the weekend, Saturday and Sunday. I’d only taken my 1/2 5mg pill, and not the 2.38mg liquid. I felt so weeeiiird and terrible this morning.

 

So my dose method has been 1/2 5mg pill (2.5mg) + <2.5mL liquid, to match up with my dose schedule 2.5% drop of current dose. 

So this morning I was dizzy and nauseated from the dizziness. It started when I began my morning yoga but I powered through and was really perspiring a lot more than I normally do.

 

I took 2.25mL liquid this morning after yoga with my “second breakfast”. I drink my smoothie before yoga, as I can’t do yoga on an empty stomach. I do yoga at 7:15 in the morning before work, it’s a live zoom class.

 

The dizziness and nausea subsided somewhat by 9am or so, but I was kinda messed up all day and I had a lot of work and a lot of high pressure meetings with my boss today. Monday in corporate America. I couldn’t check my email until after 5pm and I had 80 emails! Omg but somehow I was just really calm about it and easy on myself all day and took breaks when I could - I wfh. 
 

I’m kinda glad this happened. It reminds me that this drug is so powerful and I have to maintain a slow and steady taper down, no matter what. I literally felt the effects of a 50% drop over only 2 days of not taking the proper dose. I will definitely not forget to take it again. 

I got in bed by 6:45pm this evening and am watching Season 2 of Stargate Universe to zone out and relax with my cat.

[Fifree]

HI 6. Thanks for stopping by my thread. We are at a very similar stage with our Lex. It's nice to have a new friend at the same point in the journey!

 

I just reread your whole thread and I was getting so annoyed by your dr who told you 1) there was no liquid Lex, 2) that it would cost 1000s and then 3) prescribed the wrong dose! Holy cr@p! Sorry to hear you have had issues with the sorbitol in the liquid. The one I use is name-brand Lexapro (they just don't seem to stock generics in the pharmacy) and it's much stronger than the ones you have tried. My Lex is 20mg/ml so each drop is equivalent to 1 mg. I don't think it has any sweetener at all in it, so if you could get hold of that it might help with the rest of your taper.

 

I went fairly quickly down to 5 mg but I am now slowing right down. Since you are a maths fan you might appreciate the research that has been done by Horowitz et al on SERT occupancy - the lower doses have a much greater effect (relatively speaking) than the higher ones. I did a lot of elaborate calculations in excel to inform my taper and it's going pretty well so far. It certainly isn't any faster though - I'm still looking at three years to go!

 

 

[6ofclubs19]

@Fifree That article is fascinating. Thanks for sharing, it explains a lot and why some of us suffer at these lower doses. 
 

I read a bit through your thread and how you seemed to do these large(ish) jumps at the beginning, but are slowing it down now. I kinda did the same thing. But it’s a whole new ball-game at these <5mg doses, I suppose. I mean, I know we are all different in what we can tolerate. I was reading on here about one person (I forget who, there are so many) who was struggling really bad on tapering down from <1mg. Oh god I hope that’s not me.

 

Also wanted to comment on your 3-year taper plan, that’s totally me too. My excel spreadsheet goes through September 2024 showing I’m barely getting down to 1.18mg. It’s nuts, but what’s the rush? 

 

tata 🤗

[6ofclubs19]

Still having a little head fog, dizziness and nausea, but it’s very negligible. I notice it most when I move my body/head around. It’s like my equilibrium is off. It’s almost gone, I can feel it. Prob by tomorrow it’ll be completely gone. These are the effects from accidentally halving my dose last Sat & Sun, 26 & 27 August, just in case you forgot. 😉

 

I found out yesterday my ob thinks I have a urethral diverticulum, so I am getting a pelvis MRI next week. Great. Last night I read a bunch of horror stories on the internet and got all paranoid. 🫣

 

But it doesn’t help to worry right now, gotta wait for the MRI to reveal what shall be revealed. It is all good. I am grateful for my overall general good health, regardless of the possible UD. Could be a lot worse if I wasn’t taking care of my mind and body with yoga and a healthy diet, etc. 

[6ofclubs19]

Update: MRI showed everything is perfectly normal.

 

2 weeks ago my Dr put me on a low sodium diet, and told me to try to lose 20# because my blood pressure is borderline high. I go back in March ‘24 for a follow-up. I joined a food-log app. I’ve lost about 6 pounds so far, so I’m hopeful.

 

Things are going well, kinda tired here and there since I started tapering down the Lexapro again, about a month now. Still doing yoga 5-6 times a week. Have not gone back to walking with my sister, it’s still to hot out.

[6ofclubs19]

Been walking with my sister again last week and this week, it's "cooling" down a little bit. 

Each week I start my 2.5% taper down on a Monday. I am finding that I'm more tired on Mondays and Tuesdays because of it, but by Wednesday I'm feeling a lot better. It's not so bad I have to take a nap or rest in bed, but I want to. I just can't because I'm working. Sometimes I'll go out on the back porch and take 5 on the sofa back there and watch the hummingbirds. Not much to report, just updating my signature and checking in.

[Sveta81]

On 9/21/2023 at 4:16 AM, 6ofclubs19 said:

Been walking with my sister again last week and this week, it's "cooling" down a little bit. 

Each week I start my 2.5% taper down on a Monday. I am finding that I'm more tired on Mondays and Tuesdays because of it, but by Wednesday I'm feeling a lot better. It's not so bad I have to take a nap or rest in bed, but I want to. I just can't because I'm working. Sometimes I'll go out on the back porch and take 5 on the sofa back there and watch the hummingbirds. Not much to report, just updating my signature and checking in.

Glad to read on your thread that the result of the MRI was OK. And it seems that the slow taper of Lexapro is working quite well, besides the tiredness? How are you measuring your doses, is that with a syringe? 

[6ofclubs19]

@Sveta81 I need to update my signature on my current dose, but this week I’m taking 3.88mg. So I take 1/2 of a 5mg pill (2.5mg) plus 1.38mL of liquid Lexapro. To answer your question, yes I use a 1mL syringe. I’ll fill it up to 1mL and take that directly in my mouth, then fill again with 0.38mL. I guess I could take 3.88mL of the liquid, I just have so many 5mg pills I don’t want to waste them. Would prob be more accurate too, as I know cutting pills isn’t advised on this site.

[6ofclubs19]

Just wanted to pop in and share some good news: my divorce is final YAY! 

 

Still doing the 2.5% drop every week, it's going slow and boring and that's just fine with me.

By the end of the year I should be down to 3mg Lexapro.

Then I'll take the entire year of 2024 to go from 3mg to 0.83mg. But maybe I'll "jump off" before then? I will see how I feel. I might take a week off work when I decide to "jump off", I don't know. It's up to me to decide, I suppose.

 

I'm still doing a ton of yoga and regular meditation. I'm sleeping a little better lately, although about twice a week I still am waking up in the middle of the night and can't sleep for an hour or two. I don't worry about it too much. 

[6ofclubs19]

Hello All,

Here's an update on my progress, and an update of my signature.

 

I'm now down to 3.09mg Lexapro. I have been feeling very anxious & melancholy. I think it's more to do with the holidays vs my lexapro taper. 

 

I switched doing so much yoga for a gym membership - I joined 14 December and it is a nice change. I'm doing the elliptical machine and some circuit exercises. It feels great. I still do a little yoga at home maybe twice a week. Also still doing online group meditation once a week, and my AA meetings. 

 

I've been reading BellaC's success Lexapro taper story and it gives me insight & hope. She jumped off at 0.013mg. And here I am thinking of jumping off sometime in 2024, maybe at 1.5mg. Can I do that? Should I take a week off for an at-home "rehab" just to get over the 1st week's "symptoms"? She talks about going by how one feels, vs a timeline and a schedule of when I want to go to zero. Currently, my mindset is on the timeline & when I want to jump off, and just managing the difficult symptoms. OR, maybe I just ride out 2024, get down to 0.81mg by the end of 2024, and then think of 2025 as the year of "jumping off". We'll see. I dunno. I'm just talking it out here. Thank you for listening.

 

I've lost 10 pounds since I started Noom in September, and my goal is to lose another 10 by March. Then I'll be back to my pre-divorce weight haha. Losing weight as a 49 year old lady is hard. My Dr wants me to lose weight and eat a low salt diet, I go back to the Dr in March '24 to re-check my BP. I cook at home and don't use any salt anymore, it has really made a difference in my BP, I check my BP at home. I thought I would really miss the salt, but it's not a big deal.

 

Happy New year, all. Here's to 2024!

 

 

[6ofclubs19]

Been doing some more pondering over my taper, and am probably going to continue my micro-taper schedule for the duration of 2024, then when 2025 comes around I'll think about the jumping off point. If all goes according to plan, by the end of 2024 I'll be down to 0.81mg. That's almost zero, wow. I can't imagine what that's going to feel like. I hope I can make it without too many overwhelming symptoms. I mean, I've been on this sh!t for almost 9 years. I started my taper from 20mg in Jan 2022. That's 2 years I've been on this micro-taper. 

 

Also, I've watched a few you-tube videos from Dr Josef Witt-Doerring. He seems to understand what we're all going through, here on this site. 

[6ofclubs19]

I decided to start my taper this week on Fridays instead of Sundays. Gives me the weekend to get used to the drop. The side effects are very subtle, with tired/fatigue being the main one. I just want to be able to have the space to rest if I need it, and the weekends afford me that. 

 

Also I realized over the holidays, one of the reasons why I was struggling so bad is because I had upped my caffeine intake to include coffee. I have a love/hate relationship with coffee. I always think I can be OK drinking coffee regularly, but it always bites me in the butt after a few weeks/months. My anxiety goes thru the roof. So a month ago I switched back to 2 cups green tea/day, then a week or so ago went down to 1 cup green tea a day. Feeling so much better, more level headed, less emotional, etc.

 

I still struggle with PMS when it decides to show up. Since I'm 49 and going thru peri-menopause, my cycle is irregular. The cutting down on caffeine helps tremendously.

 

Another thing I'll need to address is that 23 Feb I go down to 2.46mg Lexapro, which means I won't be able to split pills anymore. I am going to have to deal with 2.46mL liquid Lexapro, and the last time I had a "higher" dose of the liquid Lexapro (back in May 2023 I think), I experienced adverse reactions to the sorbitol sweetener in the liquid Lexapro. I might call around some pharmacies to see if they have a version of the liquid that doesn't contain sucralose, then contact my Dr. ALSO, my liquid Lexapro "expired" February 2023, but I've got a TON of it still. I've been taking it and it seems to be working just fine, soooo. Not sure if anyone has any insight on how long liquid Lexapro "really" lasts? Any info is appreciated. Wouldn't be that difficult to contact my Dr and ask him for an updated Rx on liquid Lexapro. I've got some things to mull over I guess. Just helps to talk it through here on this site. Thank you for reading and good luck to everyone on this journey with me. 💜

[6ofclubs19]

Ugh I keep getting sorbitol and sucralose mixed up. Liquid Lexapro contains sorbitol, sucralose is Splenda. 

[6ofclubs19]

I have adjusted my micro-taper schedule a little bit based on upcoming life events. On 16 Feb I was originally supposed to go down to 2.46mg, and I was going to switch to 100% liquid at that point. However, I have a work trip coming up early April that involves traveling on a plane, and also I'm planning to move back to my "home" city in sometime in April after my work trip. So instead of switching to 2.46mL liquid, I'm just going to stay at 1/2 5mg pill for a few months until I get settled into my new living situation. I just don't want to have to deal with taking liquid lexapro on the plane for my work trip in April. Plus it just makes sense to hold for a few months, nothing wrong with that.

 

So, the plan is mid-February (that's in a couple weeks), I'll go down to 2.5mg (1/2 5mg pill) and just stay there. Currently I'm at 2.59mg. 

 

Update on current situation: I'm doing so so so much better on just having 1 cup green tea in the mornings. I am really enjoying the gym membership still. I do not like living with my little sister and her husband anymore. There's nothing "wrong", it's just that my time here has run out and I'm ready to move back home. I miss my city and my AA community there. The culture here in this city I'm living in now is seriously lacking.

 

Later gators!

[6ofclubs19]

On Monday I just decided to go down to the 2.5mg (half a 5mg pill) already and I'm just going to hold it there until things settle, probably 2 months or so. So, right now I'm not taking any of the liquid. The week of 28 Jan to 5 Feb going from 2.72mg to 2.5mg made me feel kinda weird emotionally, but wasn't bad. I got through it. But my body did sense I was off of my usual 2.5% weekly drop. 

 

I talked to my psychiatrist on Monday of this week and he got me a new Rx of liquid Lexapro. So that's good I don't have to keep taking expired liquid Lexapro. I also talked to the pharmacy and they said there's no way they can get liquid lexapro without sweetener. At least I tried. 

 

Also, my psychiatrist is 100% behind me wanting to continue with my micro-taper. He said "You can go as slow as you want, I don't care."  

[6ofclubs19]

Hello,

I started my micro-taper back up again today, so by the end of the year I'll be down to about 1mg.

I stayed at 2.5mg for about 10 weeks.

I'm at 100% liquid, so not sure if that'll have any side effects. Yesterday I was taking 1/2 of a 5mg pill.

Also, I'm not going to move back to Houston. I want to stay here in SA to be near my sister. Plus I've been making sooo many cool new friends here, a new BFF, living a beautiful life here with live music, bicycling, going to the gym daily, it's great.

Thanks. ♥️