☼ tomatosquasher65: Windows and waves from brief Lexapro usage

[Altostrata]

You might also take 200mg magnesium twice a day, or smaller doses more often, to spread any benefit out over the day. It might also help with the headaches in the morning.

[cardcaptor515]

On 3/21/2022 at 2:35 PM, tomatosquasher65 said:

Hi everyone, just joined this forum today and was hoping for some advice. Back in January 2022 I was diagnosed with a panic disorder and put on 10mg Lexapro/day. As a preface, I had no symptoms of depression at all at this time, it was just anxiety that I did not know how to handle which would spiral into panic. I have been going to therapy since mid January and now feel much better about handling the bits of anxiety that previously caused panic.

 

I had pretty bad side effects for the first two weeks of Lexapro, mostly bad nausea and insomnia, but nothing horrible. The next two weeks were great, no panic attacks or anxiety at all, I thought I was getting back to normal. Then during the fourth week I got absolutely ravaged by side effects. It felt like brain zaps, horrible ruminating/negative/depressive thoughts, feelings of hopelessness, heightened anxiety that all kicked in about 5 hours after I would take the medication. I didn't notice this until about the fourth day of side effects, but I looked back and observed the pattern. After about the fifth day of these horrible side effects I decided to half my dose and 5 hours later my side effects were the same, but noticeably weaker - so I decided that I would cut it off completely. I tried to get in touch with my psychiatrist who prescribed me the meds but he was super unhelpful and said I needed to wait until he had an opening to meet in a week before we changed up dosages, which was incredibly frustrating due to how bad my mental state was at the time. Anyway, cutting it off cold turkey made me feel better almost instantly the next week, with minor similar side effects occurring 5 hours after I would normally take the dose, these were much more manageable. After that first week I had a relapse of pretty strong depressive and anxious feelings, which I completely attribute to cutting if off cold turkey. It's interesting that most of my windows have been during the week and most of my waves have hit during the weekends, the pattern has been pretty consistent since I cut the Lexapro off cold turkey.

 

I would love input on anyone who was in a similar boat of having an SSRI work really well for a while and then getting punched in the mouth by it. The last week I was on it, it definitely felt like my brain was reeling from changes being made in a terrible way, and I definitely feel like it needs to heal after that experience. I don't mean to exaggerate, but it was one of the most traumatic things I have experienced in my life.

 

Has anyone else dealt with withdrawal symptoms after short term use?

 

Thank you

 

Jan 29-Feb 29 10mg Lexapro/day - cut it off cold turkey

Hello I’m new in this forum too and I was prescribed lexapro 10mg for my anxiety and panic attacks in May 2022 ,, the side effects for me were horrible , bad heart palpitations,insomnia,increased anxiety,dry mouth, negative suicidal thoughts ,brain fog etc etc I decided to stop cold turkey after my 8th day of taking it because I couldn’t handle the side effects …. Now in in my 3 week of withdrawal and I feel horrible I feel worst than before I regret of taking this medication because I been experiencing a weird sensation in my throat I feel like is very dry and also I have a head pressure and yeah I developed depression too even though I was taking lexapro only for my anxiety 😞 anyways I hope your doing ok. 

[tomatosquasher65]

On 6/20/2022 at 9:57 AM, cardcaptor515 said:

Hello I’m new in this forum too and I was prescribed lexapro 10mg for my anxiety and panic attacks in May 2022 ,, the side effects for me were horrible , bad heart palpitations,insomnia,increased anxiety,dry mouth, negative suicidal thoughts ,brain fog etc etc I decided to stop cold turkey after my 8th day of taking it because I couldn’t handle the side effects …. Now in in my 3 week of withdrawal and I feel horrible I feel worst than before I regret of taking this medication because I been experiencing a weird sensation in my throat I feel like is very dry and also I have a head pressure and yeah I developed depression too even though I was taking lexapro only for my anxiety 😞 anyways I hope your doing ok. 

Hey man, I’m sorry you’ve had such a tough experience. I’m glad you found this forum and I hope it brings you comfort. 
 

I’m doing so much better than I was 3 months ago, I had a wide open near-2 week window that just ended. I’m not out of the woods yet but I’m anticipating a full recovery. 
 

[cardcaptor515]

3 hours ago, tomatosquasher65 said:

Hey man, I’m sorry you’ve had such a tough experience. I’m glad you found this forum and I hope it brings you comfort. 
 

I’m doing so much better than I was 3 months ago, I had a wide open near-2 week window that just ended. I’m not out of the woods yet but I’m anticipating a full recovery. 
 

I’m not a man 🙃 or is that just an expression??? English is not my first language hehe but I’m happy for you that you are doing better it gives me hope that eventually I will be ok too 🤞 

[tomatosquasher65]

19 hours ago, cardcaptor515 said:

I’m not a man 🙃 or is that just an expression??? English is not my first language hehe but I’m happy for you that you are doing better it gives me hope that eventually I will be ok too 🤞 

Just an expression! I know you’ll make a full recovery, just give it time. 

[cardcaptor515]

57 minutes ago, tomatosquasher65 said:

Just an expression! I know you’ll make a full recovery, just give it time. 

It’s been on edge lately but Thank you 🥺 

[tomatosquasher65]

Hey I just wanted to post an update - I've been feeling really good these last few weeks and I wanted to really stress my nervous system to see how I'm doing. I had quite a few drinks on July 4th and I'm happy to report that my nervous system handled it super well. I definitely felt a bit worse physically and mentally the day after, some from being a bit hungover and some mental symptoms as well, but sooo much better than a few months ago. Now two days after that I feel really good again. I'm still having some days that are better than others, but I believe most of my anxiety symptoms are my own and not due to the drugs. I've continued taking magnesium and I'm thinking about adding vitamin B and fish oil back into the mix. 

 

I'll keep ya'll posted if anything drastic changes.

[Shep]

That's excellent news, @tomatosquasher65. Please don't rush the "stress my nervous system" aspect of recovery too much and too fast. If you do add in vitamin B and fish oil, please do so one at a time and at a small dose. 

 

Please drop in from time to time and let us know how you're doing. Hopefully you're on the upward trend toward 100% healing. 

[Shep]

Because you're feeling better, I added our cheerful "here comes the sun" symbol ☼ to the title of your Intro topic, to show you're recovering.

 

Please continue to let us know how you're doing. I hope you will add your story to our Recovery Success Stories eventually!

 

Please see this topic:  How to write your success story

[tomatosquasher65]

@Shep Hi just wanted to update you and my post - I’m definitely still on the up and up. Still having some waves here and there and I’m back to avoiding alcohol because I believe the worst wave I’ve had in a few months was due to it. It happened a few days after July 4th and I don’t have a good explanation of it beside the drinking! That being said, the worst wave I’ve had in a few months was much more manageable than 4 months ago.
 

One other thing to note: my nervous system is definitely still sensitive. I took a B vitamin as an experiment last night and I woke up in an anxious state in the middle of the night. Once again, nothing horrible and I was able to get back to bed in about 15-20 minutes, but enough to tell me that I’m still healing and not to push it. Back to fish oil and magnesium for me haha. 
 

I’m super grateful to have come this far in what seems like a relatively short time, but I’m not there yet. I’m so thankful for this community and support. 
 

Anyway, that’s all for now. Until next time…
 

 

[Shep]

@tomatosquasher65 Thanks for the update. You may want to avoid alcohol until you're at least a year off these drugs. 

 

Vitamin B can stimulating, so if you do try to introduce it again, it's best to take in the morning. 

 

Please continue to let us know how you're doing. 

[ChessieCat]

17 hours ago, tomatosquasher65 said:

I took a B vitamin as an experiment last night and I woke up in an anxious state in the middle of the night.

 

1 minute ago, Shep said:

Vitamin B can stimulating, so if you do try to introduce it again, it's best to take in the morning. 

 

And only try a small amount to start and build up gradually.