Suikerwater: taper after 3 weeks of escitalopram

[Suikerwater]

Hello all, I'm new. Due to burnout/adrenal fatigue I was in fight & flight and together with my GP decided to try escitalopram. Now I started at 5 mg and the side effects were huge. Especially the fatigue (on top of my normal fatigue) was terrible. I gave it 3 weeks now but I still feel really tired most of the day and I can't feel if it's because of the escitalopram or the adrenal fatigue, hence I decided I want to quit (also I'm way calmer now and sleeping better again).

 

My GP said I could quit cold turkey, but since I'm sensitive and read everywhere I should taper I want to taper. They only supply liquid escitalopram which is 1mg/druplet. The GP said I could taper over a 4 week period, basically 4/3/2/1 mg for 1 week each step. This doesn't make sense to me since the serotine inhibitation isn't linear. I would rather start at 3 mg 1 week, 2mg 1 week, 1mg 1 week, 0,5mg 1 week for example, but I have zero experience with this. Because I used it for only 3 weeks I hope a loooong taper isn't required. 

 

Can you guys provide advice? Thank you in advance!

 

Additional info on supplements, I eat healthy (no alcohol and caffeine either):

• Multivitamine every day
• 2x200mg magnesium (morning, evening)
• fishoil 360 mg EPA and 240 mg DHA once a day
• 2x500mg vitamine Ester-C

[Frogie]

@Suikerwater

 

Welcome to SA. We are a volunteer ran site helping people taper off psychiatric medications or have tapered off and are now healing.

 

This is your introduction page, where you will receive information ask questions and meet other members. We ask that you only have one introduction page so we can keep all your information in one place.

 

First can you please create a signature.

 

How to List Drug History in Signature

 

 

Because you were on Lexapro only 3 weeks, you could do a fast taper. I would suggest doing 25% taper a week and if you do have side effects stop to let your body heal a little before resuming. Even though the link I'm providing says to taper 10% a month, I just want you to see how to taper Lexapro. But 25% a week should be fine for you.

 

Tips for tapering off escitalopram (Lexapro)

Dr. Joseph Glenmullen's withdrawal symptom checklist

How do you talk to a doctor about tapering and withdrawal?

 

What is withdrawal syndrome?

The Windows and Waves Pattern of Stabilization

 

 

 

 

Here is some important information about how these drugs actually work.  This explains why we get symptoms from going off of these medications:

 

How Psychiatric Drugs Remodel Your Brain

 

 

This helps you understand what withdrawal syndrome is: 

 

Video on Recovery from Psych Drugs

 

 

Stability is really important when we are tapering off psych meds.  Please read the link about stability:

 

Keep It Simple, Slow, and Stable

 

 

I would be cautious with the multivitamin because they have many different vitamins in them, including vitamin b that can be very stimulating. The magnesium and omega are calming to some members damaged nervous system, so it is fine to take. 

 

After you read the links please reach out with any questions you may have.

 

 

 

[Suikerwater]

Thank you so much! So a 25% taper would just be 4 mg, 3 mg, 2 mg, 1 mg and stop? No need for for example 0,5 mg in the end or skip the 4mg step? Cheers to you! I will check out all your links!

[Frogie]

@Suikerwater

 

Yes I think 25% a week would be fine because you have only been on for 3 weeks. You just never want to cold-turkey as so many dr's suggest.

 

Just watch your body for symptoms and if needed you could stop for a week or so and let your body stabilize.

 

I think the links I provided will help answer some of your questions. Please reach out with any other questions you may have.

[Suikerwater]

  

59 minutes ago, Frogie said:

@Suikerwater

 

Yes I think 25% a week would be fine because you have only been on for 3 weeks. You just never want to cold-turkey as so many dr's suggest.

 

Just watch your body for symptoms and if needed you could stop for a week or so and let your body stabilize.

 

I think the links I provided will help answer some of your questions. Please reach out with any other questions you may have.

 

 

Thanks, I have 1 more question. I see the brand of my escitalopram 5mg was Accord, and the liquid form I'm getting now is Sandoz. Would the switch of brands require any additional adjustments for my brain/body? I would like to strain it as little as possible

[Frogie]

@Suikerwater

 

Are you switching from tablet to liquid? Or do you already use liquid and it changed manufacture? 

 

There is a period to switch over.

 

First week: 3/4 tablet 1/4 liquid

 

Second week: 1/2 tablet 1/2 liquid

 

Third week: 1/4 tablet 3/4 liquid

 

Fourth week: All liquid.

 

In your case, if you are on tablets, I would not change over to liquid. It will prolong your taper since you've only been on 3 weeks. I would just do the 25% taper a week from tablet formula, otherwise you could risk the chance of having a longer taper. If you just changed manufacture on the liquid I would take it for a week, then start your taper. 

 

But please listen to your body. If you have any problems stop the taper and we can address the issues.

Edited September 13, 2022 by Frogie
added text

[Suikerwater]

14 minutes ago, Frogie said:

@Suikerwater

 

Are you switching from tablet to liquid? Or do you already use liquid and it changed manufacture? 

 

There is a period to switch over.

 

First week: 3/4 tablet 1/4 liquid

 

Second week: 1/2 tablet 1/2 liquid

 

Third week: 1/4 tablet 3/4 liquid

 

Fourth week: All liquid.

 

In your case, if you are on tablets, I would not change over to liquid. It will prolong your taper since you've only been on 3 weeks. I would just do the 25% taper a week from tablet formula, otherwise you could risk the chance of having a longer taper. If you just changed manufacture on the liquid I would take it for a week, then start your taper. 

 

But please listen to your body. If you have any problems stop the taper and we can address the issues.

I'm on 5mg Accord tablet, but the tablets have a film to protect the stomach so they are sadly non-splitable. So to reduce the dose, we switch to liquid but I just now noticed the brand is Sandez. So I sadly can't split the pills.

[Frogie]

@Suikerwater

 

I don't want to prolong your taper any further than possible. You could try a switch of 1/2 and 1/2 for a week then switch to liquid and see how you do. The longer you stay on, the longer the taper will be.

[Suikerwater]

1 minute ago, Frogie said:

@Suikerwater

 

I don't want to prolong your taper any further than possible. You could try a switch of 1/2 and 1/2 for a week then switch to liquid and see how you do. The longer you stay on, the longer the taper will be.

But I can't split the 5mg pill so I can't do 1/2 sadly.

[Frogie]

@Suikerwater

 

You could try and switch over to the liquid and hope that you don't have any problems. But I would hold on the liquid for a week to make sure as it takes 7-10 days to reach full stability in your blood and body.

 

If you have any problems then please don't taper until we can address the issues.

[Suikerwater]

22 minutes ago, Frogie said:

@Suikerwater

 

You could try and switch over to the liquid and hope that you don't have any problems. But I would hold on the liquid for a week to make sure as it takes 7-10 days to reach full stability in your blood and body.

 

If you have any problems then please don't taper until we can address the issues.

Ah so use 7-10 days liquid 5mg to adjust to the brand, thén start the taper (4-3-2-1-0,5 per week)?

[Frogie]

@Suikerwater

 

Yes just to make sure you have no interactions or bad symptoms before you start your taper.

 

Please keep me posted.

[Suikerwater]

16 hours ago, Frogie said:

@Suikerwater

 

Yes just to make sure you have no interactions or bad symptoms before you start your taper.

 

Please keep me posted.

I will keep you posted. I changed some vitamine supplements yesterday (to higher quality ones) to support my adrenal fatigue recovery so I decided to stay on 5mg one more day, just to be sure it's not from the new supplements. I will update in a week or so. Thanks again!

[Frogie]

@Suikerwater

 

Please update your signature to show the new supplements.

 

Thanks for keeping us updated!

[Suikerwater]

On 9/14/2022 at 2:57 PM, Frogie said:

@Suikerwater

 

Please update your signature to show the new supplements.

 

Thanks for keeping us updated!

Hi Frogie, 

 

I'm still playing around with the supplements. I noticed my multivitamine was pretty strong (going to the bathroom 3 times in 3 hours with very yellow pee), so I started cutting them in half and today I switched back to my old multivitamine which is less strong. I don't want to burden my body with using extra energy in the living to excrete an oversupply of vitamins. Today a B-complex will arrive which will probably replace my multivitamine. I will update my signature soon.

 

Furthermore, today is day3 on 4 mg liquid Sandez escitalopram. I've been sleeping well, but my fatigue is still kinda terrible. I forgot to rest yesterday afternoon (usually I lie in bed for around 1,5h) and around 5PM I was just really tired. At 9PM I was basically ready for bed. It's still hard for me to know where the fatigue comes from. Before my 'big crash' in August I was able to basically do activities all day long without really feeling fatigued. I sincerely hope it's still because of the escitalopram. 

 

Furthermore I deal with some dizzyness and brainfog, and again these I had from the adrenal fatigue too, but they can also (partly) be because of the escitalopram. I hope it wil get better around the 2/3mg, the tapering is a really slow process. 

 

Kind regards.

[Suikerwater]

Update day5: Not much special. Still pretty nauseous in the morning and dizzy all the day. I switched from 8PM to 6PM yesterday, just to try and see if this had any effect on the dizzyness, so far none. No weird side effects so far so that's great. Will move to 3mg on wednesday

[Suikerwater]

On 9/14/2022 at 2:57 PM, Frogie said:

@Suikerwater

 

Please update your signature to show the new supplements.

 

Thanks for keeping us updated!

Update day8: Have been having some nausea/gagging in the morning. Might be unrelated to the escitalopram since I had this before from the high cortisol/tension when waking up. I also felt more anxious during the day up untill 5 o 'clock. Maybe my cortisol level is already higher? First day of 3mg by the way.

Only difference is that before I was just gagging in the morning, now I kinda felt nauseous all day long. Maybe my body reacts quite severe to the different brand + lowering dose? I will just relax and see.

 

Also I felt really warm and then cold today. I started shivering really badly. I did had a meeting with a friend for 2 hours (which is long for me due to adrenal fatigue) and a 20 minute walk. It might just be because of this but I'm not sure.

[Frogie]

@Suikerwater

 

Nausea is a common symptom, unfortunately I had it all through my Lexapro taper. I felt like it was 24/7.

 

I learned to eat a lot of bland food, crackers, cheese, yogurt, applesauce, chicken, soup, ginger ale, 7-Up, things like that. 

 

I also bought preggi pops (spelling) off of Amazon and they helped some. I bought some over the counter anti nausea called Nauzene and it relieved it some.

 

You might want to watch the multivitamin also. You don't know what might be causing problems with that because it is like the "kitchen sink". And B vitamins are very activating.

 

You could read these links and see if anything in there might help. But really, it is time that heals all wounds, as they say.

 

 

Yoga for Nausea - Allannah at YogaYin  

 

What to Do for Nausea, Queasiness

 

Digestive Problems

 

 

[Suikerwater]

16 hours ago, Frogie said:

@Suikerwater

 

Nausea is a common symptom, unfortunately I had it all through my Lexapro taper. I felt like it was 24/7.

 

I learned to eat a lot of bland food, crackers, cheese, yogurt, applesauce, chicken, soup, ginger ale, 7-Up, things like that. 

 

I also bought preggi pops (spelling) off of Amazon and they helped some. I bought some over the counter anti nausea called Nauzene and it relieved it some.

 

You might want to watch the multivitamin also. You don't know what might be causing problems with that because it is like the "kitchen sink". And B vitamins are very activating.

 

You could read these links and see if anything in there might help. But really, it is time that heals all wounds, as they say.

 

 

Yoga for Nausea - Allannah at YogaYin  

 

What to Do for Nausea, Queasiness

 

Digestive Problems

 

 

Thanks. I didn't take the multi today but still some gagging. Might also be related to my cortisol levels. I also got really cold and then warm suddenly tonight. My feet were extremely cold (this is very unusual for me normally) though. I was sweating for like 30 minutes and then it was gone but my feel remained cold. Is that normal? Ty!

 

Also, is it a good idea to use Ashwaghanda to lower my cortisol and use L-theanine to battle the anxiety feelings, do you know anything about that?

[Frogie]

@Suikerwater

 

I have the problem with my feet and hands being cold, but I have hypothyroidism. You could have your thyroid checked, but more than likely these are all wd symptoms.

 

Here is the link again on wd symptoms you may have.

 

Dr. Joseph Glenmullen's withdrawal symptom checklist

 

 

I don't know much about Ashwaghanda or L-theanine, but here are some links that you might want to read about them

 

 

 

 

I hope these answer some of your questions.

[Suikerwater]

On 9/23/2022 at 2:22 PM, Frogie said:

@Suikerwater

 

I have the problem with my feet and hands being cold, but I have hypothyroidism. You could have your thyroid checked, but more than likely these are all wd symptoms.

 

Here is the link again on wd symptoms you may have.

 

Dr. Joseph Glenmullen's withdrawal symptom checklist

 

 

I don't know much about Ashwaghanda or L-theanine, but here are some links that you might want to read about them

 

 

 

 

I hope these answer some of your questions.

Thanks, my anxiety got back by a lot after 1 week on 3mg. Also my sleep got worse and morning gagging. I noticed that it got instantly better after using 4mg or 5mg for 1 day.

[Frogie]

@Suikerwater

 

How long have you been on the 5 mg? If it's been more than a few days, stay on that dose until you stabilize. Don't go back and forth on doses. You need to stay on one dosage.