psjandchocolate: Extreme Anger During Taper From Lexapro?

[pjsandchocolate]

I started tapering off my Lexapro (20 mgs) in mid-December. About halfway through my tapering off from Lexapro a few weeks ago, I noticed that I was getting *very* angry within a few hours of taking it. I suppose I am an angry person by nature and having 5 y.o. twins with a mostly absent father isn't helping things. But I noticed that when I didn't take the Lexapro, I was more easily able to control my temper.

 

As I said, I have young twins, so I had to stop the taper halfway through my plan and go cold turkey off the Lexapro because things were getting too intense with the kids.

 

I've been off the Lex completely for a week and it's noticeably easier to control my rage (except for being exhausted from a viral infection with no rest breaks).

 

Has anyone else noticed that problem when tapering off of Lexapro? It's hard to find a *good* list of examples of what one can expect from tapering off of various meds and what folks do to work through them.

[Jemima]

psj,

 

I moved your topic to the Intro section because it's your first post about yourself.  Please continue to post your comments and questions about your journey through withdrawal here by clicking on the Reply button.

 

Also, if that's your real name in your signature, you might want to delete it. Google and other search engines routinely comb this site so someone you know may read up on things you'd rather keep private. The history you posted when you became a member is confidential, but the signature will repeat in all of your posts.

 

Now, as for the Lexapro, you tapered much too quickly.  I know because I did the same thing, "tapering" off Lexapro in a matter of three and a half months, and during those months I often flew into rages over minor things. Part of what was irritating me was sensitivity to light, which is a symptom of withdrawal due to hormones, especially cortisol, being thrown out of whack by the drug. As for your viral infection, unless that's been diagnosed by a doctor, I'd guess that's also withdrawal.  I thought I had the worst case of hay fever on record during my own withdrawal.

 

Since you're already experiencing withdrawal symptoms, I doubt you're going to be one of the lucky ones who gets away with cold turkey. My advice is to go back on a small dose of Lexapro, stabilize, and then taper off very slowly and carefully. Reinstatement within thirty days usually works, so please don't delay on this. I can't suggest how much Lexapro to take because I don't know what dose you were on when you stopped. It would also be helpful if you'd give us more information on your taper from Ritalin. You may also be suffering from withdrawal from that, and going CT off of Lexapro a month later would be very hard on your nervous system.

 

You might want to read my stories, which are linked below in my signature.  I was only on antidepressants fifteen months and it's taken me over two years to recover. Most of that time was fairly miserable, especially the first year.

 

Welcome to the forum, psj. I'm glad you found us.

[Altostrata]

Welcome, pj.

 

Irritability is a recognized withdrawal symptom, also emotional swings that could be anger or rage.

 

What is this viral infection like? When did it start?

[pjsandchocolate]

I know it's a viral infection because I did actually get that diagnosed and I'm pretty sure it was my dad who gave it to me at the beginning of the month, because he's still dealing with his. According to a number of preschool teachers this one has been "making the rounds" (Who says kids aren't good at sharing?). It's pretty standrad for a viral - thick green mucus, sinus pressure, sore throat. The symptoms have eased up a lot in the last 2 days so I seem to be coming out the other side. Short on sleep beccause of the constant coughing from the drainage, but nothing more damaging than that.

 

With the Ritalin, I suppose at best I could be categorized as a "casual user" - I forgot to take them about as often as I actually remembered to take them - It wasn't uncommon for a 30 day supply to still have 10 days left after 3 months in my cabinet.  My symptoms without the Ritalin have been pretty much the same now as int he years before I started trying to get off the meds - I have difficulty concentrating and prioritizing tasks, problems seeing tasks to completion, easily distracted, often forgetful from one room to the next, slower ability to track situational changes, problems filtering my mouth...

 

I've been tapering off a 20mg Lexapro dose since December, so it hasn't been a quick jump to the 10 mgs I was on as of last week. Off the Lexapro for a week now (I still have the meds in the cabinet), and I'm still easily irritated, but I'm not having the near the same problems keeping the worst aspects of my temper reigned in. It was the sudden spike of anger within an hour or 2 IMMEDIATELY AFTER taking a tapered dose of Lexapro that got me concerned. I have become more light sensitive, but these *spikes* have happened like clockwork after ingesting the Lexapro, regardless of stimulation. The only other triggers I've been able to pin down have been my son, being the typical 5 year old boy and pushing the limits as 5 year old boys do. My daughter hasn't pushed the limits like her brother has, so there haven't been near as many outbursts with her.

 

Givien the noticeable pattern I noticed on the last few weeks while on Lexapro, I hesitate to start back up again, even on an increased dose. I'm the only one here to hold my leash. I also hesitate to try other AD's because while my signature has the primary list, for about an 18 month period (1998-2000), I was cycled through about 4-6 other drugs (whose names I can't quite remember in part because I was cycled through them so fast).

 

8 years later I even spent 2 months without AD's cold-turkey because the new PA was convinced that the lack of success on so many different meds were indicative of Bi-polar disorder and insisted I take those meds instead - which only made me worse. Protesting through a series of phone calls and secretaries to get the Doctor to actually see me was useless - I was told that my condition didn't raise any red flags to her and that she trusted her PA. My signature line would be an illegible mess if I tried to remember what and when everything happened because so much of it happened so fast and in some cases more than 10 years ago.

 

I found my current doctor who put me back on the concktail that seemed to work best, as indicated by me, but she doesn't seem too concerned about my withdrawal and is content to let me set the pace. 

 

This is all a very long and drawn out way of saying that I am VERY hesitant to do X, if A seems to be working better. I'm trying to figure out the options I have, before moving in another direction, even if it is backwards, because I am very much so alone here.

[Altostrata]

What drugs are you taking now?

 

Did you have any adverse symptoms when you started taking Lexapro?

 

It's possible you may not have significant withdrawal symptoms. Please keep in touch with us and let us know how you're doing.

[pjsandchocolate]

Right now, this moment, I am taking 50 mgs Trazadone, nightly. I stopped the Lex a week and a bit ago. I haven't updated the signature block to reflect that jsut yet because it's only been a week.

 

On the non-mental health side of things, I'm taking 500mgs 2x daily of Metformin ( I have Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome). I've been taking that since...2004-ish? (another long tale of being medically ignored that can go elsewhere at another time.)

 

In 2009, they started me on Atavorstatin, 40mgs 1x daily. At the time, my high triglycerides were shrugged off as being genetic because of my father. Although now that I'm reading "The Statin Damage Crisis" I'm beginning to question that as well. Once again, another topic for another time, but an interesting subject that crosses over into brain matters, and one I've not researched thouroughly enough yet.

[pjsandchocolate]

Sorry, i disregarded the other question you asked about adverse symptoms.

 

I don't remember having adverse effects when starting the Lexapro, but that was a long time ago.

 

I remember at some point in the last 10-12 years I became increasingly sensitive to the sound of certain people chewing, enough to unreasonably piss me off and send me to the far end of the house. I'm still easily irritated by that certain set of sounds, and I still sequester myself off when I can (holiday dinners are hellish), but those sounds haven't spiked my anger like what I experienced a few weeks ago.

 

In 2006, I started experienceing extreme vertigo at random moments. I went through doctors and tests and more doctors and specialists. I tracked my diet and times of day and the times and date of every type of vertigo I experienced, from a 10 second slight "whoa, things are a little woozy,"  to a full 5 minutes of me laying on the floor whimpering because an invisible tilt-a-whirl decided it was time for me to get off the planet, NOW.

 

Lojng story short, the visual distortions and messed up balance were due to the long-term use of AD's,  I was advised to dry out and then step back as needed whenever I noticed the distortions. At first, I only "dried out" on an insanely rapid taper of 6 weeks (because doctors said that was okay) every 2 years.

 

After having kids it turned into every year. It wasn't until Decemeber 2013 when I FINALLY found reputable evidence to show my husband and get him to support my coming off the meds (an argument that had been going on for a decade or more).

 

Now that I think about it, I am more light sensitive now than in the past, but it isn't enough to spike my anger, just enough to make me say "Oh, ow. Wait. I need sunglasses."

 

I know it sounds weird, but I swear at about the beginning of this month/end of last month, my anger would spike like clockwork after taking the Lexapro, regardless of what I was doing, who was around me, or whatever, and since not taking it, it's become a lot easier to control. So I don't know if this was my body saying "We're done with this now, make it go away," or something else. I am worried, though, because for all I know, Jupiter was misaligned with Mars, or the virus was affecting my body's processing of the Lexapro or what. I just don't want to worry about loosing control like that again.

[Altostrata]

How long have you been taking trazodone?

 

Trazodone can interact with Lexapro in a very nasty way -- the symptoms would show up during the day. Rage may be one of them. See http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/2883-tips-for-tapering-off-trazodone-desyrel/

 

It could have been this interaction, not the Lexapro itself, that caused your irritability.

 

Please consider that your nervous system may have become highly sensitized since you've been on and off psychiatric drugs for so long.

[pjsandchocolate]

I've been taking Trazadone almost continously since 1999. I've been on Trazadone with the Lexapro for the last 5 years in an unbroken streak (with the exception of poorly done speedy dry outs).So while the rage may be a side effect of the two mixing, it's odd that it should start while I'm working on month 5 of the Lexapro taper, and then seem to reduce considerably in strength(?) after the Lexapro is completely removed. I would have expected the reverse, chemical withdrawal being what it is.

[Altostrata]

I can't say. But your history might also include progressive sensitization of your nervous system from drug changes, which wasn't obvious until you started reducing Lexapro.