Search the Community

Original topic title before shortening: Need help in reinstating a low maintenance dose of Lexapro after a “honeymoon period” or an unsuccessful taper Hello, Between 2000 and 2005, I took three different ADs in succession - Zoloft, fluoxetine, and then Paxil. I also took Xanax for a few months and then stopped almost abruptly when I started feeling better on AD. I did not quite feel Xanax withdrawal probably because the AD effect kicked in during this time. From 2006, I was switched to Lexapro 20 mg. It worked well for a several years but around 2015, I felt quite detached from the world and did not feel like myself. So I started looking for natural alternatives to ADs. I started fast taper with the help of St. John’s Wort, Niacin, and Vitamin D. It went quite well till 2.5 mg, but after that, I started feeling withdrawal symptoms which were quite intense. I increased the dose a little and tried to taper again but could not go beyond 2.5 mg. I do not remember my tapering schedule but it was relatively fast as compared to the recommendation of SA experts. I did not know about SA guidelines of 10% reduction at that time - I wish I knew earlier. Then I started seeing homeopaths who helped me with the remaining 2.5 mg taper. The remedies that helped were Acid Phos, Aurum Met, Kali Phos, and Avena Sativa. I started feeling really good and slowly got rid of the remaining 2.5 mg of Lexapro. I started feeling myself again and though that Lexapro was behind me. After about two months, I faced an unpleasant event which brought my anxiety and depression back with full force. It could be a delayed withdrawal after a “honeymoon period” as some people have described here. Now I have been trying to reinstate Lexapro but it is not going very well. I have gone back and forth between 2.5 mg and 1.25 mg but I have not been able to make myself stable again. During this acute phase, homeopathic remedies only helped a little like Kali Phos but I guess these remedies don’t work well in a stormy situation. I am occasionally also taking Xanax 0.25 mg once or twice a day in an effort to get Lexapro settle back into my system. But I am feeling very bad. I have sleep anxiety. I wake up tired and restless. I sometimes wake up half an hour after falling asleep. I can’t sleep in the dark. I feel lethargic and devoid of energy. I now feel anxious about future like never before. Past events sometimes comes into my mind very vividly which increases my anxiety and heart beat. In such moments, I have to get out of the house and go for a drive or walk. Now, every time I take Lexapro whether 2.5 mg or 1.25 mg, I feel uncomfortable pressure or constriction on my chest usually after about one hour which usually goes away in a few hours. This happens even at this relatively low dose. I read somewhere that Lexapro messes with the electrical signals of the heart. So taking Lexapro makes me sick but not taking it makes me even sicker. I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. My current life situation is not such that I feel that I can completely get off of Lexapro at the moment, but I want to settle on a low maintenance dose so that I can feel a bit more stable. My homeopath has now prescribed Ignatia Amara for palliative purpose but it is not quite helping at the moment. I know that if I go to a psychiatrist at this point, he/she would switch me to a different AD along with a cocktail of other drugs, which of course I do not want. I would appreciate any help in trying to achieve a low maintenance dose of Lexapro using the help of natural remedies. Thanks a lot.

I am about 2 years since taking fluoxetine. I still have quite a few symptoms persisting. I tried taking benedryl the other night. My tinnitus went through the roof and I feel like I am back in the first year of withdrawals were I never get sleep ques. Has anyone else had these symptoms when taking benedryl in withdrawals?

Dears, I'm desperately writing you as I feel noone on this Earth is understanding me now. I was a cheerful, social, active girl. Last year in August I gave life to my boy. When he turned 3.5 month, I started to have sleep issues out of the sudden. I got super scared as it continued day after day. Then after 5 days I got my first postpartum period. That day I KNEW, oh my God this must be it. This whole thing is just hormonal. Since then I lived with this problem for 6 months. Peak troubled nights were always around ny periods and ovulation, but I also had sleep issues beyond them. Over time it got much better, meaning 2/3 of my nights were without any problem, 10 days were troubled. Deep in me I always thought I don't have depression, but I suffered a lot due to the quite many nights with poor sleep. Because of the pressure of family members I visited a psychiatrist, who convinced me that I have post-partum depression with insomnia as pure symptom of it and this needs to be cured. I got Zoloft prescribed. That day the real nightmare really just started. I tool 25 mg for 1.5 weeks and 50 mg for additional 1 week. I had terrible reaction already 1 hour after start - digestion issues, restlessness, unbelievable heartbeat, thinking of suicide, sweatening and complete inability to sleep. For 2.5 weeks.. Everyone said it is normal and will settle with time. But even 3 Xanax did not help me to sleep during nights. After 2.5 weeks I could not handle anymore and even though my doctor and my relatives kept telling me to continue and take Tegretol on top, I just couldn't. I stopped. Since then I sleep at least on some nights. Badly with long time to fall asleep, many night wakenings and early wake ups, but on some nights I at least have some rest. I strongly believe Zoloft caused very bad reactions for me and that my sleep still suffers due to the fact I took so many pills. Please help me - can this get better? Can such "short" of time on AD change my brain and sleep forever? Will I be able to return o pre-medicine level? I feel I completely lost control over my thoughts and life since I took the first pill. Thank you so much for helping me.

Eight years ago I started taking prozac 20mg, over the next four years this was increased to 60mg. Over the next few years I made a couple of doctor supervised reductions back down to 20mg. This summer I tapered off over just a couple of months (now been off it for 2.5 months). Since then I feel more motivated and alert, which is great. I definitely don't feel that I am suffering from depression any more (woo hoo!). The problems have been in managing my emotions. I get very angry very easily, things that a few months ago would have been mildly irritating are now causing me such anger. I have some issues with being angry that I need to deal with, when I get angry I feel like a monster. I realise that I have to learn to not feel bad about myself for getting angry and I'm going to seek help for managing my response to feeling anger but that doesn't help right now. It's starting to bum me out so hard, when I feel that rush of rage it makes me feel like a terrible person because I know the anger is put of proportion to the situation. I then want to hurt myself, which I haven't felt like doing in so long, it feels like going backwards. I'm also really struggling to stay asleep. No matter when I go to bed or how much sleep I get if something disturbs me I am just awake and cannot get back to sleep. It's beginning to have a real impact on my emotions and work (thankfully I work from home so I don't have to deal with bosses or anything and I can adapt my hours to suit how I'm feeling though). I really thought for a while that I was just a terrible, terrible person. I cannot tell you what a relief it was to find this site and know that I'm not alone (although in some ways it's heartbreaking how many people are going through the same thing), when I read about neuro emotions and the experiences of some folk with anger it honestly made me cry with relief! I am going to seek help for managing my reaction to getting angry and I really want to try and improve my diet (for a lot of reasons but mainly to see if it help with this!). Thank you so much to the creators of this site and everyone who has shared what they're going through, it has made a real difference in my life just knowing that I'm not alone or just a horrible person.