Survive: Successful tapering off Lexapro

[Survive]

Hello all.  I am just shy of two weeks off of Lexapro after a few months of tapering.  It has been very manageable.  Before I tell you how I did it, let me say I am the type that gets ALL the side effects from SSRI's.  I had a bad experience with zoloft and paxil.  They both about killed me.  So, needless to say I was frightened to come off Lex.  I found a site that had a good formula and I followed it. 

 

I was on 10mg.

 

Mg for mg, Lex is twice as strong as other ssri’s and it has a VERY short half-life.  That is why tapering slowly is so important!  I tapered 10% every two weeks.  It was not exactly 10% as I used a knife to cut the pills.  As it got down in mg, the taper was more because I couldn’t cut off 10% of 5mg… too hard… but I tried.  The main point here is I took my time.  I stuck to the two week per step down.  Once I got to 5 – I used the 5mg pills… and started cutting those.

 

I also did the following and I did it RELIGIOUSLY.

• Breakfast – fish oil (helps eliminate the zaps and good for brain rebuilding from what i have read)

• Lunch – had 250mg of Magnesium (helps with anxiety), and QAULITY multi-vitamin, and Allergy pill, Fish oil

• Dinner – fish oil

• Bed time – 500MG of Magnesium and sometimes a Tylenol for soreness (from working out).  (I Cant take ibuprofen and Lex together according to what I have read on Medscape)

• I exercise almost every week day (helps me with anxiety and side effects of taper).  Even if only a 30 minute walk.

• If symptoms of taper were uncomfortable – I ate dark chocolate.  IT HELPED! 

• I see my therapist every week or two and I discussed the whole thing before I started to get his support

• I talk with my wife when I am feeling like crap.  She gave me encouragement and reminded me its temporary

• I pray every morning and night

 

Observations

• About day 2 or 3 after a step down, I would feel pretty jiggy…  But, not near as bad as when I tried getting off without any help or as bad as paxil and zoloft for me.

• Virtually NO brain zaps!  You read that correctly – the fish oil works for me!!!! 

• The lower the dosage the longer I felt jiggy during that first week.

• Week 2 after a step down, I almost always felt great

• If I felt like crap – I would
  • Remind myself it’s a physical reaction to the medicine leaving

  • Remind myself its temporary

  • If I got anxiety – I would use the 3”x3” sticky note pad I kept with me and write the following (I include an example)
    • Situation: feeling jittery and going into meeting

    • Thoughts: I am afraid I will have an anxiety attack in the meeting.  I am afraid of making a fool of myself.  I am afraid of getting brain lock and looking stupid.

    • Emotions:  fear

    • Physical sensations:  jittery, heart racing, sweaty, tingly stomach (etc)

    • Alternative Thoughts:  I don’t have to be a finished product (as a person).  Its ok to make mistakes.  I know what I am doing.  This feeling is temporary.  Even if I make a mistake or fool of myself, I will survive this.  No one ever died of being uncomfortable.

  • The above would help relieve the emotional hooks into the physical feelings and vice versa.

  • I invariably felt better within 5-10 minutes if not sooner.

• When I stepped off - the physical feelings, though mild, are lasting longer.  But they are manageable. 

• I don’t think I ever had a brain zap – however, after stepping off, I do get a weird feeling sometimes like someone is holding a half-way depleted 9volt battery to my brain… just like a low grade electric weirdness… NOTHING like a brain zap… I just figure that if I wasn’t taking the fish oil, how much worse it would be.

• One of the side effects of Lex for me was a tingly stomach – its gone now! 

• Once I was down to about 2.5mg – sex started working again.  I could finish!!!  Man, is that great to finish again.  Truth be told, I am finishing more than I should this past week…just because I missed it so much.  Lol

• After stepping off, I notice I am more crabby than usual.  My daughter called me out on it.  So, I am checking myself…  Writing about it and talking about it with wife.  I apologized to my daughter!
  • Transparency has been key to getting through this.  Going it alone doesn’t work for me anymore (I am typically a reserved, tough it out on my own, type of person – it doesn’t work with this – having support is invaluable to my mental condition)

• My wife and therapist both said they are surprised how well I am doing.  I will be honest – I am surprised also.

 

I am writing this so as maybe to bring hope to someone out there.  This medicine can be scary and there is VERY FEW success stories or tips and tricks to follow.  All I ever found was horror stories.  So, I promised myself I would share my story if it worked for me.

 

If I think of anything else pertinent, I will follow up.  Good luck to you and God bless you.  My prayers for those still suffering will be daily.  You are not alone.

Last thing - I am not a doctor.  Everything I did, I got from someone else.  I am simply sharing what I did.  I am not recommending anything.

[Survive]

Paxil about killed me.  Getting off of it was tough.  It was over 10 years ago.

 

I got a new psych and he put me on prozac to help with getting off paxil.  It worked! 

 

Funny, I just red somewhere that prozac can help with getting off of other ssri's because of the incredibly long half-life.

 

Also, fish oil and magnesium has been a godsend for me.  NO BRAIN ZAPS for me!  Magnesium helps me with anxiety.  Also, good multi-vitamin helps me.  And, I drink a lot of h20

[Survive]

Hey all - I used the OP method (for the most part) and it worked. 

 

I posted a new thread on successful tapering off lexapro.

 

to the OP of this thread.  THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

To those still suffering, you are not alone.  My prayers are with you.

 

Edited June 19, 2017 by KarenB

[scallywag]

Survive -- thanks for posting to share what worked for you coming off Lexapro.

 

There will be many people who find comfort AND useful ideas in what you've written.

 

How are you feeling now?  Please stay in touch to let us know how you're doing.

[Gridley]

Thank you, Survive.  Great post.

[KarenB]

Hello Survive - Welcome to SA,

 

I've moved these posts of yours from round the forum to the Intro section so we can get you started with your info in one place. 

 

At what point in your tapering are you now - or are you finished? 

 

Karen

[powerback]

hi this is interesting  to me ,I'm wondering about going to Prozac because I'm in so much torture with venlafaxine .

its a tricky dilemma and scary .

a full list of drugs and dates would be great thanks survive .

PB

[Survive]

On 2017-06-15 at 11:54 PM, KarenB said:

At what point in your tapering are you now - or are you finished?

I am currently finished.  15 days since last dose.

Edited June 19, 2017 by scallywag
trimmed quote to relevant portion

[Survive]

On 2017-06-16 at 3:31 PM, powerback said:

hi this is interesting  to me ,I'm wondering about going to Prozac because I'm in so much torture with venlafaxine .

Hello, I have read many times that the extremely long half-life of prozac makes it easier to get off of it.  I also read that some doc's us it to help people get off other SSRI's.  What is interesting is this:  my doctor (about 10 years go) did exactly that.  I was having a horrendous time getting off of paxil.  He switched me to prozac... and it was real easy getting of the prozac. 

 

Edited June 19, 2017 by scallywag
trimmed quote to relevant portion

[Survive]

Update:  15 days since last dose.  Every day gets better and better.  What I notice is I start feeling a bit crappy towards the end of the day now.

 

I also notice that some of my old thought patterns are coming back.  Not all of them good...  Such as my extreme attention to detail.  I miss nothing...  That is great in my career!  Not so good in my marriage!  LOL  Seriously...  So, I am having to check myself at home and not get all nit-picky with my family.  I talked about it with my counsiler today and he gave me some tools to use when I start getting my laser focused judgementalness...  For example:  Life is too short to get all bent out of shape about the q-tips my wife left on the counter top...  Pepper my attention to detail with a bit of OCD... and you have a naggy husband... I dont want to be that way anymore. 

 

So, while I feel like I am doing great without the med's so far, I still have to work on ME. 

[Survive]

One last thing:  My prayers are with you all.  Together we can do this.

[KarenB]

It's great that you are noticing improvements Survive.  And I'm glad you have help with continuing the work on shaping who you want to be.  It was doing that sort of work that really made the difference to myself and my healing from child-hood trauma. 

 

One tool I used was building up in my mind the distinction between two different 'worlds' - the Trauma world, and the Grace world.  In a tricky situation with my family, I'd try to stop and think, 'Am I acting as a person who comes from a trauma world, or a grace world?'  And I'd try to shift into responding from the Grace world.  The more times I did it, the stronger the pattern became.  Now days I usually respond from the Grace world, fairly automatically. 

[ebean]

As someone working so hard to fight through Lexapro withdrawals and not reinstate... this gave me hope! Thank you!

Edited June 20, 2017 by scallywag
added quote for context; then realized ebean started an intro and thus deleted quote

[Survive]

14 hours ago, KarenB said:

It's great that you are noticing improvements Survive.  And I'm glad you have help with continuing the work on shaping who you want to be.  It was doing that sort of work that really made the difference to myself and my healing from child-hood trauma. 

 

One tool I used was building up in my mind the distinction between two different 'worlds' - the Trauma world, and the Grace world.  In a tricky situation with my family, I'd try to stop and think, 'Am I acting as a person who comes from a trauma world, or a grace world?'  And I'd try to shift into responding from the Grace world.  The more times I did it, the stronger the pattern became.  Now days I usually respond from the Grace world, fairly automatically. 

That is a great tool.

 

Its crazy how I became this person with these habit patterns to deal with the mental/emotional trauma and I didn't not even know it was happening.  I too had trauma... and I thought it was all normal...  Unknown to me was a lifetime of habits and personality that was developing as a result of that trauma....  I just had no idea.  My councilor looked at me once and said something to the effect of; "You have had a lot of trauma in your life!"... and she was genuine about it..  I was shocked by that statement...  It all seemed normal to me... LOL...  I had no idea the level of compensation I was doing mentally to avoid that **** from ever happening again, and to make it ok in my head, and to make sense of it....

 

Not sure if I am making any sense... but.. I guess, sexual abuse, physical abuse, parents surprise divorce, drug/alcohol abuse, lost in the woods, no dad, sister had traumatic brain injury in car accident... really is trauma... who knew?  LOL.  Is it all normal human existence?? Or, is my brain such that I cant handle that stuff?  LOL  Who knows.  Who cares.  What I do know is I have to be open to feeling those feelings, discussing them, and moving on...  I have to look at the way I react (as you said above)...  I have to be open and honest...

 

I am a feeling, impression guy... I rarely remember details... I remember an impression or feeling.  So, because of that - sometimes I have to 'formalize' my thoughts so I don't forget details that are important.  By this I mean, write a list!  hehe...   I have been working on a list for living an anxiety free life.  This is what I have so far.  Its simple.

 

Keep in mind - these are things I actually do on a DAILY basis:

1.  Be honest and open about my feelings (no 'going it alone')

2.  Pray every morning and night

3.  Meditate (simply 15-30 minutes of breathing exercises if nothing else)

4.  Diligently seek to be of service in some way - or to seek good.

 

Stay strong out there.

[KarenB]

I get the feeling you're gonna be okay, Survive.  Or, as we say in New Zealand, Sweet as, bro! 

[Survive]

Update:

 

19 days and things are continuing to get better.  It was worth the wait.

 

I do get an occasional dizzy spell.  A bit of vertigo now and again.  I feel like my mojo is coming back.  I am starting to lose a pound or two...  (I gained 22 on lex)

 

Might I recommend going to a local animal shelter and volunteering... It was helpful for me.  I find it relaxing and being of service is good mojo.

 

I am sticking to my regimen of supplements, and exercising. 

 

I am not 100 % ... but at this point I feel better than I did while on the junk.  Also, I am sleeping well....

 

My prayers are with you all.

[bubble]

Hello Survive.

 

Thank you for sharing your story with us. I hope you will be saved of something called delayed onset if withdrawal symptoms. So this is a small word of caution.

 

I'm writing from my phone so I can't see all the details of your taper but you did go faster than we recommend here.

 

Last time I stopped taking Lexapro at 2.5 mg (before I found this site). For the firsty 30 days I actually felt quite ok. Only occasional crabbiness. Never had brain zaps. After 40 days off the whole hell broke lose. I really hope it doesn't happen to you.

 

In any case we wait for a few months or more to write a success story. Good luck and keep us posted.