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Positive Experience Discontinuing Lexapro

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falling_wave

MyPTSD Pro
I have read so many terrible scary experiences with lexapro withdrawal while searching to prepare for my own experience so I just wanted to give my input to even things out and hopefully lessen anxiety for some.

I was on lex for 18 months. I started at 10 ml and moved up after 9 months to 15 for a week and the 20 for the rest of the time. The first week or so I got on it was a nightmare. Sweating, nausea, persistent headache increased anxiety. However I did notice the same day that my mood seemed lifted noticeably. After that first week I felt SO much better. One of the main things was my racing thoughts at night. They were significantly slowed and I actually lost weight rather than gain. It was this way for the first 7 months. Then things started getting really rough again. I kept have these severe lows and then I would okay again off and on and my insomnia was really bad even though I took it in the morning. I went in and asked for the dose to be raised. I didn't notice anything distinctly and no side effects. However after a while I realized that my anxiety was as bad as ever and my lows would get really low. That's when I decided to get off.

This is how I did it. 15 everyday for a week, 10 everyday for a week, and then 5 every day for a week. I have been off for one week now entirely. I was so scared from reading reviews but I didn't need to be. I had a couple strong emotional reactions but they were better than on the meds and I bounced back quickly. Also the lower the dose the more hope I felt about my life and the more I was able to sleep. I had an occasional mild headache and discovered that excedrin tension headache worked nest to target in but honestly that wasn't bad. I used hylands nerve tonic if my anxiety was creeping up and it worked wonders. I also could rationalize different perspectives and what thoughts of mine reasonable or not better than when I was on the meds. I did get a knotted up stomach feeling a couple days but it was not all the time. I think it was just a day each time I decreased more. I found a heating pad, tum, gas x, and warm lemon water got me through that. It felt like menstrual cramps only higher up. Totally doable though. Also I felt anxiety and obsessed over reading people's experiences and what will happen when I get off at first. That didn't hel so don't do that. People write only negative reviews and this is not always the case.

I am off and sleeping better each day and finding effective ways to cope and move forward in life. I feel like even my relationships have improved. Don't be scared. If you feel it's not helping let it go. You might be better.
 
I'm happy for you. I am now off Clonazepam (Klonapin) and doing better too. I went off it gradually and the withdrawal was not too bad. I am grateful to be free of it, as it has become a controlled substance where I live and it would have been a pain to have to stay on it under the way in which it now is prescribed.
 
I have read so many terrible scary experiences with lexapro withdrawal while searching to prepare f...

thanks so much for this post! i'm working on getting off lexapro right now and was really nervous from reading how hard it was for some people, but this gave me a lot of reassurance :)
 
thank you for sharing your experience. I too went off and after a few very traumatic events went back on. When told to increase Lexapro I had severe shakiness and dark thoughts. I am considering going off all medication soon, although my therapist might not agree. I need to make lifestyle changes to go along with this, I know.
 
I lost a lot of energy. I was on them for headaches and migraines though. I actually switched to celexa because it was so expensive for Lexapro. Cutting out celexa seemed to not make as much of a difference- not sure it it was the dosage or if it's just weaker period.
 
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