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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by nicky847 on March 14, 2007, at 10:34:26
I've been taking 10 mg of Lexapro daily since Dec 2003...I've decided though that I want to see how it goes without it.
There have been days where I've forgotten to take it and yesterday was one of them..and lately I feel like I feel better on those days...like everything just seems more "real" for some reason...a couple of months ago my fiancee stopped taking hers and she was on twice the dose I am and seems to have done fine so I think I can do it too..hope its the right decision but I am excited about living life with a more full range of emotions..will post periodically all well-wishes are appreciated!
Posted by Joe Bloe on March 17, 2007, at 17:36:51
In reply to Decided to Stop Lexapro After 3 Years, posted by nicky847 on March 14, 2007, at 10:34:26
How are you doing so far? I hope you check out former posts on Lex withdrawal. If I'm not mistaken, it seems that a lot of the difficulties with Lex w/d appear at around day 9/10 or so.Did you taper at all?
Congrats to your fiance, but as you know, everyone is different in terms of reaction to meds and withdrawal effects. If you hit any great difficulties, don't be afraid to 1) begin to take a smaller dose again and taper, 2) switch to a brief regimen of Prozac to help, it's supposedly much easier to withdraw from Prozac than it is the shorter acting SSRI's, like Lexapro, and 3) consider taking Benadryl to help with any brain shocks or other w/d effects. Benadryl is essentially an SRI (i.e. not selective) and Prozac was derived from it.
Good luck! I can relate to your experience. I am currently 1 week with no prozac after 4 years and 2 failed withdrawal attempts. I tapered from 20 mgs for 3 weeks prior. So far so good. I feel so much better.
Posted by nicky847 on March 19, 2007, at 11:51:58
In reply to Re: Decided to Stop Lexapro After 3 Years, posted by Joe Bloe on March 17, 2007, at 17:36:51
So far I am on day 6 and doing pretty OK. The constant dizziness is subsiding as are the brain shocks and the extremely vivid dreams so those are all good things...i havent tapered ive gone cold turkey which i know is the wrong thing to do but i think the whole process will play out faster if i do it this way
4 years ago I tapered off of 40 mg celexa and was off it for a few months (then i lost my job and i think the stress of that coupled with the lack of meds made me depressed again so i went on the 10 mg of lexapro), so i know what the brain shocks feel like and have felt all the withdrawal symptoms before and aren't too alarmed by them..physical symptoms aren't what worry me it's the emotional symptoms that I get more concerned about...im pretty much expecting the timetable to get off the meds to be about the same as it was getting on them...i dont expect to feel "normal" for about a month or so..a little concerned b/c i know the 2nd week on lexapro was really hard for me..so im hoping the 2nd week off of it isnt as bad...but the flip side of that is that when i was getting on lexapro i was already pretty depressed and anxious...im feeling pretty ok now so i think i have more strength to deal with whatever it might bring..
thereve been ups and downs in the past week but so far i have to say i think i feel better without the lexapro than with it...i feel i have a little more energy than i had before and just a little more clear headed in general..
thats interesting about benadryl i didnt know any of that...good to keep in mind...thanks for responding!!
Posted by moesje on May 27, 2007, at 13:29:15
In reply to Re: Decided to Stop Lexapro After 3 Years, posted by nicky847 on March 19, 2007, at 11:51:58
> > thats interesting about benadryl i didnt know any of that...good to keep in mind...thanks for responding!!>>
lexapro and cymbalta gave me the same symptoms. i didn't know about the benadryl thing, so i'm taking it now at bedtime, just 1 of the tylenol pm, and i'm doing well with it. i keep a bottle of children's benadryl handy, as during the day if i don't have to drive, i can take a little and it calms the electrical shocks.
This is the end of the thread.
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