Lexapro Withdrawal
Posted , 4 users are following.
I've been on 20 mg of Lexapro for about two years, before which I was on Paxil. Because my psychiatrist wasn't listening to me about weaning me off (she wanted me on it indefinitely or until I wanted to get pregnant), I decided to see another psychiatrist, who gradually helped me cut the dose by 2.5 mg every two months. I went from 20, to 17.5, to 15, to 12.5, to 10, to 7.5...and that's where the problem started. I started having really bad anxiety, decreased appetite, and, worst of all, insomnia. It was like that when I tried twice to reduce my Paxil dosage, except slightly better (knock on wood) because then I also had nausea, vomiting, and intrusive thoughts that wouldn't go away until a couple of weeks after I went back to the original dose of Paxil. I increased the Lexapro dosage to 12.5 mg (since I felt fine on 12.5 earlier), and now I'm trying to recover from my now third nightmare anxiety phase.
Now I'm afraid I'm going to suffer from this insomnia forever. My therapist told me that it takes about a month for an increased dosage to kick in...but what if it doesn't? What if I have to go back on the 20 mg? My boyfriend tells me it's not the end of the world, but I want kids and want to be on the lowest dose on which I can function.
Anyway, for those of you going through Lexapro withdrawal: how much did you increase the dosage by and how long did it take you to feel better?
0 likes, 5 replies
kris1214 esther76634
Posted
Have you looked into magnesium supplements? It calms the nervous system naturally and helps with anxiety immensely. I’m on Lexapro now and I wish I never got on it because I think the magnesium is doing the calming for. Ask your doctor first, but it’s been miraculous for me- especially with insomnia.
pete25453 kris1214
Posted
Hey, I'm not a doctore or anything like it ,just a patient like you. I did the same thing and the KEY is that you have to be without a certain dossage for some time to work again and you did ,you were without higher dossage for 2 months so now when you start taking it again it will work just give it about 2,3 months to kick in again, its your anixity and sideeffects untill it kicks in. If you can't sleep, try suppliment Melatonin lowest dose or even cut it in half it helps me while on Lex. You can get it at CVS or Walgreens
esther76634 kris1214
Posted
My psychiatrist suggested magnesium as an option. For now I'm taking Hydroxyzine (an antihistamine with sedative properties) and melatonin, as well as GABA. It's not ideal, but definitely better than Xanax. Good to know that magnesium helps, thanks!
arietta62795 esther76634
Posted
For insomnia the best of all is the half of Remeron 30mg, so you take 15mg with Lexapro (they work very well together and you're going to have a constant sleep up to 14 hours if you wish...lol...
At the beginning of treatment with Remeron the first week you're gonna have some headeache as side effect but for me it was not a problem at all.
In the past, I could not sleep more than 3 hours for 3 constant months, and was like a zombi, so I was prescribed Remeron and was saved...
Conserning Lexapro, I was about 20mg for 4 months. I have no dipression but stress from a compulsive thought. In my case Lexapro gave me no serenity at all. So I gradually gave it up and now just take only a bit of benzo, just for very stressfull occasions and feeling better.
Good luck!!
esther76634 arietta62795
Posted
I Googled Remeron and it's an antidepressant. I'd rather not add on another antidepressant while trying to reduce my dosage of Lexapro. But if my insomnia was as bad as you say yours was, I would seriously consider it. A few nights of insomnia already drive me crazy, so I can't even imagine how bad it is to get no sleep for three months straight.
Thanks for the advice!