SSRI withdrawal

I had a wonderful session with my therapist today and we talked to her about why I wanted to get off Lexapro, but I also mentioned the horrible withdrawal side effects I got: heavily depressed, very suicidal, and extremely anxious. Also got brain zaps from hell.

But my therapist's words reminded me about how useless Lexapro is for me. I'm on a subtherapeutic dose right now (5mg), and while subtherapeutic doses help some people, mine doesn't. And while I *could* increase my dose to 10mg (minimal therapeutic dose), I'll probably become manic again. So Lexapro is a no go for me.

ANYWAYS:

First time I tried to get off Lexapro, I went cold turkey off 5mg. (5mg is the smallest tablet they make). I did this on my own without guidance. And of course, I got the depression, suicidal thoughts, etc.. So I went back on it.

Second time I tried to get off Lexapro, I asked for my pdoc's guidance. I reduced my dose from 5mg (whole tablet) to 2.5mg (half a tablet) to 1.25mg (quarter of a tablet) to 1.25mg every other day until I finally got to 0mg. STILL, I GOT THOSE HORRIBLE WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS. wtf!

Does anyone else have experience with SSRI withdrawal? What helped? What didn't help? How long did your symptoms last? (I realize everybody is different. I'm just looking for other people's experiences.)

I got off all of mine for a bit. But that's been awhile back. I remember vomiting and brain zaps especially. I think I was back to "normal" () in about 3 months or so. I take wellbutrin, trazodone, and cymbalta right now and am doing well on them.

I remember taking Lexapro at some point, and I got off of that.

(My memory is bad.)

I was slowly weaned off Lexapro about three years ago when I was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Given my history of antidepressant-induced mania, my psychiatrist wanted to reduce risks. I had withdrawal symptoms similar to what you describe but they diminished over 1.5 months.

A few months later, my psychiatrist added 10-25mg of Lexapro back alongside Trileptal (we tweaked a lot). The latter was making me drowsy and uncoordinated, and my body wasn't adjusting. The Lexapro helped.

I'm on 10mg of Lexapro now but my new psychiatrist is thinking of weaning me off. This is because Lamictal (added in the last 3-4 months) is working well for me and is known to have an antidepressant effect. I no longer take Trileptal because it stabilized me but left me with a constant feeling of (some) numbness and moderate depression.

Let me know if you have any other questions. Good luck!

I've gotten off SSRI's a few times. I did it by titrating down verrry slowwwly. I still had some withdrawal issues, but not too bad.

I was ok discontinuing Lexapro. Zoloft was difficult as I'd taken it over ten years and I was maxed out at 200 mg.

SSRI withdrawal is awful if it is *not* being replaced by another drug. But that's just my experience. When I went off Paxil without another med lined up, I really suffered and there was no way around it...even with a digital scale to measure the cutting of the pills. I did the slowest titration possible. I still got the brain zaps, panic attacks, loss of appetite and nausea. The worst.

My daughter was on this for awhile and when her PDoc took her off of it, he said it is a difficult one to come off of. It took about a month to reduce her from 10mg down to zero. She was also on Abilify and Wellbutrin at the time.

Been there, hate the zaps etc.....planning to go through it again when I have time to go camping/walking for a couple of months...next year I hope.
Can't do it and work/do regular day to day...well, decided not to go through that again. Sucks because I had many years without meds, and although they have helped a good deal, I wish I had found another route.

that is basically what did me in was the Brain Zaps they are Brutal, I did it all on my Own 2015 went from full dosage Prozac cut it in half over two week then cut that in half two weeks, then cut that in half to every other day then stopped . now I am not sure if it was just coincidence or if it was part of the withdrawal but I got really sick and weak for about 5 days almost bed ridden I couldn't work plus really bad Brain zaps for 1 month. it was tolerable after that month but for another 3-4 months the brain zaps hit me at least half a dozen times a day. To Be honest even after 1 yr I still got the Odd Brain zap which is why I am terrified to go back on any SSRI because it was horrible to come off those pills but I couldn't and even now cannot afford to pay for those pills financially .