Lexapro Withdrawals??

woodfaery

Are you going to stay on the Lexapro? Lexapro is so great with helping anxiety and depression. Your doc is so wrong, you must taper off of these kind of meds slowly if you are going to stop taking them. My question is this, if Lexapro is working for you why not stay on them?

lilyprincess

I guess it's my anxiety that is causing me to want off. They help, but not enough to justify the withdrawals, I guess. I mean, I was doing okay before I started them, my doc had me try them to prevent my stress-related migranes. I just get really nervous about having to take something every day to keep me level. I have had severe anxiety/panic attacks since I was 17, and I have really learned to work through them with breathing and relaxation. It was more for the migranes than anything else, and now I feel like I HAVE to take them every day in order to prevent horrible panic attacks that I wasn't having in the first place before I started taking Lexapro. So I guess I could just keep taking it, but I worry that if only being on it for 6 weeks is already causing me to have panic attacks if I miss one pill, what will it do to me long term?

woodfaery

The docs say that you need to take Lexapro daily and not miss a dose. It seems to me that if you miss one dose there should not be any extreme changes especially if you have been taking Lexapro for weeks it should be built up enough in your blood stream and in your system. If you miss a couple days I can see how that could cause anxiety to come on. If the Lexapro helps, why not stay on it for right now? Also if you choose not to stay on antidepressants you could possibly be able to take Ativan (Lorazapam) but because its a benzodiazapine then they tend to be addictive--even though they seem to help the very best in the short term for anxiety attacks. I have been told that taking something like Lexapro which is a ssri, then that will help balance things out and lessen the chances of anxiety attacks. Lexapro is suppose to be helpful for the treatment of GAD (General Anxiety Disorder). Right now I take Celexa but its seemed that for me (each persons needs are unique) the Lexapro actually worked much better to help anxiety. Hopefully things work out well for you, talk to another doctor if you are not getting your questions answered. Truly, weaning off of a med is better than stopping cold turkey--because thats so hard on a person to stop abruptly it just doesnt give your body time to adjust to the changes. Remember lots of people wean off of antidepressants successfully all the time and sometimes with the help of therapy or counseling you can really work out finding a way to work through anxiety. Exercise is good, and I have also heard the Yoga is excellent.

Sam Fisher 71

lilyprincess, My advice to you would be to slowly remove yourself from the Lexapro. I was on it for about 4 mo. and I slowly stopped taking it. I was on 10 mg for 4 mo. then cut down to 5 mg every other day. I don't think that was even long enough. My only symptom at this point seems to be the brain zaps. I have been off the meds for about a month now. The half life on those are really long. I am just going to tough it out for now. It is really discouraging sometimes. I think if I had to do it again, I would have weened myself slower. anymore questions or concderns write another post.