Lexapro Withdrawal

I tapered off of Lexapro after taking it for a year for PPD. I had dizziness and nausea for about a week, even after following my doctor's instructions for tapering off. When I talked to him about the symptoms, he told that some people are just prone to having the withdrawal symptoms anyways.
I also took Lexapro for a year after the birth of my 2nd child. I tapered off the exact same way and didn't have any side affects this time!
Good luck. I hope you get to feeling well soon.

I quit cold turkey (years ago). I had to pull over and almost needed an ambulance. I wish the drs would be honest about the horrible withdraws of this med. I am sorry for you, hope it gets better.

Not sure if this helps, but look up 'discontinuation syndrome.' Some people are particularly vulnerable to the side effects! Yep, few days to couple weeks. Not at all fun and wish your MD better prepared you for these bumps so you could have prepared with additional support.

I took it for about 3 months. Then I weaned myself off (with my dr's approval) and it took about 2 weeks to be completly off it. I had no side effects, but maybe I just wasn't on it long enough. I do not take any type of anti depressants now and feel great. Good luck! I hope you feel better soon

I was weaning down from my celexa. I went from 20mg to 10 then to 5, but started having terrible symptoms. I quit cold turkey about 4 days ago and I'm tired and my brain feels fuzzy and I get a little dizzy, but that's about it.

I was on Cymbalta for about a year and a half when I decided to go off. I was put on Cymbalta for back pain and fatigue. I tapered off as the doctor recommended for 2 weeks. Huge mistake!!!! I thought my life was over and I became suicidal. Not to mention the nausea from the brain zaps. After a week and a half my doctor put me back on the medicine, which was Dec 2010. For the next 5 months I tapered off of the drug. When I finally went off of the meds in May I still had horrible withdrawal. The gi issues were unbearable. My doctor actually gave me a Colonoscopy because of the gi issues. I couldn’t keep anything down.
After about 3 weeks I started to feel better and great by a month and a half. I will never forget that time in my life. I feel like I lost part of myself to Cymbalta. Also, having to hear my kids ask me why I was crying all of the time. I also couldn’t get out of bed.
It does get better though. Coming from someone that wasn’t depressed to begin with, it will get better.
I have to admit that I still go through spurts of depression, but I refuse to take an anti depressant again. I try to take vitamins and pray. Try St John’s Wort and an Omega 3. I always believed in god, but I really started to pray more through this ordeal.
Talk to someone because you are not alone.

Wow, Im surprised to hear all the these side effects. I quit cold turkey when I found out I was pregnant and had no withdrawl at all.
I was on it for a year when I quit.

I actually had heard the horror stories and researched quite a bit online before I went off. I bought supplements from this place: http://www.theroadback.org/lexapro_side_effects.aspx

I felt great and came down well. I actually wished I had taken better notes and paid better attention to which things had felt the best, I might have kept up with some of the supplements for energy and sleep. Don't know if it would still help at this point, but it can't hurt to look into it, and I definitely recommend it to anyone else looking to go off Lexapro (they also have things for other meds, but I am not familiar).

It's possible. I'm about to go off of Lexapro myself. I'm reducing my Wellbutrin and going off of Lexapro completely so that I can go on Cymbalta instead. We're hoping to see some good results for my anxiety and depression as well as my Fibromyalgia.

I'll admit that I'm nervous about going off the Lexapro. I've been concerned that it's been causing my headaches though. I've had withdrawals from Paxil before, and that was a freaking nightmare like no other. Even with a slow stepping down, I had vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, inability to sleep, crying jags, temper flares... it was ridiculous. And I lost a lot of weight. Like 35 pounds. That happened until I started to titrate up with Wellbutrin, which has been amazing. And then we added Lexapro which has also been great but with the fibro we need to adjust things a bit. The pain is just too much.

Oof--it is not easy! I weaned myself off of Zoloft over several months. I printed out a schedule I found online and stuck to it. Prior to Zoloft I had been on Lexapro and it was awful when I stopped cold turkey. I swear that I will never take anti-depressants again -- even though I miss the feeling of being happy and everything was ok -- when I probably should have been upset. Lots of hugs as you ease off of the Lexapro.

It took me several tried to get off of Paxil...the discontinuation syndrome was hideous. Brain zaps, dizziness, fuzzy brain, etc etc Mine went on for months and would get so bad I would go back on so they would stop.

I tapered and tapered until I was taking 1/4 of the smallest does made. And I was so ticked because my doctor told me it wasn't addictive or habit forming...LIE!!! finally I had to go on Wellbutrin to counter the side effects and then got off the Wellbutrin.

SSRIs can be very very hard to stop taking!! I feel for you...I have been there!!