Meds

[feast or famine]

So, I've been on Lexapro for about a month now. I was given it in the psychward and I had no choice but to take it. They titrated me pretty quickly and I was on 40mg of it. I'm down to 30mg now. I don't really have any side effects (I don't think), but I don't want to be on SSRIs at all. I just think they fuck too much with brain chemistry and the effects they can have long term aren't ideal. I'm thinking of quitting them cold turkey, but have heard the withdrawal from SSRIs can be intense and I don't particularly want to put my body through stress right now. I really haven't been on them long, though.

My other option is obviously to wean off of it altogether, but that can take a few more weeks. I guess I'm asking if anyone has quit antidepressants cold turkey and if so, was it horrible?

 

[Throwawaysoul]

I need to quit Lexapro. It makes me an unmotivated shell of a human, even with adderal. I HATE lexapro nightmares.
I need to quit Lexapro. It makes me an unmotivated shell of a human, even with adderal. I HATE lexapro withdrawal nightmares, they are hell on earth for me. I wake up sweating and screaming my face off.

 

[feast or famine]

I need to quit Lexapro. It makes me an unmotivated shell of a human, even with adderal. I HATE lexapro nightmares.
I need to quit Lexapro. It makes me an unmotivated shell of a human, even with adderal. I HATE lexapro withdrawal nightmares, they are hell on earth for me. I wake up sweating and screaming my face off.

Ugh, that sounds awful. I'm sorry. This makes me even more afraid to withdraw from them. I figure the less time I'm on the meds, the less intense the withdrawal symptoms will be? But then again, maybe my body is already pretty reliant on them. I swear I believed they were actually making a difference for me, but that could also be the placebo effect tricking me. I've only been taking them a total of about 6 weeks. I've never taken SSRIs before, or any medications long term, so I'm pretty naive to all of it.

 

[Throwawaysoul]

Don't let my experience scare you, everyone is different. Sometimes it does take longer than six weeks for them to work. Are you having negative side effects currently? If so I would talk to your doctor about it. If for some reason you don't want to, my only suggestion is take it slooooow. If it was me, I would get a pill cutter and break them into quarters. Take 3 quarters for a week or two+. Then repeat at a half of pill, then with the final quarter. I'm sure there's better ways.
I wish I could offer better advice and I definitely don't want you going to the psych ward again.

 

[schopenh]

I highly recommend never quitting any neuromodulating medications cold turkey. I also think your taper will potentially be too quick. You've been on it a month. I'd stay at 30 mg for 2 weeks. Then drop to 20 mg for two weeks. 10 mg for two weeks. 5 mg for one week. Crumbs for one week. Yes that does mean you're tapering for longer than you even took the drug.
I don't know if this is even possible with lexapro. But if you can cut it up with a pill slicer and really carefully lower the dose near the end that would be a really good idea. Many people with mental health problems are rapidly on and then rapdily off various medications and it becomes really unclear what's causing their symptoms.

 

[feast or famine]

Don't let my experience scare you, everyone is different. Sometimes it does take longer than six weeks for them to work. Are you having negative side effects currently? If so I would talk to your doctor about it. If for some reason you don't want to, my only suggestion is take it slooooow. If it was me, I would get a pill cutter and break them into quarters. Take 3 quarters for a week or two+. Then repeat at a half of pill, then with the final quarter. I'm sure there's better ways.
I wish I could offer better advice and I definitely don't want you going to the psych ward again.

I'm not really having any side effects currently. The main reason I don't want to continue on with them is because I just have hesitation when it comes to being reliant on meds and I feel like a lot of the time, the benefits don't outweigh the risks. I know meds like this help tons of people, this is just my opinion. I also don't really like the fact that scientists aren't even aware of how exactly SSRIs work, they just know they do work for some people.

Your advice was very helpful, so thank you. And don't worry, I have absolutely no intention of stepping foot into another ward again...at least for now. Just kidding.

I highly recommend never quitting any neuromodulating medications cold turkey. I also think your taper will potentially be too quick. You've been on it a month. I'd stay at 30 mg for 2 weeks. Then drop to 20 mg for two weeks. 10 mg for two weeks. 5 mg for one week. Crumbs for one week. Yes that does mean you're tapering for longer than you even took the drug.
I don't know if this is even possible with lexapro. But if you can cut it up with a pill slicer and really carefully lower the dose near the end that would be a really good idea. Many people with mental health problems are rapidly on and then rapdily off various medications and it becomes really unclear what's causing their symptoms.

Thanks for your insight. I likely won't quit them cold turkey. That wasn't one of my brightest ideas. I think I'll talk to my psychiatrist about tapering to a lower dose and go from there. 10mg is the therapeutic dose for Lexapro, so I guess a lot of my reluctantance of staying on them is currently because I'm prescribed a higher dose than what is the average dose.

Then again I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, so that likely requires a higher dose. I don't know. All of this is so new and there's a lot of adjusting to do.

 

[Squiddy]

Lexapro made me extremely suicidal so I can't take it

 

[mathieu]

You get these weird brain zaps quitting cold turkey. It's not as bad as benzo or opioid withdrawal but still not fun.

 

[feast or famine]

You get these weird brain zaps quitting cold turkey. It's not as bad as benzo or opioid withdrawal but still not fun.

Yeah, I've heard about these brain zaps. They sound horrible.