Weaning off of Lexapro -- tips?

[Deleted]

I went on Lexapro about 6 months ago and have put on substantial weight since then. I can't deal with it. I was never depressed -- the Lexapro was for work-related anxiety -- but the weight gain is making me feel really bad about myself and that isn't good. So I think I need to get off of it and maybe just take Xanax when I feel panicky?

But I hear there can be bad withdrawal symptoms if you don't go slowly. For any of you who have done this, is that actually the case?

If so, any tips? Right now I take 1 10mg pill a day. Can I cut back to a pill every other day? Cut my pills in half and take 5mg a day? How fast can I get off of it without having bad withdrawal?

Also, there isn't a good mild anti-anxiety pill that doesn't cause weight gain, right?

Thanks for any help!

[Deleted]

You should really do this under the supervision of a physician. Do you see a psychiatrist?

My only weaning experience is with Cymbalta. It was terrible. But my psychiatrist tells me that Cymbalta tends to produce worse withdrawal symptoms because it hits two neuroreceptors, while SSRIs like Lexapro only hit one.

What worked for me weaning from Cymbalta: I went really slowly, and when I got to the lowest dose of Cymbalta, my psychiatrist prescribed me Prozac to finish weaning. Prozac has a really long half-life, so at the end I was taking the lowest dose every other day. Cymbalta also sucked because it is sold as capsules that you can't cut in half.

My plan (suggested by my psychiatrist) to wean from Lexapro is to taper until I am taking the lowest dose once a day (I believe this is 5 mg tablets), and then cut these in half. My psychiatrist doesn't think I'll have any trouble going from 2.5 mg/day to nothing, but Prozac is always a possibility as a stopgap measure if necessary.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience with Lexapro. I've been on three different meds and haven't loved the side effects, but I was in bad enough shape by the beginning of this year that I was willing to put up with it. I am looking forward to starting a taper in the next few months, though.

[rikki]

V- I have no advice for you, but I hope your anxiety is better and you're feeling more like yourself soon.

RBP- I'd like to stop Cymbalta, but the rare days I forget to take it are so brutal that I'm scared. It seems like everyone has a hard time going off it.

[pitterwoo]

definitely taper off slowly. they aren't kidding. even with going off slowly it may take several months for weight and hunger to normalize. just fyi so you don't get discouraged right away. sorry you're dealing with this.

I had something for anxiety which made my workday so much better. Can't remember the name right now, but I'm pretty sure it was a sedative. It almost made me feel like I was a little buzzed or tipsy which I was kind of uncomfortable with so I eventually worked on breathing and relaxation stuff which works as long as I keep up with it.

[Deleted]

Dec 18, 2012 21:22:18 GMT -5 rikki said:

V- I have no advice for you, but I hope your anxiety is better and you're feeling more like yourself soon.

Things have been WAY better since I went on Lexapro, but I think at least part was environmental (the case I had with the partner who causes me major anxiety settled... and I've been put on a new case very recently that -- knock on wood -- should have me pretty much working only with very good people until October or so). So I feel very much like myself right now, except for the weight thing. Grrrrrrr.

RBP, I don't have a psychiatrist (I got the meds through my PCP) but my doctor is nice and pretty available so I could probably have her talk me through it. But I usually prefer the "do what internet people tell me" approach which I know isn't good!!!

[Deleted]

Dec 18, 2012 21:22:18 GMT -5 rikki said:

V- I have no advice for you, but I hope your anxiety is better and you're feeling more like yourself soon.

RBP- I'd like to stop Cymbalta, but the rare days I forget to take it are so brutal that I'm scared. It seems like everyone has a hard time going off it.

The two days after I took my last dose of Cymbalta were hell. Then I called my psychiatrist and she prescribed Prozac, and I was fine. So don't be scared if you want to get off of it, you just have to go about it carefully.

[Deleted]

I took it every other day for about 2-3 weeks, then every third day, then stopped. Took about a month.

[Kore]

I weaned off of Lexapro a month or so back. I started taking it every other day for a week, then split the pills in half & took those every other day for another week. I didn't have any crazy side effects. Except that I wasn't an emotional robot anymore. Glee made me bawl.

Unforch, my anxiety returned, so I got back on Lex 13 days later. Ha. I love this stuff.

[orangetennvolfan]

I'm glad you asked this. I started lexapro 7 weeks ago for anxiety and have gained 9 pounds already. I still eat & workout the same. I'm going to call today to see how to wean & if there's a better alternative. It has helped but I'm already hating the weight gain because my clothes are getting too tight.

[cilantro]

I just wanted to say good luck!

[Deleted]

Dec 18, 2012 21:03:20 GMT -5 v said:

Also, there isn't a good mild anti-anxiety pill that doesn't cause weight gain, right?

I started on 50 mgs of Zoloft a few months ago for my problem with insomnia and sleep anxiety. I swear, it's helping me lose weight. I'm eating like a fiend and still losing. It's great

[ijack]

I'm weaning off celexa right now - I was at 30mg. I'm doing 2 months of 20mg (mainly because I didn't want to stop before the holidays), then I'll drop to 10 for a couple weeks and then stop.

[Deleted]

Dec 19, 2012 9:40:24 GMT -5 @lcap said:

Dec 18, 2012 21:03:20 GMT -5 v said:

Also, there isn't a good mild anti-anxiety pill that doesn't cause weight gain, right?

I started on 50 mgs of Zoloft a few months ago for my problem with insomnia and sleep anxiety. I swear, it's helping me lose weight. I'm eating like a fiend and still losing. It's great

If weaning off of Lexapro doesn't go as planned, I'll talk to my doctor about that. I'm really hoping that maybe my anxiety has gotten better because of improved circumstances and because maybe a few months of being medicated took the edge off.

[mrssavy42112]

Talk to your Dr. to see how it's best for you to taper off. Everyone is different & we here can't help you. Whatever they say, listen. Even if it seems like an excessively long process & you just want to be done with it, keep at the pace they say. It's for a reason.

[LoveTrains]

My H said he got what he liked to call "brain shocks" while weaning off lexapro. It was NOT a good scene.

You need to do this under a doctor's supervision, IMO.

They might prescribe something like wellbutrin or prozac while you are trying to wean yourself off lexapro.

[Deleted]

Dec 19, 2012 10:45:46 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

My H said he got what he liked to call "brain shocks" while weaning off lexapro. It was NOT a good scene.

You need to do this under a doctor's supervision, IMO.

They might prescribe something like wellbutrin or prozac while you are trying to wean yourself off lexapro.

Yeah, I got brain zaps when I sort of inadvertenly went cold turkey off Zoloft. Terrible.

I gained weight on Zoloft and have put even more on while on Prozac. It's hard to know how much of that is the drug(s) and how much of it is my own behaviors. I think it's a combo.

I'm have appointments with 2 therapists coming up, and I'm hoping that once I get established with a therapist, I can explore tapering off the Prozac under a doctor's supervision.

Also, v, have you tried therapy? I think that since my situation has changed, I'm going to be able to manage my anxiety OK with therapy and some behavioral changes (ie, exercising more, drinking less).

I know I've mentioned it before, but I'll say again that I saw a noticeable dip in my anxiety when I cut back on alcohol and caffeine. My alcohol consumption has been creeping back up in the last month or so, and so has my anxiety. I know that you drink a fair amount. I do think that you should seriously consider seeing a therapist and/or making some behavioral changes regardless of what you do regarding meds.

[sapphireblue]

I weaned off Lexapro last summer. I got those brain zaps too. They were rough. Definitely call your doctor, but I'll pass along what my doctor told me to do:

First she had me wean down to a lower dose, then she had me do the following:

Week one: skip one dose, one day
Week two: skip a dose two days that week
Week three: skip a dose three days that week
etc.

You're already on such a low dose. I guess you could first wean gradually down to 5 mg a day, and then to zero. It took a long time doing it, I had to mark it on a calendar to make sure I was doing it correctly, and I STILL got the brain zaps.

I have issues with weight gain but Lexapro did not cause that for me. It made me hugely spacey and forgetful though. That is why I stopped it.

[birdmom]

I take Viibryd for PPD and anxiety (previously, I was on Celexa, and Lexapro for a bit). It really has no weight gain side effects, and after a few weeks on it, I started to lose the weight I put on when I took Lexapro.

[pitterwoo]

Dec 19, 2012 11:00:06 GMT -5 sapphireblue said:

I weaned off Lexapro last summer. I got those brain zaps too. They were rough. Definitely call your doctor, but I'll pass along what my doctor told me to do:

First she had me wean down to a lower dose, then she had me do the following:

Week one: skip one dose, one day
Week two: skip a dose two days that week
Week three: skip a dose three days that week
etc.

You're already on such a low dose. I guess you could first wean gradually down to 5 mg a day, and then to zero. It took a long time doing it, I had to mark it on a calendar to make sure I was doing it correctly, and I STILL got the brain zaps.

I have issues with weight gain but Lexapro did not cause that for me. It made me hugely spacey and forgetful though. That is why I stopped it.

This is what is so crazy to me, it seems like it doesn't even matter if you are on a low dose. I was on 10mg of citalopram (celexa) for 6mo total and I spent at least a month slowly cutting back and I got the brain zaps anyway. They lasted for about a year. Other side effects are still ongoing now 3+ years later.

[Deleted]

Dec 19, 2012 12:23:18 GMT -5 jenny1980 said:

I hate to say it, but my anxiety also dramatically correlates with my drinking. While pregnant, it is completely gone.

The more I drink, the more anxious I am. And there ate physiological reasons why this is so. I agree with AH that some lifestyle changes would be good regardless of your meds.

Ugh. I have been drinking too much lately as well. This is advice that I probably need to hear.

[kate1482]

Dec 19, 2012 14:05:22 GMT -5 @redbellpeppers said:

Dec 19, 2012 12:23:18 GMT -5 jenny1980 said:

I hate to say it, but my anxiety also dramatically correlates with my drinking. While pregnant, it is completely gone.

The more I drink, the more anxious I am. And there ate physiological reasons why this is so. I agree with AH that some lifestyle changes would be good regardless of your meds.

Ugh. I have been drinking too much lately as well. This is advice that I probably need to hear.

This is me too. I just mentioned to my dh that I have been really anxious lately and might bump up my dose of lexapro. It's probably the drinking...boo.

[Deleted]

WTF is a brain zap?

I actually drink not much caffeine (a can of Coke Zero in the morning most days, but that's it, and sometimes nothing) because I'm religious about getting my 8 hours of sleep on school nights, and while I definitely drink more than most, I actually haven't seen much of a correlation between drinking and my anxiety. I really only drink socially (I socialize a lot) -- it is pretty rare for me to drink even one glass of wine in our apartment unless friends are over -- and I don't typically see a correlation between how I feel and wanting to drink (or drinking more because I'm sad or anxious or whatever). I definitely need to cut back for other reasons though (weight and tolerance issues).

[beachdweller]

V - I've been on 10 mg of Lexapro for years am consistently 15 pounds heavier on it. Like you, I take it for work related anxiety (was big firm lawyer; now in-house). If you think there is a chance you'd like to stay on the meds (or need to) but want something with fewer side effects, I have had good luck with Vibryd -- I lost 10 of the 15 pounds I had gained within a couple of months. No other side effects for me.

[Deleted]

Dec 19, 2012 14:12:47 GMT -5 jenny1980 said:

v: I really only noticed a decrease in my anxiety when I totally stopped drinking for several weeks.

Same here. What I thought was "normal" wasn't actually normal.

My psychiatrist explained the physiology of it to me and how it doesn't really matter if you're drinking socially or alone for that part of it. This is why I think you should be talking to a doctor about this, v. And I don't say this as some uptight ninny teetotaler (see, e.g., Saturday night).

[pitterwoo]

Dec 19, 2012 14:09:38 GMT -5 v said:

WTF is a brain zap?

It feels a bit like your brain gets an electrical shock. For me, it would feel like within my head my brain would "jump". Much more weird and disturbing than actually painful.

[Deleted]

For me, brain zaps felt like I was going to pass out. I got super light-headed for about 1 second. First, they happened maybe 15 minutes apart, and as the day went on, they started happening every minute or 2. It just made it impossible to concentrate on anything.

[Deleted]

øhhhh the brain zaps. Been there!!
I'm actually pondering going back on Lexapro so this thread is interesting to me. I forgot how much I fucking hate the side effects.
I think I'm going to try watching my diet/exercise to see if I see any improvement before I go back on the drug.

[sapphireblue]

I am really late to jump back into this thread. Just got home from work.

The brain zaps are so hard to describe but if you have one you will know right away that it is what we are referring to. Definitely not painful but so so unsettling.

When I finally stopped Lexapro altogether, after weaning gradually over like three months (from 20 mg to 10 mg, then to nothing), I still had several days where the brain zaps were almost constant. Weird.

Other thing I wanted to add---like some PP I am now taking Viibryd. Much much better than Lexapro. I had sexual side effects on all of the other SSRIs I had tried. Viibryd has far fewer side effects. So if you might want to try another med that is one to consider. It's expensive though.

[Deleted]

First, I will say that you should talk to your doctor.

I have gone on and off Lexapro and never had any negative withdrawal symptoms other than the return of anxiety and depression. I have been on 5, 10, and 20 mg at various times. When I was pregnant, I wanted to cut down to 5, so instead of doing that I just took a 10 mg every other day because I was lazy and didn't want to cut the pills in half. From past experience of being forgetful in taking it, I was pretty sure that would work for me and it did.

I would be cautious about using the Xanax to make sure you aren't taking it all the time as it can be addictive. But as long as you pay attention to your use (and consult your doc!), I think that could work. I am not a medical provider though.

I also agree with what Jenny said about lifestyle changes - alcohol, caffeine, exercise, sleep, eating. No matter how consistent I am with my meds, if I'm sleep-deprived and/or have been eating like crap, it makes a huge difference! This is something I really need to work on actually.

ETA: Er, after reading this whole thing, maybe I have had these brain zaps. I've been having a weird experience that I've been unable to describe and this fits. I thought it was because I'd been sick but maybe it's because I wasn't taking my meds because I was sick. :-|