# Success weaning off Lexapro?



## path0gen (Jun 28, 2006)

I've been taking 10mg Lexapro/day for well over 5 years now. When I missed a day or two I notice that I get some nasty headaches but nothing overwhelming. I'm just wondering if anyone here has had any success discontinuing this medication. It's too expensive to keep up on without insurance and I'm honestly not sure why I even started taking it. I don't notice much of a difference than before I did anyway. Success stories? Failures? What to expect? Advice?


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## Medline (Sep 23, 2008)

Split and and use 7.5mg for a week, then 5mg, then 2,5mg...


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## spiritwild (Nov 12, 2005)

I find, in my situation, I just can't function rationally without it.
It seems to address more than one particular situation I think.

I always had an issue with short term memories just disappearing into the void somewhere. for some reason the med allows me to process tremendous amounts of information, much more than I could ever without.

When I miss a day, it becomes quite obvious. I too get the haedaches and the usual
happy attitude tends to be deminished a bit. Dizzyness, somewhat disoriented.

Only downside to this med for me was when I first started using it, it played hell on my labido. I guess a good analogy would be something like this:

(My car runs pretty good, just can't seem to keep air in the tires)

Other than that, I'm happy with it's affect on ME and MY anxiety conditions.
To each their own.

To be totally honest though...........
The withdraw list looks like something from "Tales from a crack addict"

Check it out here:

http://www.theroadback.org/lexapro_side_effects.htm

.


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## Darvon (Feb 17, 2009)

Medline said:


> Split and and use 7.5mg for a week, then 5mg, then 2,5mg...


What he said, or you can get your doctor to switch you immediately to prozac at an equivalent dosage. Prozac is the easiest anti-depressant to come off of because it has a very very long half life. Ive never heard of anyone on Prozac having withdrawals.


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## CrystalBear (Feb 19, 2009)

I've been on Lexapro for a long time. I was on 40mg for the longest time and then my prescription ran out. My new doctor would only give me 20mg.... a very big dose drop. I feel I do well on this drug (better than others) but it does seem to have harsher side effects. I felt like **** for several days before I balanced out. While the withdraw sucked it wasn't anything worse than what you'd get with a cold. However I'm sure everyone is different so.... I think you should talk to your doctor about your concerns and save yourself from some hard times.


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## KurtG85 (Sep 19, 2008)

I have dropped from long periods on 40, even sometimes 80 mgs a day, to 0 multiple times with no noticeable effects whatsoever other than the naturally returning anxiety and depression. 
Everybody's different.


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## golden (Feb 17, 2009)

Lexapro was my first antidepressant...I was on it a few months before I switched because it wasn't working. I didn't really have too much of a problem as far as side effects of getting off of it, but again I wasn't on it that long. Effexor is the one that I had a bad time getting off of but I was on max dose and on it for about a year. Some people have problems, some don't...it is kind of a roll of the dice.

It sounds like you might have a slight problem coming off of it because of your headaches when you miss a dose so I would be sure to talk to a doctor about it. It was a while ago but I think when I was coming off of it they had me take half the amount I was taking for a week or two and then nothing after that.


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## flapjacker (Nov 30, 2008)

I took Lexapro for a few months a couple of years ago. I didnt like it and asked my doctor if I could taper off because I didnt want the shakes, chills, etc. He said no because it hasn't been studied enough. I did it anyway, reducing dosage by 1/4 each time. I forget how long I tapered for, but it worked fine, and I didn't have any withdrawal issues.


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## golden (Feb 17, 2009)

flapjacker said:


> I took Lexapro for a few months a couple of years ago. *I didnt like it and asked my doctor if I could taper off because I didnt want the shakes, chills, etc. He said no because it hasn't been studied enough.* I did it anyway, reducing dosage by 1/4 each time. I forget how long I tapered for, but it worked fine, and I didn't have any withdrawal issues.


I don't recommend ever going back to that doctor again, what a tool


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