Summary

Here is a list of the symptoms from WebMD.  I have notes next to each about my experience.  Do I need to say I’m not a doctor?  I am not a doctor.

Anxiety =
Honestly, I only had a very small bit of this.  I was afraid I wasn’t going to get better.  But I did!

Irritability =
Heck yes.  I had this starting from Day 4 – Day 23.  I still have this.  But this may be my normal state.

Depression and mood swings=
Only light depression but MAJOR mood swings.  Crying at the drop of a hat.  Crying because I was crying.  This started on day 5 or 6 and continued until day 20.

Light-headedness =
Definitely had this.  It feels like low blood-sugar.  I just made sure I ate when and what I could.

Dizziness and balance problems =
This was by far the worst for me.  I had vertigo from day 5 to day 21.  I missed 2.5 days of work because I was unable to move.  What helped for me: sea bands and Dramamine

Electric shock sensations=
Ah, yes. Brain zaps.  I am still having these but they are lighter and less frequent.  I took fish oil for these.  I’m not sure if it actually did anything, but I at least thought it did.

Fatigue=
I was a little tired, but maybe because my sleeping was different.  Fatigue was not as bad for me.

Flu-like symptoms=
I did have joint pain.  But this was only for 1-3 days.  The rest of my symptoms that were flu-like were the nausea and vomitting.

Headache=
I had 1-2 headaches but nothing that was severe or lasting.

Loss of coordination=
I was a little uncoordinated, but I chalk this up to the vertigo.  See dizziness and balance problems above.

Muscle spasms=
Nothing noticeable.  Joint pain, mostly.

Nausea=
Dear lord.  This and the vertigo were the worst part of my withdrawal.  Actually nausea probably beats the vertigo.  It was the symptom that lasted the longest.  The Dramamine helped and so did ginger gum that I found next to the Dramamine.  When the dizziness was gone, I switched to Pepto Bismol.

Nightmares=
I had nightmares before the withdrawal and I still have them.  This is probably normal for me.

Tremors=
No, I did not have this.

Trouble sleeping=
I did have some trouble sleeping in the very beginning.  Benadryl helped.

Vomiting=
Yes, but not ever producing anything.  I dry-heaved for a period of 3-4 days.  Dramamine helped.

Total time it took to withdrawal: I think symptoms started on the 4th day after taking my last pill (5mg).  Symptoms ended 19 days later. 

Symptoms I still have after 30 days of stopping the pill:
Brain zaps (electric shock sensations), nausea (but very little)

Lexapro Withdrawal. Day 30.

Day 30 is a Wednesday.

It was a week ago that I posted that over-the-moon video.  I was really over the moon.  I still am.  Mostly.

The good news is that Day 23 really proved to be the end.  I went away for a long weekend and had no symptoms.  I was a bit tired, but that could be attributed to Aunt Flo comin to town (sorry. I’m really sorry for that awful phrase.  But I wanted to say it wasn’t due to the withdrawal).

It’s Day 30.  I still have brain zaps and I still am a teeeny tiny bit nauseated but I don’t even really notice anymore.  I practically fine.  My irratibility is really bad but I think it was bad before I went on Lexapro, so that is just my normal state.  I mean, I got mad the other day when my salad wouldn’t get on my fork.  Yesterday I threw a pillow because a movie I made wasn’t exporting properly.  Meh.

The next post is not going to be a day run-down, but a summary.  Just because maybe people don’t want to read all of this and just want a blow-by-blow of what is going to happen to them.  I aim to please.

Lexapro Withdrawal. Day 23.

Day 23 is a Wednesday and I have only one thing to say.

Lexapro Withdrawal. Day 22.

Day 22 is a Tuesday and is quite probably the best day ever.

So last night I got home and spent the night cuddling with my throw up bucket.  I had some apple slices and actually had to physically will myself to take my prenatal vitamins.  They tried to come up a bit but I pushed them down.  It was sheer willpower to take them.  (Sorry for the graphics.)

But today, today is WONDERFUL.  Today I feel great.  Yes, I am a bit nauseated but no where near what it was before.  Before it was as if I was seconds away from tossing my cookies.  Now I just avoid thinking about anything gross (thank you coworker who wanted to discuss eating crickets and rats today – sarcasm) and other than that, I haven’t really felt ill at all.  I even managed to get my blood drawn today – which I’ve been putting off because of the nausea – and I made it through fine.  Came back to work and kept on.

Let’s just all sing a happy song, like Mr. Blue Sky, because today is a good day.

P.S. I am totally expecting everything to plummet again tomorrow.  One shouldn’t get one’s hopes up.

Lexapro Withdrawal. Day 21.

Day 21 is a Monday.

How is it Day 21 and I feel like this? I have been nauseated since I woke up this morning.  The dork bands do not seem to be helping.

At lunch I pop two pepto bismols – the chewable kind.  30 min later I still feel sick, so depsite the recommended dose of two, I take one more.

It’s 5:11 now.  I am feeling better but not GREAT.  I couldn’t eat anything, that’s for sure.  I am going to go home. Maybe the fresh air will give me an appetite for dinner?  I’ve only had two spoonfulls of cereal, and a piece of bread today.

I still have the sea bands/dork bands on.  I’m afraid to take them off.

My husband and I are going on a mini-vacation this weekend with friends for Valentine’s day.  Please, please, please let me feel better by then.  Please, universe.

Lexapro Withdrawal. Day 20.

Day 20 is a Sunday.

Today I am supposed to go to the store and get all natural makeup (from 100% Pure) with my friend Jenna.  We’re also going out for lunch.

The plan is to wear my sea bands and bring all of my over the counter drugs as backup.  Let’s see how it goes.

6:30 p.m.: Home from the store, and success!  I did the entire day without any pills.  The sea bands seemed to help and I chewed some ginger gum if I needed it.  That also helped.  I feel a little nauseated so I’m just going to lay down.  It’s the end of the day at least, so I’m going to just power through it.

Hooray for sea bands.  (I call them dork bands.  They totally look like dork bands.)

Lexapro Withdrawal. Day 19.

Day 19 is a Saturday.

I wake up at 8:30.  I don’t think I’ve ever waken up this early on a Saturday before.  I do feel quite good.  And hungry.  I guess long lie-ins are a thing of the past.  Which is fine, because I never liked the fact I could sleep longer than a dead person anyway.  I would wake up at 11, feeling like I had missed something, and more tired than when I went to bed.  I always felt it was the Lexapro that made me pass out for lengths at a time.  Now I have confirmation.

Today is my niece’s birthday.  I’m terrified of a crying jag.  Please, please don’t cry in front of family.  They have no tolerance for emotional outbursts.  Zero. Zilch. None.  Plus, only my mom knows.  My sisters would say, (and this is exactly what they would say) “Jesus, what is wrong with you.”  And of course they’d say it in front of my niece and nephew.

Which is why I am absolutely not going to cry today.  I’ve made up my mind.  I am also going to try another day without Dramamine.  We are going ice skating at 3, before the party.  Let’s all cross our fingers.

***

Well at about 11:30 I started dry heaving.  So I took a Dramamine and had to lay down.  At about 3 I felt better, but obviously had to miss ice skating.  However, went to the party, and absolutely did not cry.  (yay me!)

However, I was angry that I was still getting nauseous and unable to live without the Dramamine.  I mean, the whole point was to get off drugs. I don’t want to now be dependent on the Dramamine.  So, I went to this store, and did this.  Bring it on, nausea.  Bring it on.

Lexapro Withdrawal. Day 18.

Day 18 is a Friday.

Today I’m not going to take the Dramamine.  I’m going to make it as long as I can.

Bah!  At 1:00pm I have a meeting with someone at my desk.  I’m staring at his face and then my heads starts to whirl.  Nausea begins to creep up.  I’m trying to speed up the meeting but he is just not taking the hint.  “Mister, you need to leave because I will vomit all over you.”  I try to focus, to keep my eyes on the computer screen.

Finally, 15 minutes later than he was supposed to, he leaves and I scramble for the Dramamine.  So much for that attempt.

My husband, wonderful husband, calls me excited.  “I want to get a dog.”  He convinces me to go to the humane society at 5pm.  I get excited too.  We’ll just look.

At the humane society, for some crazy reason, I burst into tears in front of 3 other strangers.  “Oh god oh god, just stop,” I tell myself.  I look like a mental patient.  We have to leave the humane society.  I feel like I let my husband down.

Anything still sets off a crying jag.  Sometimes, like at the humane society, I don’t know what it is.  So I can’t make it stop.

Lexapro Withdrawal. Day 17.

Day 17 is a Thursday.

I wake up and I am so proud of myself for going to ballet last night.  I feel better.  AND I didn’t need Benadryl in order to sleep. I guess the exercise helped with that.

At 2:00 today I had to take a Dramamine as I still felt dizzy and wanted to head of the nausea – strategy still seems to be working.

I will tell you, the brain zaps for me were minimal compared to the vertigo and nausea.  But I guess everyone’s different.

Other recent side effects I have noticed:
1. I’m a bit bunged up. (unable to go.)  Maybe this is a side effect of the Dramamine because I haven’t read it as a side effect of the Lexapro.  Everything has something!

2. My stomach is perpetually in butterflies, recently.  You know when you are really cold and you get the shakes?  My stomach/abs shake almost all of the time now.  Heck, I’ll take this over the vertigo any day though.  Plus, maybe it’ll help me lose more weight.  I still blame a lot of my weight gain on the Lexapro.

Mom is on Lexapro.  I’ve warned her about coming off of it.  I think she should come off, because it was our pill-pusher of a family doctor put us on it, but she is very trusting (often too much so) of Doctors.

Lexapro Withdrawal. Day 16.

Day 16 is a Wednesday.

New strategy for today.  The minute I feel dizzy, instead of trying to stick it out, I’m going to pop a Dramamine to head off any potential nausea.

My plan works!  After lunch, around 2ish I start to feel a bit dizzy.  I take some Dramamine.  It heads off the nausea.  Not only that, but I feel good enough to go to my ballet class tonight!  I’ve missed two weeks of classes because of this.  I’m excited to go back.

After ballet, I feel good.  I was a little dizzy during, but nothing horrible.  No nausea (thank you thank you thank you) and I come home, shower and relax a little before bed.

Oh my word, is this really happening?  I’m afraid to say I’m over it!