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Weaning off Cipralex (Lexapro)
Well it's been almost a year since I started Cipralex (lexapro) ended up at 15 mgs a day... so a pretty low dose. Well I have doctor's blessing now to begin the wean off process - SLOWLY. So today i took my first dose of 12.5mg and i will stay at this for about 10-14 days and then drop again to 10 mgs for another 10-14 days then stay at that for 10-14 days and then go down to 7.5, then 5 and then stop. So the entire process will take close to 3 months but I am in no rush and would rather minimize any side effects from the ramping down process.
I will chronicle my progress (like I did on this site when I first went on the drug and was ramping up last year) for anyone who is interested or perhaps thinking about doing the same thing.
I will chronicle my progress (like I did on this site when I first went on the drug and was ramping up last year) for anyone who is interested or perhaps thinking about doing the same thing.
I completely agree with Nursegirl in the whole thinking it through process. I did however successfully go off medication for about 10 years. I was not OCD/anxiety free but it was manageable. Unfortuantely I did end up back on it when a big stressor came into my life. And yes, Nursegirl was right, my initial side affects of taking a different medication was a lot worse than the first time I took meds. Not sure why that is actually.
As with anything there are pros and cons. I sincerely hope it works for you and your keeping a blog on here again may help people in the future.
Good luck and take care.
As with anything there are pros and cons. I sincerely hope it works for you and your keeping a blog on here again may help people in the future.
Good luck and take care.
I agree, therapy is a must, along with medication. However, a lot of us with anxiety disorders (I have panic disorder for example) don't have a deep rooted issue or life stressor that causes our anxiety, it's with us for life.
Hopefully, your situation will be different, and you'll maintain the stability after you're off the Lexapro. I'm certainly pulling for you!
Hopefully, your situation will be different, and you'll maintain the stability after you're off the Lexapro. I'm certainly pulling for you!
yeah... after going through a year of therapy as well pretty confident on what the source of my anxiety was....and last year not only was i going through all that crap but i was entirely hesitant, as you may remember from mydaily journal postings here, to start the SSRI coupled with the fact that I had hyperchondria it was really a perfect storm.... if there is one thing I am glad of is that the Lexapro stabilized me in order to get the therapy and recognize exactly what i was doing to myself and what was causing it.... the sad thing is many people dont go that route it seems.. they just medicate, the feelings go away and the source of them never gets dealt with... so of course if they try coming off... they will soon be back at square 1..... i know i have no guarantees but who does in life right? at least if i ever have to go back on it....i know what i am up against this time.... so its all good...
Sounds very reasonable, and let's hope that your life circumstances were the main triggers for your anxiety instead of a chronic anxiety issues. I just remember how severe your anxiety was and how hard you worked toward getting some relief.
I sincerely hope that you do just fine without the Lexapro. Just stay vigilant. If you start noticing the anxiety starting to resurface, don't mess around, get yourself back to your doctor ASAP, and just remember that most times, anxiety becomes more treatment resistant the subsequent times you try to treat it.
Very best of luck, do keep us updated.
I sincerely hope that you do just fine without the Lexapro. Just stay vigilant. If you start noticing the anxiety starting to resurface, don't mess around, get yourself back to your doctor ASAP, and just remember that most times, anxiety becomes more treatment resistant the subsequent times you try to treat it.
Very best of luck, do keep us updated.
Hey thanks for the comment.... and yes it did help me. I was going through the breakup of my marriage and other personal issues this past year and these were huge contributors to my anxiety.
They have all resolved favorable and my life, although somewhat changed... is back on track.... both my doctor and my psychologist/psychiatrist felt it is both ok and actually time for me to try to wean off the medications. But I plan to take it slow and taper down over a couple of months.
I can tell you that although it did help with anxiety it did have some noticeable long term side effects. Since starting the medication last July i have put on 20 lbs. And I was a very healthy, always going to the gym type of guy and still am.... but nothing i did seem to stop the weight gain... as I researched online many others claim the same thing happened to them on Lexapro and other SSRI's.
My doctor told me the plan was 8 months to a year and see how i am doing. They feel I am doing ok.. and so do I.... now I want to see how I do without chemical assistance..... so i'm gonna give it a go.. knowing very well that I can always go back if things get bad... but the stressors that caused this in the first place are no longer there.....
I'll keep you all posted again....
They have all resolved favorable and my life, although somewhat changed... is back on track.... both my doctor and my psychologist/psychiatrist felt it is both ok and actually time for me to try to wean off the medications. But I plan to take it slow and taper down over a couple of months.
I can tell you that although it did help with anxiety it did have some noticeable long term side effects. Since starting the medication last July i have put on 20 lbs. And I was a very healthy, always going to the gym type of guy and still am.... but nothing i did seem to stop the weight gain... as I researched online many others claim the same thing happened to them on Lexapro and other SSRI's.
My doctor told me the plan was 8 months to a year and see how i am doing. They feel I am doing ok.. and so do I.... now I want to see how I do without chemical assistance..... so i'm gonna give it a go.. knowing very well that I can always go back if things get bad... but the stressors that caused this in the first place are no longer there.....
I'll keep you all posted again....
Hey good to see you again! It's been a while!
How have you been doing? Has the Lexapro helped you? How is the anxiety?
Let me give you my very honest opinion. If there is not a significant reason (financial issues, medical problems where the Lexapro is contraindicated) to go off the Lexapro, then simply don't. If it has helped you, then there is no reason you can not continue to take it, even long term. Especially because you are on a fairly low dose, you have lots of wiggle room should the dose ever need to be increased.
MANY MANY of us have found ourselves caught in the trap of wanting to stop taking meds, for a host of reasons. We don't "want" to have to take something forever, we feel so much better, that we don't NEED it anymore, etc etc. Unfortunately, for a good number of people, d/c'ing these meds ends up with a reemergence of anxiety, sometimes mcuh more severe than the initial anxiety was (hard to believe huh?). Do some searching, you'll find lots of threads with people in these situations.
I did this to myself many times. After YEARS of being on meds, I would decide that I felt so good, was in a much better place emotionally with NO anxiety, that I didn't need it anymore. I would be okay for about 6 months, sometimes a bit longer. EVERY time I went off my medication, I always ended up back at square one, starting the process all over again, and not to scare you, but relief is even harder to come by on subsequent attempts. A med that may have helped you may not work anymore, or you will find that the side effects are much more bothersome that the 1st time around. A med that you may have tolerated well may be intolerable the 2nd time around. This happens a lot.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE just think LONG and hard about this decision. Really look at WHY you are tapering off, is it your doc's recommendation? Is it based on reasons like I listed above (ie, not "needing" it anymore, or not wanting to take something long term)? Trust me when I tell you that it would be a LOT easier for you to just keep doing what you're doing and keeping the anxiety at bay than to take the gamble of ending up back where you started, with possibly an even harder time getting it back under control. If you are deciding to do this because you don't want to take Lexapro long term, I'm going to flat out tell you that is NOT a good reason. If you had diabetes, high blood pressure, or other medical condition that required you to take a pill every day, you wouldn't give it a second thought. This should not be and IS no different.
I would just absolutely HATE to see you come back in 6 months, or a year, in dire straights, kicking yourself for making a rash decision for all the wrong reasons. It happens a lot my friend. Especially because I clearly remember how difficult your struggle was when you first started treating your anxiety. You had one hell of a fight.
The last time I did this to myself, and ended up back at square one, I realized that I came off the med because I thought I didn't NEED it anymore, because I was basically anxiety free. It NEVER dawned on me that I was anxiety free BECAUSE of the meds.
Again, I'm not trying to scare you, just making you aware that this is a common path for people to take, that frequently ends poorly. If you DO decide to come off the Lexapro after giving it AMPLE and serious thought, then my advice to you is to be proactive. Not only are you obviously going to want to taper slowly under your doc's guidance, but you are going to want to have a plan in place in the event the anxiety returns. Stay in therapy, keep using you coping techniques you learned in therapy, etc. For most of us, fighting anxiety is a lifelong battle. There is no cure.
Sure, people come off meds and do okay, but sadly, more people end up right back to where they started from, if not worse.
We'll be here for you, as always. Your decision is YOURS only, no one else can make it for you, just be fair to yourself and think about it long and hard before you decide anything.
Best of luck!
How have you been doing? Has the Lexapro helped you? How is the anxiety?
Let me give you my very honest opinion. If there is not a significant reason (financial issues, medical problems where the Lexapro is contraindicated) to go off the Lexapro, then simply don't. If it has helped you, then there is no reason you can not continue to take it, even long term. Especially because you are on a fairly low dose, you have lots of wiggle room should the dose ever need to be increased.
MANY MANY of us have found ourselves caught in the trap of wanting to stop taking meds, for a host of reasons. We don't "want" to have to take something forever, we feel so much better, that we don't NEED it anymore, etc etc. Unfortunately, for a good number of people, d/c'ing these meds ends up with a reemergence of anxiety, sometimes mcuh more severe than the initial anxiety was (hard to believe huh?). Do some searching, you'll find lots of threads with people in these situations.
I did this to myself many times. After YEARS of being on meds, I would decide that I felt so good, was in a much better place emotionally with NO anxiety, that I didn't need it anymore. I would be okay for about 6 months, sometimes a bit longer. EVERY time I went off my medication, I always ended up back at square one, starting the process all over again, and not to scare you, but relief is even harder to come by on subsequent attempts. A med that may have helped you may not work anymore, or you will find that the side effects are much more bothersome that the 1st time around. A med that you may have tolerated well may be intolerable the 2nd time around. This happens a lot.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE just think LONG and hard about this decision. Really look at WHY you are tapering off, is it your doc's recommendation? Is it based on reasons like I listed above (ie, not "needing" it anymore, or not wanting to take something long term)? Trust me when I tell you that it would be a LOT easier for you to just keep doing what you're doing and keeping the anxiety at bay than to take the gamble of ending up back where you started, with possibly an even harder time getting it back under control. If you are deciding to do this because you don't want to take Lexapro long term, I'm going to flat out tell you that is NOT a good reason. If you had diabetes, high blood pressure, or other medical condition that required you to take a pill every day, you wouldn't give it a second thought. This should not be and IS no different.
I would just absolutely HATE to see you come back in 6 months, or a year, in dire straights, kicking yourself for making a rash decision for all the wrong reasons. It happens a lot my friend. Especially because I clearly remember how difficult your struggle was when you first started treating your anxiety. You had one hell of a fight.
The last time I did this to myself, and ended up back at square one, I realized that I came off the med because I thought I didn't NEED it anymore, because I was basically anxiety free. It NEVER dawned on me that I was anxiety free BECAUSE of the meds.
Again, I'm not trying to scare you, just making you aware that this is a common path for people to take, that frequently ends poorly. If you DO decide to come off the Lexapro after giving it AMPLE and serious thought, then my advice to you is to be proactive. Not only are you obviously going to want to taper slowly under your doc's guidance, but you are going to want to have a plan in place in the event the anxiety returns. Stay in therapy, keep using you coping techniques you learned in therapy, etc. For most of us, fighting anxiety is a lifelong battle. There is no cure.
Sure, people come off meds and do okay, but sadly, more people end up right back to where they started from, if not worse.
We'll be here for you, as always. Your decision is YOURS only, no one else can make it for you, just be fair to yourself and think about it long and hard before you decide anything.
Best of luck!
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