How long does insomnia last after withdrawing from Lexapro?

[lexgirl]

Hello everyone,
I'm looking for help and hope!  I have been on lexapro and saphris for about 9 months, and was on paxil for about a year before that.  I have always had insomnia with ssri's so that is why I take the Saphris....usually a 1/4 of a 5 mg tablet would put me to sleep within a 1/2 hour or so.  I recently slowly weaned off lexapro over the last month, but when I got down to nothing I started having horrible insomnia (even with the Saphris).  Sometimes I get to sleep only to wake up a few hours later and then I'm up for the rest of the night.  I'm exhausted!  I feel fine otherwise...no return of anxiety or depression (except centered around sleep which I think is normal given the situation that has been going on for a few weeks.  Does anyne have any input on how long this insomnia will last?  I really want to stay off antidepressants so that my husband and I can try to conceive, but I can't function without sleep!  Can anyone give me any help or ideas?  BTW....I have used klonopin to sleep on occasion, but don't want to take regularly.  I've tried benydryl, unisom, melatonin, tryptophan, GABA....none of the natural stuff seems to work!

[lexgirl]

Thanks for the input.  I weaned at the suggestion of my ob/gyn....not psychiatrist in preparation for pregnancy (hopefully).  The way he told me to do it was much faster, but since I had previously tried weaning off paxil the year before I just used the psychiatrist's advice from that time.  Met with her (psychiatrist)since and she seems baffled by the insomnia.  Tried Ambien, 5mg, then 10 mg and it did NOTHING!  I was up the whole night that night.  I follow all the sleep hygience advice, excect gettig up after 20-30 minutes....I'll give that a try.  For right now she has me on Klonopin and Saphris, which most nights Klonopin (1 mg) works on its own (at least for most of the night).  She said she didn't think it would last longer than 1 month, but typically they don't see it w/ lexapro withdrawl.  I feel like such a freak of nature, b/c nothing seems to work the same on me as everyone else!  I really hope in time I can be off the Klonopin b/c I know that pregnancy is definately out wth that med.  Ugggh.  Thanks for your help!!

[rogelio63]

Are you weaning off with the help of your doctor or are you going it alone? I know when I took it upon myself to wean off of zoloft I did it over a month and my psychiatrist told me that if WE had done it, she would've weaned me off over a couple of months.
I've had problems with insomnia too but I don't think it's related to the SSRI. She gave me ambien and that seems to help.  In nursing they tell you to advocate "sleep hygiene" which consists of things like, don't do anything but sleep (for the most part) in bed, don't read etc,,, if you lie there for more than 20-30 minutes just get up, read a boring book, drink some relaxing tea and try to chill. Don't watch any action tv shows before you go to bed. Don't contemplate heavy decisions before bed, write them down and tell yourself they'll still be there tomorrow.
My issue was worrying that I wouldn't get up on time for work. I'm doing much better now, even when I don't take the ambien.
Rodger