Lexapro (escitalopram) amnesia query

[Guest guest]

Hi,

A friend of mine recently stopped taking Lexapro (escitalopram). She

had a bit of an odd experience, and is wondering if anyone else has

had a similar one. The story:

She is a 35-year-old woman with a history of anxiety and depression,

and a family history of Alzheimer's. She took drugs -- alcohol, pot,

ketamine, ecstasy -- fairly regularly from her late teens through late

twenties, but no longer uses recreational drugs other than alcohol.

About one year ago she resumed taking escitalopram for anxiety; she'd

previously taken it around age 30, though I'm not sure about the

duration. About two weeks ago, she decided to stop taking it

altogether. A few days ago, after having drank about half a bottle of

wine at a dinner party the night before, she woke up with no memory of

the evening. (Half a bottle of wine is typically enough for her to

become moderately drunk, but far from a blackout quantity.) That had

happened a couple times earlier in her twenties, also after drinking

-- she went to a neurologist, who found nothing -- but not since then.

She is concerned that it involves some confluence of dementia

predisposition aggravated by youthful drug abuse and her withdrawal

from Lexapro.

I am aware that amnesia is a reported side effect of escitalopram,

though at such low (sub-1%) levels that it may be a reporting

artefact. Have any of you experienced or heard about such " blackouts "

after discontinuing Lexapro use?

Thanks all,

Kid Panda