Re: newbie - need info on withdrawing

[Guest guest]

I know several people who have stopped by gradually cutting down. They had no

issues. The only real horror stories I can confirm are those who stopped cold

from doses over 20 Mg. Before I get flamed, I know everyone is different. The

chance of a rough ride however is greatly reduced by gradual withdrawal.

Grace <GBallaro@...> wrote: Hi to everyone1

I've been taking Lexapro 10 milligrams for 2 1/2 months and want to

stop taking it because it's been very disappointing and I've had more

side effects than benefits and jumped on the Internet and got some

really scary info and now I'm terrified of withdrawal. I called my dr.

yesterday and he said to cut down and I'm now going to take 5 mil for a

week and then next week cut that in half, and so on. In the past I've

suffered from agoraphobia and recently the last year and a half have

been going through some hard family problems, so that's why I started

it.

Is there anyone out there that can give me some input on withdrawing,

I'm am totally freaked out reading what horrors people have been

through.

Thanks to everyone who contributes.

Cheers

Grace

---------------------------------

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[Guest guest]

Thanks for your post, Dennis, you've alleviated some of my terror.

I'm going to follow the dosage I posted in my last post, is that slow

enough? Again, it's 5 mil this week, next week 2.5 and then the week

after that nothing.

Cheers,

Grace

Hi to everyone1

>

> I've been taking Lexapro 10 milligrams for 2 1/2 months and want to

> stop taking it because it's been very disappointing and I've had

more

> side effects than benefits and jumped on the Internet and got some

> really scary info and now I'm terrified of withdrawal. I called my

dr.

> yesterday and he said to cut down and I'm now going to take 5 mil

for a

> week and then next week cut that in half, and so on. In the past

I've

> suffered from agoraphobia and recently the last year and a half

have

> been going through some hard family problems, so that's why I

started

> it.

>

> Is there anyone out there that can give me some input on

withdrawing,

> I'm am totally freaked out reading what horrors people have been

> through.

>

> Thanks to everyone who contributes.

> Cheers

> Grace

>

>

>

>

>

>

> ---------------------------------

> Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and

30+ countries) for 2¢/min or less.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Grace,

I agree with the opinion that gradually tapering the dose should work,

especially since you plan on staying on each new dose for a week.

I'll second the fact that going cold turkey is a bad idea. I ran out

of meds once and had to go cold turkey for weeks without the Lexapro.

Sucked big time. Yes, everyone's different, but in general going

cold turkey off of any SSRI is a bad idea.

As for the part about wondering if your symptoms on the Lexapro is

going to be a sign of what you experience while stopping... My

experience with other psychotropic meds is that if I had side effects

while on the med I didn't have side effects while going off the med.

Hope this helps. The whole med process can be so frustrating.

Jen

>

> Hi to everyone1

>

> I've been taking Lexapro 10 milligrams for 2 1/2 months and want to

> stop taking it because it's been very disappointing and I've had more

> side effects than benefits and jumped on the Internet and got some

> really scary info and now I'm terrified of withdrawal. I called my dr.

> yesterday and he said to cut down and I'm now going to take 5 mil for a

> week and then next week cut that in half, and so on. In the past I've

> suffered from agoraphobia and recently the last year and a half have

> been going through some hard family problems, so that's why I started

> it.

>

> Is there anyone out there that can give me some input on withdrawing,

> I'm am totally freaked out reading what horrors people have been

> through.

>

> Thanks to everyone who contributes.

> Cheers

> Grace

>

[Guest guest]

Thank you, Barbara, for your input.

Grace

[Guest guest]

Hi Grace. I'm sure that not everybody who gets off of

the Lex. has those horror stories. Everybody responds

to these things differently. It could be that because

it hasn't helped you that you may not even have bad

withdrawl. Maybe your system can't absorb it's

substance and therefore has nothing to withdraw from.

I don't know, just a guess. Try not to let it scare

you. If you're not comfortable with what your Dr. is

saying talk to a Pharmacist about the combining of

meds.. After all, drugs are their business and they're

more up to date on drug interaction probably more than

most anybody else. Just a thought as I have relied

heavly on the Pharm. a lot in the past.

ak

--- Grace <GBallaro@...> wrote:

> Hi to everyone1

>

> I've been taking Lexapro 10 milligrams for 2 1/2

> months and want to

> stop taking it because it's been very disappointing

> and I've had more

> side effects than benefits and jumped on the

> Internet and got some

> really scary info and now I'm terrified of

> withdrawal. I called my dr.

> yesterday and he said to cut down and I'm now going

> to take 5 mil for a

> week and then next week cut that in half, and so on.

> In the past I've

> suffered from agoraphobia and recently the last year

> and a half have

> been going through some hard family problems, so

> that's why I started

> it.

>

> Is there anyone out there that can give me some

> input on withdrawing,

> I'm am totally freaked out reading what horrors

> people have been

> through.

>

> Thanks to everyone who contributes.

> Cheers

> Grace

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

No flames from me. (To Dennis) I'd also like to point out that there are

lots of horror stories around on the inernet about withdrawal. And, yes, if

one quits any AD cold turkey it's almost certain to happen. Only being on

that dose for such a short time shouldn't cause alot of problems. As Dennis

has pointed out.... everyone is different. I know people that have quit

Effexor cold turkey and had no problems. And that was after being on it for

a quite awhile. Then there are others who've had a very rough time getting

off of it.

Grace, just cause it's on the internet doesn't mean it's accurate or real.

There's alot of garbage out there as well as good info.

Barbara

Grace <GBallaro@...> wrote: Hi to everyone1

I've been taking Lexapro 10 milligrams for 2 1/2 months and want to

stop taking it because it's been very disappointing and I've had more

side effects than benefits and jumped on the Internet and got some

really scary info and now I'm terrified of withdrawal. I called my dr.

yesterday and he said to cut down and I'm now going to take 5 mil for a

week and then next week cut that in half, and so on. In the past I've

suffered from agoraphobia and recently the last year and a half have

been going through some hard family problems, so that's why I started

it.

Is there anyone out there that can give me some input on withdrawing,

I'm am totally freaked out reading what horrors people have been

through.

Thanks to everyone who contributes.

Cheers

Grace

---------------------------------

Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and 30+

countries) for 2¢/min or less.

[Guest guest]

Try this, if you have any problems just go back to the last dose amount you

didn't have problems at and go a bit longer at that dose before cutting

down. I was on Celexa for 14 months (same base drug as Lexapro) and it took

me 6 months to wean off with almost no withdrawal at all.

Barbara

Re: newbie - need info on withdrawing

Thanks for your post, Dennis, you've alleviated some of my terror.

I'm going to follow the dosage I posted in my last post, is that slow

enough? Again, it's 5 mil this week, next week 2.5 and then the week

after that nothing.

Cheers,

Grace

Hi to everyone1

>

> I've been taking Lexapro 10 milligrams for 2 1/2 months and want to

> stop taking it because it's been very disappointing and I've had

more

> side effects than benefits and jumped on the Internet and got some

> really scary info and now I'm terrified of withdrawal. I called my

dr.

> yesterday and he said to cut down and I'm now going to take 5 mil

for a

> week and then next week cut that in half, and so on. In the past

I've

> suffered from agoraphobia and recently the last year and a half

have

> been going through some hard family problems, so that's why I

started

> it.

>

> Is there anyone out there that can give me some input on

withdrawing,

> I'm am totally freaked out reading what horrors people have been

> through.

>

> Thanks to everyone who contributes.

> Cheers

> Grace

>

>

>

>

>

>

> ---------------------------------

> Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and

30+ countries) for 2¢/min or less.

>

>

[Guest guest]

You're so right, I think you hit it right on the head.

So far, so good.

Everyone has been so supportive on this board, it's wonderful, thank you.

Cheers,

Grace

[Guest guest]

There are soooo many people on AD, and a lot that are on Lexapro. It's always

the bad stories that get the attention, only a small percentage of people are

going to react badly when they quit taking the medication. It's kind of like

the news, the bad news gets the most attention. I hope that makes sense.

Barbara <bjarrett@...> wrote: No

flames from me. (To Dennis) I'd also like to point out that there are

lots of horror stories around on the inernet about withdrawal. And, yes, if

one quits any AD cold turkey it's almost certain to happen. Only being on

that dose for such a short time shouldn't cause alot of problems. As Dennis

has pointed out.... everyone is different. I know people that have quit

Effexor cold turkey and had no problems. And that was after being on it for

a quite awhile. Then there are others who've had a very rough time getting

off of it.

Grace, just cause it's on the internet doesn't mean it's accurate or real.

There's alot of garbage out there as well as good info.

Barbara

Grace <GBallaro@...> wrote: Hi to everyone1

I've been taking Lexapro 10 milligrams for 2 1/2 months and want to

stop taking it because it's been very disappointing and I've had more

side effects than benefits and jumped on the Internet and got some

really scary info and now I'm terrified of withdrawal. I called my dr.

yesterday and he said to cut down and I'm now going to take 5 mil for a

week and then next week cut that in half, and so on. In the past I've

suffered from agoraphobia and recently the last year and a half have

been going through some hard family problems, so that's why I started

it.

Is there anyone out there that can give me some input on withdrawing,

I'm am totally freaked out reading what horrors people have been

through.

Thanks to everyone who contributes.

Cheers

Grace

---------------------------------

Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and 30+

countries) for 2¢/min or less.

[Guest guest]

Grace,

Go by how you feel. You will know if you need more time or not. If it takes an

extra week or two it's no biggie as long as you are doing OK.

Regards,

Dennis

Grace <GBallaro@...> wrote:

Thanks for your post, Dennis, you've alleviated some of my terror.

I'm going to follow the dosage I posted in my last post, is that slow

enough? Again, it's 5 mil this week, next week 2.5 and then the week

after that nothing.

Cheers,

Grace

Hi to everyone1

>

> I've been taking Lexapro 10 milligrams for 2 1/2 months and want to

> stop taking it because it's been very disappointing and I've had

more

> side effects than benefits and jumped on the Internet and got some

> really scary info and now I'm terrified of withdrawal. I called my

dr.

> yesterday and he said to cut down and I'm now going to take 5 mil

for a

> week and then next week cut that in half, and so on. In the past

I've

> suffered from agoraphobia and recently the last year and a half

have

> been going through some hard family problems, so that's why I

started

> it.

>

> Is there anyone out there that can give me some input on

withdrawing,

> I'm am totally freaked out reading what horrors people have been

> through.

>

> Thanks to everyone who contributes.

> Cheers

> Grace

>

>

>

>

>

>

> ---------------------------------

> Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and

30+ countries) for 2¢/min or less.

>

>