5 hours ago, Catbird said:

Fatigue from Escitalopram is so pervasive and unrelenting @PaintingDave it definitely was a significant factor in the burnout I suffered in 2019. It’s not such a big deal for me now I’m at a dose just over 1mg, but I’m also on other sedating meds so I’m not exactly springing out of bed. I think the keto diet has helped with my energy levels too.

Yeah I cannot imagine the load on the body of having multiple different medications like this. In the first few years of Lexapro 2010-15 I hadn't noticed fatigue, but after recovering from anemia in 2023-4 I couldnt believe I was 'well' again... yet didn't attribute this to Lexapro. 

I think it's progressive fatigue and apathy/unmotivated (and yet I can't see it for what it is! Why am I tired? Why didn't I clean the house/wash up?).

6 hours ago, PaintingDave said:

Yeah I cannot imagine the load on the body of having multiple different medications like this. In the first few years of Lexapro 2010-15 I hadn't noticed fatigue, but after recovering from anemia in 2023-4 I couldnt believe I was 'well' again... yet didn't attribute this to Lexapro. 

I think it's progressive fatigue and apathy/unmotivated (and yet I can't see it for what it is! Why am I tired? Why didn't I clean the house/wash up?).

I think all the ADs sap your health by stealth. I've had so many conditions over the past 20 years and no doctor even considered or raised the prospect os SSRIs being involved. Now I can see them all joined together - affecting so many facets of my health.

7 hours ago, Catbird said:

I think all the ADs sap your health by stealth. I've had so many conditions over the past 20 years and no doctor even considered or raised the prospect os SSRIs being involved. Now I can see them all joined together - affecting so many facets of my health.

Sorry I crafted a long reply but it seems not to have sent 🫣. 

Suffice to say, a decent dr 10 years ago asked me if I was happy with the drugs, are they helping? Etc. Unfortunately due to the clouding of my brain and unhappiness jumping down to 5mg in past years I assumed I "needed" them to live 😠 Also he would have no reference point outside manufacturers lies that withdrawal is brief and mild etc etc. GPs need to be taught what these meds do, not there fault.

I had a rotten mood today, but also can see a bit clearer again, hopefully in a few days I get back above the water and can appreciate the reduction in Lexapro at 6.5mg.

 

5% is the fastest I'm willing to go, but it can be tolerated better now that I leave 3 weeks between - all my previous attempts were too fast and stacking withdrawal effects and the brain had no chance (even though it was 'tiny' changes more like below 1%, 0.02mg at a time)

 

I haven't cracked how to reduce and not have 4-5 awful days, but certainly I'm making progress now and stabilise after the bad weekends. I will try a month wait this time. Such an abstract concept, can only know what works by getting it wrong in every way first 😞🥵. And in the wave, you can't remember it's temporary. Plus I live alone.

@PaintingDave I'm only tapering micrograms 4-5 weeks between dose decreases. Last decrease was 16mcg, I'll try 14 mcg next time, but I'm not holding out for a miracle.

2 hours ago, PaintingDave said:

I had a rotten mood today, but also can see a bit clearer again, hopefully in a few days I get back above the water and can appreciate the reduction in Lexapro at 6.5mg.

 

5% is the fastest I'm willing to go, but it can be tolerated better now that I leave 3 weeks between - all my previous attempts were too fast and stacking withdrawal effects and the brain had no chance (even though it was 'tiny' changes more like below 1%, 0.02mg at a time)

 

I haven't cracked how to reduce and not have 4-5 awful days, but certainly I'm making progress now and stabilise after the bad weekends. I will try a month wait this time. Such an abstract concept, can only know what works by getting it wrong in every way first 😞🥵. And in the wave, you can't remember it's temporary. Plus I live alone.

Hey Dave. If 5% is all you can do that’s fine. It’s best to wait till your symptoms pass before considering more drops. 
 

It’s useful to rate your symptoms out of 10. 10 the worst you can imagine. 
 

How were they before you drop? How were the after? How are they now?

 

Sorry it’s hard on your own too. We are here for you mate. Post when you need. Happy to help. 

14 hours ago, Catbird said:

@PaintingDave I'm only tapering micrograms 4-5 weeks between dose decreases. Last decrease was 16mcg, I'll try 14 mcg next time, but I'm not holding out for a miracle.

14 hours ago, Catbird said:

@PaintingDave I'm only tapering micrograms 4-5 weeks between dose decreases. Last decrease was 16mcg, I'll try 14 mcg next time, but I'm not holding out for a miracle.

When you say micrograms is that 0.1mg or 0.01mg?

13 hours ago, Chippy said:

Hey Dave. If 5% is all you can do that’s fine. It’s best to wait till your symptoms pass before considering more drops. 
 

It’s useful to rate your symptoms out of 10. 10 the worst you can imagine. 
 

How were they before you drop? How were the after? How are they now?

 

Sorry it’s hard on your own too. We are here for you mate. Post when you need. Happy to help. 

So I should clear this up - last time I had 4-5 hard days (I've been a LOT lower mentally in previous years) and then a good 2 weeks of calm. I have basically felt emotions in the last week I have had for years or not such depth, including crying at something moving, fractionally more alert mind. The change was 6.9mg - to 6.5mg i.e. 0.4mg, just over 5%. The previous reduction was 7.34mg - 6.9mg.

 

It should be noted this is much MUCH improved from the smaller reductions I did in August last year, as little as 0.02mg at a time (but every 2 weeks, and the brain was obviously upset from earlier attempts (Jan.of 25).

Just now, PaintingDave said:

So I should clear this up - last time I had 4-5 hard days (I've been a LOT lower mentally in previous years) and then a good 2 weeks of calm. I have basically felt emotions in the last week I have had for years or not such depth, including crying at something moving, fractionally more alert mind. The change was 6.9mg - to 6.5mg i.e. 0.4mg, just over 5%. The previous reduction was 7.34mg - 6.9mg.

 

It should be noted this is much MUCH improved from the smaller reductions I did in August last year, as little as 0.02mg at a time (but every 2 weeks, and the brain was obviously upset from earlier attempts (Jan.of 25).

Current symptoms are 5/10 (as they were for the first week in February, then settled down), but less preoccupied with mortality. Not fun though. 

 

When I was rushing in previous years I would rate the symptoms 10/10 or 8/10. Very unpleasant can't recommend 😉

2 hours ago, PaintingDave said:

When you say micrograms is that 0.1mg or 0.01mg?

1mcg = 0.001mg. In my taper 5 weeks ago I dropped from 1.030mg to 1.014mg (16 mcg) 

14 hours ago, PaintingDave said:

Current symptoms are 5/10 (as they were for the first week in February, then settled down), but less preoccupied with mortality. Not fun though. 

 

When I was rushing in previous years I would rate the symptoms 10/10 or 8/10. Very unpleasant can't recommend 😉

Sounds good Dave. So you would say 1-3 before you taper, then 5/10 after a drop which resolves in a few days back to 1-3?

 

It also sounds like you are starting to see yourself come back online with less drug in your system. This is something to start to work through. Having access to our emotions again can be a shock.

On 3/19/2026 at 8:58 PM, Catbird said:

1mcg = 0.001mg. In my taper 5 weeks ago I dropped from 1.030mg to 1.014mg (16 mcg) 

Ah I see, it's a very small amount but still significant because you are near the end of the taper.

14 hours ago, Chippy said:

Sounds good Dave. So you would say 1-3 before you taper, then 5/10 after a drop which resolves in a few days back to 1-3?

 

It also sounds like you are starting to see yourself come back online with less drug in your system. This is something to start to work through. Having access to our emotions again can be a shock.

I have to say today has been a LOT worse, 8-9/10 without much relief. Very hard to have a good thought. And while I would expect it to be over in a few more days I won't risk it again. Very unhappy.

 

I'm totally reconsidering the speed or amount. In a month's time I'm going on holiday so I wouldn't drop the dose again for a while.

44 minutes ago, PaintingDave said:

Ah I see, it's a very small amount but still significant because you are near the end of the taper.

@PaintingDave I have managed ~0.5mg decrease over the last year. The way I see it is I've probably got 2-3 years to go. No option but to go with it I suppose. Then I'll take one of the other 4 drugs I've yet to taper 🥹

5 hours ago, PaintingDave said:

I have to say today has been a LOT worse, 8-9/10 without much relief. Very hard to have a good thought. And while I would expect it to be over in a few more days I won't risk it again. Very unhappy.

Sorry to hear this Dave. Waves and windows mate. Give it a couple of days and let us know how you are. If it doesn’t settle it may be worth jumping back a dose and nipping that in the bud. I wouldn’t just ride that out if it were me and it’s that bad. 

 

5 hours ago, Chippy said:

Sorry to hear this Dave. Waves and windows mate. Give it a couple of days and let us know how you are. If it doesn’t settle it may be worth jumping back a dose and nipping that in the bud. I wouldn’t just ride that out if it were me and it’s that bad. 

 

I'm feeling a little better today, got work in a bit which should be a good distraction. No desire to reduce dose that much again any time soon. I'm assuming this stabilises based on last time.

22 minutes ago, PaintingDave said:

I'm feeling a little better today, got work in a bit which should be a good distraction. No desire to reduce dose that much again any time soon. I'm assuming this stabilises based on last time.

It will do. I caution not to hold if it is severe and consider updosing. If it settles then yes hold and get to baseline. We can talk about how to proceed from there. 
 

Glad things have eased. 

Current state/Next dose reduction

After reducing 1.2% I had brief holiday where I actually sketched for once, painted even. Being in a different place helps the brain to try things. Also painting oils in my studio more than in the preceding year (aka just 1 work).

I'm looking at month gaps between reducing and seeing what the sensible amount should be as I'm basically very tired, dehydrated+needing a pee and irritable. 1.2% is very minimal Id rather 5% or it will take decades more. 2.5% is the next step and see if a while month break allows this without terrible mood.

Diet is healthy, and I exercise. Also just healed a bout of costochondritis (stabby rib pain waking me from sleep) using a stretching device and fixing posture.

That said everything I do feels 10 times harder than it should and I'm so irritable and angry when I'd rather cry - and Cry I used to as a kid/teenager. And looking to get rid of the meds. AND HOPEFULLY get some help from professionals 'deprescribing'... at the back of a Very long queue still :(

@PaintingDave sounds like a mix of good and not so good. I too am tapering Escitalopram. I can only taper in micrograms at the moment. Well not even that. I’ve had to up dose due to abdominal myofascial pain/spasms which are now affecting my back and chest. It seems to be my whole torso is in spasms. Looks like I’ll be on this current dose for months until things settle down (if they do). I get the whole unable to cry thing. The emotions seem trapped and building — unfortunately they’ve turned into nasty somatic symptoms.

Just go at whatever pace you can manage. I’m going to be doing this for many years to come. Just trying not to get bogged down in the process. I’ve already had to cancel a trip away. Not only depressing but expensive too!!

10 hours ago, PaintingDave said:

Current state/Next dose reduction

After reducing 1.2% I had brief holiday where I actually sketched for once, painted even. Being in a different place helps the brain to try things. Also painting oils in my studio more than in the preceding year (aka just 1 work).

I'm looking at month gaps between reducing and seeing what the sensible amount should be as I'm basically very tired, dehydrated+needing a pee and irritable. 1.2% is very minimal Id rather 5% or it will take decades more. 2.5% is the next step and see if a while month break allows this without terrible mood.

Diet is healthy, and I exercise. Also just healed a bout of costochondritis (stabby rib pain waking me from sleep) using a stretching device and fixing posture.

That said everything I do feels 10 times harder than it should and I'm so irritable and angry when I'd rather cry - and Cry I used to as a kid/teenager. And looking to get rid of the meds. AND HOPEFULLY get some help from professionals 'deprescribing'... at the back of a Very long queue still :(

Thanks for the update Dave, some good and some bad in there. I hear you on the reductions, I know you want to be off the drug, but slow and stable is better for sure.

One thing to consider, if I have not already mentioned it, is a micro taper. You would work out a 5% drop out, and start making small daily steps, so 1/30 of that amount, often this is tolerated better than large cuts. If 5% seems too much to try, 2.5% and make those drops daily. You can pause and hold for a bit (which is often a good idea anway IMO) if you start to feel you need to, but often people can reduce more when taking these little steps over a conventional cut and hold. Micro Tapering

Ps would love to see your paintings, if you ever want to share.

Chippy

On 5/7/2026 at 12:04 AM, Catbird said:

@PaintingDave sounds like a mix of good and not so good. I too am tapering Escitalopram. I can only taper in micrograms at the moment. Well not even that. I’ve had to up dose due to abdominal myofascial pain/spasms which are now affecting my back and chest. It seems to be my whole torso is in spasms. Looks like I’ll be on this current dose for months until things settle down (if they do). I get the whole unable to cry thing. The emotions seem trapped and building — unfortunately they’ve turned into nasty somatic symptoms.

Just go at whatever pace you can manage. I’m going to be doing this for many years to come. Just trying not to get bogged down in the process. I’ve already had to cancel a trip away. Not only depressing but expensive too!!

That sounds terrible I'm really sorry 😔. The only thing that helped with tension in my chest and back was stretching every day, I did buy an expensive egg shaped thing to lay on but even a small hard ball is good at releasing tension. But also I have bad posture.

When you say micrograms is that 0.01mg? That's haw it used to be for me until I waited a month between reductions. However everyone else is different.

Cheers

On 5/7/2026 at 8:36 AM, Chippy said:

Thanks for the update Dave, some good and some bad in there. I hear you on the reductions, I know you want to be off the drug, but slow and stable is better for sure.

One thing to consider, if I have not already mentioned it, is a micro taper. You would work out a 5% drop out, and start making small daily steps, so 1/30 of that amount, often this is tolerated better than large cuts. If 5% seems too much to try, 2.5% and make those drops daily. You can pause and hold for a bit (which is often a good idea anway IMO) if you start to feel you need to, but often people can reduce more when taking these little steps over a conventional cut and hold. Micro Tapering

Ps would love to see your paintings, if you ever want to share.

Chippy

I heard about slide tapering/micro tapering on the old site, but as it stands I had terrible upsets going by less than one 1% every 2 weeks - turns out my body has to adjust to the frequency of change as much as (sometimes even more than than the amount).

In 2024/25 I spent over a month going from 7.5-7.0mg in weekly increments and was dangerously low/upset. But this year I made reductions of 7.44-6.36mg and currently stable- keeping gains, despite a nasty week or so. (Again these were 3 weeks between, now it will be a month rest - which is a lot easier). It does look like 2.5% is best right now

This is where I put drawings and painting.

https://www.instagram.com/daves_painting_stuff?igsh=MWFqcTNkbWN2dmlhdw==

5 minutes ago, PaintingDave said:

In 2024/25 I spent over a month going from 7.5-7.0mg in weekly increments and was dangerously low/upset. But this year I made reductions of 7.44-6.36mg and currently stable- keeping gains, despite a nasty week or so. (Again these were 3 weeks between, now it will be a month rest - which is a lot easier). It does look like 2.5% is best right now

Sounds like you’re listening to your body, this is all that counts really. It knows best.

6 minutes ago, PaintingDave said:

This is where I put drawings and painting.

https://www.instagram.com/daves_painting_stuff?igsh=MWFqcTNkbWN2dmlhdw==

Thanks for sharing. You’re very talented. 😀

1 hour ago, Chippy said:

Sounds like you’re listening to your body, this is all that counts really. It knows best.

Thanks for sharing. You’re very talented. 😀

Thank you, I will say I've done a bit more artwork since reducing dose this year. I imagine it will be easier down the line.

7 hours ago, PaintingDave said:

That sounds terrible I'm really sorry 😔. The only thing that helped with tension in my chest and back was stretching every day, I did buy an expensive egg shaped thing to lay on but even a small hard ball is good at releasing tension. But also I have bad posture.

When you say micrograms is that 0.01mg? That's haw it used to be for me until I waited a month between reductions. However everyone else is different.

Cheers

2mcg equivalent to 0.002mg decreases. And I’ve been holding ~6 weeks in between.