Hello all,

 

Moving here as many others due to the closing of SA.

 

My intro there: https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/forums/topic/32774-survivaltime-bupropion-and-escitalopram-withdrawal/#comment-737438

 

I am very grateful to the community as I have learned much from lurking around and seeing that others have similar experiences.

 

I wanted to share my current WD symptoms after coming off of bupropion last March and slowly tapering escitalopram:

Cons: lots of bloating, consistent weight gain despite going to the gym, anxiety (exercising helps it loads), disregulated appetite and digestion, sleepiness (some days my "brain fog" doesn't lift until the end of the afternoon)

 

Pros: happy emotions are coming back a bit at a time. Libido is better. On the days my exhaustion takes a break, I am able to focus and be extra productive at work and in my personal life. 

 

Looking forward to being able to say I successfully got over my WD at some point!

 

Edit: I hardly remember to take any supplements. When I do, at night, I take Omega 3. No others at the moment.

Thank you for crossing over and for joining the forum.

 

It sounds like overall you are making progress, and it is good that you are able to remain functional despite going through withdrawal.

 

Hopefully you are able to continue your tapering successfully, without major issues and that this places provides good support with that.

Hey SurvivalTime

 

Welcome to the Forum! 🙂 

 

14 hours ago, SurvivalTime said:

Looking forward to being able to say I successfully got over my WD at some point!

I look forward to this for you! Its coming I know it.

 

Chippy

Hello,

 

Giving an update after my first post a couple months ago:

 

Now taking 4.0mg Cipralex (escitalopram)

WD symptoms strongest around menstruation - fatigue, irritability (probably coupled with PMS). Otherwise going through a wave of manageable symptoms.

 

Now being treated with support of a nutritionist and personal trainer for my weight gain and acne.

Anti-inflammatory diet is in place with teas, vegetables and flaxseeds/wild salmon instead of omega-3 in supplement form.

Also taking a good probiotic which is helping with bloating. 

 

Always good to seek professional help!

2 hours ago, SurvivalTime said:

Hello,

 

Giving an update after my first post a couple months ago:

 

Now taking 4.0mg Cipralex (escitalopram)

WD symptoms strongest around menstruation - fatigue, irritability (probably coupled with PMS). Otherwise going through a wave of manageable symptoms.

 

Now being treated with support of a nutritionist and personal trainer for my weight gain and acne.

Anti-inflammatory diet is in place with teas, vegetables and flaxseeds/wild salmon instead of omega-3 in supplement form.

Also taking a good probiotic which is helping with bloating. 

 

Always good to seek professional help!

Thanks for the update.
 

Watch that pace 4.5-4.0mg is 11.11%. The lower you go the slower you will likely need to go. Escitalopram is a very strong at lower doses you need to be careful. Slow is the new fast 😀

I'm glad it's mostly been manageable so far.

 

As @Chippy said, as the doses get lower, you need to be quite cautious not to go too quickly.

Thank you @Luke and @Chippy, I will be more diligent with my pill weighing and cutting to do only 10% from last dose from now on. It shall indeed get more difficult as I get closer to 0 😞

8 hours ago, SurvivalTime said:

Thank you @Luke and @Chippy, I will be more diligent with my pill weighing and cutting to do only 10% from last dose from now on. It shall indeed get more difficult as I get closer to 0 😞

Good to hear. Consistency with your dose and coming down carefully is important. Better to live and taper than find yourself off the drug and in protracted withdrawal. 
 

Don’t worry about the speed, just listen to your  body and you’ll be fine. 

13 hours ago, SurvivalTime said:

Thank you @Luke and @Chippy, I will be more diligent with my pill weighing and cutting to do only 10% from last dose from now on. It shall indeed get more difficult as I get closer to 0 😞

 

It can do, but it doesn't for everyone, especially not if they take it slowly and steadily.

 

You're armed with the knowledge about how risky this can be, and that's the best weapon against it really. Most people who come to significant harm didn't know any better until they found out the hard way.

 

There's a good chance that if you take it easy and are careful, everything will be manageable still.

 

I hope so.

Update:

May Escitalopram 3.64 mg. Decent month, still having fatigue but nothing major.

June Escitalopram 3.28 mg. This month has been short of hell and has honestly got me scared. Digestive issues, acne, depression, irritability even out of my period, s** thoughts, anxiety through the roof. Not sure what's going on. Work has been quite hard to deal with due to my mood.

Diet still consistent and as varied as possible depending on time and energy to cook (25% protein, 25% carbs, 50% veggies).

Still taking probiotics, vit D, calcium, zinc, and magnesium combined supplement.

Weight has improved; exercising is wonderful to my body and brain but the depression wave is making it really hard to keep motivated and actually get up and go.

Plan on holding for a few more weeks or even a month this time as I am scared it will get worse if I go down beginning of July after 4 weeks as I usually do.

9 hours ago, SurvivalTime said:

Update:

May Escitalopram 3.64 mg. Decent month, still having fatigue but nothing major.

June Escitalopram 3.28 mg. This month has been short of hell and has honestly got me scared. Digestive issues, acne, depression, irritability even out of my period, s** thoughts, anxiety through the roof. Not sure what's going on. Work has been quite hard to deal with due to my mood.

Diet still consistent and as varied as possible depending on time and energy to cook (25% protein, 25% carbs, 50% veggies).

Still taking probiotics, vit D, calcium, zinc, and magnesium combined supplement.

Weight has improved; exercising is wonderful to my body and brain but the depression wave is making it really hard to keep motivated and actually get up and go.

Plan on holding for a few more weeks or even a month this time as I am scared it will get worse if I go down beginning of July after 4 weeks as I usually do.

thanks for the update.

It is good your May reduction seemed to go ok. Im sorry you are now experiencing WD symptoms after your June reduction.

It looks like you you are aiming for 10% reductions each month still. This is probably too much for most at this dose level.

What date did you make your last reduction?

I would definitely not make any more reductions until you are stable.

How would you rate your symptoms now out of 10? 1 being mild and 10 about as bad as you can imagine?

7 hours ago, Chippy said:

thanks for the update.

It is good your May reduction seemed to go ok. Im sorry you are now experiencing WD symptoms after your June reduction.

It looks like you you are aiming for 10% reductions each month still. This is probably too much for most at this dose level.

What date did you make your last reduction?

I would definitely not make any more reductions until you are stable.

How would you rate your symptoms now out of 10? 1 being mild and 10 about as bad as you can imagine?

Last reduction was June 1st. I have been aiming for 10% every 4 weeks if I feel stable enough when the 4th week ends. It was going well and consistent until this month, so I will hold until I feel better and drop again then.

Tbh the severity of symptoms has been changing even during the same day. For me when I experience SI and crying spells it's a 10 as I feel paranoid and like my life is in danger. Most of the time though, probably a 6-7 (haha) with the anxiety and fidgeting constantly, it's annoying and distracting, but not life threatening.

Thank you for answering Chippy

1 hour ago, SurvivalTime said:

Last reduction was June 1st. I have been aiming for 10% every 4 weeks if I feel stable enough when the 4th week ends. It was going well and consistent until this month, so I will hold until I feel better and drop again then.

Tbh the severity of symptoms has been changing even during the same day. For me when I experience SI and crying spells it's a 10 as I feel paranoid and like my life is in danger. Most of the time though, probably a 6-7 (haha) with the anxiety and fidgeting constantly, it's annoying and distracting, but not life threatening.

Thank you for answering Chippy

It’s pretty normal to get to a point where the taper needs to slow down. I think you’ve done well to get this far at 10%. Also it is seen symptoms can be delayed and stack over a period of months so this could be what has happened.

As your symptoms are fairly severe you might consider up dosing to calm things down for you. There are risks to dosing but under 4 weeks the risk is low. It’s been 4 weeks so perhaps if you wanted to try don’t go the whole way back to your last dose perhaps split the difference.

Of course you can just choose to hold and wait for things to settle, but I wanted you to know up dosing could help if you were finding this unbearable.

Chippy

1 hour ago, SurvivalTime said:

Last reduction was June 1st. I have been aiming for 10% every 4 weeks if I feel stable enough when the 4th week ends. It was going well and consistent until this month, so I will hold until I feel better and drop again then.

Tbh the severity of symptoms has been changing even during the same day. For me when I experience SI and crying spells it's a 10 as I feel paranoid and like my life is in danger. Most of the time though, probably a 6-7 (haha) with the anxiety and fidgeting constantly, it's annoying and distracting, but not life threatening.

Thank you for answering Chippy

Hi Survival Time, Just reading your latest update, I agree with Chippy, and Luke, that slow is the new fast. I myself when I reached below 5mg of citalopram I should have gone way slower than I did. At one point I held for about 2 months before I could make another reduction, because I needed my nervous system to stabilize. It's probably not what any of us want to hear but is necessary to reduce any severe withdrawal symptoms. I myself did not know what was happening to myself until I came across SA and did a lot of reading to find out what was happening to me. Not knowing my tapering was way to fast, I was going down per Doctor's advice, boy were they wrong, so in the meantime here we are. So just slow and steady and definitely listen to your body, let it stabilize before the next reduction. All my thoughts and prayers , Sincerely Bernadette 🤗

20 hours ago, Chippy said:

It’s pretty normal to get to a point where the taper needs to slow down. I think you’ve done well to get this far at 10%. Also it is seen symptoms can be delayed and stack over a period of months so this could be what has happened.

As your symptoms are fairly severe you might consider up dosing to calm things down for you. There are risks to dosing but under 4 weeks the risk is low. It’s been 4 weeks so perhaps if you wanted to try don’t go the whole way back to your last dose perhaps split the difference.

Of course you can just choose to hold and wait for things to settle, but I wanted you to know up dosing could help if you were finding this unbearable.

Chippy

Thanks so much. I will hold for now and wait as long as needed before dropping again. I was thinking as well that it was possible that symptoms were delayed and stacked over the months, so I appreciate the validation.

As for measuring the dose, I have encountered some difficulties as I have been weighing and cutting a 10mg pill (as small as they come where I am from). It is getting harder and harder to measure and drop dosage appropriately without going over or under the 10%. I will go over the files and see if I can find something useful. With the precision scale I bought I can only identify reductions of max 0.01g (I think, brain is kinda foggy).

20 hours ago, Bernadette said:

Hi Survival Time, Just reading your latest update, I agree with Chippy, and Luke, that slow is the new fast. I myself when I reached below 5mg of citalopram I should have gone way slower than I did. At one point I held for about 2 months before I could make another reduction, because I needed my nervous system to stabilize. It's probably not what any of us want to hear but is necessary to reduce any severe withdrawal symptoms. I myself did not know what was happening to myself until I came across SA and did a lot of reading to find out what was happening to me. Not knowing my tapering was way to fast, I was going down per Doctor's advice, boy were they wrong, so in the meantime here we are. So just slow and steady and definitely listen to your body, let it stabilize before the next reduction. All my thoughts and prayers , Sincerely Bernadette 🤗

Thank you Bernadette. Thoughts and prayers for you on your journey as well!

I will hold for now and try to find a way to reduce 5% or less from now on. It is getting harder to weigh the pills as I mentioned in my previous comment to Chippy.

16 hours ago, SurvivalTime said:

Thanks so much. I will hold for now and wait as long as needed before dropping again. I was thinking as well that it was possible that symptoms were delayed and stacked over the months, so I appreciate the validation.

As for measuring the dose, I have encountered some difficulties as I have been weighing and cutting a 10mg pill (as small as they come where I am from). It is getting harder and harder to measure and drop dosage appropriately without going over or under the 10%. I will go over the files and see if I can find something useful. With the precision scale I bought I can only identify reductions of max 0.01g (I think, brain is kinda foggy).

My pleasure, yes hold tight and let things settle.

Ok, You should be able to get to 0.001 on even the cheap scales. Make sure you calibrate each time you use it, or at least check it, then put the weight on the scale and '0' the scale then add the dose. I find adding the weight to the scale 'loads' the table and gets it more within the 'range' of operation, this makes it more accurate and reliable.

Once you are very stable perhaps it is time to switch to a liquid. You can make this using your tablet, water and some very cheap items like a syringe. We can help you with this when it is time. You should transition over to the liquid in stages without making a reduction during this period as the transition can destablising, so again needs to be done once things have settled down for you.

Let us know how you are.

Survival Time, how it going? I myself did go to liquid form of citalopram when I reached below 5mg. Made it easier to be precise. Slow and steady, you got this.

I have been holding at 3.28 so far.

I don't feel stabilized yet. A lot of fatigue most days, and others anxiety that make me very impatient and irritable. :(

12 hours ago, SurvivalTime said:

I have been holding at 3.28 so far.

I don't feel stabilized yet. A lot of fatigue most days, and others anxiety that make me very impatient and irritable. :(

Im sorry to read, hang in there, getting stable before cutting is a good move. Your last cut was a bit over 10%, that is often too much as the dose gets lower. I would keep holding till things settle, then consider a much smaller drop next time.

Week 8 since last reduction update:

After week 6 I started feeling more stable and not as exhausted daily, which is good news.

I am planning on holding for a little longer as I have big changes ahead (job and moving) and change can be stressful for me.

Hopefully will be able to reduce by 5% in a couple months. Might be a good plan to try less than 10% and see how it goes.

My doctor tried to convince me not to go off the meds because I could relapse once I explained my withdrawal symptoms and side effects from the meds. He made the classic comparison of a person with a high blood pressure condition needing to take medication for life the same as a person with depression/anxiety needing to take meds for life. It's discouraging to be honest. I have a list of side effects from the drugs for the past many years and wouldn't be choosing to try to get off them if I didn't think it was worth it in the long run lol

8 minutes ago, SurvivalTime said:

Week 8 since last reduction update:

After week 6 I started feeling more stable and not as exhausted daily, which is good news.

I am planning on holding for a little longer as I have big changes ahead (job and moving) and change can be stressful for me.

Hopefully will be able to reduce by 5% in a couple months. Might be a good plan to try less than 10% and see how it goes.

My doctor tried to convince me not to go off the meds because I could relapse once I explained my withdrawal symptoms and side effects from the meds. He made the classic comparison of a person with a high blood pressure condition needing to take medication for life the same as a person with depression/anxiety needing to take meds for life. It's discouraging to be honest. I have a list of side effects from the drugs for the past many years and wouldn't be choosing to try to get off them if I didn't think it was worth it in the long run lol

SurvivalTime, I think your doing the right thing holding at your current dose during your move andjob change, it can sometimes get our CNS distributed a bit. Sounds time your doing great. Yes, the lower the dose the slower we go. ,

10 hours ago, SurvivalTime said:

After week 6 I started feeling more stable and not as exhausted daily, which is good news.

Great news!

10 hours ago, SurvivalTime said:

I am planning on holding for a little longer as I have big changes ahead (job and moving) and change can be stressful for me.

I think this is very wise. :)

10 hours ago, SurvivalTime said:

Hopefully will be able to reduce by 5% in a couple months. Might be a good plan to try less than 10% and see how it goes.

Good idea too. 10% is often to much for folks. Better to be stable and tapering. Slow is the new fast.

10 hours ago, SurvivalTime said:

e made the classic comparison of a person with a high blood pressure condition needing to take medication for life the same as a person with depression/anxiety needing to take meds for life.

Argh! So frustrating that doctors are still banding this factless statement around.

10 hours ago, SurvivalTime said:

I have a list of side effects from the drugs for the past many years and wouldn't be choosing to try to get off them if I didn't think it was worth it in the long run lol

I have every confidence you will have an amazing drug free life in the future.

You are doing great and it's good hear.