@MourningDove man I thought I was sensitive, that's crazy! I myself am dealing with an ADR from escitalopram so I'm on the same boat, tomorrow is 3 weeks off for me! I saw @SparklingG is dealing with the same thing as well. Hope you are both seeing improvements and are out of this nonsense sooner than later.

1 hour ago, overthepill said:

I myself am dealing with an ADR from escitalopram so I'm on the same boat, tomorrow is 3 weeks off for me!

So sorry you’re also a victim of ADR with escitalopram! I remember when it was first prescribed to me, I was told it was generally well tolerated and less activating than other medications. Well look at me now lol! I know you will continue to improve and see improvements—Stay strong!

5 minutes ago, MourningDove said:

So sorry you’re also a victim of ADR with escitalopram! I remember when it was first prescribed to me, I was told it was generally well tolerated and less activating than other medications. Well look at me now lol! I know you will continue to improve and see improvements—Stay strong!

Thank you for your kind words, much healing to you as well!

Hey everyone,

So today is definitely not my day. Healing is trending upwards/feels like it plateaued, but last night was definitely the closest I felt like to when this all began. I found myself not really tired/jittery at about 10 pm and kinda knew I had it out for me lol. I tried my best to sleep, but I barely slept with all the physical tremors, inner restlessness, anxiety, and now extreme hunger. I’m going to try to incorporate melatonin into my sleep cycle! I start uni in about a week or so, and I can’t afford to just let my sleep hygiene play out as it is. I go to sleep around 4 to 6 am everyday. I feel gross, way too hungry, beyond tired, and sweaty. I guess healing is healing.

Does your family understand the damage the pill has done? I wouldn't want them forcing more stuff on you...

13 hours ago, MourningDove said:

So today is definitely not my day.

Sorry to hear

13 hours ago, MourningDove said:

Healing is trending upwards/feels like it plateaued,

This is very normal, healing in WD is famously non linear

13 hours ago, MourningDove said:

I’m going to try to incorporate melatonin into my sleep cycle!

My advice is to start very low. Grab a bottle of the 1mg tablets and start with 0.25mg. I know sounds very low often this is all that is needed and too much can have the opposite effect in some. You can go up in dose carefully till you find your sweetspot.

13 hours ago, MourningDove said:

I go to sleep around 4 to 6 am everyday.

Everyone is different, generally though we are supposed to sleep overnight, setting a regular bed time and sticking to it is best imo.

Sleep in WD

Hope things level out for you soon, Chippy

6 hours ago, Kahran said:

Does your family understand the damage the pill has done?

Hello @Kahran ,

I think in some way they do. At first, they weren’t really that understanding outside the first week when it happened. I guess then it was more noticeable since I was a bit feverish with the whole dilated eyes and the start of my symptoms. After that though, they didn’t understand. They kept saying it’s been out my system, that I should be over it, that this is my anxiety/ocd, but I just knew it wasn’t. There was times I had rushed home sobbing because of how debilitating symptoms were that day. At times, they would sleepover to comfort me for the night since I would experience the worst of it around bedtime. I try my best to accept and stay positive, but the days that it’s hard and I feel down or not like myself, they’re a bit quick to get on my case again. I did link the SA page to send to close family about ADRs to SSRIS and since then they have been a bit more understanding about my hard days. I’m very thankful for this online support system along with my IRL one as well. I know their intentions are for me to be back normal, so I don’t take it too personally if it’s a bit mean at times lol

1 hour ago, Chippy said:

My advice is to start very low. Grab a bottle of the 1mg tablets and start with 0.25mg. I know sounds very low often this is all that is needed and too much can have the opposite effect in some. You can go up in dose carefully till you find your sweetspot.

Thank you @Chippy for the advice! I read something very similar on the SA page. I haven’t heard of melatonin being too activating which is unlike what I heard about the magnesium I was considering to try. I think I’ll start low on some melatonin about two hours before my bedtime to see if it does anything.

5 minutes ago, MourningDove said:

I think I’ll start low on some melatonin about two hours before my bedtime to see if it does anything.

Sounds wise. Low and slow and one thing at a time.

I know it is frustrating to feel as though healing has plateaued. Unfortunately people can take time to heal from an ADR even just to a single dose.

I hope that things start to move forwards more clearly again soon.

Hi @MourningDove

How are things? I hope you have been having some windows.

On 9/7/2026 at 12:35 PM, SparklingG said:

Hi @MourningDove

How are things? I hope you have been having some windows.

Hello! Here’s my late 4 month update:

What a ride! Been having some waves and windows as per usual. Suddenly, I developed some severe stomach sensitivities for about the last 3/4 weeks, but I think it’s subsided. I mean I hope so! I genuinely couldn’t eat a thing! It was so painful! Does anyone remember when I lost hunger cues? Then I started feeling extremely hungry 24/7 along with the stomach pain. I had some windows in my mood and (tmi) sexual dysfunction, but I’m currently in a wave. It kinda seems to be a bit correlated with the stomach pain? But also could just be coincidences! College started recently so I was pretty stressed about that. To sum it up, my current symptoms are:

-Hunger cues/stomach pain very black and white, either existent or nonexistent

-Insomnia

-Emotional Numbing/Low moods

-Some intrusive thoughts

-Sexual dysfunction

-Inner restlessness/tingling? It used to extend all over and I would feel it in my limbs superficially, but I’ve been feeling it deep down in my bones almost for the last month. It’s like a constant inner vibration?

Compared to where I started, I’d say I’m about 65% healed and 75% healed on good days. Wishing you and everyone else the best! Slow and steady as they say. Much love everyone!!!

37 minutes ago, MourningDove said:

Hello! Here’s my late 4 month update:

What a ride! Been having some waves and windows as per usual. Suddenly, I developed some severe stomach sensitivities for about the last 3/4 weeks, but I think it’s subsided. I mean I hope so! I genuinely couldn’t eat a thing! It was so painful! Does anyone remember when I lost hunger cues? Then I started feeling extremely hungry 24/7 along with the stomach pain. I had some windows in my mood and (tmi) sexual dysfunction, but I’m currently in a wave. It kinda seems to be a bit correlated with the stomach pain? But also could just be coincidences! College started recently so I was pretty stressed about that. To sum it up, my current symptoms are:

-Hunger cues/stomach pain very black and white, either existent or nonexistent

-Insomnia

-Emotional Numbing/Low moods

-Some intrusive thoughts

-Sexual dysfunction

-Inner restlessness/tingling? It used to extend all over and I would feel it in my limbs superficially, but I’ve been feeling it deep down in my bones almost for the last month. It’s like a constant inner vibration?

Compared to where I started, I’d say I’m about 65% healed and 75% healed on good days. Wishing you and everyone else the best! Slow and steady as they say. Much love everyone!!!

Sounds like you are handling well mostly, keep up the good work ❣️❣️❣️❣️

17 minutes ago, Lighty said:

Sounds like you are handling well mostly, keep up the good work ❣️❣️❣️❣️

Thank you! Sending well wishes of complete recovery and pure success your way!

In a wave so bad right now it feels like the start of it all! I started having some horribleeee tremors and muscle twitching again, can barely sleep (when I do it doesn’t feel restful), and other things like loss of sensation. Feels very yuck! I feel like a raisin LOL! I try my best to stay positive because I feel like I already had my “pity parties”. I used to cry everyday all day 24/7 and not a day goes by where I don’t think “I don’t know how much longer I can do this”, but I keep doing it nonetheless. Like really, there’s nothing to do besides accept that it’s horrible right now, but there is definitely a future where I’m over this, so I just need to wait. The kind of acceptance I have over this whole situation is like when buddhists reach nirvana finally LOL I feel like it’s the only way to have some sort of peace!

4 hours ago, MourningDove said:

Like really, there’s nothing to do besides accept that it’s horrible right now, but there is definitely a future where I’m over this, so I just need to wait.

This is a good attitude to have.

You've had some promising signs of trending towards improvement. Hopefully you'll have more, better windows soon.

Hello,

Here is my 5 month update:

Really struggled with insomnia badly for the last 3 weeks. I would literally run off a couple of hours a day. It would make me really exhausted, lightheaded, and irritable. My metabolism is pretty bad, I’ve noticed. I can’t seem to gain or keep weight on me, I can track my calories but somehow it still falls off? Still struggling with some physical side effects (as per usual). It chokes me up when I feel so unrecognizable. I’m getting a haircut in a day because I’ve been struggling horribly with hair loss as I believe I’ve previously mentioned. When this first happened, I did struggle with some excessive hair shedding for about a week and a half at most. It’s been 3 weeks of massive amounts of shed! I already have short hair so I must go even shorter now. Ugh, when do I get off this goddamn ride!!! I hate how this happened to us!

Sending love and strength your way @MourningDove. I know this journey can feel endless, but one day I'm confident you'll be able to look back and realize how much better things have gotten 💜. I'm with you on the weird metabolism, I seem to be losing weight no matter how much I eat. You have to experience this s**t to believe it!

@MourningDove just reading through your thread and I'm sorry to hear your still struggling. I see your from California, my healing buddy is from California and we chat quite often she is amazing and we give each other updates and progress reports on the difference in on our recovery. She is currently 4 months behind me from zero and it's nice to see the progress as the time goes by. I can definitely relate to the weight loss and the hair shedding during the tapering process but it definitely does get better. Yes this is a cruel thing we have to endure and yes this **** is no joke. I didn't find Surviving antidepressants.org or this site until it was to late in my tapering. I wish I had and maybe it wouldn't of been so brutal. But here I am reaching my 2 year mark from zero and believe me when I say we all here are absolutely going to get through this process vicariously. We will be stronger and more resilient. God bless my friend for more healing ahead.

Hey @MourningDove I feel you on the sleep and the physical symptoms. I think often they can be the ones that take the longest to resolve, especially sleep. You are doing great, keep that mindset strong, put all your energies there, it is what will serve you best as you heal. Time will get us all over the finish line. x

hey @MourningDove has your emotional blunting improved at all?

Edited Tuesday at 03:49 PM5 days by Avril

51 minutes ago, Avril said:

hey @MourningDove has your emotional blunting improved at all?

Hey @Avril, welcome to the forum. Could you please start your own intro topic in this section when you have a chance?

21 hours ago, Avril said:

hey @MourningDove has your emotional blunting improved at all?

Hello Avril,

Currently I’m going through a wave of emotional blunting, but yes it has! When this first happened, it was really bad. Genuinely like the world had lost its colors. It is so scary in such an unfeeling way to not really feel much towards anything. I would cry about it because I felt so blank. I made sure to maintain my relationships and such, even though I didn’t feel much, and it has paid off since I’ve seen improvement. At first, I’d say I started at 0% aka I felt nothing. It went to 10%, 25%, 30%, and now I’ve recovered a range of emotions (including PSSD ones) but they just lack intensity and depth. I’d say my emotional range is back, so I do laugh and feel happy and everything, but during a wave the depth is so shallow. You will recover! It takes time

Have you found that your doctor was able to understand or no? Like did they tell you it wasn't possible to have effects after one pill?

13 hours ago, Avril said:

Have you found that your doctor was able to understand or no? Like did they tell you it wasn't possible to have effects after one pill?

Hey Avril thank you for your post, as Sarah asked on Tuesday, please make your own introduction thread and say hello if you are going to be posting the forum. Thank you Chippy x