hello everyone!

Started lexapro in spring 2009 because I smoked so much weed in college I started getting panic attacks/derealization that continued without weed. Went home and eventually put on zoloft then lexapro told "this will make you feel better".

in 2015 tried stopping got down pretty low then stopped but the symptoms were unbearable mood instability, floating (can't remember too many specifics). reinstated but still had brain fog, sore neck and back, headaches and fatigue for 6 months. Diagnosed with lyme disease. Massage helped a lot.

in october 2025 had pulmonary embolism. went to therapist and after months realized how much more helpful this was than the drug. always thought the drug just emotionally numbed me and was getting number over the years. decided to try tapering again.

talked to psychiatrist "it's easy TRUST ME" , so okay I believed him. Went from 10 to 5, had extreme irritability, the same neck and back pain (maybe that wasn't lyme disease back then) then it got better after a week. Thought okay that wasn't too bad, but was still a little off and worried. Days 7-9 were the worst. Mood swings, fatigue, headaches, insomnia, were the main ones. stabilized completely after a month.

psychiatrist dropped me for insurance reasons, went to another who refused to prescribe liquid because the evidence doesn't support it.

got a Gemini scale, micro tapered down to 4 then down to 3 over 2 months with maybe one or 2 days of moderate symptoms.

went down to 2.5 recently, less micro taper, anxiety got very bad after 6 days so went back up to 3 for now. still have some headache and neck/ back soreness. anxiety okay still a little heightened at times. sometimes feel very good and calm.

worried about protracted withdrawal, reinstatement not improving....

Still looking for a psychiatrist or doctor in California who could help, don't want to do this alone. Don't really want to make my own liquids since there is a liquid pharmaceutical available.

Dont think I trust the scale to be accurate enough as i get lower, where tiny changes could have large impacts.

But the past 3 months some days have also been some of the best days of my life. I see so much beauty in little things, my sense of awe and excitement about life is returning.

Edited September 10Sep 10 by SarahMc

Welcome to the forum!

 

This is a volunteer-run, community forum aimed at helping those who are tapering and/or experiencing difficulties with psychiatric medications and withdrawal syndrome. We are not medical professionals and cannot offer medical advice. We simply offer support and opinions which you could use as talking points with a medical provider knowledgeable in withdrawing off psychiatric medications.

 

Please familiarise yourself with the forum rules and the disclaimer located here: Guidelines

 

Please make sure your signature is kept up to date with your drug history. This will allow members to see some basic information about your drug history and situation so that they may help you best. Information on how to do this is located in the FAQs section above, but here is a direct link: Update Signature

Once this is done, future posts made by you will have this signature turned on by default. For this reason please keep it clear but condensed as possible.

Please use the format outline here Preferred signature/drug history format

I'm so sorry to read about the tough time you've had recently you will find plenty of support here for sure.

4 hours ago, peterson said:

talked to psychiatrist "it's easy TRUST ME" , so okay I believed him. Went from 10 to 5, had extreme irritability, the same neck and back pain (maybe that wasn't lyme disease back then) then it got better after a week. Thought okay that wasn't too bad, but was still a little off and worried. Days 7-9 were the worst. Mood swings, fatigue, headaches, insomnia, were the main ones. stabilized completely after a month.

psychiatrist dropped me for insurance reasons, went to another who refused to prescribe liquid because the evidence doesn't support it.

got a Gemini scale, micro tapered down to 4 then down to 3 over 2 months with maybe one or 2 days of moderate symptoms.

went down to 2.5 recently, less micro taper, anxiety got very bad after 6 days so went back up to 3 for now. still have some headache and neck/ back soreness. anxiety okay still a little heightened at times. sometimes feel very good and calm.

As you may know by now, your taper has been much too fast. Lexapro in particular is a very strong antidepressant and tapers tend to get quite difficult at lower doses. We recommend tapering by a maximum of 10% of your previous dose per month (so from 3 mg you would go down to 2.7, then 2.53, etc): Tapering Information. Many folks can't tolerate tapering even this fast. It's best to go slowly and listen to your body rather than try to taper through withdrawal symptoms.

4 hours ago, peterson said:

worried about protracted withdrawal, reinstatement not improving....

Still looking for a psychiatrist or doctor in California who could help, don't want to do this alone. Don't really want to make my own liquids since there is a liquid pharmaceutical available.

Dont think I trust the scale to be accurate enough as i get lower, where tiny changes could have large impacts.

It sounds like it's only been a few days since you updosed back to 3 mg, so I wouldn't worry much about your symptoms not resolving yet. You've put your nervous system through quite a lot with your quick taper, so I would hold here until you feel truly stable before continuing. We consider stability to be withdrawal symptoms of no more than a 1-3/10 in severity (10 being very severe) over a prolonged period.

Making your own liquid is not too challenging, and some actually consider it more accurate than the manufactured liquids: Preparing Doses for Tapering - Weighing & DIY Liquids

When you do switch to a liquid, we recommend that you take a full month to transition over to the liquid dose, as the transition can be destabilizing as well. So the first week you'd take 3/4 of your dose in pill form and 1/4 in liquid form, the next week 1/2 and 1/2, and so forth.

In terms of doctors, unfortunately there aren't many who are truly knowledgeable about tapering, though you may be able to find someone who is at least supportive and willing to prescribe liquid lexapro. If you want someone genuinely knowledgeable and you're able to afford it, I believe the Outro clinic is available in your area: https://www.outro.com/

4 hours ago, peterson said:

But the past 3 months some days have also been some of the best days of my life. I see so much beauty in little things, my sense of awe and excitement about life is returning.

This is wonderful to hear. You have a lot to look forward to once you're off the drug, but please don't rush to get off the last 3 mg. A lot can go wrong and you want to set yourself up to minimize withdrawal symptoms as much as possible rather than rushing off and having to deal with bad protracted withdrawal once you're off.

Glad you found us, there are lots of experienced people here who can help guide you on a nice slow taper off that last bit of the lexapro.

In the mean time this is what I would do if I were you:

 

-Stay Hydrated 

 

-Eat a good clean whole food diet, avoiding processed foods and sugars.

 

-Stay away from caffeine, alcohol and antihistamines and any other psychoactive substances.

 

Supplements are to be avoided initially, as they often irritate our nervous systems. Try to get your nutrition through food.

 

Down the line, you may wish to introduce Fish Oil and Magnesium. Those who can tolerate them have found them calming to the nervous system. Be careful try one at a time and start low and see how you get on should you choose to try them.

 

A daily walk is very important as much as you can manage, if you can manage it. Gets you your fresh air and Vitamin D does wonders for your mind!

 

You are very welcome here and I hope you find the site supportive.

thank you Sarahmc,

Today im already feeling better than yesterday. I plan to stabilize at 3mg for 2 months, then I think I will switch to liquid and try doing the micro taper at 10%. Does this sound like a good plan?

But im not sure how I could travel by plane with liquids? I have a vacation to the Bahamas, and this worries me long term if something were to disrupt me mid taper at a low dose. As now i know this could take years. So maybe I will switch to liquid after that trip.

sounds like I'm doing this on my own with the support of you guys. I may try to contact one psychiatrist who works with outro. but i know these psychiatrists who specialize in deprescribing are all extremely expensive and not covered by my insurance.

I have been taking magnesium for a while, not sure if it helps. But tracked my diet for a while last year and it was always lacking that nutrient. my diet and exercise have been pretty dialed in since my blood clot experience. And I think that really helps me recover pretty quickly, at least compared to the worst cases I've read I seem more moderate.

It does make me wonder if it's all worth it, life on lexapro wasn't THAT bad. But then ilI get that sense of awe at a sunset, or really feel a good song. So Im excited to continue tapering even if it takes a lot of effort and time and some suffering (hopefully minimal).

Hey @peterson Welcome to the forum, glad you found us.

I think continuing to hold for minute is a very good idea.

Sarah has given you lots of useful information about what to do next.

10% is the max we would suggest per month, some do need to go much slower than this. Lexapro can be particularly tricky from 1mg down, so don't under estimate those lower doses. Have a read of our taper document linked for you above where we talk about hyperbolic relationships of dose to effect on the brain....

I would really consider holding for as long as it takes to get nice and stable. This will give you the best platform for tapering that you can have.

Switching to a DIY liquid or any kind of change in format can be stablising and so crossing over cautiously from a place of stablity is really important.

Travelling with a DIY liquid should be fine. We suggest you make it daily anyway so taking your pills and associated taper items with you when you travel would be best.

If you want to be eonomical with the tablets, you can weigh a known amount of tablet and then use that to make a smaller batch of liquid which you use to take your dose. This can save wasting a whole tablet a day, if that's something you would find useful. Weighing the tablet before making the solution makes sense anyway, as then you get a more accurate amount of drug in the liquid in the first place, tablets vary alot from one to another, as I am sure you have found out!

Chippy

Welcome to the forum. I'm glad you're feeling a bit better. Hopefully you will continue to stabilise with a hold.

18 hours ago, peterson said:

hello everyone!

Started lexapro in spring 2009 because I smoked so much weed in college I started getting panic attacks/derealization that continued without weed. Went home and eventually put on zoloft then lexapro told "this will make you feel better".

in 2015 tried stopping got down pretty low then stopped but the symptoms were unbearable mood instability, floating (can't remember too many specifics). reinstated but still had brain fog, sore neck and back, headaches and fatigue for 6 months. Diagnosed with lyme disease. Massage helped a lot.

in october 2025 had pulmonary embolism. went to therapist and after months realized how much more helpful this was than the drug. always thought the drug just emotionally numbed me and was getting number over the years. decided to try tapering again.

talked to psychiatrist "it's easy TRUST ME" , so okay I believed him. Went from 10 to 5, had extreme irritability, the same neck and back pain (maybe that wasn't lyme disease back then) then it got better after a week. Thought okay that wasn't too bad, but was still a little off and worried. Days 7-9 were the worst. Mood swings, fatigue, headaches, insomnia, were the main ones. stabilized completely after a month.

psychiatrist dropped me for insurance reasons, went to another who refused to prescribe liquid because the evidence doesn't support it.

got a Gemini scale, micro tapered down to 4 then down to 3 over 2 months with maybe one or 2 days of moderate symptoms.

went down to 2.5 recently, less micro taper, anxiety got very bad after 6 days so went back up to 3 for now. still have some headache and neck/ back soreness. anxiety okay still a little heightened at times. sometimes feel very good and calm.

worried about protracted withdrawal, reinstatement not improving....

Still looking for a psychiatrist or doctor in California who could help, don't want to do this alone. Don't really want to make my own liquids since there is a liquid pharmaceutical available.

Dont think I trust the scale to be accurate enough as i get lower, where tiny changes could have large impacts.

But the past 3 months some days have also been some of the best days of my life. I see so much beauty in little things, my sense of awe and excitement about life is returning.

welcome to the forum, im glad that you found it! its great that youve had good days, surely a promising sign! i wish you the best of luck on your tapering journey!

12 hours ago, peterson said:

thank you Sarahmc,

Today im already feeling better than yesterday. I plan to stabilize at 3mg for 2 months, then I think I will switch to liquid and try doing the micro taper at 10%. Does this sound like a good plan?

I'm glad you had a relatively good day yesterday @peterson. There will likely be ups and downs on the road to stabilization, so try not to get frustrated or upset if things get worse again before they get better. This is almost always a non-linear process.

I find that it's really best not to attach concrete timelines to these things, like "I'll hold for 2 months to stabilize." Just tell yourself that you'll hold for as long as you need to feel stable -- could be less than 2 months, or could be more. One of the most common ways we see people getting into trouble with their taper is when they start tapering too quickly again after a crash because they think they "should" have been stable by a particular time. It's important to listen to your body and take things slow.

As Chippy said, the 10% taper is also the max we suggest, and many people find they need to go slower, especially at lower doses. Again, this is all a process of listening to your body and exercising a LOT of patience. But you will get there.

17 hours ago, Chippy said:

tablets vary alot from one to another, as I am sure you have found out!

no i did not know that! they usually weigh .130 on my scale, but i always weigh the dose anyway so it hasn't mattered. But this is good to know going forward.

Today had a great period then slightly down then back up again. but again improved since yesterday and symptoms around 2/10.

I just worry about delayed withdrawal, why does that seem to happen?

And is there any strategy to weighing more accurately? The scale is very accurate to .00 but to .000 it is finicky.

Thanks everyone for your support

On 9/12/2026 at 4:03 AM, peterson said:

Today had a great period then slightly down then back up again. but again improved since yesterday and symptoms around 2/10.

This is great to read :)

On 9/12/2026 at 4:03 AM, peterson said:

I just worry about delayed withdrawal, why does that seem to happen?

No one knows the answer to this unfortunately

On 9/12/2026 at 4:03 AM, peterson said:

And is there any strategy to weighing more accurately? The scale is very accurate to .00 but to .000 it is finicky.

Generally keeping the unit on a flat level surface away from windows and a breeze is best. I always suggest putting the calibration weight on the scales and then zero/tar them again, then weigh the dose. I find it loads the table of the scales and makes it a little more accurate.

7 hours ago, Chippy said:

This is great to read :)

No one knows the answer to this unfortunately

Generally keeping the unit on a flat level surface away from windows and a breeze is best. I always suggest putting the calibration weight on the scales and then zero/tar them again, then weigh the dose. I find it loads the table of the scales and makes it a little more accurate.

okay thanks chippy!

Hello,

Im ready to start tapering again, have been stable with 0/10 symptoms for about a week. wanting to switch to a diy liquid but am worried about doing it right. So I have some questions.

Do I need to do a cross taper if it's home made? and if so isn't it very hard to weigh the pills accurately at such small doses? feel like I'd have some variability.

And for the liquid is the medication soluble but the fillers not? what are the particles in the suspension?

And let me confirm my process is correct: So my plan is to weigh half a pill 5mg to always get the same weight, crush and dissolve in 5ml water, draw out 3ml and consume, throw away excess. Ill make new stuff every day. And I can do this all the way down to zero without having to make a more diluted solution?

I plan to do a semi micro taper, 3-2.7 mg over 2 weeks, then hold for 2 more weeks. This is how I did 5mg to 4mg and then to 3mg and it went very smoothly with minimal symptoms.

Thanks everyone!

9 hours ago, peterson said:

Hello,

Im ready to start tapering again, have been stable with 0/10 symptoms for about a week. wanting to switch to a diy liquid but am worried about doing it right. So I have some questions.

Do I need to do a cross taper if it's home made? and if so isn't it very hard to weigh the pills accurately at such small doses? feel like I'd have some variability.

And for the liquid is the medication soluble but the fillers not? what are the particles in the suspension?

And let me confirm my process is correct: So my plan is to weigh half a pill 5mg to always get the same weight, crush and dissolve in 5ml water, draw out 3ml and consume, throw away excess. Ill make new stuff every day. And I can do this all the way down to zero without having to make a more diluted solution?

I plan to do a semi micro taper, 3-2.7 mg over 2 weeks, then hold for 2 more weeks. This is how I did 5mg to 4mg and then to 3mg and it went very smoothly with minimal symptoms.

Thanks everyone!

realized I should have tagged some people @SarahMc @Chippy thanks again in advance

13 hours ago, peterson said:

Hello,

Im ready to start tapering again, have been stable with 0/10 symptoms for about a week. wanting to switch to a diy liquid but am worried about doing it right. So I have some questions.

This is great news :) You may want to consider holding a little longer just to check things are finally settled down. Waves and windows.....

13 hours ago, peterson said:

Do I need to do a cross taper if it's home made? and if so isn't it very hard to weigh the pills accurately at such small doses? feel like I'd have some variability.

Yes I would definitely do a crossover taper. Details in the link: Preparing Doses for Tapering - Weighing & DIY Liquids

13 hours ago, peterson said:

And for the liquid is the medication soluble but the fillers not? what are the particles in the suspension?

It's a suspension so essentially you have to give the fluid a good shake then draw as quickly and consistently as you can. Some use a supension fluid or add maple syrup to the mix to help. Most don't feel the need to.

The particles are fillers from the pill.

13 hours ago, peterson said:

And let me confirm my process is correct: So my plan is to weigh half a pill 5mg to always get the same weight, crush and dissolve in 5ml water, draw out 3ml and consume, throw away excess. Ill make new stuff every day. And I can do this all the way down to zero without having to make a more diluted solution?

I think weighing the tablet first is a very good idea. Yes your approach is fine. You will be making a 1:1 ratio solution. Standard is 1:2. You can and will likley need to make a more dilute solution as you get lower.

13 hours ago, peterson said:

I plan to do a semi micro taper, 3-2.7 mg over 2 weeks, then hold for 2 more weeks. This is how I did 5mg to 4mg and then to 3mg and it went very smoothly with minimal symptoms.

We suggest a max of 10% every month. Some need to go much much slower. A test drop would be best imo, perhaps try 2% and see how you go. You need to work out how much you can comfortably taper in a month.

You can also reduce using a hyperbolic taper plan. Contact one of us and we can send you some suggestions, either way the body sets the pace not a schedule.

If you want to try a micro taper here is some information on this. Micro Tapering

Many find a Brass Monkey slide effective. You could do 4% as an example (less if needed), so 1% per week and then 2 week hold. Nice thing here is you could can do the first small drop and see how you feel, you can pause at any point. I think most end up getting a rhythm going, everyone is different and you will work it out. The most important thing is to not go too quickly. It's not a race, and the lower you go the more heavy lifting the dose is doing, so the reductions will likley need to be smaller. Better to be stable and tapering than rush off and end up in pwd.

Tapering Information

On 9/21/2026 at 1:08 AM, Chippy said:

This is great news :) You may want to consider holding a little longer just to check things are finally settled down. Waves and windows.....

Yes I would definitely do a crossover taper. Details in the link: Preparing Doses for Tapering - Weighing & DIY Liquids

It's a suspension so essentially you have to give the fluid a good shake then draw as quickly and consistently as you can. Some use a supension fluid or add maple syrup to the mix to help. Most don't feel the need to.

The particles are fillers from the pill.

I think weighing the tablet first is a very good idea. Yes your approach is fine. You will be making a 1:1 ratio solution. Standard is 1:2. You can and will likley need to make a more dilute solution as you get lower.

We suggest a max of 10% every month. Some need to go much much slower. A test drop would be best imo, perhaps try 2% and see how you go. You need to work out how much you can comfortably taper in a month.

You can also reduce using a hyperbolic taper plan. Contact one of us and we can send you some suggestions, either way the body sets the pace not a schedule.

If you want to try a micro taper here is some information on this. Micro Tapering

Many find a Brass Monkey slide effective. You could do 4% as an example (less if needed), so 1% per week and then 2 week hold. Nice thing here is you could can do the first small drop and see how you feel, you can pause at any point. I think most end up getting a rhythm going, everyone is different and you will work it out. The most important thing is to not go too quickly. It's not a race, and the lower you go the more heavy lifting the dose is doing, so the reductions will likley need to be smaller. Better to be stable and tapering than rush off and end up in pwd.

Tapering Information

Okay sounds good. I'm holding for another week or so, if it goes well I'll crossover, then go from there. Ive got the RELEASE even slower guidelines to go off as a rough guide, but mostly ill just listen to my symptoms.

Also im just pretty worried about crossing over, and about getting the math right!

Upon more accurate calculation now I know Im at 2.85mg at a weight of .037g.

So for crossover ill go .028g+.70ml for one week, .019g+1.39ml for one week, .009g+2.16ml for a week, then finish crossover at 2.85ml.

Hi peterson,

Hope all goes well with your transition to liquid. I did it just a couple of months ago. It was successful, although a little bit bumpy. I am on paroxetine, so different med to you.

The RELEASE guidelines are quite a bit too fast for me, even the "slower" drops.

You're doing the right thing listening to your symptoms.

I won't try and double check your maths.

I'll leave that to someone with a maths brain. What dilution ratio are you using?

Best wishes

Wombat

1 hour ago, peterson said:

Okay sounds good. I'm holding for another week or so, if it goes well I'll crossover, then go from there. Ive got the RELEASE even slower guidelines to go off as a rough guide, but mostly ill just listen to my symptoms.

Sounds like a plan

1 hour ago, peterson said:

Also im just pretty worried about crossing over, and about getting the math right!

Upon more accurate calculation now I know Im at 2.85mg at a weight of .037g.

So for crossover ill go .028g+.70ml for one week, .019g+1.39ml for one week, .009g+2.16ml for a week, then finish crossover at 2.85ml.

Just one step at a time.

I make your crossover to look like this:

Pill

0.037g

Wk1 0.028g (Rounded up)

Wk2 0.019g (Rounded up)

Wk3 0.009g (Rounded Down)

Wk4 0

Liquid

2.85ml

Wk1 0.71ml (Rounded down as the pill was rounded up for this week)

Wk2 1.42ml (Rounded down as the pill was rounded up for this week)

Wk3 2.14ml (Rouded up as you rounded down the pill for this week)

Wk4 2.85ml

1 hour ago, Wombat said:

I'll leave that to someone with a maths brain. What dilution ratio are you using?

1:1 xxxx

9 hours ago, Wombat said:

Hi peterson,

Hope all goes well with your transition to liquid. I did it just a couple of months ago. It was successful, although a little bit bumpy. I am on paroxetine, so different med to you.

The RELEASE guidelines are quite a bit too fast for me, even the "slower" drops.

You're doing the right thing listening to your symptoms.

I won't try and double check your maths.

I'll leave that to someone with a maths brain. What dilution ratio are you using?

Best wishes

Wombat

Thanks @Wombat , glad it worked for you! Good to know I may need to go even slower than RELEASE. Im in school at the moment so have no problem going as slow as necessary to have little symptoms. Sometimes when tapering I have gotten hyperfocus that I'm not sure if it's the upper part of a mood swing or my regular nondrug brain coming back.... either way it helps with studying on occasion.

7 hours ago, Chippy said:

Sounds like a plan

Just one step at a time.

I make your crossover to look like this:

Pill

0.037g

Wk1 0.028g (Rounded up)

Wk2 0.019g (Rounded up)

Wk3 0.009g (Rounded Down)

Wk4 0

Liquid

2.85ml

Wk1 0.71ml (Rounded down as the pill was rounded up for this week)

Wk2 1.42ml (Rounded down as the pill was rounded up for this week)

Wk3 2.14ml (Rouded up as you rounded down the pill for this week)

Wk4 2.85ml

Awesome thanks for checking! Don't know if I could do this without this site and your help.

14 hours ago, peterson said:

Awesome thanks for checking! Don't know if I could do this without this site and your help.

Pleasure my friend. Always here for you, let us know how you get on. Treat the crossover like a taper, if things get wobbly (they may well not) just hold rather than plough on through and complete it.

Starting crossover tonight. A little worried mainly just for my cognitive abilities for classes. May not post if all goes well.

Hi peterson,

I understand your being worried. Any changes and we worry it will unbalance us.

Take it nice and slowly, if any wobbles start up, hold for a little bit longer.

Hoping for an easy transition for you.

Wombat

5 hours ago, peterson said:

Starting crossover tonight. A little worried mainly just for my cognitive abilities for classes. May not post if all goes well.

Hope it goes smoothly. Dont assume it won't, it may well! Let us know how you are. And as @Wombat said, take is slowly, no rush.

21 hours ago, Chippy said:

Hope it goes smoothly. Dont assume it won't, it may well! Let us know how you are. And as @Wombat said, take is slowly, no rush.

cool yeah I'm hopeful. Just another step to getting off these things which is encouraging.

Have had some trouble already just getting what I think could be the most accurate dose? tried grinding on paper with spoons and pieces went flying... so am just dissolving the half pill in water and it works after 10 minutes.

Drawing the dose out it settles very quickly, so today I shook it with my thumb over the container then quickly drew out and measured. I think this is probably more accurate than yesterday? There was a lot of sediment in the syringe ~.3ml worth. And then the measuring markings started rubbing off the syringe, but I have 10 so it's okay for now. They're the Baxter Exactamed.

@Chippy or @Wombat you guys run into any of these issues?

Hi peterson,

Of course I should have given you a couple of tips. So sorry.

With the syringe: you can put sticky tape around the barrel covering the numbers and that helps with that. Or clear nail polish. I use sticky tape and it works well.

I actually put my tablet in a medicine cup and use the end of a teaspoon to crush it.

Then add the water. I use a 1:2 ratio. I let it sit for 30 mins.

Before I draw the dose I give it a really good stir because some medicine will float to the bottom.

If it is in a container with a lid you can shake it. I draw quickly, after I have stirred, from around the middle of the cup.

The syringes do deteriorate quite quickly. The rubber seal seems to wear out. Im not sure how many uses it does. But you can tell when it gets harder to use.

1 hour ago, peterson said:

just dissolving the half pill in water and it works after 10 minutes.

Drawing the dose out it settles very

Just checking, are you weighing the half tablet?

Just reread your thread and saw that you are. Good work.

Hope this makes sense.

Wombat

Edited October 6Oct 6 by Wombat