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I've used an SSRI(Lexapro) temporarily(2 long years) to get myself back on track, and now that I'm working out frequently and take nutritional supplements and feel pretty good, I decided it's time to go off the stuff. This will be a log of symptoms that occur during withdrawal for my own records and others' information. Right now is day 3 of half dosage(10mg/day down from 20mg/day).
+ Show Spoiler [Day 1] +
+ Show Spoiler [Day 2] +Highly agitated, minor gastrointestinal discomfort
+ Show Spoiler [Day 3] +Woke up, took multivitamin, magnesium oxide, and lexapro10mg for the third day in a row. 5 minutes later I threw up. Only drinking water now, seems kind of hard to keep down, but haven't thrown up again. Mildly nauseous, diarrhea. Took valium5mg to ease nausea, seems to be working.
Have been able to eat a little bit, not much appetite. Lethargic, likely due to valium but we'll see. Took nap, woke up at night, ate a nice meal, seem to be ok minus some agitation and anxiety.
+ Show Spoiler [Day 4] +Seriously incapacitating nausea and stomach pain this morning. Frequent defecation(i like this word lawl) but no vomiting
+ Show Spoiler [Day 5] +
Out of weed, can't eat. Vomited some water this morning. 5/30
+ Show Spoiler [Whatever Day it is] +
Exercise and weed are a seemingly good combination for battling these symptoms.
+ Show Spoiler [6/06] +
Appetite kind of returning to normal, eating like one decent meal a day. Can't handle greasy or fried foods without throwing up, tho. Was very emotional while playing guitar, close to a crying spell.
June 6, today, marks 2 weeks of having gone from 20->10mg. Honestly at first the withdrawal was horrible, but I'm starting to feel different, for better or for worse, mentally and emotionally. I'm glad I decided to do this at this time, and hope I can continue to move forward. Tomorrow is day one of NO LEXAPRO. I'm sure it will be hard but I think I'm up for it.
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I had been on them from from when I was like 6-12 and I had no symptoms.
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welcome back to the world of cumming in less than an hour.
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edit - wow wrong thread my bad
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Been on and off them for like 6+ years. That shit is so hard to stop, you feel really fucking lousy
Eat magnesium, fish oil, lots of vitamins etc
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On May 25 2009 03:23 esla_sol wrote:
welcome back to the world of cumming in less than an hour.
lol so true. beside emotional numbness that is like the worst thing with SSRI
I wonder why they even give ppl these meds when it's so hard to quit taking them
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On May 25 2009 03:23 esla_sol wrote:
welcome back to the world of cumming in less than an hour.
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United States3824 Posts
My desire to have sex never really came back after getting of Fluoxotine in High School
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Wow i love how they prescribed you these knowing you would have withdrawal troubles.
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ive been on 10mg a day for a year or so, took like 5mg for a week, just stopped completely. Honestly I didn't feel much change besides the side effects during, while coming down and after having stopped taking lexapro. I dont know wtf these drugs are supposed to do.
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On May 25 2009 04:01 ghermination wrote:
Wow i love how they prescribed you these knowing you would have withdrawal troubles.
There are no medicines that have no side effects in 100% of people. In fact, all prescription medicines come with a laundry list of reported side effects, the vast majority of which occurred in very few people but are listed anyway. The entire point is you weigh the benefits against the costs and decide for yourself, knowing full well that you are incurring some risk (side effect/potential withdrawal) by taking them. If you expect prescriptions or any medical treatment for that matter to be flawless, without side effects and without risk you might as well forgo ever visiting a doctor.
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On May 25 2009 04:26 zulu_nation8 wrote:
ive been on 10mg a day for a year or so, took like 5mg for a week, just stopped completely. Honestly I didn't feel much change besides the side effects during, while coming down and after having stopped taking lexapro. I dont know wtf these drugs are supposed to do.
I think lexapro is supposed to make the serotonin in your brain release more frequently. Or stay active longer... EDIT: They stop serotonin from being reuptaken to lengthen the amount of time it's active. Idea being that if you have an unusually low amount of serotonin, you can at least use what you have for longer. Obviously with side effects.
Anti-depressants in general are pretty sketch.
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How Ironic. I just came off remeron like a couple months ago.. Withdrawals were terrible. After having too much anxiety and shit in my day to lo day life, and not eaing nearly enough, they made me go on Celexa. I tried celexa for 1 days and the side effects from starting were fucking awful. Felt like I was dying. I expected some side-effects but this was hell. People say it was because they started me on the main dosage instead of working my way up to it, and that may be part of it. Shitty doctors...
Anyway, I've stopped taking it and am now on a benz for short term relief of my anxiety so I can eat and sleep and such. It's working amazingly, and it should keep me stable until my psychiatric appointment on thursday to discuss SSRIs or other long term solutions.
Goodluck with the withdrawals. It's tough... Way harder than people can imagine.
You don't feel the drug effect you when you take it. But when you take it away, it feels like your body is breaking. 
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intrigue
Washington, D.C9933 Posts
On May 25 2009 05:25 Chef wrote:Show nested quote +On May 25 2009 04:26 zulu_nation8 wrote:
ive been on 10mg a day for a year or so, took like 5mg for a week, just stopped completely. Honestly I didn't feel much change besides the side effects during, while coming down and after having stopped taking lexapro. I dont know wtf these drugs are supposed to do. I think lexapro is supposed to make the serotonin in your brain release more frequently. Or stay active longer... EDIT: They stop serotonin from being reuptaken to lengthen the amount of time it's active. Idea being that if you have an unusually low amount of serotonin, you can at least use what you have for longer. Obviously with side effects. Anti-depressants in general are pretty sketch.
really?? is that why lexapro is an SSRI, and why SSRI stands for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor? lol
do you have anything that resembles an informed opinion on why antidepressants are 'pretty sketch'? what are some exceptions, if you claim this only 'in general'? people are explained the potential benefits and somewhat guess-and-check methodology for finding the right cocktails, and then explained the potential side effects. weighing risks/benefits and deciding whether or not to use them is the patient's responsiblity, and claiming ignorance of side effects does not reflect poorly on the drug.
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On May 25 2009 03:23 esla_sol wrote:
welcome back to the world of cumming in less than an hour.
wat??
@OP
"Serotonin is not only found in animals, but also in many mushrooms and plants, including fruits and vegetables." - wiki
maybe u should try eating more of those to increase ur serotonin lvls? but then again im not so sure if that would help because it might not stay serotonin once you ingest it
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Home remedies for nausea anyone?
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8748 Posts
i like to recline in dark room with a cool washcloth on my forehead when im nauseated. i put on some music that i listen to a lot (relaxing/predictable). as for getting rid of the nausea... no idea
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bump for 420 views. it seems marijuana is the best nausea suppressant & short term mood relief available, but i'm worried about when i run out, if i will feel worse than before.
[edit] not worried enough not to smoke. this sucks.
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i think i can say for certain lexapro has done nothing to to me, I feel the exact same now after stopping as I did before I started taking it.
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On May 26 2009 03:38 Duke wrote:
Home remedies for nausea anyone?
The only thing I know that decreases nausea is weed.
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On May 31 2009 04:34 zulu_nation8 wrote:
i think i can say for certain lexapro has done nothing to to me, I feel the exact same now after stopping as I did before I started taking it.
That happens, SSRI's have a significant effect on a pretty decent percentage of users but not nearly everyone, you're just gonna have to try alternative ones, like MOA's, or Tricyclic medicine, they still have a decent chance of working. The reason doctors usually start with SSRI's is because they have the mildest side effects and are the least dangerous unlike the other ones which are lethal in overdose I believe. The chance of another medicine working is pretty large though and when you find one that does you'll feel great again.
Also if you are depressed you might want to consider, (cognitive) behavioral therapy or interrelational therapy from a psychologist, which are as effective as medicine. Though the best treatment for depression is both medicine and therapy, which have even better effects since you're dealing with both the cognitive and biological aspects of depression. The beauty of these therapies is that they decrease the chance of getting depression again by a great deal, unlike medicine.
I actually wrote a paper on this last month, too bad it's in Dutch.
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translate it to english please
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Dude it's like 2000 words and mostly stuff about conducting research anyway, the important parts are summarized in my post.
If you have a social sciences faculty near you you might want to check their library for Abnormal Psychology (I think that's what it's called, by Nolen-Hoeksema, 2007), namely the chapter called Mood Disorders which provides great insight.
One more thing about therapy: The reason why it's so useful is because if you have depression you often engage in self destructive thought patterns, which can be fixed through therapy. Don't ever consult a psychoanalyst about depression by the way, psychoanalysis hardly does anything for depression, not to mention it takes ages while CGT/IRT takes about 6-12 weeks to have noticable effects.
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Yeah about the sketchy thing: I don't think the medicine is regarded at all sketchy, just the way monoamine systems are affected in depression. You can't predict/test which antidepressant is going to work so the best way is just to start off with SSRI's and wait 2 weeks at which point you should start seeing effects. In any case it's not really fair to condemn anti depressants because the way they effect the brain is pretty clear.
The only sketchy 'anti depressant' I know of is ECT (electroconvulsive therapy), which is hypothesised to reset the neurotransmitters I believe. Anyway you only have to worry about ECT if you're very severely depressed and medicine/therapy has no effects on you.
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On May 25 2009 05:21 Ingenol wrote:Show nested quote +On May 25 2009 04:01 ghermination wrote:
Wow i love how they prescribed you these knowing you would have withdrawal troubles. There are no medicines that have no side effects in 100% of people. In fact, all prescription medicines come with a laundry list of reported side effects, the vast majority of which occurred in very few people but are listed anyway. The entire point is you weigh the benefits against the costs and decide for yourself, knowing full well that you are incurring some risk (side effect/potential withdrawal) by taking them. If you expect prescriptions or any medical treatment for that matter to be flawless, without side effects and without risk you might as well forgo ever visiting a doctor.
Yeah but the efficacy of these meds have been widely discussed. They have gotten lower success rates than placebo against depression as well in studies
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On May 31 2009 04:34 zulu_nation8 wrote:
I feel the exact same now after stopping as I did before I started taking it.
This.
SSRI:s don't solve shit, they just cover up symptoms. The idea that a single transmittor substance like serotonin controls your well-being without outside influence is quite retarded in fact.
Working out, being in love and swimming in the ocean also boosts your serotonin levels.
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On May 31 2009 04:47 Frits wrote:Show nested quote +On May 31 2009 04:34 zulu_nation8 wrote:
i think i can say for certain lexapro has done nothing to to me, I feel the exact same now after stopping as I did before I started taking it. That happens, SSRI's have a significant effect on a pretty decent percentage of users but not nearly everyone, you're just gonna have to try alternative ones, like MOA's, or Tricyclic medicine, they still have a decent chance of working. The reason doctors usually start with SSRI's is because they have the mildest side effects and are the least dangerous unlike the other ones which are lethal in overdose I believe. The chance of another medicine working is pretty large though and when you find one that does you'll feel great again. Also if you are depressed you might want to consider, (cognitive) behavioral therapy or interrelational therapy from a psychologist, which are as effective as medicine. Though the best treatment for depression is both medicine and therapy, which have even better effects since you're dealing with both the cognitive and biological aspects of depression. The beauty of these therapies is that they decrease the chance of getting depression again by a great deal, unlike medicine. I actually wrote a paper on this last month, too bad it's in Dutch.
I don't know if you know about this, but there was a huge meta-review on SSRI efficacy that came out like 1-2 years ago. It gained alot of media attention and was a collection of all trials on the most basic SSRI:s that had been made like in the last 10 years.
Anywho there was some quite disturbing results of the meta-review. First of all the medicine (different SSRI:s) was less effective than both placebo and psychotherapy in a vast majority of cases.
Second of all, the medical companies that manufacture the medicines, manipulated stats and results in order to make the medicine look better.
Anti-depressants are lousy imo. Our environment and the way we deal with it is what causes depression, the serotonin-theory (yes it's a theory) is just a result of this interaction with your surroundings, and just boosting those levels won't make your life better. This medical paradigm in psychiatry sucks imo, it lacks perspective and tries to treat people like you'd treat someone with a physical wound. It's just not the same.
I have written papers on the history of psychiatry and modern day psychiatry is a result of an over-medicalized society. Kids are prescribed Lexapro, Zoloft, Ritalin, Concerta more and more. It's sickening imo.
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On May 31 2009 05:00 Frits wrote:
Don't ever consult a psychoanalyst about depression by the way, psychoanalysis hardly does anything for depression, not to mention it takes ages while CGT/IRT takes about 6-12 weeks to have noticable effects.
Ok this is a bit wrong though. Just because you can't easily measure the effects of psychoanalysis like you somewhat can with CBT, it doesn't mean there aren't positive effects. This is important to keep in mind. Feelings, changes in moods, thoughts, subtile things like these are impossible to measure in a quantitative scientifical way imo.
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EPT
