DOSE:

15 mg

oral

Pharms - Escitalopram

(daily)

BODY WEIGHT:

250 lb

Lexapro Withdrawals Cold Turkey After Only Two Weeks

I was sent to a psych ward cuz I was having a panic attack and I didn’t have anymore of my Lorazapam so I called 911. They thought I was going to kill myself but I wasn’t I was just hysterical. At the psych ward they played around with my meds and added Lexapro which I had been on before but I was weaned off of. So I was there for two weeks and when I got discharged I was given my prescriptions, I was on 15 mg Lexapro, which they don’t make a pill for. I went to my pharmacy and they said it wasn’t going through with my insurance because they would only cover one pill for 30 days so they needed a prior authorization with the insurance and the doctor, this could take three to four days. I went home and thought nothing of it because I was only on it for two weeks, boy was I wrong.

The first day with no Lexapro about six hours after when I would have taken it in the morning I got really dizzy, disorientated, and my legs felt weird so I stumbled my way to the couch. After about a half hour I got really nauseous but at this point my legs would not work so I fell off the couch and crawled to the bathroom where I vomited fiercely for about 10-15 minutes. Then I just laid in the bathroom for about a half hour just in case I had to throw-up again because I was still nauseated. When I felt that was over with I crawled back to the couch and laid down just listening to the music channel I had on earlier because I couldn’t operate anything. After awhile of laying on the couch my whole body started hurting and I had to keep my eyes closed because any light I saw would burn my eyes and give me the worst headache I have ever felt.

My phone was right next to me on the edge of the coffee table and I couldn’t even move my arms to answer it because it was ringing a lot. I knew it was my parents because we talk over the phone at least once a day. When I start not answering they know something is up. I’m epileptic by the way so they were probably [thinking I was] in status epilepticus even though since the last time that happened I have gotten the VNS implant that detects seizures and stops them.

After awhile I got a little energy and use of my arm so I grabbed my phone hit the missed call button and called my mom. They were on their way to my apartment. At this point I was barely breathing and I literally thought I was dying. I was pretty delirious too, all I could think of is that I put a load of laundry in the washer last night and I hadn’t gotten it into the dryer and the clothes were going to get moldy, I kept repeating this to my mom I later found out.

My parents got there and called 911. They got there and wanted me to walk to the stretcher, I told them I couldn’t but they were adamant about it. They sat me up stood me up and I tried to walk but my legs were like jello. They basically dragged me to the stretcher and got me on. I don’t really remember the ambulance ride but when I got to the hospital they put me in a wheelchair and put me in the waiting room. They called me for admittance and to see a pre ER doctor who ordered blood tests and a CT scan. I sat in the waiting room slumped over for a long time before anything else happened.

Next I got wheeled over for the CT scan. While I was waiting I tried opening my eyes and they didn’t hurt any more and I was starting to get my strength back. By the time the CT scan was done there was nothing wrong with me. I got back to the waiting room where my parents were and I took out my phone and looked up withdrawal symptoms of cold turkey quitting Lexapro and all my symptoms were there on the websites I looked up. My whole experience was approximately 10 hours of complete agony. I had a three year IV heroin addiction I cold turkeyed and quit I also had a heavy Benzodiazapines addiction for a few years and cold turkeyed and went through those horrible withdrawals but after only two weeks of being on Lexapro the withdrawals were worse than both together.

I got a bed in the ER saw the doctor and told him what I thought the problem was and he said he had to agree with me because all the tests they did came back fine. He gave me my dose of Lexapro and a script for 45 10 mg pills so I would take one and cut one in half. Of course my insurance denied it and buying the script was $110 but my pharmacy has a program where you pay $11 for a year and your scripts only cost $5 so I did that till I see my psychiatrist and I’m going to ask her if she can bump me up to the 20 mg pills so my insurance will cover it. I can’t imagine being on Lexapro for 3 or more years and suddenly stop taking them, the websites I looked up said the longer you are on them the longer the withdrawals will be, could be up to a week.

So that’s my unpleasant time with Lexapro, I hope this helps someone in the future from suddenly stopping their med.

Exp Year: 2016	ExpID: 108293
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 31
Published: Apr 21, 2020	Views: 2,158
[ View PDF (to print) ] [ View LaTeX (for geeks) ] [ Swap Dark/Light ]
Pharms - Escitalopram (304) : Health Problems (27), Addiction & Habituation (10), Medical Use (47), Not Applicable (38)