I usually take:
Wellbutrin 300 mg
Lexapro (SSRI) 30 mg. or even up to 40 mg. as needed
I’ve been on this regimen for a long time now and it works great. As needed is usually pretty frequently. Thing is I went off Lexapro on November 24. So I have been off of it for almost three weeks. 19 days to be exact. I didn’t feel much of anything for a while, but after 2 1/2 weeks, I got hit with a heavy dose of anxiety. I don’t usually experience this sort of thing, but of course I have in the past. The drugs work so well that it seems like do not have much anxiety going on, though others may differ on that. I dated a woman a while ago and she ended it pretty quickly. She said I was really nervous and I was making her nervous. I do some weird movement with my shoulders and I talk in these short, rapid, pressured bursts like I’m on cocaine. Thing was, the whole night of that date, I thought I was calm as an ocean and that is pretty much how I felt. I suppose like most things in life, anxiety is a relative thing. What might be a nervous wreck to one person can be complete calm to another because each person is comparing the person’s state to a different thing.
Anyway, I think those might have been withdrawals I was experiencing. Here are some frequent withdrawals that people commonly report for Lexapro:
- “Brain zaps”
- Tinnitus
- Nausea/gastrointestinal problems
- Insomnia
- Tingling feeling over the whole body
- Itching all over the body, mostly in the face, arms, chest and stomach
- Burning/dry skin on hands and forearms
- Dry tingling mouth
- Headache, sometimes in the upper neck/spine/migraine
- Sinus pressure
- Dilated pupils/blurred vision
- Joint pains/Severe aches and pain all over the body
- Pain in back and hips
- Numbness/Pain in the fingertips
- Parasthesia
- No appetite
- Weight loss
- Fatigue
- Mind feeling blank, spaced out, foggy
- Feeling groggy/Hungover
- Memory loss
- Inability to concentrate
- Disassociation
- Dizziness
- Anxiety/Agitation/Panic attacks
- Out of breath
- Anger, sometimes in explosive outbursts
- Mood swings
- Paranoia/Fear
- Irritability
- Eyes distracted by everything
- Strong urge to cry/Crying jags
- Sadness
Out of all of this stuff, I am only getting the anxiety/agitation. The rest of those symptoms mostly look pretty horrible, and I am glad I am not getting any of that stuff. But I often do not get a lot of the drug or drug withdrawal side effects that are listed. I don’t know, but I often avoid a lot of them. I am not sure what the mechanism is for why some people get this stuff and others don’t.
Most of this stuff applies to any other SSRI’s too, so if you any of you have taken or are taking these things and wish to discuss side effects/withdrawals, go right ahead and be my guest if you are not shy about revealing personal stuff.