Hi. I stopped my SSRI at the direction of my psych provider who is switching me to an entirely different class of med.

Was on 10 mg escitalopram for around 6 months. Reduced to 5 mg for 3-4 weeks and felt physically ok (but not mentally but I’m not sure if that was related). I then took some every other day because I was afraid to totally stop with the directions I was given.

But I stopped completely approx 6 days ago as instructed. Felt totally fine at first. But I started getting a bit dizzy around 3 days in. I am still dizzy now and I feel really bad. :((( It is exacerbated by too much head or eye movement. I didn’t even realize that was from the med discontinuation at first until I did some googling at wtf was wrong with me.

I see my provider again tomorrow and am gonna ask her for some help.

But I’d also to know if anything personally helped you all and how long this takes to go away. Because I am going to be struggling at work and it’s not like I can just take several weeks off of work. And my family was coming to stay over next weekend.

I feel a lot better if I am able to keep my head and eyes totally still but it’s not feasible for me to just lay motionless for an unknown period of days/weeks.

Will anything like Dramamine help? I’ve never taken Dramamine before but since it helps with motion sickness you’d think it might be similar??

Thanks all. :(

  • kungen@feddit.nuEnglish
    10·
    2 months ago

    You might want to take a longer taper?

    Otherwise, I’d suggest trying diphenhydramine if you’re on the thoughts of trying some anticholinergics… but dimenhydrinate as you thought shouldn’t hurt to try if that’s more available for you.

    Regardless, it will soon pass with time. Stay strong and good luck!

    • dingusOPEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      So there is like a “non drowsy” form of Dramamine called meclizine or something. Do you have any experience with it?

  • CameronDev@programming.devEnglish
    6·
    2 months ago

    For my partner, she had to taper off even more slowly (Lexapro, same thing your on), we went down to 1/4 tablets and below. For lexapro, and maybe others, you can get liquid versions, which we diluted to get well below the tablet dose. It took a few years, but eventually she just forgot to take it one day.

      • CameronDev@programming.devEnglish
        4·
        2 months ago

        She did it very slowly and carefully. You may be able to go faster, but she wanted to avoid all withdrawal symptoms. We were dropping by 10% every few months, so it takes a long time at that rate.

        Good luck my friend, having only watched it, it doesnt look very pleasant :(

  • the_q@lemmy.zipEnglish
    6·
    2 months ago

    Nothing you can do except go back on it and taper longer. Lexapro is one of, if not the worst anti D to stop.

  • foggyEnglish
    6·
    2 months ago

    Hey yeah they’re called brain zap!

    I recommend exercise. You’ll still have em but you’ll be back to baseline quicker. Fire them neurons homie

    • dingusOPEnglish
      3·
      2 months ago

      Yeah I have heard that online so I went for a walk today. I did ok on the walk but then I stopped at a shop on the way home which involved moving my head and eyes around more and then I had to cross the street which made it even worse. So basically now I feel like I’m dying. I felt a little bit better after resting, but now even very small head movements make it really bad and I am even dizzy and nauseous without even moving. :((

      • foggyEnglish
        3·
        2 months ago

        Yeah it lasted for lime 3 ish weeks for me. I’ve been through it about 4 times.

        You got this.

  • mosEnglish
    3·
    2 months ago

    I would definitely defer to your provider on any medical advice. It’s a withdrawal symptom and everyone is different.

    From my experience, it gets better gradually after a few weeks. The worst is the first week. Just take care of the basics like water, sleep, and light exercise like walking. Get sunlight, talk to friends, and find things you can do that don’t involve a lot of quick movement. I really enjoyed podcasts and music to just relax without having to move my head or eyes around a lot with something like TV or reading.

    It can really suck at first but it will get better. Just be kind to yourself with a change like this, especially since other things in your brain are going to be different.

  • dingusOPEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    EDIT Update to my update lol: So the dizziness started coming back again a bit this evening. I think that what triggers it is too much movement combined with being a bit tired/dehydrated/lower blood sugar. So I have to be kind of a sloth and eat a lot. Uhh well ok I guess lol hopefully I don’t gain too much weight. :pp

    Hey all! Not sure if you wanted an update or not lol.

    So I was in the absolute height of it on Sunday evening onto Monday morning. It was fucking terrible and made me feel so bad/disoriented. But it has been pretty rapidly going away since and I feel like I’m nearly back to normal now! So it took a while to peak, but then after that it seemed to drop off relatively quickly.

    So in total this lasted approx 5 days, with the most uncomfortable part lasting around 1-1.5 days. I know everyone’s experience is different, but I’m just leaving it here if anyone wants to know what sort of thing they can possibly expect. YMMV obviously!

    I hope I can stay dizzy free now lol.

  • paraphrandEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    Oh man. Those are really weird. I think mine faded in a week. Zoloft caused mine. It’s a really weird experience. These days I wonder what receptors are acting out as a result of stopping the medication.

    • dingusOPEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      I read a couple of things online that hypothesized that serotonin affects the vestibular centers of the brain!

  • hazel@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    I’ve weaned off Venlafaxine and Fluoxetine, both from high doses, so I know how brutal the zaps can be. If you taper too abruptly, there really isn’t much you can do except lie down unable to even watch or listen to anything to pass the time. It feels never ending.

    THC & CBD oil made the bed–bound days much more pleasant. If you have access to this, and you don’t find the effects unpleasant under normal circumstances, it can certainly take the edge off. It’s a fine line though, since too much can exacerbate the zaps. Take care.

    You’ve probably read that exercise can improve things. You’ve probably read this resentfully, thinking I can barely make it to the bathroom, let alone out for a walk. It is good advice though, so if you find yourself having a less zappy moment, take that opportunity to force yourself out for a 15 minute walk in a nice straight line down the street or something. It will suck. The rest of the day will suck less though.

    Hydrate. Obvious, but easy to overlook when getting up and going to the kitchen feels perilous. Keep a nice big bottle next to the bed. If you run dry, start zapping, and avoid getting more water because of that, then become dehydrated, it’s a bad spiral. Better to have bladder pain from toilet abstinence than dehydration from kitchen abstinence.

    If you haven’t already, take a look at the taper guide specifically for escitalopram on the Surviving Antidepressants website.

    I’m still on the tail end of my Fluoxetine taper. Still the occasional zaps, but I’m living life again, and feeling much more like myself every day. It will end, and everything will feel possible again. Wishing you all the best. 💙