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. :(
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. 💙