What kind of withdrawal effects have you experienced in coming off an SSRI?

just about anything can be experienced, after all that kind of withdrawal is playing with the brain and the brain controls the body. Tremors, seizures, intestinal issues, memory loss, behavioral abnormalities, all sorts of issues can arise if you stop a ssri to quickly.

Here is a "get off Lexapro" script I put together, since you are already on 5 mg you can skip the first part. The important thing is to do it gradually. That helps prevent the withdrawal problems. Here goes...

The key to getting off Lexapro is to get off it very slowly. It took several weeks for the Lexapro to reach full potency in your system - and the same has to happen when you want to get off it. Of course, stopping cold turkey is very not pleasant and you certainly don't want to do that!

To get off Lexapro, wean yourself to the lowest dose (5mg). If you're on 20mg, cut them in half (to get 10mg) and take those for a couple weeks, then go to the 5mg pills.

After you've been on the 5mg pills for a couple weeks, cut them in half (use a pill cutter for that) and take the half-pills for a couple weeks, then take the half-pills every other day for a couple weeks, then you can stop. This will slowly remove the Lexapro from your system, and help eliminate the possibility of withdrawal problems.

If you wanted to add an extra step at the end, and take the half-pills every third day for a week, you can - but I don't think it's necessary.

I wish you the best of luck :-)

I take welbutrin & I am on it for life. I have a chemical imbalance and welbutrin keeps me normal & sane. I didn't take it for a few days (forgot it) I felt terrible...it was a feeling like watching a machine that runs smooth & consistent all of a sudden starting to miss steps and skip beats...I had no other physical withdrawal symptoms. I never had side effects with welbutrin either but even if I did, the benefits of the medication for me would outweigh the side effects

The only withdrawal effect I had when discontinuing Lexapro was dizziness. It lasted about 2 weeks.

For me it was real weird head zaps, felt like little jolts of electricity...I was also very emotional and had no energy what so ever. I just felt really out of it. I ended up getting back on it and weaning off slowly. That is the best way to get off a anti-depressant...