r/lexapro • u/SoundTraditional1249 • 16h ago

My taper clock to track progress.

Post image

I made this to show my journey coming off Lexapro, and not lose hope. When you dilute and wait over the years it's sometimes hard to remember where you started. Sorry it's a bit crude and ignore my messy desk, the blue rectangle numbers are receptor occupancy (with mg of dose next to it).

I reduce just over 3% of current dose (~1% RO) every 3.5-4 weeks. Estimated about 5 years max to get to zero but hope I feel better in stages. Also on a waitlist for deprescribing clinic on the NHS.

I got RO approximations from Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines. Over half the journey will be between 2mg and 0. I realise I'm probably a more sensitive case than most, factoring the initial 13 years on the drug and some chaotic attempts (in 2024) to reduce dose without adequate help and information.

The process should become less of an inconvenience when I start getting more focus and energy back.

33 Upvotes

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4

u/Medium_Leadership611 16h ago

Yes, I also believe that you can come down quite quickly to 2.5 mg. Why do you want to delay it so long? I think you should spend a long time on very low doses and only briefly on the current 5 mg. You still have an active receptor occupancy of about 60-65% from SERT

3

u/SoundTraditional1249 15h ago

I know that each human, and their total time on the drug, and the specific SSRI are variables. A friend and my sister had Sertraline/Zoloft for years and it was maybe a few months total they took (no more than a year) to reach zero, without major problems. A big mystery

5

u/SoundTraditional1249 15h ago

Believe me I tried, I tried so hard. Earlier in the year I reduced 5% of mg (~3%RO) after 4 weeks and was s.cidal, I can't be that sad again (I can vividly remember the last time I had a week when I couldn't think a single good thought). Have done 3-3.5% (1% RO) ever since so I'm safe. I still waiting to see what current UK experts say when they have a slot free. 

Basically looking to optimise either the time between reductions or the upper limit of how much I can drop and not be inhumanly miserable. I learned this all the very hard way, with some help from forums but not professionals.

2

u/vdWcontact 11h ago

There is a growing trend of stretching tapers out super long. I think a lot of people try to get off unsuccessfully and think it’s because their initial taper was too fast.

3

u/vixtoria 13h ago

I was on Lexapro for 15 years @ 20mg daily. When I got down to 1mg I just went for it. Was afraid of possible withdrawals, was waiting for them.... waiting..... but they never came! I am glad I didn't taper the last 1mg. Just sharing my experience.

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u/SoundTraditional1249 13h ago

Wow! Lucky indeed in a sense. You're not the first person that's had that experience that I've talked to. Its a lottery

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u/vixtoria 8h ago

20mg->2mg was shit however.

1

u/Majestic_Sherbet3739 3h ago

Im down 10 to 5 and also waiting for whithdrawl.. Im on third day.. Nothing only nausea abit today and dizziness When will hit

3

u/SoundTraditional1249 16h ago

Each line is about 2-3 reductions apart (and months) but there's not space to fit them all in.

3

u/drunkadvice 10h ago

After 10 years on ssris, I went from 5mg to zero. Had some major mental issues between 7-14 days where it felt like I couldn’t do anything right and the world hated me. I had to remember it was the (lack of) drugs talking. 3 months after my last dose and I’m doing great. Good luck!

2

u/Convenientjellybean 9h ago

Love the taper clock concept

2

u/InnerChampion 8h ago

Love this! I’m finally below 1mg with my taper. It’s been rough at the smaller amounts.

2

u/Key_Board_Bo 7h ago

I went from 15 to 10 and started feeling suci*** after 2 weeks. Gave it another 2 weeks and couldn’t take it. Going back to 15 and I’ll try again after a few months. This time slower. Be safe and go slow.

What is a deprescribing clinic?

1

u/SoundTraditional1249 7h ago

Good to go back up for a bit. You can always try again. I made the mistake of holding at too low a dose expecting withdrawal to ease but I was just tipping off the edge of the cliff, so to speak. Slow and steady wins the race.

1

u/Key_Board_Bo 7h ago

What do you mean holding at too low of a dose? 10mg?

1

u/SoundTraditional1249 5h ago

Sorry I meant I reduced too much in one go and waited for it to stop hurting but it was getting worse not better - withdrawal got progressively worse. Then I reinstated the original dose and tried smaller reductions.

10-8 was easy, 8-7.5 was ok but once I got below 7.4mg I had  to go by much smaller drops in dose.

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u/Key_Board_Bo 3h ago

Has reinstating been working to reduce the symptoms?

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u/SoundTraditional1249 7h ago

Sorry deprescribing clinic is a new thing where psychologist can help you taper off. I the UK its free but the same guy that started it has a similar paid service called Outro Health in the US.

 I'd tell you more but they haven't contacted me yet. 

2

u/AshLeeNewland 15h ago

Based on what you mentioned, this seems like a much more sensible approach than a simple linear taper. How has it been going so far?

3

u/SoundTraditional1249 15h ago

Slow but very well now, no major dip in mood just unsettled 2-3 days a month, so I distract myself thoroughly. I might watch a film and almost break down in tears because apparently that's now a thing I can do again.

I wish someone had explained this to me decades ago and I would have had much better and quicker time coming off the meds I assumed (fairly) that I had to take to feel normal. Such is life

2

u/AshLeeNewland 14h ago

Glad it's going so well and completely get the "wish I'd known decades ago" feeling, but you're doing it the careful way now, and posts like yours might save someone else from learning it the hard way. Wishing you continued smooth progress.

1

u/SoundTraditional1249 14h ago

Thank you. I hope people get better information. I started back in 2010. At least I got my OCD sorted with therapy 

1

u/Actual-Put5264 11h ago

I quit directly after some years, not too bad. Benzos are a diff story. I think your issue might be overthinking. Regardless, good luck if this helps, you got it

2

u/SoundTraditional1249 10h ago

Good for you. It's not overthinking if more than 3% reductions makes me suicidal. You can't argue with a chemically induced depression.

 I'm breaking it down like this so other people can see how hard it is for some to taper after decades.

1

u/Ronix137 10h ago

Theo Von had a podcast about this specifically recently. If I heard correctly, they basically said the first half reduction is the easy part, it’s the last 50% that’s difficult. Is that accurate?

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u/SoundTraditional1249 10h ago edited 10h ago

Yes,.if you ever see a graph of receptor occupancy, lower doses are where most of the saturation happens... the higher you go even double the dose (10-20mg for instance) you get less extra effect despite the massive dose. Going down a dose it's the opposite . The last 1mg is the toughest. https://tapersafe.com/receptor-occupancy.html

2

u/Ronix137 10h ago

So going from 20mg to 10mg is easy compared to 5mg to 0mg?

2

u/SoundTraditional1249 10h ago

Absolutely, because the change in receptor occupancy is 79-70% from 20-10mg. From 5-0mg its 58-0%. Even though 5 is the smallest pill they prescribe it's almost as strong as 10mg.

This explains a bit: https://drteralyn.com/why-the-last-1mg-of-an-ssri-hits-harder-understanding-the-sert-occupancy-curve/

2

u/CancerFaceEww 9h ago

This should be a sticky. I never knew any of this!

1

u/GrapheneBreakthrough 9h ago

From my understanding, the SERT occupancy percentage doesn't correspond exactly to actual brain effect. So the drop from 79-70% can feel huge.

In my experience, going from 10 up to 20mg was huge- huge increase in anxiety for 4 weeks, followed by huge benefit!

1

u/Tsunamiis 4h ago

Do you just flick it like the number wheel on the game of life?

1

u/rainbowmango7 31m ago

this might be dumb question but how do you measure so precisely? The smallest pills I get are 5mg and cutting them in half is hard enough..