Posted by MoonWitch629 on November 8, 2003, at 15:59:43
Has anyone else experienced this? After having been on Prozac and various other SSRIs since 1990, I have been phasing off Lexapro, six weeks at 10 mg, six weeks at 5 mg, and now it has been about 3 weeks since I stopped completely. About 3 weeks after I reduced to 5 mg, I had a period of about two days where I experienced ringing in my ears. Now that I have been off for 3 weeks, I have experienced LOUD ringing in my ears for about 5 days now. It is getting quite annoying and irritating - and making me irritable as well.
I realize this is a relatively minor withdrawal effect, and I am lucky that I am not experiencing rebound depression at this time. To be truthful, this is about the fifth or sixth time I have tried to get off Lexapro/Prozac or various other SSRIs, and this is the *first* time that I really feel I will be able to do it. Nothing like getting pissed off at your shrink to give you motivation to get off the meds! *L* I'm just really, REALLY tired of this ringing. It is so bad that I have to turn the TV up louder to be able to hear it. I'm also experiencing some tingling around my lips. I'm concerned that there may have been some brain damage from being on the SSRIs for so long. Another slightly unusual withdrawal effect I have been experiencing is nightmares. I very, very seldom have had nightmares in the past, but now I'm experiencing them at least every other night. Anyone else with this problem?
Additional info - I am still on Xanax (began taking Xanax in 1990 as well) but phasing off that, too. I have been reducing by 0.5 mg, at 3-week intervals, from 2.5 mg to now 0.5 mg. I had hoped to be completely off the Xanax by the end of next week, but I started on the Xanax because of insomnia, and with the ringing in the ears and nightmares, it has been very difficult for me to get to sleep. So I'm thinking maybe I should continue at 0.5 mg Xanax for a couple more weeks, then reduced to 0.25 mg for 3-4 weeks, to give my brain/body a chance to "relearn" how to get to sleep without any interference with drugs.
Any insight/advice/sympathy would be greatly appreciated.
poster:MoonWitch629
thread:277773
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031105/msgs/277773.html