Lucas

  • Started Lexapro: 2014
  • Attempts to Quit: Four in total, 3 of them followed by reinstatement due to severe withdrawal symptoms.

Withdrawal Attempts:

  1. First attempt: Severe anxiety and OCD.
  2. Second attempt: Anhedonia, OCD, anxiety, lack of hunger/thirst, sexual dysfunction.
  3. Third attempt: Same symptoms as before, plus vision issues and weight loss. Reinstated — symptoms reduced.

4. Fourth attempt

2018: Reduced dose from 20 mg to 10 mg to ease the process of quitting. Developed PAWS (Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome). Remained sick for two years and saw several neurologists. Eventually stabilized, but I was terrified of trying to quit again.

Feb 2022

I quit due to worsening adverse reactions (mostly PSSD symptoms). I tapered over four weeks, but it felt like a cold turkey withdrawal.
I developed intense symptoms:

  • Anhedonia, apathy, sexual dysfunction
  • Severe cognitive impairment, insomnia
  • Emotional numbness — no romantic feelings, no emotions at all, no anxiety or fear
  • Severe dysautonomia: low body temperature, balance issues, reduced skin sensitivity, blood pressure issues
  • Full-blown PSSD:
  • Blurry vision, tinnitus, visual snow


At the 2-year mark, symptoms remained severe but some recovery had occurred:

  • ~60–80% recovery of empathy, enjoyment of music, motivation for work, skin sensitivity, some libido, and creative thinking — things I didn’t even have while on Lexapro
  • I could laugh again
  • But I still felt emotionally numb — couldn’t feel anxiety yet. My frontal lobe still felt like it was healing
  • Vision improved slightly — colors appeared more vivid during rare “windows” of clarity
  • Still suffered from severe dysautonomia, brain fog, DPDR, and a “blank mind” — but signs of improvement were there

Major Crash from Multivitamin & Ginseng (2024):

I took a multivitamin with ginseng (knew about crashes but didn’t realize what this was — it was accidental) during a dysautonomia episode. The symptoms worsened drastically:

  • Extreme depression, anhedonia, slowed thinking, blank mind, motor function issues, severe memory loss and vision problems