Don't let my experience scare you, everyone is different. Sometimes it does take longer than six weeks for them to work. Are you having negative side effects currently? If so I would talk to your doctor about it. If for some reason you don't want to, my only suggestion is take it slooooow. If it was me, I would get a pill cutter and break them into quarters. Take 3 quarters for a week or two+. Then repeat at a half of pill, then with the final quarter. I'm sure there's better ways.
I wish I could offer better advice and I definitely don't want you going to the psych ward again.
I'm not really having any side effects currently. The main reason I don't want to continue on with them is because I just have hesitation when it comes to being reliant on meds and I feel like a lot of the time, the benefits don't outweigh the risks. I know meds like this help tons of people, this is just my opinion. I also don't really like the fact that scientists aren't even aware of how exactly SSRIs work, they just know they do work for some people.
Your advice was very helpful, so thank you. And don't worry, I have absolutely no intention of stepping foot into another ward again...at least for now. Just kidding.
I highly recommend never quitting any neuromodulating medications cold turkey. I also think your taper will potentially be too quick. You've been on it a month. I'd stay at 30 mg for 2 weeks. Then drop to 20 mg for two weeks. 10 mg for two weeks. 5 mg for one week. Crumbs for one week. Yes that does mean you're tapering for longer than you even took the drug.
I don't know if this is even possible with lexapro. But if you can cut it up with a pill slicer and really carefully lower the dose near the end that would be a really good idea. Many people with mental health problems are rapidly on and then rapdily off various medications and it becomes really unclear what's causing their symptoms.
Thanks for your insight. I likely won't quit them cold turkey. That wasn't one of my brightest ideas. I think I'll talk to my psychiatrist about tapering to a lower dose and go from there. 10mg is the therapeutic dose for Lexapro, so I guess a lot of my reluctantance of staying on them is currently because I'm prescribed a higher dose than what is the average dose.
Then again I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, so that likely requires a higher dose. I don't know. All of this is so new and there's a lot of adjusting to do.
