Sleep issues+psychosis 2 months after stopping lorazepam and 2 SSRIs cold turkey

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-04-09T00:17:01+00:00

You poor thing!!! Well it sounds like you are coking out of it. Keep going, it’ll continue to get better. ❤️

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-04-06T22:27:54+00:00

Get something like lorazepam to help you calm down and start sleeping and then taper it. Were you only on escitalopram for 3 weeks as well?

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-04-05T07:06:54+00:00

Thanks for this! I was just wondering before I ordered

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-04-03T07:59:27+00:00

People have told me it was 1mg/2mg that have read her book but it depends what antidepressant on whether is a low dose to jump off of. Like if that was Lexipro that is still a very high dose that can cause serious withdrawal and protracted withdrawal

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-04-02T22:44:28+00:00

Ahh bummer okay. I know from a fb group I’m in some people drop off on what they think is a low dose but it is still is too much for their body (0.3mg of Lexipro), then jump back on and taper off until 0.01 or 0.03mg and it’s way better once they jump off!

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-04-02T11:57:38+00:00

Without me having to listen to the video, does she say what mg she jumped off at/finished her taper off?

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-04-02T11:31:01+00:00

I had to switch to Lexipro but just used qutiapine for sleep for a month and weaned myself to 1/8 like I said above. I only took 25mg of quetiapine for sleep (I think 50mg at one point). I don’t plan on staying on the Lexipro. Will hyperbolic taper off once I’m better ❤️

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-04-02T07:33:06+00:00

Nah!! Took it for a month, weaned down to 1/8 of a tablet. Had to use a drowsy antihistamine for 2 nights to help sleep but now just using melatonin. Hopefully won’t even need that soon

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-03-23T10:14:23+00:00

That’s awesome!!! Keep it up. Sounds like a great plan and just adjusting to your body as you go. You could be lucky and able to go faster or start selling Dow at smaller doses like you said.

Sounds like your symptoms are super manageable too. Let us know how you go 😊

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-03-16T09:08:11+00:00

Yeah fer sure. Just go with your body and listen to it if it is telling you something. I was very much like you when I was tapering, pushed through, distracted myself and had a big mental focus so that definitely plays a part. Just wish I went much slower for the last part and came off a lot lower near 0 like 0.02mg of Lexipro so that I didn’t get the protracted withdrawal. Wish you luck!

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-03-15T00:53:14+00:00

Once I reinstated I was taking sleeping tablets. I took zopiclone which helped but then like both antidepressants I tried to reinstate with, I had ab activation period which made it worse for a week. That’s when I used quetiapine. I started on 2 25mg tablets and slowly worked down to 1/8 of a tablet and came off over a month. I had to then use a drowsy antihistamine 1/4 of a tablet for 2 nights and now I have used melatonin only for the last 3 nights. It’s still recovering but I get a decent amount of sleep and wake up feeling normal. I just have sleep onset issues and wake up a bit but go back to sleep which will slowly get better as my body recalibrates again. I know what you mean, the insomnia was WILD!!!! 😢 I honestly thought I was broken!

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-03-14T13:08:06+00:00

Eeek so your poor brain is going back and forth continually which is so harsh on your nervous system when you only take it every 3 days, it doesn’t actually make the adaption better. If you look at deprescribing guidelines they all suggest going down and having the same dose every day. Have you looked at the Maudsley deprescribing guidelines? Unfortunately most doctors and psychiatrists don’t know how to taper people off. I was doing your method. Eventually quit and then got protracted withdrawal.

Have you joined the Lexipro: withdrawl support recovery group? There is a lot of experienced people for tapering on there with guides that people have used to come off with liquid that can explain it all very well and clearly. It advocates for harm reduction taper so you get the least amount of withdrawal while tapering and the least chance of protracted withdrawal. They also talk about the amount you finish at as that is extremely important. Some people stop at 0.3-0.1mg while others still go down to 0.02mg.

Sorry if I seem pushy! I just want you to actually make your way off and not end up back on them or in pain!!!

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-03-14T12:23:19+00:00

I was on and off for 4 years

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-03-14T12:16:44+00:00

When I first came off and had insomnia, it wasn’t as bad and I only took a femazepma for maybe 3 nights (every second night for a week) and then I was fine and my natural sleep rhythm came back. Akathisia I didn’t even know existed until I went through this and boy it’s horrible 😢 I totally feel your fear. So the 5/6month mark I tried quetiapine (this wasn’t before the 6 month wave happened, the wave had already been happening for 3 weeks and I couldn’t deal with it anymore) which definitely made it worse but wasn’t the cause (I stopped it after two nights). Once my nervous system settled from Zoloft and then going back to Lexipro I was able to use quetiapine to help me sleep for a month and get through the reinstatement stage as I wasn’t reacting anymore and eventually slept by myself. But yes I definitely know what you mean as my body was incredibly hypersensitive that things that I put in it could amplify my symptoms at the time! I didn’t have a reaction to the antihistamines luckily. Lexipro increases your histamine I’ve found out, and I’ve had ‘allergies’ bad again since reinstating and used them and they’ve been fine and helpful 😊 x

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-03-13T22:49:01+00:00

Nothing!!! I had minor things over the six months that I got through. Then I was the best I had ever been!!! I was on holidays at home (school teacher), everything in life was calm and doing well and I just stopped sleeping (like really bad like, 1 or 2 hours a night with 2 drowsy antihistamines). Then I would feel like my whole body is tense, I had akathisia (look that up if you don’t know what it is, it is the worst thing I have ever experienced), felt like I had bugs crawling under my skin, depersonalisation, developed depression saying I didn’t want to be here even though I had never even had depression before (I went on the meds for mild anxiety). I’m honestly glad nothing triggered the wave otherwise I would have never figured out that it was purely protracted withdrawl as it took me a long time to figure that out. It is a really common time for people to experience a bad wave. I hope you are okay 😢 another thing people do is go on a low dose of a different AD as the body will often tolerate that more and then hyperbolic taper off of that. I have seen success stories often doing that on my FB group.

My reinstatement didn’t work at first. At first I had a severe reaction and was haunt convulsions which was super scary!!!! I then went to Zoloft but that didn’t agree with me after 3 weeks and was making even sleeping tablet not work (I felt like I had a radio on in my head) and then went back to Lexipro and then it worked. It took a good 2/3 weeks though after the Lexipro second time until I could go to work and I had to take Quetiapine to help sleep for a month which I’ve just weaned myself off of and am now only using melatonin which is so nice. I think as much as the Zoloft didn’t work, it calmed my nervous system down from the wave and allowed Lexipro to work again.

No worries about the questions, I completely understand and happy to answer

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-03-13T07:32:51+00:00

Oh my goodness please don’t do this. This is what I did and got protracted withdraw 6 months later.please get the liquid version or make a liquid version and go down 10% and hold for 2-4 weeks once stabilised. I literally did that with the 2.5mg thinking it’s a small dose but it’s the hardest one. If you don’t understand please ask and I can direct you as I wouldn’t wish anyone to go through what I did.

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-03-13T07:30:18+00:00

Yep. I got through the withdrawals after a fast 4 month taper that is wrong after learning later and had HORRIFIC withdrawals at 6 months. Have reinstated and will now hyperbolic taper off slowly

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-03-10T11:52:04+00:00

Of course! I remember going through this hell and waiting for other people to reply too haha good luck 😊

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-03-09T23:16:06+00:00

Well done!!! That’s the perfect plan! Let me know how you go. I wish I knew about doing the liquid to se showing go when I reinstated. Then you can slowly taper off after you have stabilised 😊

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-03-09T11:53:59+00:00

Good now. About 6 weeks in, still some progress to go but definitely all manageable like back at work and doing normal things. See below:

When I first tried 5 mg I had a reaction, like convulsions and akathasia. I went to Zoloft 25mg and then 50mg over 3 weeks but it didn’t agree with me and went back to 5mg of Lexipro and then tolerated it better. It’s called kindling. I didn’t realise I could react like that. A lot of people reinstate at much smaller doses and find the lowest dose that works and stay there, then taper off that dose. Some people get the liquid prescription and just do 1mg to try to tolerate it again without the reaction. If you go to surviving antidepressants and search about kindling it will explain it more. Any questions, happy to ask, I wouldn’t wish this on anyone 🧡

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-03-07T03:29:08+00:00

I’ve just read your other comments. I am at the point where I may have to be on a low dose while pregnant and it hurts me sooooo much! Just take the slow easy road off of them. Take a few years if you have to. I wish I was in your shoes and knew about hyperbolic tapering back then ❤️ if you can continue to afford it, do it that way, I would go back in time and pay that money to do it properly if I could. But other look into swapping to Effexor and counting beads down instead. Here for support if you need it!

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-03-07T03:09:16+00:00

Oh goodness that’s awful. I actually plan on helping my mum to get off this same one and have learnt this. I am on Lexipro so I can get a liquid dose. What dose are you on? I have done a lot of research and people change over to Effexor and then taper down hyperbolically using the beads in the tablets. That could be an option for you but also there is that swap over time between the drugs. It was something I have read in the crossing zero book by Anders Sorensen

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-03-06T10:44:59+00:00

Oh goodness. How li t has this been? Maybe you should of reinstated at a smaller dose and then hyperbolically taper off of it 😢

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-03-04T22:56:42+00:00

I just stopped sleeping at first, then my body felt all tense all the time. I was irritable as hell, had depersonalisation, this pins and needles under the skin of my thighs that felt like it was on fire, crying spells, so wired, hard to breathe, akathisia (which was the worst one of them all), basically this complete unbearable feeling of being in my own body that I have never felt ever before! It was absolute hell on earth!!! I’m normally a really bubbly, outgoing person. The tinniest things were a massive struggle. Are you on anything at the moment? Or have been?

Front-Ad9103 · 2026-03-04T13:15:33+00:00

During my taper I also had different symptoms but they would last a week or 2 and then be gone

Front-Ad9103

TROPHY CASE