Long term withdrawal effects of SSRI (Lexapro)

Hi All

I was wondering if anyone has any advice for repairing the damage after taking an SSRI.

In my case I was taking Lexapro 10mg for roughly 18 months-2 years, I weaned off had the brain zaps, etc, which went away. However, about 2-3 months later I started with chronic insomnia and intense muscle jolts at night (this is not like your usual just-fallen-asleep-and-dreamt-I-was-falling sort of jolt, these occur right before sleep and they probably occur while I'm asleep also), I get barely any sleep these days and it's really taking a toll on me mentally and probably eventually it will manifest itself physically.

I have tested high for mercury but I'm starting to wonder if the symptoms were from a latent SSRI withdrawal and my brain is trying to regenerate the serotonin systems, if so, does anyone have any advice for long term withdrawal symptoms. Has anyone else experienced a delayed withdrawal issue?

I've been reading interesting some stuff about over active glutamate system but it all ends in "treat it with this other horrible drug". One suggestion is "Lamotrigine", could an alternative to that be lithium orotate?

Oh, and is raising serotonin, say with 5-htp or SAM-e, a bad idea?

Cheers

Hi,

Some amino acids to look into, sorry cant tell you what to take or which can be used with each other. I just started playing with these type of aminos.

GABA
5-HTP
L-Tryptophan
L-Tyrosine
DLPA

http://www.encognitive.com/files/DLPA%20for%20Chronic%20Pain%20&%20Depression.pdf

Also please be careful with amino acids, this can have a very positive effect on the mind and also negative effect. Start slow and monitor your mood.

iherb.com reviews are also a good start to see what real people are saying about this types of aminos.

Hypnic jerks. Iodine from bladderwrack seems to trigger them for me, from my research an electrolite imbalance and stress are major causes. I have been getting them for the last 3-4 days and they can prevent me from sleep all night, yesterday I drank some glasses of wine and I could sleep, it was fragmented but I got like 9 hours, I know its not a long term cure, but insomnia causes me major anxiety.

I read something about drinking a sports drink like gatorade before sleep can help, also baking soda (did not work for me) for alkalinizing. Benzos definitely works in short term but I read they also can trigger these jerks, I'd rather use alcohol.

MikeBison wrote:Hypnic jerks. Iodine from bladderwrack seems to trigger them for me, from my research an electrolite imbalance and stress are major causes. I have been getting them for the last 3-4 days and they can prevent me from sleep all night, yesterday I drank some glasses of wine and I could sleep, it was fragmented but I got like 9 hours, I know its not a long term cure, but insomnia causes me major anxiety.

I read something about drinking a sports drink like gatorade before sleep can help, also baking soda (did not work for me) for alkalinizing. Benzos definitely works in short term but I read they also can trigger these jerks, I'd rather use alcohol.

iodine negative side effects could be from poorly functioning adrenals. research adrenal miracle mix.. sounds like it could help you, hulda clarke i think said something about the adrenal miracle mix being able to re-establish your electrolyte balance.

emergen-c makes a product called electro-mix that also is an electrolyte fuel.. but i'd opt for adrenal miracle mix first to see how you do for a week or two, then try iodine again.

MikeBison wrote:Hypnic jerks. Iodine from bladderwrack seems to trigger them for me, from my research an electrolite imbalance and stress are major causes. I have been getting them for the last 3-4 days and they can prevent me from sleep all night, yesterday I drank some glasses of wine and I could sleep, it was fragmented but I got like 9 hours, I know its not a long term cure, but insomnia causes me major anxiety.

I read something about drinking a sports drink like gatorade before sleep can help, also baking soda (did not work for me) for alkalinizing. Benzos definitely works in short term but I read they also can trigger these jerks, I'd rather use alcohol.

Look into Magnesium Chloride and the Bob Beck Brain Tuner. Use no: 6 on the device for your sleep.

Here is a great blog about Chlorella, referring to the amino acids within. http://rickysmedicalblog.wordpress.com/2012/05/06/chlorella/

sanderson wrote:

MikeBison wrote:Hypnic jerks. Iodine from bladderwrack seems to trigger them for me, from my research an electrolite imbalance and stress are major causes. I have been getting them for the last 3-4 days and they can prevent me from sleep all night, yesterday I drank some glasses of wine and I could sleep, it was fragmented but I got like 9 hours, I know its not a long term cure, but insomnia causes me major anxiety.

I read something about drinking a sports drink like gatorade before sleep can help, also baking soda (did not work for me) for alkalinizing. Benzos definitely works in short term but I read they also can trigger these jerks, I'd rather use alcohol.

iodine negative side effects could be from poorly functioning adrenals. research adrenal miracle mix.. sounds like it could help you, hulda clarke i think said something about the adrenal miracle mix being able to re-establish your electrolyte balance.

emergen-c makes a product called electro-mix that also is an electrolyte fuel.. but i'd opt for adrenal miracle mix first to see how you do for a week or two, then try iodine again.

Thanks for your response, the problem I had with vitamin C (sodium ascorbate) is that seemed to deplete me from copper, zinc, or both, I experimented eyebrow loss and reduced ejaculation in just 3 weeks of use, I'm afraid to try it again, I was using like 4 grams daily, maybe I'll try lowering dose.

At this moment I've stopped iodine and jerks are gone.