Innability to stay asleep since I started escitalopram

I have started escitalopram since 2 months and olanzepan (zoxil) since 2 weeks. In the meantime my doctor said i should start slow withdrawal from ativan.... since the escitalopram and olanzepan both have calming qualitie against panic attacs that i used to get everytime I tried to withdraw from benzos. So i did cut down on a rapid withdrawal scheme of my own (my doctor did not agree) 50% /That is from 8-10 mg ativan per day to 4-5 mg ativan per day....

 

At the beginning i was sleeping for 10-12 hours when normally I slept 7 hours. Which was weird but welcomed. Now 2 months later I am sleeping and every 1 hour I wake up fully. Then I have to try and do sleep again but its annoying it makes me incapacitated tp tale care of myself. On total i sleep 7 hours but with the breaks its like 15 hours. I blame the escitalopram cause it caused me to sleep 14 hours or 10 hours then suddenly i was sleeping only 5 hours or 3 hours before I start zoxil. So i dont think its due to zoxil.

 

Any other sufferer here can report such annoying symptom due to escitalopram?

I can’t tolerate it. Even 2.5mg keeps me up all night.

IMO reaching for more Rx drugs is a dead end road that will only lead to more symptoms and issues down the road.  A slow taper is best.  I didn't taper but jumped CT (not recommended).  But I know that the drugs you are taking (SSRI and an anti-psychotic) do not fix, cure or treat anything.  They simply mask the issues (anxiety) and attempt to replace your body's ability to do that for you.  Over time they all stop working at the current dose.  Symptoms are inevitable for most coming off these drugs.  Unfortunately the only way out is through the WD process.  True healing will not happen until you are off of all Rx drugs.  Healing from this drugs isn't pretty, in fact, it's often brutal!  But the other side is Beautiful and so worth the fight!

ThEwAy2,

 

    Thank you for that encouragement.  I am tapering slow and was good for a while but now having insomnia sxs ..woke at 11 and awake all night with heart palps.  I do the CBT and good thinking, good memories but was still awake.  I take no meds.  NAC helps but not with sleep, at least not last night. 

 

    As you taper, and it catches up with you........does it subside or should I hold every time I have a severe sxs?  I've been trying to get an answer to this question but no one answers. 

 

  Thanks.

 

When I did a fast taper (4 weeks) from lexapro, I suffered extreme withdrawals for over a year. One of the major symptoms was insomnia - didn't get more than an hour of sleep at a time, waking up with heart pounding etc, for the next  year. Doctors were not helpful - their one tool is more drugs and I'm not interested. I admit I tried some of the pills offered but just saw more hell for the future and stopped.

Other drugs will not make the symptoms go away for any amount of time that would make them worth taking and you'll have withdrawal from them to deal with also.

The best anyone can do is keep going forward with holds when you need them. Try not to get ahead of yourself.

MessedUpByRx

 

    Thank You Messed.  I'm tapering so very slow.  8% a MONTH!  Frustrating.  But I am in tolerance...so it's so much harder.  I was doing okay at 7% a month but I increased it as of October 23rd and was doing okay.  Last night was just like Cold Turkey almost.  Thanks for the advice. 

 

    Kimmie

Hey, I have a similar story but not positive which med did it. I had an adverse reaction to Zoloft in which I went on amitriptyline and Ativan for (about 2 months use for both), during this time lexapro was introduced and titrated up while amitriptyline and Ativan were reduced (all in a matter of 3 weeks), my sleep slowly became distributed until I could hardly sleep at all when off amitriptyline&ativan and on 20mg lexapro. I got off lexapro right away thinking it was that. But nothing has changed. I wake every hour with no grogginess. I can’t perceive the little sleep I do get, I just recall a dream or realize more time passed than expected so I conclude I’ve slept. It’s been 15 months of this hell and now I’m afraid it will never get better. I’m just trying to hold out hope that it will not last forever.

Lexapro is really hard to recover from. I was having side effects over a year after quitting it. Insomnia was horrible. I never had trouble sleeping until I started Lexapro and that led to doc piling on z drugs and benzos.

Hmmm I had a similar experience but it is difficult to tell which drug did what. I came off Ativan while going on lexapro and during that process lost my sleep. At first I figured it was the lexapro because Zoloft caused me insomnia (which is why I initially went on Ativan) so after 8 weeks of lexapro I CT it. But nothing changed. I used to wake every 20 minutes from a dream state and would fall asleep after 5 min of being up. This would happen for about 4 hours then I couldn’t sleep anymore. Now when I sleep I wake every hour like you but I’m up longer in btwn because I feel wide awake when I wake up. I’m more inclined to believe it was the Ativan causing my insomnia since theres a much greater chance of dependence with Ativan than lexapro.

ThEwAy2,

 

    Thank you for that encouragement.  I am tapering slow and was good for a while but now having insomnia sxs ..woke at 11 and awake all night with heart palps.  I do the CBT and good thinking, good memories but was still awake.  I take no meds.  NAC helps but not with sleep, at least not last night. 

 

    As you taper, and it catches up with you........does it subside or should I hold every time I have a severe sxs?  I've been trying to get an answer to this question but no one answers. 

 

  Thanks.

 

Sorry I didn't see this sooner.  I don't have any experience with tapering, but I do know that most hold when they get hit with severe symptoms and wait for things to even out before making another cut.  Only you know what you can handle in terms of symptoms and intensity.  Unfortunately not much will help with sleep during your taper except another Rx drug, which IMO, you should avoid. CBT-I won't help with your sleep other than to make your sleep conditions more favorable/tolerable. 

 

As you reduce your Benzo, it's sedative effects that normally let you sleep are no longer available and your body doesn't know how to let you sleep right now.  It's all temporary though and after you are completely off, your body knows how to repair the temporary damage caused by the Benzo. 

 

Think of it this way:  GABA is your body's "brake pedal" or what makes you calm and relaxed so you can sleep.  The Benzo you are tapering off of took over the job of being your bodies brake pedal.  Removing the Benzo via a taper, removes some of the "brake fluid" (not literally) from your GABA, so your body's brakes don't work very well and eventually fail.  That's why you can't sleep.  Your body has relied on the Benzo for a long time for that, not your GABA.  In the meantime, Glutamate or your body's "gas pedal" or what makes you active and alert is stuck to the floor.  Normally GABA and Glutamate are in a balancing act with each other, but your Benzo use took your GABA "offline" temporarily.  Therefore, Glutamate rules the day and night making you feel "wired" all the time.  That's why even if you sleep and wake up in the middle of the night you don't feel tired, but are most likely "wide awake" even with little sleep.  It all evens out over time!

 

After you are completely off, your body will slowly repair the "temporary" damage caused by the Benzo.  However, that could take more time than you would like, but it WILL happen!

 

 

I know 2 ppl in hell because of ecitalopram WD. One has akathesia from it and was reinstated and then put on Clonazepam but nothing has helped. She is trying to get off both who,e very, verysevere.