And also, if someone wants to share their journey with quitting anti-anxiety medication, that would be amazing. Currently debating on when to quit or if I have to quit at all... 💞
Hi Laura, I had a similar story to yours with struggling with anxiety since i was younger. I tried and tried for years to 'fix' it with every thing I could do, but to no avail. One of my worst symptoms of living with anxiety was crippling IBS issues in my digestive system...so much pain and nausea. I took 10 mgs of Escitalopram for 4 years and felt amazing for most of that time. It literally saved my life from daily panic attacks etc. I decided to come off by weaning slowly, and after reading all the horror stories of others quitting too fast I ended up taking 6 months to completely wean off by cutting the pill in quarters and titrating down by 2.5 mgs every 6 weeks. I can honestly say that i had no withdrawals at all during the 6 months and the whole experience was easy. After about a year of being off the meds I slowly started to get the gut issues coming back and eventually I went back on 5 mgs of Escitalopram for another 2 years. Once again I weaned off and took 3 months coming off and felt no withdrawals at all. I absolutely think the key is to take many months weaning off...there is no rush to come off. Its been 2 years with no meds now and I was determined to never go back on, but I have been struggling with a 9 month IBS flare up so have just started another course of the med again...third time this time I think I might just need to stay on long term so I can function normally in life again. I hope my weaning experience can help someone avoid the hideous withdrawals by taking it slow...there is absolutely no rush to come off. Thanks for your videos Laura, you explain things so well, I wish you all the best.
@@robmcgregor5374 Hi Rob, thanks a lot for sharing your story! 💕 So interesting to read your experience with the weaning off and that you didn't had any withdrawal symptoms because you took it very slow. There's no reason to rush this like you said. Are you currently on the 5 mgs again? And do you notice any side-effects? Thanks again Rob! ☺
I'm almost 30 days in on Lexapro. The benefits are finally kicking in and I feel a lot better anxiety and depression wise. With that said, a small weight gain but controllable right now as long as I don't let it get out of hand. And similar as you shared, cutting back on sugar and replace it with proteins and healthy fats, weight training exercises, eat light in the evenings, and proper rest are key! And can't forget plenty of water intake as Lexapro has a dehydration effect. Thank for the video. 👍
Hi Laura, I was on anti-anxiety medication for about 4 months, quitting was difficult but not impossible. I've heard that the longer you're on them, the harder it gets. I went from 1 tablet a day, down to half a tablet for a few weeks, then a quarter of a tablet for a few weeks more, and then quit cold turkey. I've quit smoking before, tbh quitting the pills was even harder than that. But if you stay strong for a few days you can push through and then you're done. Regarding the weight loss, last year I turned my life around and lost 20 kg. To do that I read a lot about intermittent fasting, ketosis, ketogenic diets, and weight loss in general. Weight loss is 80% food, 20% excercise -- I didn't do any more excercise than normal, just a 30 minute walk a day. But I did go down to one meal a day. This is a cheat code to really accelerate weight loss, it makes your body flip the switch from burning sugar to burning fat. Once I was in ketosis I craved proteins and fats, not sugar. For my one meal a day I'd eat as much as I wanted to, and didn't feel hungry the rest of the day or the next morning. Careful though, if you eat ONE cracker then it's all over, your body starts craving food and within minutes you've just binged a meal. One thing to consider is cutting out alcohol, this made a massive difference to me, it made the weight loss super quick and I'm feeling the best I have in 20 years. Alcohol was the root cause of my depression/anxiety, taking pills was just a cover over the real cause. I really hope this helps, good luck on your journey 🙂
Hi Ben! Thanks a lot for your comment, this does really help me! Also really interesting to hear that intermittent fasting and a ketogenic diet worked so well for you. I read some things about it, but never tried it for a longer period. By the way, did you also notice weight gain during your medication?
Hey @@lauravoorberg, now that I think about it, I did gain weight at the time but I had a lot of other things going on (marriage breakup, preparing to sell house etc) so it wasn't exactly a single variable experiment. I really hope you're able to improve your situation, for me at least the medication wasn't the right answer. Good luck.
Great to see an update on this series. It is good to hear that your symptoms are mostly gone and that you are making plans to improve certain aspects of your life. I was also wondering how has lexapro affected your sex drive? I also understand if you do not feel like answering that question!
Hi Paul! No, problem, good thing you asked! My libido is less than it was before, so I notice a difference. It isn’t completely gone, but sometimes it is annoying I have to say. So sometimes considering switching to different medication, to see what this does to my cravings/weight gain/emotional blunting but also my libido. But I have to discuss this first with my GP ☺️
@@lauravoorberg yeah I can sort of imagine that it is annoying that your libido is less. Totally makes sense that you want to try other medication or quit all together. Good thing to discuss this with your GP. Hope you find a suitable solution :)
What helps me a lot when it comes to eating healthy is trying to just not buy any unhealthy foods in the supermarket. If I really crave something at rare times I just go to the supermarket and buy a small portion! I have no experience with stopping meds but I hope that the withdrawal symptoms will not be too bad!
Thanks for the tip! :) Buying stuff in smaller portions is better for me I think as well. When I have chocolate in the house, it's not there for long ;).
I've loved this series, thanks so much! I used sertraline for anxiety and I didn't get weight gain, but it did crush my libido. Have you ever been hypnotized before? That was the therapy that really helped me recover xo
Ahhh, that is so nice to hear 💕☺️. And very interesting that sertraline had a different effect with regard to weight gain! Same for me with the libido, it really changed since I started Lexapro. And so exciting that hypnosis worked for you, never really thought about this as an option. The idea always sounds a bit scary to me. But how was it for you if I might ask? :)
@@lauravoorberg I was a bit nervous before trying hypnosis too. My therapist suggested it and said it works well to enhance CBT. After the first session I wasn't scared anymore, it was just amazingly relaxing. I had about 10 sessions I think, apparently I'm super easy to hypnotize and go pretty deep. After the third or so session I didn't really remember much of what happen under hypnosis, but I always felt so amazingly calm when I came out, and the improvements just kept on flowing after that. Also made the CBT techniques stick better in my head I think. I was also given a trigger to do self-hypnosis, and I still listen to some of the recorded sessions from years ago to help keep things under control
And also, if someone wants to share their journey with quitting anti-anxiety medication, that would be amazing. Currently debating on when to quit or if I have to quit at all... 💞
Hi Laura, I had a similar story to yours with struggling with anxiety since i was younger. I tried and tried for years to 'fix' it with every thing I could do, but to no avail. One of my worst symptoms of living with anxiety was crippling IBS issues in my digestive system...so much pain and nausea. I took 10 mgs of Escitalopram for 4 years and felt amazing for most of that time. It literally saved my life from daily panic attacks etc. I decided to come off by weaning slowly, and after reading all the horror stories of others quitting too fast I ended up taking 6 months to completely wean off by cutting the pill in quarters and titrating down by 2.5 mgs every 6 weeks. I can honestly say that i had no withdrawals at all during the 6 months and the whole experience was easy. After about a year of being off the meds I slowly started to get the gut issues coming back and eventually I went back on 5 mgs of Escitalopram for another 2 years. Once again I weaned off and took 3 months coming off and felt no withdrawals at all. I absolutely think the key is to take many months weaning off...there is no rush to come off.
Its been 2 years with no meds now and I was determined to never go back on, but I have been struggling with a 9 month IBS flare up so have just started another course of the med again...third time this time I think I might just need to stay on long term so I can function normally in life again. I hope my weaning experience can help someone avoid the hideous withdrawals by taking it slow...there is absolutely no rush to come off. Thanks for your videos Laura, you explain things so well, I wish you all the best.
@@robmcgregor5374 Hi Rob, thanks a lot for sharing your story! 💕 So interesting to read your experience with the weaning off and that you didn't had any withdrawal symptoms because you took it very slow. There's no reason to rush this like you said. Are you currently on the 5 mgs again? And do you notice any side-effects? Thanks again Rob! ☺
I'm almost 30 days in on Lexapro. The benefits are finally kicking in and I feel a lot better anxiety and depression wise. With that said, a small weight gain but controllable right now as long as I don't let it get out of hand. And similar as you shared, cutting back on sugar and replace it with proteins and healthy fats, weight training exercises, eat light in the evenings, and proper rest are key! And can't forget plenty of water intake as Lexapro has a dehydration effect. Thank for the video. 👍
Hi Dave! So good to hear that you feel a lot better 👏🏻. I didn’t know about the dehydration effect by the way, so thanks for the tip :).
Hi Laura,
I was on anti-anxiety medication for about 4 months, quitting was difficult but not impossible. I've heard that the longer you're on them, the harder it gets.
I went from 1 tablet a day, down to half a tablet for a few weeks, then a quarter of a tablet for a few weeks more, and then quit cold turkey. I've quit smoking before, tbh quitting the pills was even harder than that. But if you stay strong for a few days you can push through and then you're done.
Regarding the weight loss, last year I turned my life around and lost 20 kg. To do that I read a lot about intermittent fasting, ketosis, ketogenic diets, and weight loss in general. Weight loss is 80% food, 20% excercise -- I didn't do any more excercise than normal, just a 30 minute walk a day. But I did go down to one meal a day. This is a cheat code to really accelerate weight loss, it makes your body flip the switch from burning sugar to burning fat. Once I was in ketosis I craved proteins and fats, not sugar. For my one meal a day I'd eat as much as I wanted to, and didn't feel hungry the rest of the day or the next morning. Careful though, if you eat ONE cracker then it's all over, your body starts craving food and within minutes you've just binged a meal.
One thing to consider is cutting out alcohol, this made a massive difference to me, it made the weight loss super quick and I'm feeling the best I have in 20 years. Alcohol was the root cause of my depression/anxiety, taking pills was just a cover over the real cause.
I really hope this helps, good luck on your journey 🙂
Hi Ben! Thanks a lot for your comment, this does really help me! Also really interesting to hear that intermittent fasting and a ketogenic diet worked so well for you. I read some things about it, but never tried it for a longer period. By the way, did you also notice weight gain during your medication?
Hey @@lauravoorberg, now that I think about it, I did gain weight at the time but I had a lot of other things going on (marriage breakup, preparing to sell house etc) so it wasn't exactly a single variable experiment. I really hope you're able to improve your situation, for me at least the medication wasn't the right answer. Good luck.
Great to see an update on this series. It is good to hear that your symptoms are mostly gone and that you are making plans to improve certain aspects of your life. I was also wondering how has lexapro affected your sex drive? I also understand if you do not feel like answering that question!
Hi Paul! No, problem, good thing you asked! My libido is less than it was before, so I notice a difference. It isn’t completely gone, but sometimes it is annoying I have to say. So sometimes considering switching to different medication, to see what this does to my cravings/weight gain/emotional blunting but also my libido. But I have to discuss this first with my GP ☺️
@@lauravoorberg yeah I can sort of imagine that it is annoying that your libido is less. Totally makes sense that you want to try other medication or quit all together. Good thing to discuss this with your GP. Hope you find a suitable solution :)
What helps me a lot when it comes to eating healthy is trying to just not buy any unhealthy foods in the supermarket. If I really crave something at rare times I just go to the supermarket and buy a small portion!
I have no experience with stopping meds but I hope that the withdrawal symptoms will not be too bad!
Thanks for the tip! :) Buying stuff in smaller portions is better for me I think as well. When I have chocolate in the house, it's not there for long ;).
I've loved this series, thanks so much!
I used sertraline for anxiety and I didn't get weight gain, but it did crush my libido. Have you ever been hypnotized before? That was the therapy that really helped me recover xo
Ahhh, that is so nice to hear 💕☺️. And very interesting that sertraline had a different effect with regard to weight gain! Same for me with the libido, it really changed since I started Lexapro. And so exciting that hypnosis worked for you, never really thought about this as an option. The idea always sounds a bit scary to me. But how was it for you if I might ask? :)
@@lauravoorberg I was a bit nervous before trying hypnosis too. My therapist suggested it and said it works well to enhance CBT. After the first session I wasn't scared anymore, it was just amazingly relaxing. I had about 10 sessions I think, apparently I'm super easy to hypnotize and go pretty deep. After the third or so session I didn't really remember much of what happen under hypnosis, but I always felt so amazingly calm when I came out, and the improvements just kept on flowing after that. Also made the CBT techniques stick better in my head I think. I was also given a trigger to do self-hypnosis, and I still listen to some of the recorded sessions from years ago to help keep things under control
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Hi Laura! You inspire me to take care of myself. Also can you speak Dutch?
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I gain weight too every time I go on Lexapro, I crave sweets
Hi Jeffrey! So you also notice a difference? And what happens when you quit Lexapro, do you lose the weight then?
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