How Long Does Lexapro Stay in Your Body?
Lexapro (escitalopram) is an SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) commonly used to treat anxiety and/or depression. According to DIOne, a web-based medication information system used by hospitals, the mean terminal half-life of escitalopram averages approximately 27 to 32 hours. However, the half-life is doubled in patients with reduced liver function.
What Does "Half-life" Mean?
Flavio Guzmán from Pharmamotion.com defines a medication's half-life as the amount of time it takes for the medication to reduce to half of its original concentration in the body. For example, a patient taking 10 mg of Lexapro at 9 a.m. on Monday can expect the concentration of medication to reduce to half of the dose in about 27 to 32 hours, or anywhere from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. the following day. The longer the half-life of the medication, the longer the drug is in your body. If the drug has reached the therapeutic level in your system, the half-life continues to reduce every 27 to 32 hours until a diminutive amount is left in your system With a half life of 27 to 32 hours, a patient can be considered "free" of the medication after five to seven days. Barbara Judge, a licensed pharmacist on Allexperts.com, confirms this by stating, "As a general rule you are considered fully clean in blood and urine after 5 half lives."
Possible Adverse Effects from Lexapro Leaving the Body (Withdrawal)
According to an article by Subhuti Dharmananda, Ph.D., director, Institute for Traditional Medicine, Portland, Oregon, "Changes in serotonin transport function and in neuroreceptor loading that occur over the course of antidepressant use create a dependence on the drug that takes some time to be eliminated even when the drug is no longer needed to stabilize depression." This is such a significant adverse effect that the medical community has given the condition the moniker "SSRI Withdrawal Syndrome or SSRI Discontinuation Syndrome." Symptoms of withdrawal can include an exacerbation of the original anxiety and depression, dizziness, neuromuscular involvement, parasethesia, headache and GI upset to name just a few. Dharmananda's article advises patients to gradually decrease their dose, under the close supervisor of the prescribing physician, in order to avoid this syndrome. A gradual decrease would be considered as little as a 5 percent decrease in dosage per week.
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