Coming off citalopram

[Azeluk]

Hey everyone,

I started taking 10mg citalopram on the 27th February within 24 hours of taking it I was really feeling the side effects, I had horrendous nausia no appetite dizziness confusion light-headedness and a prickly feeling on parts of my body.

After 5 days these side effects calmed down however my appetite has not been the same at all.

Then suddenly out of the blue paranoia hit me literally like a ton of bricks my anxiety and paranoia went through the roof.

It got so bad that I couldnt even go to the toilet without imagining things didn't look right, at this point I came to the conclusion the pills wernt for me (if I couldn't wipe myself with out panicking I thought enough is enough)

I've been cold Turkey for about 2 days now but I'm still getting side effects my heads been fuzzy I've felt as if I'm not in the moment my memory is a little off I've been light headed and again my appetite is non existent my anxiety is still there but my paranoia has reduced a bit.

Will things get better because I've had enough I can't even relate to my kids at the moment.

I'm sick of this health anxiety to so far I've had what I think is a brain tumour, heart attack, toilet problems and that's just to name a few.

Any advice would be great guys

Many thanks

Andrew

[mrspuddleduckie]

Possibly not what you want to hear but my experience of the same drug...

Felt awful, as above, for 14 days - then it kicked in and I was happy - I was me again. It does work, and it works really well when taken properly.

9 months later weaned myself off, and the withdrawal symptoms are just subsiding now... 9 months after cutting back.

If you need it, it really does work but takes at least 14 days to kick in. I had to take it to get out of the dark hole I was in. But coming off it was horrible and I was angry with the GP who swore blind it wasn't addictive and cutting back would be "simple".

When you stop, it's hard - really hard. And I was on the smallest 10mg dose.

This may or may not be helpful to you, but thought you might want to hear another experience.

I would recommend CBT before citalopram.

[Azeluk]

Thanks for the reply really 9 months to come off wow I really hope it doesn't take me that long,

A week after I came off citalopram I'm still having some effects, my memory is still lax although I'm functioning occasionally I'll go into a room for somthing then forget the reason I went in. Or if I'm trying to remember a person's name some times it just goes.

Mood wise I'm ok though anxiety and paranoia have greatly reduced but I am having the odd mood swing though sometimes I'll just be grumpy for the day or suddenly just get really annoyed for no reason (not in a threatening way).

And the dizziness and tingly feeling on my hands comes and goes.

I'm hoping this goes soon I'm getting rather peeved with it.

Andrew