To stay on 20mg of citalopram for the rest of my life?

[TheCommunalRibena]

Started taking it because of a bereavement. At one point was on 30mg and been on 20mg for about a year.

I want to get down to 10mg and stay there because it helps my severe PMT (PMDD).

I'm currently down to 10mg and feel awful. No withdrawal symptoms, just miserable, snappy, shouty and hateful.

I came down from 10 to 20 very slowly, over the course of a month maybe even longer and I've been on 10mg alone for 2 weeks and I feel fucking awful.

Should I just stop trying to cut down and stay on 20mg forever? I'm sick of feeling like this.

[ChestyNut]

I don't think YABU at all.

If it makes you feel better why not. My GP recommended yearly bloods to check white cell count iirc.

[alltoomuchrightnow]

I don't blame you. I'm on 30 and really want to get down to 20. It made me gain two stone when I started on 30 a year ago. I've lost most of that extra now but it was a slog and I've still got another two stone to lose anyway, which is harder on Citalopram

[witsender]

Yabu. I'm on 20mg and probably will be for good.

[SavageBeauty73]

I'm on 20mg and have no plans to stop.

[YvaineStormhold]

I'm currently on 10, having weaned myself down from 20 after 2 years.

I'm watching very closely though, and if I show any signs of being as bad as I was before, I'll be straight back up to 20.

[FlapsTie]

I'm on 150mg Sertraline and 200mg Lamotrigine. I can't imagine not being on them after playing medicine roulette for years. They work for me and I have no side effects. If I'm on them forever it really doesn't bother me. Some of us just need the meds. If you had cancer you'd take the drugs, MH is no different.

[FeelingSmurfy]

It wouldn't work forever as your body gets used to it

[Purplebluebird]

I am also sticking on my 3 (waiting for another one too so 4) medications for life, as my mental health problems are for life. I take mirtazapine antidepressants because I get too many side effects from SSRIs such as Citalopram. Yanbu, sometimes we just have to stick at these things.

[SilverDragonfly1]

20mg is very low. And as my lovely doctor once said to me, if you had diabetes would you feel obliged to wean yourself off insulin? Depression is an illness not a state of mind and medicating it is common sense not weakness.

Hope that doesn't sound harsh, as someone with clinical depression and a daughter with BPD I feel very strongly about this issue

[Smartleatherbag]

Yanbu. I'll be in sertraline for life, plus quetiapine. You don't build up a resistance to it, and ssris have been around for over 30yrs now.

[FlabulousChic]

I take anti depressants I'm not depressed as they have stabilised me I'm happy to stay in them for life rather than feel suicidal 24/7

[Boomerwang]

I weaned myself off 20mg citalopram to nothing over a month. All was ok til I lost my job then I became severely depressed so I went back on them again. I don't want to be on my two meds all my life but until my brain starts to work right I guess I'll have to be.

[Ineverpromisedyouarosegarden]

The Citalopram maintenance dose is 20 - 40mg daily so 10mg would not be an effective maintenance dose.

[RichardBucket]

YANBU. I plan to do the same.

[PrincessWizard]

YANBU, i will be doing the same.

[FlabulousChic]

I take venaflaxine as the citaloorsm 60mg stopped working for me ten years ago.

[Mynestisfullofempty]

I'm another who will be on 20mg of citalopram for life. I have been on numerous types of ADs all my life (since early teens I'm now in my 60s) including several SSRIs. The side effects have been terrible but the alternative is worse.

[ChadSexington]

I weaned myself down to 10 from 40mg over the course of five years. Tried to stop altogether last Autumn and experienced the most horrendous depression, so I went back on to 10mg, and think I will probably be here forever. I told my new GP about the experience, and he said that after you've been on it for a few years, you'll be on it for life, it's very hard to come off. I did feel sad about this at first, but then if they help me, why shouldn't I take them? No one feels bad about taking insulin, or blood pressure medication.

[SoMuchRoomForActivities]

I took 20mg of Citalopram for the last 6 years and came off it gradually myself 3/4 months ago. No issues at all. It's untrue that you will be on it for life if you have taken it for a few years.

[VivienneWestwoodsKnickers]

If you were diabetic, you'd just take whatever medication you needed to be healthy. Same for any other medical need.

Mental health should be the same. Don't be so hard on yourself - if you need the Citalopram to keep going in an even keel, then that's what you do.

I was on it for several years, came off it too early and had a massive crash back into the depths of despair. I ended up being on it for much longer than I otherwise would have. And only because I was worried about what people would think. Even though no-one knew I was taking anything!

Go back to the doc and up the dose in the meantime if you want to.

[BowieFan]

I'm on 20mg of Citalopram and have been for nearly 10 years. I would much rather take it for the rest of my life than go back to square one. I see it as like insulin - I need it to keep my illness in check. Why would you be weaning yourself off it? If it helps you, that's all that matters.

[Areyoufree]

Your two options aren't just wean off now, or stay on it forever - you could also decide to reevaluate in another 6 months. But right now, it's helping, so I would stick with it. And if it turns out to be forever, then so be it. I don't see why there should be this stigma attached to having a brain chemical imbalance. This isn't about will power or strength - you wouldn't expect someone with a broken leg to suck it up and walk it off. If will power were a factor, then the people I know with depression would not have depression, because they fight really bloody hard. As I am guessing you do too, because you are obviously trying to push yourself!

[ShelaghTurner]

I went on to 40mg Citalopram in 2008 after having dd1. Came off to have dd2 and went back into 30mg which I'm still on. I'll be on them for the rest of my life, I know that. Problem is that 30mg isn't working for me any more and the max is 40mg now I think, down from 60mg. Not sure what happens if 40mg isn't effective enough.

[romany4]

Yanbu.

My son takes citalopram 10mg daily and its not working for him just now. He's very up and down and angry a lot.
I've made an appointment for him this week with GP I didn't know there was a higher dose he could take

[SocksRock]

I will have been taking 20mg for 3 years. My GP is now adamant that I need to come off it, and I really don't want to. It makes me a better version of me. But she is insisting and wants to write my next prescription for 10mg. She keeps saying something stressful will always come along and I need to cope without them. And hinting at dire side effects, I didn't realise you could stay on them without side effects.