To ask how long your citalopram withdrawal lasted?

[cavycavy]

I’ve been taking 40mg citalopram for 4 years (PND) but have known that I’ve not needed it for the last year.

Coming off it has been surprisingly difficult. My first attempts to reduce my dose a year ago failed miserably and I gave up.

However, this summer I decided to go for it (under the supervision of my GP of course) and reduced by 5mg every 2 weeks.

With each drop the side effects, which were different each time, but very tolerable and only lasted 1 week.

I’m now on ZERO citalopram (woohoo!!!) and it’s been about 1 week. The withdrawal symptoms at the moment are very bad, the worst things being vertigo, nausea and horrendous stomach cramps. Pretty standard according to every reputible website, so I know it’s normal and not harmful but blimey it’s tough going.

Can anyone give me a ball park figure of how long it will last? I think I’m going to have to call in sick tomorrow which I hate doing but I can’t sleep with my stomach cramping up and my head feels so spinny that if I look to the side I feel like I might fall over.

I have the kind of job (NHS) where calling in sick is very very disruptive and will mean that, each day, 9 patients appointments will be cancelled and rebooked probably for January. None of these patients have a life threatening condition or anything but I still really don’t like keeping them waiting. Especially given that I have ‘chosen’ to feel like this. So I really can’t risk feeling like this for long. But at the same time I just want to grit my teeth and get through it so it is totally over and I can get on with my life.

(And maybe even have another baby..... insane thought right there)

Any words of encouragement gratefully received!!

About 2 weeks for me, first week was the nastiest. I've been on a few antidepressants and citalopram was much the worst to come off! Brain zap type feelings lasted a little bit longer but they weren't that frequent after the first week.

Thankyou vampire. 2 weeks I can handle. It means another 7 days.

Weirdly, I’ve had hardly any brain zaps after going down to 0mg. I’ve had them at some point in my reduction process but with each new dose the symptoms have been different. Going from 20mg to 15mg I had the worst anxiety I think I have ever felt and I thought I was going to relapse completely. But it passed and I guess this will too. It’s just the dizziness and pain is quite hard to ignore. I’m rubbish with pain.

Updating this because I feel at my wits end.

I’ve lost track of how many days into withdrawing I am.

The headache is unbearable. I feel sick constantly.

Is there anything I can do to minimise the effect?

Taking paracetamol and an anti-sickness tablet which takes the edge off.

Trying to drink water but it’s hard with the nausea and I keep throwing it all up.

Try buccastem (under the tongue), an over the counter antiemetic for nausea, & dizziness, then 30 minutes later painkillers for the headache, www.boots.com/buccastem-m-8-tablets-10086568. Good luck, I plan on stopping citalopram 40mg soon

OP when I came off citalopram I bought a pill splitter and went down by 2.5mgs (ie splitting 10mg tabs into half and then half again), and I just waited until I had no reduction side effects (which were really mild) before I went the next step down. What about going back on 2.5mg every day for a couple of weeks, then every other day and so on so that you wean yourself off even more gradually? It made my withdrawal relatively pain free, just a bit of dizziness for a couple of weeks once I was off completely. Good luck x

Oh and when I went on it I had really bad nausea - hard ginger biscuits and travel sickness wrist bands helped me.

Ok, finally I can say I through the worst of it!!

Migraine/headache is gone. Nausea, dizziness and feeling ‘fizzy’ inside only comes on if I’m stressed or tired now.

All in all much better.

But I have a lot of anger. A new thing for me as I’ve never felt real anger or certainly never expressed it as much as I am now.

Will this pass too?

Hi cavy
I know this was many years ago. But I am coming off and it’s day 11 and horrendous with the dizziness and mood swings. How did it end up for you? X

I'm on 20mg a day, and I've been trying to come off for a while. Might just take them forever, seems easier.

I took 4 years to reduce from 40mg to none at all!

I tapered for nearly 3 months. With minimal side effects. After a month on 5mg feeling fine a stopped on 1st Jan. first 6/7 days were fine then the withdrawal kicked in worse then ever! Anxiety. I get really hot. So dizzy most of the day. I get angry and then want to cry. Then feel fine. My poor 3 year old son! Lol. It’s awful

I just want to know when does it end? Weeks or months 😩😂