Citalopram withdrawal

[KenDoddsDadsDog]

How have people felt when reducing their Citalopram?
I have been on it about 16 months due to PND. Have had some fantastic CBT last summer and got all my ducks in a row.
Started to reduce my dose from 40mg to 30mg last week. I feel horrific. Low, angry, tearful and sick. I have fallen out with my sister big style, DH is sick of me and I feel worse then ever.
Is this normal?

Yes I felt awful and my withdrawal was very slow. I did 40mg one day and 40mg the next and alternated like that for two weeks, then I took 30mg everyday for two weeks, then 30/20, then 20 and so on. Took a while to get off them totally and I probably felt at my worse the couple of weeks after I'd stopped taking them altogether.

Can you slow down your withdrawal a bit?

Sorry that should say 40mg one day and 30mg the next

Thanks for that ! My GP said I could control it myself. I will give your 40s and 30s a go for two weeks.

Grumpy, angry, unreasonable! Then I go "oops I forgot to take my citalopram for a 2 or 3 days" and quickly get some.

That's exactly it! I'm feeling really annoyed about everything.

I had terrible dizziness too at the end. Not in a "oh god I'm going to faint way" just a constant swaying feeling.

It is horrible but don't be afraid to stay on them at a lower dose if you need to. There's no rush

Just wanted to say for anyone coming off citalopram that it comes in drops. You can then reduce your dose by 2.5mg (one drop) at a time. I've reduced down from 20mg to 10mg so far, going down by 2.5 mg per week. I've had very few physical side effects from this, alhtough I do have some mean mood swings for 72 hours following each reduction.

Oh thanks everyone! Don't run - do you have to break up your tablets then?

Hello, I've been on and off citalopram for the last 4 years or so..I've been off them for a few months now and everything has been fine, I'm 39 weeks pregnant and recognising the feelings I get when I need to get back to the doctors and start taking them again..I've considered the possible hormonal aspect of how I've been feeling and just kept an eye on things for over a week now and things are just getting worse. I've been looking for advice on the net before I go to my GP and I'm sure I won't be able to take them whilst pregnant or breastfeeding, has anyone been on them while pregnant or anything cos I'm not sure if theres anything else that can help me as much as citalopram does..please advise me, I'm really struggling. thanks.

Ooh yes, awful side effects and i was only on 20mga tops.
Took about 4 weeks all in all to come off them, then side effects all disapeared about 2 weeks after that.

Very slowly and gently, i halved them, for 2 weeks. Then took half every other day for a week, then half every 3rd day for a week, then stopped.
Felt dreadful, but it didnt last.
That was 4 years ago,

ps, go and ask GP to prescribe 30mg (not sure if they come in 35s tbh) or if you can get the liquid form, do that. Yu will have much more control over doses that way.

Just adding my voice to the general advice to take it very slowly. I took myself off citalopram during late autumn and early winter, starting from 40mg. I thought I was taking it slowly but it really wasn't slowly enough. I feel good now, but I went through dizziness for a few weeks to begin with (not much of a problem, but avoidable) and then, much more seriously, an awful period of anxiety, agitation, and finally depression. It was quite severe, and I think completely avoidable.

It is much better to take it really slowly -- perhaps taking as long as six months to a year or more? There is no cost to that, and the drops sound very convenient.

No, I don't take any tablets now - just the drops. I started with 7 drops (17.5mg), and have come down by 1 drop (2.5mg) per week. I'm currently on 3 drops (7.5mg). You put the drops in to a drink of water so it's very easy to do.

Sorry - just wanted to add that I think you could probably take 30mg in tablets, and then add 3 drops to make 37.5mg. Then 2 drops to make 35mg etc etc. It will obviously take a while, but it's so much better than faffing around cutting tablets out. When I tried to do that I found that it was a pretty inaccurate science so I ended up not taking exactly the same amount each day.

If going slowly isn't working for you, just cut them out. I was on 40mg, I took the 40mg every other day for a week and then stopped. It was accidental (I was only trying to use up the rest of the 40mg packet before moving down to 20mg) but I didn't feel a thing. I felt going up a dose horribly each time, but not this. It wasn't even like ripping off a plaster quickly, I really just had a small headache 2 days after the last pill which might not have actually been related. I am assuming that this didn't cause unseen long-term problems, but I doubt it would have.

Although I don't dispute that it can be possible to come off an AD quickly, I just wanted to add a warning that, if there's still any underlying problems or just life stresses, doing so can be disastrious. I came off sertraline very quickly and, although I had some awful physcial side effects, thought I'd done OK. Four weeks alter and I hit the most awful low that saw me standing on a train station.... Perhaps coming off quickly works for some people, but I - personally - believe that it's best to at least give your brain a small chance to adjust to the chemical changes, rather than throwing it in at the deep end.

I'm glad it worked out for you, thoigh, rinabean!

Oh, I feel like a moron (and an irresponsible one too) for leaving that out. Of course the naked depression and anxiety can be a bit alarming. I was in counseling at this point and had also generally improved, so it was not quite so bad. For me the negative physical effects of the citalopram were far, far worse than the negative mental effects of changing dose and actually worsened my mental health, so it was those that I was desperate to avoid. But I was closely monitoring how I was feeling, was still regularly seeing medical professionals and I was never alone. It could have turned out differently if all of these were not true. Thank you for pointing that out and sharing what happened to you.

I have got tablets in 20mg and 10mg. I am feeling more physical effects now like migraine. Am managing to CBT myself out of annoyance which is good.
Thanks for all the insight everyone, think I will go back and ask for drops.

It's strange - I had tons of side effects on sertraline and decided to come off it for the same reasons you decribe, rinabean & I did it quickly also. It was hell coming off it - terrible side effects from the withdrawal and it obviously didn't work as I ended going back on an AD. (In this case citalopram)

On citalopram there were no side effects whatsoever. It's been fantastic. I'm coming off it now without any problems, although I also take other med's now.

It just goes to show how different AD's are and how people react totally differently to the same med. Just musing on how complex our brains are.....

KenDodds my dh has just reduced from 10mg to 5mg (has never been prepared to take more than 10) and he's having headaches like he did when he came on them, but then we were expecting that. I have bought him a pill cutter (£3 from the pharmacy) and he's very happy with that, he's now taking half a tablet every day.

Thanks for that. I get migraines anyway but have been crippled this week.