Citalopram Withdrawl

[allikerr002]

I have been lowering my dose of 40mg Citalopram over the past 4-5 months and finally went from 10mg to not taking them at all any more on Christmas Eve. I have been having terrible sleeps (which I knew I would so I decided to leave coming off them fully until I had time off work). Now I am back at work I have the worst sore stomach and diarrhea not sure if its just anxiety at being back at work after having 11 days off, or if this is another side effect of coming off Citalopram.

I used to have really bad ibs-D which has almost disappeared over the past 8 months or so, not sure if this was from taking Citalopram (I was on Cit before and it didn't help with ibs at all), or if its from taking probiotics, or I guess maybe a combination of the 2.

Has anyone else went through something similar? Please tell me it gets better. I can't face going back on Citalopram (came off as had no sex drive on it and sweat quite a lot), but I definitely can't face having bad ibs again, I'd rather never have sex again lol.

Hi, I came off Citalopram in summer. I reduced 20mg to 10mg to 5mg (cut 10mg tablets in half) over 2 months. The withdrawal after stopping was awful for 6 weeks.
No stomach upsets, but extreme anxiety, panic attacks (never had these before), headaches and dizziness.
I almost started taking them again several times, but glad I didn't. Have you been to your doctor to discuss your stomach symptoms?
Good luck, hopefully it is just withdrawal, and you'll feel much better in a relatively short time.

Hi poster Tentomidnight, thanks for your reply. Do you feel it was worth coming off them in the long run?
I felt quite panicky coming back to work yesterday, I've been in this job for 8 years and know its a decent job with nothing to feel anxious about but just can't stop that anxious feeling when come back after time off.
Haven't made a docs appt as yet, takes about 4 weeks to get an appt at my surgery but definitely going to make 1 to discuss.
Thanks, hopefully in a few weeks will start to feel more normal (whatever normal even is!).

Hi, the feelings of anxiety sound very familiar from my withdrawal. I felt thst I had the worst PMT ever, I was a complete witch to everybody around me.
But yes, I think it was worth going through to get off citalopram. Although my depression and anxiety are still hanging around (maybe a day every 2 weeks is really bad), I feel more 'alive' than I did on the tablets, including feeling some really elated, happy thoughts which had been previously numbed.
Good luck, it's worth persevering as long as you can cope with the process. I wish I'd known that it would take weeks rather than days!

Can you make an appointment to speak to a GP over the phone. I was advised to decrease in the smallest possible increments (including cutting tablets as suggested above) and then stay on that dose until I felt ok for (I think) 3 months. (Or it may have been a certain number of weeks!)
Took me months to come off but I had no side effects. Are you coming off them under doctor's orders? You should seek advice.

That's great to hear that its worth it in the end. I felt better at work today but I did take some propranolol (doc said to take this as and when but never needed it when on Citalopram). That's exactly what I want to feel more ratger than just be numb all the time and have no interest in anything. Looking forward to it all being out my system now, thanks x

Hi Wolfiefan, I did advise the doc I was going to come off them they didn't give much advice only that I should do it a step at a time and to contact them if it didn't feel ok. That's great you had no side effects do you feel better for coming off Citalopram?

I did for months and months. Not so great recently. On setraline now. Doesn't zombiefy or flatten things out for me.

Oh that's a shame. I think if I stay off this but feel really anxious again I'd look to see what my other options were too. Good luck on that hope it works out better for you!

I felt better by day 2! Totally different to citalopram.

I had dizziness while coming off and in the immediate aftermath. I was on 20mg and slowly over 2 months cut that down to nothing - via even cutting tablets into quarters!
I still feel a bit wobbly. Almost like I have super low blood pressure. However I'm so glad I took C for 9 months.
It gave me breathing space and reminded me what normal feels like. R also gave me the chance
To put other measures in place
Like mindfulness.
The withdrawal side effects are very real and not really highlighted in the blurb.