Stopping citalopram

[Rupertpenrysmistress]

Hi just wanted to hear experience from anyone who has successfully stopped citalopram.

I have been taking it for around 3 years, attempted to stop last year but it was a disaster, I couldn't stop crying I had awful electric shock like feelings all over, I had to take the off work as well.

I am now feeling in a much better position mentally to stop so have a appointment on Friday to discuss it with my GP, she had already said that because I 'failed' once it would be a difficult process done very slowly.

I am really worried I can't really take time off of work, does anyone have any advice or stories they would share, any advice would be great.

Here’s the Guardian article - it’s written by a columnist, not journalist, so it’s a personal perspective, but still useful:www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/30/antidepressant-withdrawal-symptoms-doctors-side-effects?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

I didn’t experience many withdrawal symptoms as I tapered very slowly and stopped at a low dose for quite a while because life went tits-up at one point and I had more than enough to deal with! Can’t remember much if the detail now but do remember some brain zaps.

I do remember the first time I felt joy again, though. It was for such a small thing - a beautiful morning on the way to work - and it was wonderful.

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@KitschBitch don’t worry, for some people it’s absolutely the right thing to do to stay on the medication to maintain stability. For others, their condition improves and it’s right for them to stop medication. For others, it can be trial and error to find which approach works best for them. It’s very far from an exact science!

For example, I no longer need antidepressants but I take propanol ‘as and when’ to help manage anxiety.

I was on 40mg citalopram, like other posters I gradually reduced by 5mg every couple of weeks. I have been successfully off meds for a year now. I still get low patches but my self care routines are much better and they don’t progress into a full blown relapse. I was also having counselling when I was reducing my dosage and focusing on positive life changes which I think really helped me.

Also agree with the PP in trying to be teetotal during withdrawal as it can be very easy to replace AD’s with alcohol and that is a recipe for disaster!

I too felt felt and removed from my life and relationships on AD’s and feel better off them. Tbh I needed them at the time but was far stronger and removed many of my stressors before weaning off them. One of the biggest problems I had was disturbed sleep. I had a short course of zopliclone to help but now manage on chamomile tea and nytol if I need it.

Good luck OP.

@46KitschBitch

Pregabalin is a nightmare to come off, much worse than antidepressants.

OP, if you are coming off your meds do try to stop alcohol as it will hinder your ability to come off them.

I am coming off/reducing now. From 40mg and my aim is to get to 20mg in 8 months! From there I will see how I feel. I am down to 35mg so far! It's a long game and I will have no worries if I never come off it altogether.

Thank you. I intend to stay off alcohol permenantly, I know 7 weeks is not long but it really feels like I am in control of that.

I love the care plan idea I will do that later, I do some of these now anyway but will embed them. I hadn't given any thought to using alcohol to replace citalopram I really hope I don't go down that route. My DH is aware of this and my plan to stop citalopram so I will have support there.

I am concerned about coping with side effects as my previous experience was awful, I work at management level as a HCP and am also concerned about being able to work. I don't think I can take any time off or if that would help anyway.

I was quite looking forward to stopping my AD but now I am really concerned and wondering if it's worth it. I feel really conflicted now whereas before I was so sure this was right.

I didn’t have to take any time off, OP. Really it was fine. Slow and steady, and look after yourself 👍

Oh and DP came off his ADs more quickly than me, and he was also fine.

We have times when we need to pay more attention to our mental wellbeing and we are more conscious of it. But that’s not a bad thing. Balance in all things!

Awkward squirrel thank you for you advice I feel much more positive. I am sitting down now to write my self care plan. You are correct in what you say I need to be aware of how I feel and take note of my mental health and act accordingly.

Will let you know how I get on.

My daughter was on citalopram for 9 months and just stopped taking it. She said she had no trouble at all.
I would never do that or recommend anyone else does. It's puzzling why some people have no problems coming off meds and others do.

@Rupertpenrysmistress that’s excellent .

I find that I’m a work in progress, with regard to my mental health, but I’ve learned a lot about myself (and others) and I am a lot more resilient. So there’s good to be found from this, as well as hard times. I hope that this is what you find, too.

I have to say counselling was enormously important too! I was lucky enough to have two good counsellors at different times.

Ha just realised I have been calling you awkward squirrel apologies for that. I too feel I have built up resilience I had a fantastic counselor too, he taught me alot about looking after myself. I am good at recognising when I don't feel great and am able to do something it. I hope I can maintain this.

My sister came off a similar medication by slowly reducing the dose, and once on the lowest dose, she literally used a nail file to reduce the size of the tablet.

I quite like it, I may adopt it for a future name change

So I have spoken to my GP today, not sure about the advice but guess I will try. First of all she suggested spring might be a better time to stop but the seasons don't really affect me and I actually love autumn and winter, weird I know

So we agreed I would start tapering by reducing my 20mg dose straight down to 10mg for 1 month then alternate days for a further month. I was told that she would leave the prescription to on repeat for now and, if I had any difficult (vague!!) symptoms to increase back to the dose I had lowered from. I am still keen to stop but it seems a bit quick?

I did explain the problems I had last time coming off but was reassured this was a good plan.

You can decide on your own tapering plan. If your prescription is on repeat, take it at the pace you feel comfortable with. As per previous post, GP knowledge is not necessarily up to speed with the developing understanding that a slow taper is safer.

I should add that I decided on the pace and the taper; my GP was supportive although I’m pretty sure she thought I was being really over-cautious, especially when I asked for liquid citalopram to taper off from 10mg! Maybe I was, probably because the first time I came off I did it far too quickly.

I would suggest tapering off more slowly than your GP said (disclaimer: I have no medical qualifications at all. OTOH I can't see that a slower approach would do any harm.)

Like so many other posters on here, I came off citalopram EXTREMELY slowly. I think I reduced it by half a tablet on every 3rd day at first, and stayed like that for some weeks before reducing by another tiny amount.

This was many years ago now, so I can't remember exact dosages. I do know it took many months, perhaps a year. But it was entirely successful and caused me no problems.

Good luck to you OP in whatever approach you take.

That's what I did last time far too quick and had to restart again.

So shall I do 15 mg for a month then 10 then 5 or, is it better to alternate? So 20,15 for a month then 15,10 then 5 and finish?

I thought I would know what to do after speaking to my GP.

Sorry I keep on I just don't want to go through the same as last time.

Well, from what I could work out from reading articles and blogs and so forth at the time, it’s better not to have big variations in the dose - so reducing by 2.5 or 5mg at a time, stabilising at that dose, then taking another step down would appear to be the safest method. It’s a bit approximate when you’re having to cut pills up, but I wouldn’t worry about that. Only so much that we can control!

I'm with @BertrandRussell on this. If it's helping you why would you want to come off it.

I have thought long and hard about stopping my AD and have made so much progress mentally that I don't feel I need them any longer.

I also want to see who I am off of these drugs, I feel flat and almost emotionless at times. I feel constantly tired. I have changed alot of other things to see if that helps, diet/exercise/ quitting alcohol and whilst I feel great I still feel a bit off. So perhaps it's the citalopram.
I may not need this medication so on the flip side why take it?

Awkwardsquirrel see what I did there, I think I will stop in smaller increments will go to the chemist tomorrow to get a pull cutter.