Adult son going cold turkey off Citalopram, I need a handhold

[pimples]

My 25 year old son has been on max Citalopram dose, think it's 200mg, for about 3 years now.

I don't see much of him as he lives with his girlfriend 2 hours away, but he seemed to be doing ok.

Today we were having an unusually long and perfectly friendly conversation when he said that actually things are not going well at work, and then that he was stopping his meds.

I cut in to say that probably wasn't a good idea, especially in winter, and he went absolutely ballistic with me, eventually telling me he never wants to see me again, and putting the phone down on me.

We ended up texting, I apologised for sticking my oar in (this is a long running issue), and we eventually sort of semi made up.

Anyway, to my point, he apparently stopped his meds 3 weeks ago without seeing a GP and is feeling absolutely terrible. Has dizziness, can't concentrate and is as depressed as I've ever known him.

I have absolutely no chance of changing his mind, although I know that obviously he should have tapered off under medical supervision.

My question is, how long does withdrawal generally last for someone on that high a dose after several years?

He's exercising, eating and sleeping well but is utterly hopeless about everything and I'm worried about him.

Refusing to see us over Christmas.

Thanks for those latest posts.

His dad is very very good at not pushing him, he will just listen to him without trying to fix the situation, but he is also concerned about the risk of suicide from going cold turkey.

DoTheHop, you are echoing what DS says to me.

I am withdrawing now, not going to suggest that we meet up between Xmas and NY which was the original plan, and leave it to DS to come to me when he's ready.

I came off venuflaxine cold turkey after forgetting to take them on holiday. It was time to come off them anyway as I was so flat it had become worse then the negative/anger feelings from before but not that way.

I felt sick and dizzy all of the time, and like the world was spinning/tipped over. I got motion sick lying down still. By the time I headed back to the GP to ask if I should do anything about the side effects (he suggested going on a very low dose for a while) I decided I was most of the way through it.

I've been fine, though the anxiety (manifests as anger/irritation) is creeping back, but I am dealing with a lot of fuckwits so maybe it's not MY mood to blame.

I took max citalopram together with other meds for 11 years. Different meds at different times, but 'serious' ones and in high dosages. I fell pregnant and didn't think it was fair to ply my baby with meds, so I went cold turkey. To be honest, it wasn't that bad, I expected worse. It was quite horrible the first week: dizziness, shakes, palpitations, hyperventilation, not being able to concentrate, disturbed sleep - the lot. But then it went gradually better and all completely stopped after about a month.

I was pretty much ok afterwards, but to be fair, I had a new baby to think of and to take care of when she arrived, so my mind was busy. Not sure how it would have been to go cold turkey without a baby. All this happened when I was 24, I'm 32 now and haven't taken any meds since.

I'm still depressed now, but it's milder. To be honest, imo it never fully goes away once you get it. It's just this lurking perpetual sadness at the back of your mind. But it might be just me, can't speak for everybody else. I do have PTSD too, but it's better than it was and manageable. I used to have panic attacks and had severe insomnia for a year, but those are gone now. I'm generally more or less ok now.

So from my experience, it can be done (going cold turkey). But I'm definitely not a medic, so maybe it would be better to consult one before doing it.

Oh, another thing to mention. Quitting on meds did make me unwell for a while, but not angry and snappy. Basically I was just a bit of a 'vegetable' for a while, dozy and withdrawn. But obviously other people might react differently.

Best of luck to you and your son, OP.

When someone comes off antidepressants, or any long term medication, it should be done slowly and carefully.

Cold turkey is dangerous

After 3 weeks it doesn't sound like withdrawal it is now a likely reason. Deterioration in his mental health overall as he no longer on medication.

I'm still depressed now, but it's milder. To be honest, imo it never fully goes away once you get it

Why would you have that opinion? It may be true for many but depression can go away for many too.
I think you can be more prone to suffering it again but it's not inevitable.