anyones experiences coming off citalopram??

[mad4mybaby]

Have been on cit 16 months for pnd. Tried coming off 6 months ago but had to go back on.

I felt ready to come off and btween me and gp worked out a slow come off the pills which has really worked. Had last 10mg few days ago and since then i feel not in control of my emotions. Im not depressed because i have been there. It feels like permanent pmt. Can anyone tell me if this is common and that it will go away?! Am seeing gp tomo to discuss but dont want to go back on the pills.

Hi. I have been on citalapram for a few months now. I have decided I want to come off them and not really spoken to GP about it just slowly gone from 20mg, then down to cutting them in half and now cutting them into quarters. I take 1 quarter every other day and have been doing this for 6 days. For a few weeks now I have been experiencing pins and needle type feeling in my arms and lips (sound funny!) and feel abit strange, shakey and dizzy. I guess it's withdrawel symptoms. I am hoping to take a few more quarters and then stop but am scared of the withdrawel symptoms.

Sorry, can't be of much help!

be careful though WSD. Gps like you to be on them for a min of 6 months before you come off them...

Im not sure if my prob is withdrawel. Im hoping so. I got what you describe, the sick/dizzy thing and it turned out to be a middle ear infection. Have had to had 2 lots of pills as keeps coming back. That is since bringing doseage down. Maybe a common prob? See your gp though if i were you...

I will go and see him but am worried now he will be cross because I have started coming off them.

I think I have been on them for 9 months, maybe a bit more.

I took them for 3 months and they gave me terrible headaches so bad that I was taking painkillers every 4 hours and still no relief.

After experiencinga panic attack (which I'd never had before) I decided to come off the cit.

OH MY GOD....it was like hell I felt the worse I have ever felt in my entire life , like i was under a black cloud and everything was shit I put up with this for 2 weeks and then went to see my doc he was useless...told me I don't have depression (I'm just anxious even though I've had depression for 10 years!) and fobbed me off with new tablets ...efexor these are much better.

So all in all I would say if you're not happy do come off them but swap for something else or gradually come off.

When I came off Citalopram, I was like the troll-bitch from hell. Really, really crabby - as you say, as if I had permanent PMT, but the worse PMT I've ever had. I could quite happily have taken a knife to dh just for breathing.

Several MNers were also coming off it at the same time, and I can remember feeling really relieved because they were feeling just the same way. It turned out that it's a pretty common side-effect of coming off the tablets.

It lasted for about five or six weeks - then suddenly I realised that I hadn't felt it for a day or two.

It will get better, honestly - hang on in there

Could I hijack your thread? I was just about to post on this too. I've been on 20mg Citalopram for 6m and am thinking about coming off them. My GP said that when I felt ready I should start missing a tablet every second day, then take one every third day etc until I'd stopped taking them.

But this sounds weird to me - wouldn't it be better to keep taking it every day but gradually lower the dose? I know when ever I've missed a day by accident I start to feel sick. I had really bad side effects when I statred on them including nausea. Just taking a tablet every couple of days makes me nervous that I'll feel really ill again. How would your body get used to the drug levels going up and down?

How have you all come off them? Any advice?

When I withdrew fron Citalopram I was taking 40mg, and stopped slowly over a couple of weeks. I halved the dose to 20mg for a week, then halved it again to 10mg for another five days. The GP advised that I then have 10mg every other day for a few days but I didn't need to do that.

When I dropped to the 20mg I felt a bit sick and shaky for a day or two, but nowhere near as bad as I felt when I first started taking them. I had no problems at all when I dropped to 10mg, so didn't feel the need to reduce them any further before stopping. That's something you might want to play a bit by ear, depending on how you find you react to coming off them.

Thanks for your advice WWB. I'm in two mind what to do. Whether to do it the GPs way or to start breaking the tablets in two so I'd be taking ~ 10mg a day.

Also after feeling back to normal for a few months, I've had my first panicy session this afternoon. I think it's probably in anticipation of coming off them - worry that I might go back to how I felt before. My main problem was anxiety and nothing's changed in my life that's going to make that go away. I want to be able to deal with it without Ads but not sure I will.

bump in case anyone else can help...

righto, well I'll try to help.

I believe it is not recommended to miss a tablet every other day as your GP said Dazy, you'll be up and down like a yo yo, best break the tablets in half and take each day which should be easy with 20mg as they should have a groove in the middle for precisely this purpose.

Why has your GP put you on ADs for anxiety and not offered you any other form of help?????????????? . I'm assuming this is the case for you since you say nothing has changed to help your panic. That really p's me off when they do that if you are suffering from anxiety and panic you need help to learn to deal with it arrghhhhhhhh...sorry rant directed at your doc not you .

Why do you want to come off the citalopram? I had some fantastic withdrawl symptoms coming off mine to TTC - came off in 10 days bad idea but at least I have a bump to make me smile again until I can go back on it

just thought id give update from my original post. Saw my gp and she said that the pms/moods were quite likely withdrawel symptoms also keep waking at night for no reason. Happy to say i am better today than tuesday so there is hope for us all!

With regards to how to come off just thought id share how i did it with gp help. Was on 20mg then was taking 20mg one day 10mg the next did this for week or so. Then went to 10mg every day for 2ish weeks. Then went every other day for week then every 2nd day, every 3rd then every 4th.

It isnt wise to come off quick. I tried this before and went backwards. Even when you are ok again and want to come off you HAVE to do it over a period of time. My gp explained yesterday about what the pills actually do and why you have to do it gradually.

I was more anxious than depressed which is why i went on them, the anxiety was all about my baby which lead to the pnd.

... Dazy, i was v anxious to come off them and started abit 'what if..' but i knew it was time to come off them and now i dont regret it. If you feel you are ready then just try to see it positevly coming off them. Somethings can be mind over matter i find (that isnt meant nasty, i mean how i feel!) If i think to myself oh i feel down it makes me feel worse if you know what i mean? If i start days hey ho and off we go i generally have a much better day. I hope you get on with it ok

i have been without my ADs for a week cos i stupidly forgot to hand in new prescription over new year, now i am having a racing heart and pins and needles in my hands and feet. Feels like heart attack?

Also insanely intense dreams which scare the life out of me..
and i hadnt even intended to withdraw from my ADs, just havent got my new ones yet!

Does anyone know if i will feel worse once i start taking them again?????

I think you should find you immediately feel much better once you start your normal dose again, but try not to do this again- for your own sake! My Gp said if I only took away one piece of advice about ADs it is NEVER suddenly stop taking them as you can have very severe side effects!

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think I'll just start to reduce the dose graduaully and see how it goes. I'm not in any hurry to come off them, I just don't want to stay on them for ever.

Coby - the GP did put me down for counselling but said the wait was about 18m so I'm not holding my breath.

I've always been a worrier but I seem to have got a lot worse since I've had children and my anxiety came to a crisis about 6m ago (then I started on the Ads). I don't really know how counselling would help as I don't have any particular "issues" to go through, but I guess I don't know much about it.

I'd really like to be able to control my anxiety without drugs but don't know where to start.

god i feel so awful today, so so ratty and shouty with everyone..i really could kill someone with my bare hands, i told my kids i never wanted them and theyre selfish little shits

Just been to chemist and pills still not there..aaahhhh i am going to murder a small child, they said they might not be there til mon or tue!
what am i meant to do?

if you take your empty box to the chemist, i thikn they can give you an emergency supply until your prescription comes through.......

Dont have empty packet any more.. do you think they can check their records and still let me have emergency supply?

you could ask the chemnist to call the doctors to check,...worth a try, you should not have to go without vital meds for a week or more. good lcuk !

thanks

Hi all. I'm a dad, not a mum, but I joined specifically to post on this topic, as I think I'm off citalopram now after 5 years.

After our first son was born, I felt like I couldn't cope. Worried about the future and angry/emotional all the time. I tried counselling, hypnotism, CBT and some other stuff but none of it worked, so got put on 20mg of citalopram, which after 2 weeks of horrible symptoms worked like a dream!

Anyway, five years later (with another son now!), I felt confident enough to wean myself off it. I tried once, but in retrospect think I came off too quickly as I experienced a lot of the symptoms listed above: anger, brain zaps, anxiety etc.

Second time around, I came off MUCH more slowly. I bought myself a pill cutter and did the following:

15mg every day for 6 months
10mg every day for 6 months
5mg every day for 3 months
Alternating 5mg every other day for 1 month
Alternating 5mg every third day for 1 month
Off!!

This time around it was MUCH easier. Would very much recommend playing the long game!