Will I be like this for ever? Citalopram withdrawal

[Troutmask]

I have been on citalopram 20mg for 2.5 years. I have now been 7 days entirely off the drug having slowly reduced the dose for 2 months.

past 3 days I’ve had such high levels
of anxiety, anger and tearfulness. But no other symptoms. But it feel utterly devastating I’ve gone from being a happy supportive mum to an absolute wreck. Today had to stop working for the day as kept crying.

I’ve had so little advice from Gp so relying on online advice. I think I’m hopefully having withdrawal symptoms. But I can’t see online if these will ever end! I’m fearful this is’ me' now I’m off the medication.

I would be so grateful for and would love some reassurance from people who made it out the other end! I’m also 50 and wonder if this is affected by perimenopausal stuff.

I failed to come off citalopram a few years ago even though i came off slowly over 3-4 months. Im just staying on it because it works for me.

i did read on-line that it can be very hard to come off and that some people even take tiny amounts in an effort to wean themselves off.

is there a reason you want to come off? I decided to go back on and felt back to normal very quickly when i started taking them again,

Thanks @bilbodog I wanted to come off as suspect my anxiety was more to do with menopause and would like to treat that potentially with HRT. Also citalopram was causing very bad restless leg syndrome so I was having very disrupted sleep.

These stories of people going back on because withdrawal was so bad scare me worry we have no choice but to stay on them for ever?

Hi @Troutmask, sorry you're having such a hard time.

I successfully weaned off citalopram, so it can be done. It WAS hard and I got withdrawals for around a month, though they did ease off, they weren't terrible the whole time.

Can you speak to you Dr and get onto HRT ASAP? It may help you feel more balanced quite quickly

I came off successfully several years ago but over time my mood dipped and i became snappy, irritable and just generally "off". So I went back on it at the lowest dose and have been happy ever since! My GP sees no problem with me staying on this maintenance dose forever, so that's what I plan to do.

It did take absolutely ages to come off it though but possibly because i have always been on a very low dose I didn't get any side effects.

Tapered it off as slowly as I could to the smallest dose possible, where I just felt ready to go without ..but have been off it successfully since October and now trying other alternatives such as meditation and CBD, if I can’t sleep or feel anxious at night.
Hope it gets easier for you soon

I came down from 20mg to 10 with no problems then down to 5 then when I stopped I had the same symptoms as you. I was terrified and couldn't cope so started back on 10mg and been fine since.

I too wonder if I should be on HRT?

Thank you. So good to hear examples of successfully coming off for good. Have any of you then gone on to use HRT?

I think there is a lack of honest info when you start the medication about how you
might never have the support systems to come off it. I feel suddenly a bit duped by the medical advice I got. When you go online you see how many people just go back onto the medication rather than go through the withdrawal. And so little info about the nature and length of the withdrawal.