Very worried about Mum - please help

[DesignerStars]

I need some help and advice, I am very worried about my Mum (68). She's been taking Citalopram for 18 months but 2 weeks ago, she decided to come off it, saying that she was having unbearable vivid nightmares. When she came off Citalopram, she immediately went on to Fluoxetine (which she used to take years ago).

However, after going on Fluoxetine her mental health has dropped off a cliff. She has no motivation to do anything including washing, cleaning or shopping, she has just been sitting in chair crying and just says she's tortured with all these memories from the past of things my Dad did/said 30 years ago (she's long divorced).

I'll be honest, I'm terrified. I'm an only child and have no siblings to help support me in this. What is normal and what is not normal when it comes this? I know you get the usual "give it 6 weeks" but I'm looking for some real-world experience and advice on this one.

Sorry won't be much help but didn't want to read and run.
Id contact your mums gp directly. They can't discuss with you but can absolutely listen to you.
Does your mum work, have hobbies, friends?
Is she single? In contact with your dad? Has she got any diagnoses?

I think the only thing you can do is call your mums gp. Things probably will settle down but it sounds like you’re mum is pretty distressed and needs support now

It is really important she sees the gp. You could call the mental health team but, I cases where medication withdrawal and uptake is the trigger then the gp has to step in. It may require a third (it sounds worrying but isn't) stabilising medication, then slow withdrawal of the other. I know it's difficult to watch both for you and hard for your mum too. It might be a good idea if she considers therapy too,not so much as a fix, but to get all this out. The mental health team do have numbers if you are really worried inbetween. I hope it all works out x

Thanks all. She has a call with her GP on Monday, so I'm hoping to get some light shed on it then. It doesn't help that I'm the least patient person in the world. Last month she went out to London for a day with her friends and walked about 10 miles and now she's too depressed to even do her laundry.

To answer questions - she actually works in school but they are on hols at the moment, but I'm worried she won't be able to return in 3 weeks. She has no contact with my Dad but is totally hung up and consumed with events that happened in the past, e.g. things that he said/did that were shit during the marriage. She's single at the moment but does have lots of friends.

Part of the problem is her attitude. She has a fear of medical things and doctors and she also has some strange attitudes around asking for help/taking anti-Ds is something to be ashamed of, so won't reach out to friends, even though she has absolutely loads of friends.