Coming off citalopram

[ruby7]

Hi

I put this in the health section, but think it might be better here...

I'm coming off my citalopram and have dropped from 30 to 20 to 10 to 5 really slowly (5 months). Now I'm doing 5 every other day and then just dropped to 5 every three days. And I'm feeling really anxious and can't sleep. Has anyone had that experience? Do you think it could be withdrawal, even though I'm on a TINY TINY dose?

Yes. DP has had this exact experience. No matter how tiny the dose, it seems your body does get used to it and you can get withdrawal. maybe ask the GP about it though just in case it could be something else.

Message withdrawn

Go and see your GP. I had exactly this, and got told that by the time you get to this level, it's not withdrawal - you've done that now, it's that you have so little left in your body that the 5 mg is bringing back the original side effects. I stopped completely, and the anxiety/insomnia went away.

i've had lots of brilliant therapy and it's definitely time to stop. been on it for three years and want another child and not sure they're doing anything useful for me anyway.

but i thought i could come off without feeling it, but it seems that i'm having a really 'buzzy' time and just can't sleep, and of course i'm scared i'm relapsing. and my period just started which probably doesn't help.

but it's more likely to be the pills i'm hoping!

snowleopard - how slowly did your DP come off and what did he experience?

thanks ladies

ooh Prufrock, that's very interesting. i did have terrible buzzy feelings and insomnia when i started taking the pills, so it's exactly that again is it? so your GP told you to stop completely? there's so much conflicting advice - does this GP seem to know what he's talking about?

did you withdraw okay, and then when you got down to the 5mg you started feeling funny again?

I can't remember all the details ruby as it was a while ago, but I remember he thought if he did it super-slowly it would minimise the effects - it didn't. They included bad sleep, dizziness, visual disturbance and feeling kind of zombie-ish in the morning IIRC. Cleared up after a few weeks completely off it.

I dropped from 20 to 10 every other day over 4 months without an issue. Then when I went to 10 every 4 days I started getting those feelings of being anxious about a relapse, which was when I mentioned it to my GP when there for something unrelated and she told me to stop straight away. She is brilliant - made me feel so much better when she admitted to 3 years of citalopram herself.
I did have a problem 2 months later - I'd had some crappy stuff happen and was very worried about sinking again - the worry about getting depressed was leading me to get depressed IYSWIM, so I went back, and I went back to her and she explained that it's perfectly normal to have at least one post AD mini-crisis, because after 3 years of AD's you forget what it is to feel down and be able to get yourself out the other side. And just knowing that she thought I wasn't going mad again, and could pick myslef up after a couple of days of feeling crap, gave me the strenghth to actually do so.

Good luck

okay i'm going to stop straight away and see what happens. can't wait to get off these drugs and live normally again! thanks

I'm so glad I found this thread! I'm just coming off Citalopram, in fact took my last tablet last Tuesday as I want to try for another baby. I did it properly with GPs advise i.e. halfed dose then every other day etc. I have been feeling dizzy, nauseous and a bit low. I am putting on weight again (one of the things that made me depressed/anxious) after losing quite a bit while I was on the tablets. I hope this will stop when they are completely out of my system

I dropped from 20 to none over 2 weeks - 10 foR 2 weeks then none. But I really wanted to get off them as I felt they were doing more harm than good (made me a bit emotionally flat - they stopped the low but also meant I wasn't laughing at funny things on the TV etc.... which was a bit weird, as DH put it it took bottom and top off my emotions...)
The good effects outweighed the bad

Hi all, Stumbled onto this site as have been cold turkey for 9 days, was taking 20mg Citalopram - I hate the electric shocks in my head, arms and hands, I am now starting to feel woozy and sleepy and spaced out, felt very nauseous for the first 5 days, but didn't realise it was withdrawal as forgot to renew prescription then forgot about taking them. But the worst thing of all is I threw a toothbrush at my baby daughter yesterday as she refused to brush her teeth and today I shoved her out of the way as she was stuck to my like glue when I was trying to get ready for work and I made her cry - I think I am going to go back on them, I can't live with myself if I hurt her again, I had PND and was so bad to her I will never forgive myself, if I have to take them and she doesn't suffer coz of my illness then so be it - maybe I will try again in 6 months.

Fazzy, you really need to just taper them off. If you'd got to the stage that you forgot about taking them, then in my humble opinion you don't need them, but coming off them that quickly is likely to lead to you feeling really irritable and bonkers. It's happened to lots of my friends. Just do it slowly, and you'll be fine. Loads of people get PND, loads of people lose their rag, don't be horrible to yourself.

And Roseability, please keep me updated as I'd like to know if things change for you. Can't wait to get them out of my system!