Withdrawing from Citalapram

[adagiok5]

I am reluctantly having to reduce my dosage of Citalapram . I am on 40mg and have been for years for panic attacks . I have been very happy on the medication but now due to being 65 the doctor has told me that I need to reduce to 20mg . I asked the doctor whether it was possible to start something similar that would be more suitable for my age but all she said was to reduce the citalapram first to see how I feel . I am really concerned about this drop .

I have started alternating between 30mg and 40mg . I read somewhere that this approach lessons the withdrawal symptoms. Has anyone else done it this way? Tia

An update I have been on my reduced dose of Citalapram for around 6 weeks now . I reduced from 40mg to 30mg . I had a panic attack today for the first time in years . I am really scared now . I didn’t want to reduce the dose for this reason but had to due to my age . I am pretty convinced that this is my original symptoms reoccurring due to the time frame of 5 weeks . What do others think ?

I am very happy in life in general love my job have a really happy nice relationship. I feel devastated now that the panic attacks are creeping back

Was there anything that triggered the panic attack? I would visit GP as it does sound like withdrawal rather than return of original symptoms? Diazepam or similar might be prescribed for short term use .
Sorry you are going through this . Panic attacks are horrible .

@kerstina no nothing brought it on . I had just had a nice lunch with a friend and was driving home when it occurred. Driving is not my forte and to be honest that’s where my panic attacks stemmed from originally. I thought after about 5 weeks of reducing the dose I may have got away with any withdrawal symptoms