Coming off SSRIs after best part of 25 years

[Undrugged]

As the title says, I’ve been on and off (but predominantly on) SSRIs now since I was 24, now nearly 50. I had a year or two off around age 27, and then again around 32 and 34 when pregnant. PND with both, second very severe and back on them quick sharp. I have a diagnosis of major depressive disorder (unipolar) but I haven’t actually had an episode of depression for ten years now, despite being in the trenches of menopause.

Whilst I don’t feel guilty or bad about being on thzese meds longer term part of me wants to get off them. Whilst they have undoubtedly rounded out my anxiety, they have absolutely tanked my libido and sexual response and have made me put on weight.

Has anyone else here contemplated or even succeeded in getting off SSRIs after so long? I know about the importance of tapering but I’m am still fearful of a major relapse or rebound effects, given I’ve spent nearly half my life, and the majority of my adult life, on them.

I have no advice as I’m at the start of my SSRI journey but I’m interested to hear responses & others experience. Wishing you all the best.

I've been on them 12 years now and haven't come off them. I did try weaning myself once but then started to get anxious so went back up. I'd be interested to see any responses you get OP.
I also think your mental health is so important so it may be worth tapering first. What's your current dosage and medication? I'm on 20mg citalopram.

Op,
I did this. I tapered really slowly, far more slowly that GPs suggest, and I also switched from citalopram to prozac while tapering, as it has a longer residual life. During the taper period of about y months, I introduced all the natural antidepressants into my life, like very regular strenuous exercise, walks in nature, meditation and journalling, vitamin B, C and D and iron, and loads of other new habits. Happy to explain them in detail if you are interested. It worked for me. Never had a relapse. And lost a stone of the SSRI weight. Still have a stone to lose. But it will come off eventually. I don't diet, so weight loss is gradual.

Six months, not y months!

Thanks so much everyone for your replies. It’s good to know others have managed it. I think when spring comes around and immediate work pressures have eased I’ll give it a go. Swapping to fluoxetine sounds sensible, I’m currently on sertraline which has a much shorter half life. If I miss a couple of days I get horrible vivid rebound dreams. Apparently SSRIs suppress those too.

I weaned off sertraline earlier this year after around 10 years I did it very gradually over a number of months , have a look at Mark Horowitz’s website as he has a lot of info on safely tapering off AD’s. If you are feeling well at the moment it’s a good time to try , for me I chose a difficult time to try it and have recently started taking Escitalopram. Your 1st post says you are feeling well but the longer you have been on the meds the slower you need to taper off

I am 2.5 months off Effexor after 18 years. I’m delighted to have found this thread as I could not find many people who were successful.

I used a medical herbalist to help with my wean which took a full year. I also introduced the natural antidepressants into my life but I am struggling a lot
I am hoping to stay off them for six months. If I feel this bad after six months I will go back on antidepressants but never Effexor. The end of the taper was horrific. I am on a beta blocker for now to keep me calm. I must say my GP was of no support and I don’t think they are well educated about coming off this medication only putting people on it.

im weaning my herbs and maybe that’s why I feel so mentally ill.

overall I think it’s worth it.

I’d love to hear the detail please

I weaned off of 45mg of Mirtazapine after 2.5 years. I had support from my GP pharmacy team who were helpful and mentally I was in a good place. The negatives of the side effects were out weighing the benefits of the drugs. I found there was a lot more negative information on the internet about coming off of antidepressants than there was beneficial support. What helped me was viewing it as a long process and keeping that in mind, I would say it took about a year after completely coming off of the drugs to feel like my body’s systems were back to normal. For me insomnia was a big side effect but I now sleep normally. The weight gain associated with the antidepressants stopped but sadly the weight hasn’t fallen off. I didn’t skip days but took a lower dose and it generally took a couple of weeks to notice the reduced dose which is why it is recommended to go slow, a few weeks to notice the reduced effect, then a few weeks to become accustomed to the lower dose and then the option to drop it again. Spring is a good time to start. Best of luck 🙂

I’m shocked to hear it took you a year. I’m 2.5 months in and what the doctor calls depression I call withdrawals. My emotions were uncontrollable for a little while but that’s settled now. I might be wrong and it is depression but I want to give this a good try.

Came off meds after 7 ish years. Despite a very slow taper I was all over the place for a couple of months, including lots of uncontrollable sobbing. Which was alarming and embarrassing and I wondered if I was relapsing. The Withdrawal Project is a useful online resource where I learned this is a common response. That helped me ride it out and not just go back onto meds. I also felt dizzy for months too. I was shocked how long it took my body to readjust but I feel good now I'm out the other side.

Hello!

I am 40 and have been on SSRIs since I was 18. I am also weaning myself off them - very slowly. I have tried (stupidly) to do it more quickly before, and I got the usual symptoms that people report when they do that: brain zaps, suicidal ideation, etc. It was not fun! So I'm doing it properly now, at a snail's pace.

I was on 40mg Citalopram (have tried various other SSRIs over the years - all of them, actually! - but was on Citalopram for the last 10 years or so). I have reduced by 10mg per year. So:

Usual dose: 40mg
Year 1: 30mg
Year 2: 20mg
Year 3: 10mg

I am now coming towards the end of Year 3. In the spring (I get SAD), I will reduce to 5mg (you can do this by chopping a 10mg pill in half, or by taking 20mg one day and 0mg the next day, and alternating like that). And I'll see how that goes. If it's fine, then in another year, I will stop altogether.

So: having been on SSRIs for my entire adult life, I am taking 4 years to come off them. Told you I was taking it slow!! Better that than wanting to throw myself off a balcony though, right?!

It sounds counterintuitive, but it's when you're on the lower doses that the reductions are more palpable. This is because going from e.g. 100mg to 90mg is a reduction of 10%, but going from 10mg to 5mg is a reduction of 50%. So be careful towards the end, when you think it'll be a walk in the park - it often isn't.

Good luck, OP! We got this! <3

Oh I should say, too, that I haven't even noticed any negative effects from the tapering - probably because I'm doing it so slowly. Which is precisely WHY I'm doing it so slowly! I still get the odd depressive period, but fairly rarely, and no more often than when I was on the full whack of 40mg Citalopram (which is the max dose for Citalopram).

I googled the withdrawal project and it didn’t come up. Is there a website name it’s on? I can’t stop crying. Lost my little dog on 13th December suddenly and I miss her more than I ever imagined I would. I’m still shocked that she’s gone.

As has been said here it was when I got down to the smallest dose that was most difficult to get off

What are you on? I came off Venlafaxine successfully, it's a brutal one so took me ages, but didn't get any withdrawals.

Yes I was on Effexor. Never would I go near that again.

Oh God, I'm so sorry. 💔 I have two elderly dogs and I just can't even think about what I'll do without them. They're such a massive part of the family, aren't they - so heartbreaking. My thoughts are with you, fwiw!

It must be a really hard time, but can I gently suggest that the emotional pain you are experiencing in response to losing your dog is a totally normal, if incredibly difficult, response to a traumatic event. I wouldn't try to medicate that with SSRIs, tbh. Of course it's entirely your call, but yeah, just my 5 cents. I say this with love and understanding of how hard this is. ❤

I had a bit of a root around on Google for The Withdrawal Project, and I think it's this: https://www.theinnercompass.org/ The banner at the top of the website says: "Inner Compass Initiative and The Withdrawal Project are now ONE united website", so despite the URL and website name, I think this must be what the previous commenter was referring to.

Sending love!

Correction to my earlier post - when I said this:

"In the spring (I get SAD), I will reduce to 5mg (you can do this by chopping a 10mg pill in half, or by taking 20mg one day and 0mg the next day, and alternating like that). And I'll see how that goes. If it's fine, then in another year, I will stop altogether."

I meant this:

"I am now coming towards the end of Year 3. In the spring (I get SAD), I will reduce to 5mg (you can do this by chopping a 10mg pill in half, or by taking 10mg one day and 0mg the next day, and alternating like that). And I'll see how that goes. If it's fine, then in another year, I will stop altogether."

Sorry - maths not a strong point lol

Thank you so much for that post. I have one elderly dog and one middle aged dog now. The elderly one is showing signs of dementia and wanders the house during the night barking and peeing on the floor. He sleeps in my room with me. It’s awful to watch. I had another collie who grew up with him that passed away in. August after similar behaviour that went on for months. I am not coping well this time. I also cannot walk in my neighborhood right now due to having to pass neglected animals and it’s too upsetting.

im on my own now, husband in bed recovering from spinal surgery. I’m feeling suicidal for the first time in my life today. I have no plan to kill my self but I do not want to be alive for the last few days
i emailed the Samaratins and I was shocked when I got a response that basically repeated my mail back to me. Nothing else.

everyone is on holiday and I’m feeling my family are fed up with me. When I saw your response I decided to lay it all out here on mumsnet

Thank you so much for that post. I have one elderly dog and one middle aged dog now. The elderly one is showing signs of dementia and wanders the house during the night barking and peeing on the floor. He sleeps in my room with me. It’s awful to watch. I had another collie who grew up with him that passed away in. August after similar behaviour that went on for months. I am not coping well this time. I also cannot walk in my neighborhood right now due to having to pass neglected animals and it’s too upsetting.

im on my

You are welcome ❤I'm so sorry, this is all so heartbreaking. I have collies too! I've always had collies - they're such brilliant dogs, aren't they?! Though they sort of ruin you for all other breeds because they're so bright?! I find their intelligence to be a bit of a double-edged sword tbh (quite challenging to live with animals who are cleverer than you!), but all other dogs just seem a bit thick in comparison?! 😅

Anyway, sorry, I'm trying to distract you from the very worrying things you said in your message.

It sounds like you're going through some really fucking difficult stuff. Not only the dogs (though obviously that, too), but your husband. Is he in hospital or is he at home with you?

Sorry to hear you got such a rubbish email off the Samaritans. Please will you call them? I know a couple of people who volunteer with them and they are EXACTLY the kind of people you'd want to talk to in this kind of crisis. I understand that you may not feel like speaking to anyone, but they are trained in speaking with people who feel exactly like that. Please will you try it?

You say you feel your family are fed up with you. While I obviously don't know you from Adam, I do know that, when I'm in the headspace you're describing, I feel exactly the same way - but in reality, my family would MUCH rather me call them and be broken and a mess, if the alternative was me feeling suicidal on my own. Is there anyone you can speak to in the family? Or any friends?

It's such a difficult time of year, too. I so rarely get suicidal, like REALLY rarely, but this Christmas I have been very down/suicidal tbh. But I feel loads better now tbh. It was maybe a week of just constant crying and awful thoughts and impulses. But feelings are not facts. You have to stick it out. I understand that you might feel like you have nothing left to live for. That is bullshit. That's your mind playing tricks on you. You have your dogs. You have your husband. The world can be beautiful as well as a total prick - it's just that when you're in the mood you're in now, you can't see it.

Admittedly I'm a total word nerd, but the following lines have saved my life more than once, so I'll share them with you:

"This is one moment.
But know that another shall pierce you
with a sudden and painful joy."
- T.S. Eliot

No feeling is forever - thank God!!! xx

Also, in my previous message, where I said that you feeling sad about your dog didn't necessarily mean you should go back on SSRIs, I didn't realise just how bad you were feeling. If you are feeling suicidal, then I would certainly phone your GP first thing tomorrow to get back on them or discuss increasing your dose. There's no rush to get off SSRIs. There are better and worse times to try to do that. Trying to do it when you're feeling suicidal is NOT a good idea. You can always reduce when things get a bit easier.

I’m off them 2.5 months after a 12 month wean. I wanted to try stay off them for 3-6 months

That's fair enough, in terms of intentions, but things change, right?! I'm really not an advocate for SSRIs in general, tbh - but I feel like suicidality is the red line. If it's that bad, then it's wise to take any avenue available to you - anything that could help. It doesn't have to be forever. Just enough to get you up to a functional level so that you aren't in the red zone, you know? There's no shame in the "off/on/off" cycle, it's far more common than a clean break, when it comes to psych meds!