Awful withdrawal symptoms

[LizzieSiddal]

Hi, I’ve been on Citalopram for anxiety, on and off for 10 years. For the last 2 years I’ve only been on 10mgs as therapist said I probably need to take a “maintenance” dose for life (due to childhood trauma), but Dr feels I should try to come off them and to be honest I don’t like thinking I may be on them forever.

So since mid March I’ve taken half a tablet a day and the last two weeks only a quarter. I feel absolutely dreadful- low mood, exhausted, can’t cope at work with things I usually do easily, and lots of crying for no apparent reason! I’m very tempted to start taking 10mgs again but should I push on?

TIA.

It's very likely withdrawal symtoms. That doesn't mean that you need to dot stay on them forever, but that if you want to stop you need to taper off them more slowly. GPs often seem to suggest tapering too fast.

Have a look at the official advice:

www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mental-health/treatments-and-wellbeing/stopping-antidepressants

Many people need to go even slower than suggested there.

Did you GP tell you to take half a tablet?

Thanks @financialmuddle i’ll have a read of that.

Have a look at the work of

https://markhorowitz.org

https://markhorowitz.org/academic-paper/tapering-of-ssri-treatment-to-mitigate-withdrawal-symptoms/

@PickANumber No I haven’t spoken to GP.
When I’ve come off them before I’ve just done it myself and haven’t had an issue. Maybe I should give them a ring.

Thanks @PigmyGoat

my doctor advised stopping in January and by mid February I was suicidal and genuinely though I was cracking up. I’m building my dose back up now and I will never try to come off them again. I’ve come to realise that I just need them due to how my brain is wired. X

When I came off citalopram after intially halving the dose I actually found it easier to then start taking a tablet every other day for a while and then gradually increasing a day between doses every few months. Eventually once I got to taking 1 10mg tablet a week I then started quartering the tablets (which was fiddly!) and reducing the dose by a quarter, again over months. I think it took me 10 months to come off it that way, but the withdrawal effects were bearable. I still got the head zaps, but my mood didn't get affected. Maybe it's worth trying it that way for a bit.

I've been on venlafaxine now for 10 years and that I just can not get off. No matter how little I try and reduce my dose, I am a sobbing suicidal mess after 4 days. That is from withdrawal because even when I have been at my most depressed I have never been actively suicidal.

Good Luck with whatever you decide to do. Coming off anti-depressants is so hard.

I tried twice to go off escitalopram (related to citalopram and used a lot in the US where I live) twice, and I all but ended up in a padded room both times. Screaming panic attacks are no fun. If your brain needs an SSRI, then it needs it. If you insist on trying to get off of it, taper very slowly. But understand that you may need it, even if you don't like taking it. Nobody does, but sometimes it's necessary.

I have tried twice to come off it and the side effects were horrendous, so I am still taking it. Cutting the tablets is so difficult to get it accurate. I just took one every other day but as I say I couldn’t cope with it. Found GP fairly rubbish with it tbh.

Yes OP I had the same with escitalopram. I had to decrease it very very slowly. Any attempts to do it quickly failed horribly.

Thanks for all your experiences.
I’ve decided to try to carry on on a quarter as I do feel so much better this morning (despite having very little sleep last night). The cotton wool feeling in my head has gone and I don’t feel like running away or crying, so maybe I’ve broken the back of it.

Thanks again everyone.x

Should have added, I really underestimated how long it took to come off them so will be staying on this dose over the summer, Ive got lots to look forward to and don’t want it spoilt by withdrawal symptoms.

Can I ask what the reason is for coming off them? Long term use has no terrible side effects

Your therapist has most probably overstepped a boundary as unless they are a qualified and registered medical professional they are in no position to make comment , in a professional sense, as to what medicine you take or how long you take it for. I am also gob smacked that a therapist is conceding to a lifetime of medication due to a past event. Childhood trauma, as awful as it must have been, CAN be successfully treated in adult life without mediation and you can see through a complete withdraw from Citalopram. Cold turkey isn't recommended so well done for noticing this. Reducing quantity and frequency while building self resilience can see you through all this. What type of therapy are you receiving if you don't mind me asking?

I discussed this with my consultant. This drug deadens you to emotions happiness, sadness and everything in between.
I took it to stop the terrible pain of my divorce. I'd been married to someone for 20 years who although not perfect by any means just one day took off and apart from collecting his stuff I never saw or heard from again.
I went on this to kill the initial pain of it. Then a few years later realised I'd felt nothing for some time. I dont want to spend the rest of my life feeling nothing, I want to live again. Even if it's painful.

As someone else said it's probably too fast for your body, I'm on venlafaxine and the plan my doctor gave me to come off them was too fast. Someone on here told me to open the capsule rather than not taking it at all and I'm down to one little tablet . Next step is to try half a tablet.

Morerainbowsplease,
I'm on Venlafaxine, it's supposed to one of the hardest to get off, I was on a high dose and gradually I've got down to one of the tablets inside the capsule.
The withdrawals are terrible so you have to do it very slowly, see what your body will let you get away with not taking if you get me.
I found that eating something, even just a slice of bread every so often helped a lot with withdrawal.
Hope you manage it and don't give up, it is doable

Also maybe see if the GP can give you something else that's easier to come off

Actually I did have concerns about my therapist and stopped going because I didn’t feel comfortable about a few things she had said to me. (One example was she told me my step mum probably thought I was a “little bitch”, a did pick her up on that and said although I had issues with her, my step mum would never think that of a young child) Her saying “you”ll probably need a maintenance dose for life” has really played on my mind, dh has been trying to tell me I should get a second opinion about this. The therapist is a fully qualified psychotherapist who also worked at a university as a lecturer.

Edited to add, thank you for your post, it’s encouraging to hear that I shouldn’t need to rely on them for life.

It does, but then if your 'normal' before medication is life ruining chronic anxiety, then the emotionless state can be a life saver. It was for me. I cannot live a normal life without crying constantly while not medicated.

I agree, this is withdrawal as this is a fast taper as you have done 50% drops which is way too fast. You can tell it's withdrawal if you're getting ' new symptoms, or the symptoms are particularly harsh.withdrawal also comes on very fast.
How were you on the half a tablet? If you were doing ok on this, I'd suggest you go back up to the dose you last felt ok on.
It took me 10 years to taper off paroxetine using the liquid . I had to do a micro taper over years due to the awful withdrawals. If you're in the UK I think citalopram comes in liquid drops, so once you stabilise back on the last dose you felt ok on, you could try liquid to drop slower

I've been on escitalopram for a few years. I've been on antidepressants of some sort for 20 years. Without them I'm awful. I was off them for 2 years when ttc and made some awful life decision that haunt me. I've tried to taper off so many times and it all goes to shit

Stte
Are you receiving any trauma based/informed therapy alongside medication?

Not Citalopram, but I came of peroxatine and it took me nearly as many years coming off as I was on

IIRC, first off GP lowered the dose, that was for months, then lowered again - more months, then it came to having to cut the tablets - more months - and then taking the small amounts every other day, then three days etc. Think it was about 3 years before I was off completely. I remember the day when it dawned on me I hadn't taken any for two weeks - I wasnt feeling my best, went to reach for them and went sod it , I can survive this because Ive survived 2 weeks already - and that when I binned them and yes I did have it tough, the though of going through it all again made me battle on

Reducing by 50% straight off has to be hard, no wonder it's a struggle. If you have to go back up then do so and see if you can get a lower dose prescribed and expect it to take years