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.

I think that antidepressants are far more difficult to stop than people realise. My experience of coming off Citalopram is that it took around 9 months or so and this is what I did from 10 mg:

10 mg x 6 days per week and 1 day x 5mg (cut tablet). For 2 weeks.
10 mg x 5 days per week and 2 days x 5 mg. For 2 weeks.
And so on until 5mg every day. Then I stayed at 5mg per day for 4 weeks (or until I was sure I was OK). Then, similar to above:

5 mg x 6 days, 0 x 1 day for 2 weeks.
5 mg x 5 days, 0 x 2 days for 2 weeks. And so on.

Any time you think you're not coping, go back to the previous dose and wait until you feel ready to cut again.

Yes, this is an extremely slow method which I devised after reducing doses of steroid medication in a similar way. It worked well for me. I think it's useful to remember that there are no prizes for finishing quickly - and actually doing it quickly could jeopardise your ultimate success. If you need to stay a while on, say, 2 or 3 x 5mg doses per week, there's no great harm done. You're aiming for the minimum dose that your body requires - that might not be 0, but a lesser therapeutic dose is likely better for you than a different dose that you take just because the pills are a particular strength.

Good luck ❤️