Coming off of Citalopram

[jane1964]

Hi,
I have been on 20mg of Citalopram for four years. I now want to come off them and have halved my dose over the last two months.
Dont seem to have any physical effects but my emotions are all over the place.
I cry all the time and am wondering whether to go back on them, but really dont want to. Is this normal? Has anyone else had similar experiences? Help??

jane1964, sorry you are having such a rotten experience. yes, it can be normal to have this - the drug company and doctors tend to refer to it as 'discontinuation syndrome'. It's not necessarily an indication of your original illness coming back. Were you fully better when you were on the tablets?

I have had various symptoms coming off sertraline (different drug, same class of medicine though). If it doesn't resolve in a month or so, or sooner if you are finding it unbearable, might be worth asking your doctor for advice. Could you taper down the dose even more slowly? Or you could ask the doctor to let you experiment with a switch to an SSRI with a longer half-life (such as prozac/ fluoxetine). This takes longer to be metabolised by your body and therefore might make for fewer discontinuation symptoms.
Best of luck, it's not easy. But you can do it if you are really determined and ready.

Hi Narmarda, Thanks for your reply, I sometimes think I am going mad. I am fed up with taking them and yes I did feel better when I was on them.
I now feel that I need to be my own person - Just hope that this isnt the real me (

Hi Jane - sorry to hear you are having a few problems. I was interested to hear that doctors call this "discontinuation syndrome" which sounds like "withdrawal effects" to me. I wonder if this is the problem and that you are in fact reducing too quickly. Are you following the GPs advice about withdrawal. Mind I did that twice (not on the same drug as you) and soon had withdrawal effects which I thought was the return of the depression so went back on the full dose. It was only when I started seeing a very knowledgeable therapist that I was able with her help to safely reduce very very slowly and with no major withdrawal effects.

The trouble is I think that many GPs don't really know a lot about withdrawing from these kind of drugs and sort of take a guess at how to reduce. You say you have halved your dose over the last 2 months - do you mean you are taking 10mg per day every day instead of 20mg per day. This might be too big a reduction - could you discuss with yourGP reducing more slowly - say 5mg per day. Look I'm no expert so I too am only guessing as I only know what happened in my case. I do think though that many of us who are taking these drugs for some years will feel that the depression is returning when really it is withdrawal effects that we are sufering, which will of course pass in time, but it is safer to reduce more slowly.

In fact 3 different GPs assured me that my depression was returning and I had to go back on the full dose which I did because I believed them and none of them even mentioned withdrawal. I had become dependent on ADs (was on them for 14 years) and I didn't even know it was possible for them to cause dependency.

I have just sent for a small book from Amazon called something like "Plain Talking about Psychiatric drugs" that may not be the exact title but it is by Joanna Moncrieff who is a consultant psychiatrist and I am told by a friend that it is quite readable for the non medical person. It's about £7.00 so it might be worth you getting it.

Anyway hope things get sorted for you, which I'm sure they will in time.

Nana, would be interested to hear if the book was any good

OK Topsi - will let you know, though not sure how long it will take to come.

Dear Jane,

I too have been trying to come off citalopram. I halved my dose from 30mg to 20mg before i fell pregnant. It was hell but I toughed it out and began to level out. I am currently 5wks pregnant and halved my dose again to 10mg. This time I feel unable to cope with the withdrawal and after a week i have decided to go back up to 20mg and come down more slowly. The doctor has recommended this.

Withdrawal after 4 years is very hard. The key is to be very gentle with yourself and come down much more slowly. I would go back up to the dose you felt good on. Stay there until you level out and then drop down very gradually. I don't advocate one day on, one day off as some doctors do. I have cut my tablets when needed.The key is time. Drop down a little and don't drop again until you feel level and good. then drop down a little again.rapid withdrawal will be distressing and aside from the actual physical withdrawal, it is likely that you will also start to become afraid and feel hopeless. This is a cycle we hard to avoid as depression sufferers.

So, be gentle, take lots of time and know that you are very capable of being free of citalopram. I would give yourself 6 months to drop down. Exercise as much as you can - and do yoga. This really can help a lot but you must persevere. And remember that you always have this space to ask for help and support.

Clair
xx

I've been on citalopram for 2 and a half years following my baby's birth and wondering if I will ever come off it. although I feel mostly better I am wondering whether I should be recovering quicker? On 30mg

As with the other girls i can only strongly recommend coming off them very slowly. I did, but even the last little bit when i finally stopped i had 10 days of massive withdrawal symptoms. It was actually one of the hardest things i've ever had to do - but for me - it was worth it.
I had been on citalopram for 12 years, and it was time to come off.
Having said that, every body is different - so everyone will react differently. There are a myriad of different symptoms one can get from withdrawal from citalopram. If you still feel it's right for you - keep going, keep strong and talk. Give yourself the room to talk about it - dont' bottle it.
Good luck