Stopping Citalopram - withdrawal symptoms - how long (ball park figure)?

[marthamoo]

I've been on Citalopram (Cipramil) since ds2 was born - 3 and a half years - and it's taken me the last 18 months to wean off, I've found it very hard. I was on 10mgs (original dose 40mgs) every other day and I stopped altogether 5 days ago.

I'm suffering quite badly with feeling very dizzy, light-headed and spaced out. In fact, it seems to be getting worse rather than better. If anyone has experienced this, how long did it last?

I'm also a bit weepy and bad-tempered today but I'm hoping I can just put that down to PMT and school holidays.

Been on 20 mg Citalopram for 2 years. A friend died suddenly at work while we were all going through redundancy and I had panic attack a few days after his funeral. The pills were great. I got on with work again stopped crying and shouting at kids and husband and was going to come off them when another friend at work suddenly died, again as we were going through major restructure at work. It just was not the right time.
I have put on weight because I had litle energy and slept loads.The worst thing I felt about them was over two years I have lost my creativity and imagination and even worse was I couldn't orgasm for a year too.I reduced them slowly over a month or 6 weeks and noticed no change until two weeks of being without them and the dizzyness has kicked in. Feels like one of those spacey hangovers without the headache. Doctor told me withdrawal symptoms could get worse. Got two weeks to get clear before our family holiday. Hope it isn't any longer???

Been on 20 mg Citalopram for 2 years. A friend died suddenly at work while we were all going through redundancy and I had panic attack a few days after his funeral. The pills were great. I got on with work again stopped crying and shouting at kids and husband and was going to come off them when another friend at work suddenly died, again as we were going through major restructure at work. It just was not the right time.
I have put on weight because I had litle energy and slept loads.The worst thing I felt about them was over two years I have lost my creativity and imagination and even worse was I couldn't orgasm for a year too.I reduced them slowly over a month or 6 weeks and noticed no change until two weeks of being without them and the dizzyness has kicked in. Feels like one of those spacey hangovers without the headache. Doctor told me withdrawal symptoms could get worse. Got two weeks to get clear before our family holiday. Hope it isn't any longer???

I was on citalopram for 8 months and came off it by halving the tablets (10 mg) for about 2 weeks. It took another 2 weeks for the symptoms to subside. Recently, I’ve been taking a medication for a physical complaint and it stopped working – this was obviously a concern until I realised that I hadn’t actually been taking it: I’d been taking Citalopram twice a day instead (this is because of stupidity, similar packaging, and an inability to return meds to Boots). So I’m now coming off it again; headaches and nausea.

Am currently living the dream of coming off citalopram for the 3rd time in 5 years (each episode pnd related). I'm shocked at how difficult it is each time. I 'mistakenly' went cold turkey this time, GP appt is impossible to get and i just thought fuck it I can do it.

When I was coming off them the last time I was suffering with the withdrawals and went to the gp, he explained that while the effects are uncomfortable and disconcerting - for me brain zaps are the worse bit- that none of it is doing any harm, so to speak. So I'm keeping that top of mind this time around.

Good luck to anyone in the same position!

I'm coming off 40mg at the moment

I've done 2 weeks off alternate 40/30mg
2 weeks 30mg
2 weeks 30/20
2 weeks 20mg
2 weeks 20/10
2 weeks 10mg

That's where I am just now second week of 10mg, next is 2 weeks of 10mg every second day

That seems very sensible sweekitty, are you getting any withdrawals at all?

To add a positive, Citalopram definitely saved my life. Yes there are side effects but when I weigh up those against what I was like before I went on them then it's a price I'm prepared to pay. Major depression versus getting my life back? No brainer. I. Do worry that some people who are depressed may be put off by reading this thread. I do understand that there can be problems but there are different sorts to choose from and when you are in the grip of depression, sometimes medication is the only way to kick start a recovery. Unfortunately I know I can't come off them so I'm taking them for the duration.

Totally agree. For anyone weighing up whether to take them on the first place, citalopram has saved me from horrific pnd twice. The 3rd time i was put on them was a preventative measure after dc3 was born as I was considered high risk of getting it again. I can't describe the joy of having a small baby and NOT having pnd, not a sniff of it, after spending both my elder dcs baby stages utterly bereft and desperate for it to end. I'm sure it's not for everyone but for me, they saved my life.

I haven't noticed any withdrawal, hoping this is the case when I completely come off them. I'm scared though as I've been on them years and wonder what life is like not being on ADs. I just felt that they did nothing for me anymore, maybe I'll be proven wrong.

Nosey that's exactly how it was for me. Crippling PND with dc1. Terrified of developing PND with 2nd and it did start but I went straight onto Citalopram and I was fine. I cannot tell you how great it felt because there's no way I could have gone through that hell again.

Ok not posted on for over a year so perhaps nobody will see this, my pharmacist, or the pharmacy that has previously requested my prescription and then it's been there for me to collect, totally messed up they gave me 15 $)mg tablets and told me to break them in half, as my prescription was for 20mg , so that's 3o days worth right? went in when that run out, to be accused of "doing something with the drugs" and got told not to come back until the 02/20 which was 13 days later, a friend was able to give me 6]a few 20 mg tablets which meant I could break them in half, which meant I was down to 10mg a day but they ran out so on nothing again by the 02/02 went into the pharmacist again they were just unable to sort out anything from their own computer system but no tablet sforthcomiong so went to doctors, they saud no request had ever been put in by the pharmacist, basically due to their messing me around have had a really really bad week with sudden cold turkey, bad row with centre manager at work which left me in tears, at work!And then very very weepy today, my husband is from Nigeria and has absolutely no understanding or sympathy with what I'm going through,(first got prescribed the pills because the spouse visa process was so traumatic and stressful that I couldn't cope without help after first visa turned down, and was waiting for results of second visa application).This evening on my own after a really bad day, did actually start thinking of suicide, got quite scared because it has been many many years since I was that far down, anyone else got this badly affected ? It has shocked me I really wanted to stop anyway but now I feel too freaked out by how bad today has been

My DP took citalopram after a bereavement, and bitterly regretted it. It did not help him, but he persevered thinking he might be worse without it. When things in his life got better he tried to stop taking it and had awful side effects. GP just told him to stay on it. Long story short, it took 3 attempts before he came off it altogether.

Lots of people seem to have pretty bad side effects when coming off this drug. But GPs don't seem to warn you of this.

Hi
I so want to get off citalopram after many years on them , I take 20mg a day , I would appreciate any advice befor I start ,thankyou alk

Hey Peter777 / everyone

Been on Citalopram for best part of 10 years, now weening myself off. I've been here before (by accident) and it's really unpleasant. You have to remember that the pills have re-engineered your brain over that length of time, so it's going to take some time to adjust without them. The side-effects are common enough - you can read about them here.

The physical side effects are unpleasant but it's the mental state that's more worrying, since you start to feel lots of things that likely put you on the meds in the first place. Mood swings. Dreadful irritability. Do you accept you need to be on meds for life, or are these just side effects too? I can't say. I can't even say the meds help any more, which is the reason I'm trying to get off them.

Taper slowly, very slowly, but be prepared to feel ill. Not so ill that you can't function, but enough to impact on others. If you have family, friends, tell them. Prepare them for low mood, short temper, restlessness. Be active, and mindful of sugar cravings that can lead to weight gain. Share how you're feeling with other people and think of it as recovery, not some admission of failure. You're feeling strong enough to move on from medication dependancy. It's a good thing.

Good luck.

Im hoping to wean off Citalopram as i can't cope with the weight gain!! Been on it 2 years so dreading the withdrawal. Im going to try wean slowly to see if i can lesson the impact. Anyone wean off because of weight gain? Ive put 3 stone on

Hi, I'm hoping to get some reassurance here, I've read alot of this thread which has helped a bit..
I was on 30mg citalopram, dr suggested I go 1 week 20 1 week 10 then stop, after reading this I'm wondering how on earth he thought this was a good idea. Anyways, since stopping around 2 weeks ago, my moods have been better, I feel again, I go out and laugh alot more than I did over the 2 years I was on them, however, I get these weird fluttery jolts, not even sure where they come from, at first I thought, omg I'm having heart palpitations but then they will feel as if they are behind my eyes and make me dizzy. Had anyone else experienced this? I dont want to to back on them if I can power on through and get to the other side! I hated who I became whilst on the pills, a recluse, from a size 8 to 20, which is the main reason I came off them, with one of my disorders being body dysmorphia getting this big had made me hate my self even more than I did.when I wasnt on them before hand! Had anyone experienced the weight gain on them and found their appetite changed when they came off them? Looking for a.slither of hope I can lose the weight and hopefully an answer to my dizzy jolts.
Hope this makes sense

Hi there, im with you, ive ballooned in weight since i started them. Now in fairness they definitely worked and got me out of a dark space. Im trying to wean off them and like you getting mad dizzy spells. But surely they wont kill us im hoping to ride out the storm xx

They worked for me but I have borderline personality disorder and dont suffer from depression for long periods of time, a week at most then I could be manic happy, i kept asking for a mood stabilizer rather than the citalopram and it took me until March this year for someone to listen, but they wouldn't wean me off the citalopram, despite my mental health consultants suggestions to gp! When they finally listened I was over the moon! Now I feel like I'm going to end up depressed and anxious because of the symptoms and end up back at square one. One of the reasons I joined this thread, to know I'm not alone and reassure me it will pass! I just want the hunger to calm down, it's like I have no full point. I feel hunger sick almost all the time. I've noticed today I'm rather shakey. I'm always wishing for bed time in the Hope's the next day will have less problems.