What are the side effects of withdrawing from Citalopram?

[anxiety 10]

Hello,

 

Just to add my experience with Citalopram. I was having severe panic attacks and depression 3 years ago in October. I was so against going on medication and resisted at first and then succumbed due to not being able to cope any more.

 

As I said I had been on the 20mg Citalopram for 3 years, I attempted to come off them before but noticed I was becoming very snappy and short tempered to decided I wasn't ready.

 

I think one of the points to make is to not put too much pressure on yourself, the way I see it some people attach a stigma to taking anit-depressants however if you were a diabetic you wouldn't think twice about taking insulin, it is a chemical inbalance and nothing to do with your strength of character.

 

10mg tablets are available however I did not want to see the doctor to reduce my dosage as I wanted to have the option to increase / decrease my dosage depending on how I felt. I decided to break my 20mg tablets in half and have half a tablet a day (10mg equivalent). I did this for about 2 - 3 months and then realised I had been forgetting to take them everyday so came off them completely.

 

I have been off them for about 3 months now and did go through a stage of feeling severely dizzy but persevered and now the dizziness seems to have gone.

 

I still suffer from anxiety, however it is not any worse than when I was on the medication so I have decided to continue. When I started getting panic attacks I went to see a councellor which did not help me in the slightest so decided to take things into my own hands and saw a hypnotherapist which I found really helpful.

 

I seem to find myself at a bit of a plateau now and don't seem to be making any further progress so am considering a trip to the hypnotherapist again to see if that gives me a boost. In the meantime, as much as it scares and phases me, I keep trying to push myself, when you do something that terrifies you, it seems to make other stuff seem not so fearful.

 

I hope this may help some of you. x

[GrayFace 10]

ive found this wonderful forum for pepole suffering from anxiety and panic attacks, theres some info on there for depression aswell, theres a host of copeing info and also a chat room for those who need that bit of extra reasurrance and support

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/

and theres also a facebook page(its a closed group and monitord)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/72533580743/?ref=ts#!/groups/7078088709/

hope this info helps those with panic attacks, i find the site helpful

gf

[GrayFace 10]

Hello,

 

Just to add my experience with Citalopram. I was having severe panic attacks and depression 3 years ago in October. I was so against going on medication and resisted at first and then succumbed due to not being able to cope any more.

 

As I said I had been on the 20mg Citalopram for 3 years, I attempted to come off them before but noticed I was becoming very snappy and short tempered to decided I wasn't ready.

 

I think one of the points to make is to not put too much pressure on yourself, the way I see it some people attach a stigma to taking anit-depressants however if you were a diabetic you wouldn't think twice about taking insulin, it is a chemical inbalance and nothing to do with your strength of character.

 

10mg tablets are available however I did not want to see the doctor to reduce my dosage as I wanted to have the option to increase / decrease my dosage depending on how I felt. I decided to break my 20mg tablets in half and have half a tablet a day (10mg equivalent). I did this for about 2 - 3 months and then realised I had been forgetting to take them everyday so came off them completely.

 

I have been off them for about 3 months now and did go through a stage of feeling severely dizzy but persevered and now the dizziness seems to have gone.

 

I still suffer from anxiety, however it is not any worse than when I was on the medication so I have decided to continue. When I started getting panic attacks I went to see a councellor which did not help me in the slightest so decided to take things into my own hands and saw a hypnotherapist which I found really helpful.

 

I seem to find myself at a bit of a plateau now and don't seem to be making any further progress so am considering a trip to the hypnotherapist again to see if that gives me a boost. In the meantime, as much as it scares and phases me, I keep trying to push myself, when you do something that terrifies you, it seems to make other stuff seem not so fearful.

 

I hope this may help some of you. x

 

anxiety i think you are doing the right thing by pushing yourself and facing the fear, because enough exposure to the fear and saying to it 'c'mon bring it on'! the panic attack gently subsides, this is how CBT works the behavioural therapy, especially now your decideing to be off the tablets

 

what ive told myself whilst haveing a full blown anxiety attack is that nothing ever happens, they fizzle out after your body realises theres no need for no more adrenalin to rush round my body and they dissapate

no matter how awful you feel nowt happens, and sometimes after i think what the eff was that???!

everyone has a different method of coping and identifying triggers, but the link above to that forum has helped me a great deal, im not on meds or anything, finding ways to cope with the symptons dramatically reduces these attacks for me

ps i know depression can cause the anxiety attacks so its well worth taking the tablets for some, some tablets work for people and some dont

my gp told me it was a case of finding the right anti d what suits, what worked for me wasnt the new citalopram or fluexitine it was an old trycyclic anti d they used back in the 70s!

 

GF

[giddygoat 10]

Good thread.

I have to reduce Citalopram as I'm on 60mg, and have been for years (mild bi-polar) and new guidelines warn against heart irregularities at a high dose, so I have to reduce to 40mg - in a month..

NOT very happy about it. Doctor's orders.

 

They are the meds that suit me best, I've had Valium, Librium, Ativan etc etc over the years. My GP has offered Lithium if 40mg of Citalopram isn't enough.. not a chance! I'd rather have nothing.

 

Has anyone else had to reduce by 20mg?

[Gordonb 11]

From experience now is not the time to come off them. For me it needs to be in May-June for the extra daylight plus I need to have an exercise/swimming/relaxing regime in force.

[giddygoat 10]

bumping to see if anyone else will comment..

[hollydxx 10]

@giddygoat

 

I've had to reduce my dose by 40mg because of these new guidelines. I was on 80mg under a psychiatrist and although he has told me they could probably keep my as 60 if they had to they are trying me down at 40mg for the moment.

 

Although when I was at 40mg it helped to control my depression, I was still having some major mood swings which have returned since lowering the dose.

 

However, very reluctant to try a different medication as citalopram has worked and to try another would require weeks of easing off it and then adjusting the dose of a new anti-depressant! grr!

[giddygoat 10]

Oh my goodness, that's an even bigger drop.. poor you.

I read somewhere that there's pretty much no difference to a patient being treated with 40mg, and one on a higher dose.. well, we'll see, won't we?

 

Just as you find something that REALLY suits you, along comes this new research.. I wish they hadn't bothered!

 

Are you bipolar? (Don't answer that if you prefer not to) just wondered, as it's more usual for psychs to prescribe mood stabilisers, but having friends who are on these, and always having to adjust dosages, and put up with awful side effects, I refused them.

 

I'd rather take responsibility for the meds I take - we know how they make us feel, not the docs - and was happy enough on 60mg citalopram..

[hollydxx 10]

Yeah, I kind of feel like they should have just let us get on with it until we feel ready to lower our doses, but hey! They're the doctors...

 

I haven't been diagnosed with bipolar, but I am 19, and I don't know about you but my mum took years and years to have hers diagnosed, so I don't know whether that will be something they look at in the future, but for now it's just severe depression. They did give me seroquel for a while to help me sleep and clear my head, but I struggled with that because it made me so sleepy I couldn't get up in the mornings so they just upped my dose of citalopram.

 

I hope you don't struggle too much with the reduced dose! Good luck with it all!

[char2802 10]

Hi All.

 

I have been on citalopram since about september 2011, started on 20 for about 6 weeks, then upped to 40 for another few weeks, as there was still no change we upped to 60 and I was on that dosage from just before christmas until two weeks ago ish. I am being treated for depression and have noticed no effects good or bad from citalopram. My doc has now changed me onto Venlafaxine.

I think after reading this that i am really struggling with the side effects of weaning off. I was worried that it was the new meds affecting me.

When i weaned off the cital my doc told me to drop to 20 mg citalopram form 5 days and then start the venlafaxine 20mg for a week and straight away up to 40 and stick with that.

After reading everyones comments this sounds very fast BUT i havent read any examples of people changing to a different drug, just people coming off.

I am now on day 6 of taking 20mg venlafaxine and due to up the dosage tomorrow.

Its really hard to describe the feeling, its almost like waves of very gentle but intense pins and needles from the waist up, mood swings, that feeling where you have stood up to quickly in waves, getting very short of breath when ive just been resting. And im not sure if its a side effect of just me being a wuss but its all making me very upset, I hate feeling like this and i feel like there is nothing i can do.

Does anyone know how long this will last roughly if i am switching rather than stopping?

[hollydxx 10]

From what you've said it does seem like you've dropped the dose very quickly and I was say the side effects you are experiencing are probably to do with this. I have experienced a lot of dizziness in dropping my dose as well as mood swings.

 

I would hope that these side effects would wear off in a couple of weeks, but I'm no doctor and if you are experiencing things like shortness of breath, I would suggest a trip back to the doctors is probably in order, just to make sure it's nothing to do with your new meds.

 

I hope you feel better soon!

[ANGELFIRE1 10]

After a year of takinga 20mg dose of Citalopram i feel stable and well enough to start coming off it.

 

However, as is typical of my GP, i have received no guidance about any side effects i might experience and am therefore, rather clueless about what to expect. I have had a search on the internet but can't seem to find much.

 

I have reduced my dose to 20mg every other day for 10 days now. In the first few days i experienced anxiety but was able to rise above it because i have now developed effective coping mechanisms. However, more worrying is the sickness and dizziness i had during a hypnotherapy session. I have had vivid dreams but am not inclined to complain or be worried about those!

 

Has anyone any advice please?

 

 

 

I see this op is 5 years old, but the answer must have been to either read the blurb that is inside the tablet box, or ask the doctor for advice.

 

Angel.