Coming off Citalopram

[serendipity]

Hi I am new to the forum. Started experiencing anxiety out of the blue three months after having a baby. Was put on citalopram and due to raised prolactin was told to come off early with no replacement cold turkey.

I reduced over a period of one week and I felt ok. For the first week without I was ok then by the second thought I had a stomach bug. This then followed by urges to cry, high temp and flu like aches. I am also getting body and head zaps and terrible stomach cramps. In all I feel rotten. Went to see doc and said it was likely to be a combination of withdrawl and a viral infection even though I havn't had a tablet for over two weeks. I am now worried anxiety may come back. would love to hear from people in same boat as I keep thinking i am dying or that its something else.

I am also waiting to see an endocrinologist about my hormones as they have been a bit all over place and thyroid now low.

[suzy-sue]

Hormones have a lot to answer for .It does sound
possible your Thyroid might be to blame .As it can cause Anxiety when its malfunctioning .Its usually a case of taking a tablet each day to sort it ..It can take a long time after having a baby to get back to normal so they will keep a check on you at regular intervals .Nothing to worry about ,All the best Sue x

[0220Casey]

HI everyone, I took my last tablet on July 27th, so one full month. Feeling better, stronger, not as dizzy. Its coming and I am so glad I stuck with this.
Its been hard, but in the long run, very worth it. I am focusing, enjoying life and enjoying my family. My husband has been very supportive and I am lucky to have him. One step at a time, but its a step in the right direction. I am hoping by another month all the symptoms will be gone.

Stay positive everyone.

All the best, and all the luck to you.
Casey

[0220Casey]

HI everyone, I took my last tablet on July 27th, so one full month. Feeling better, stronger, not as dizzy. Its coming and I am so glad I stuck with this.
Its been hard, but in the long run, very worth it. I am focusing, enjoying life and enjoying my family. My husband has been very supportive and I am lucky to have him. One step at a time, but its a step in the right direction. I am hoping by another month all the symptoms will be gone.

Stay positive everyone.

All the best, and all the luck to you.
Casey

[Intensive]

Finally, no more worries for me. I recently went cold turkey from Citalopram (about 3 weeks now) and I am also suffering from what isn't quite dizziness but like a thunderstorm going on in your brain.

Ive also noticed I get tired much eariler than normal but my required sleep is the same. This has lead to me going to sleep at very early times and waking up very early.

Its good to hear that these symptoms do subside. Once peace on advice I will give is this, an intensive work out seems to alleviate some of the side effects of going cold turkey. I dont know why, I assume it has something to do with either the adrenaline rush or feel good hormones released by a proper work out. Anyway I am spending 30 minutes a day of weights and rowing and i find that this seems to curb any brain weirdness for most of the day.

[etanercept]

Hi everyone. Ive decided to go cold turkey and come off my anti-depressants (Citalopram 20mg) after being on them for 2 years.
The side effects are terrible!

Im fine in the morning but when i get to the early afternoon i get really bad 'head whooshes' and feel very tearful. Also (and this is weird), sometimes when i move my eyes i get a weird whooshing noise in my ears. I feel sick sometimes and very stressy.

Im absolutely desperate to get off of these pills and lead a normal life.
Is anybody else out there in my position? If so i would love to hear from you.

Thanks for reading,
Rob.

I'm experiencing it right now, but to me the most curious thing about that sensation is that i remember telling my psych since i experienced that when i was tapering venlafaxine and my doctor said: it must be psychogenic... it was 1998.
And yesterday I spoke to my new doctor and she said almost the same...

To me, its strange that is not documented on the adverse effects of the SSRIs, but I found this:
http://pb.rcpsych.org/cgi/reprint/29/6/219

Very interesting

[bobbyjo]

Hey hey my
I 've been on 40 mgs for the last few months, although it seemed to help i've put on about 2 stone which isnt good i'm quite short, and turned into a total zombie, so have come off them about aweek ago. I feel sick as a dog, like i have a head full of concrete, and horrible vivid dreams every night, i woke up screamin last night, its awful. However i am gonna ride this, i'm not going on anything ever again. The cause of my depression is historical sexual abuse. I know there are other ways to deal with it. I'm not a chemistry set like the dr see's me.
I just really wanna know how long these withdrawal effects last. The dr wouldnt tell me coz he wanted me to go on e-citalopram instead straight away. But i'm just not, i dont hold dr's in reverence. Does anybody know how long the symptoms last? Thats all i want to know , because i'm never taking them again at any doseage.

[scarecrow]

Just an update on how I'm getting on coming off Citalopram. I was on 10mg for 4 months then decided I didn't need to be on them anymore, so I went down to 5mg for a week and then came off them. I've been off them just over a week now and I feel fine, I don't feel any different actually. I must be one of the lucky ones. Mind you, the anxiety I had which is why I went on them isn't there anymore so that makes it easier for me. I'm determined not to go back on them again unless I get very bad anxiety again for any reason and it effects my day to day living.

My advice is don't just come off them, reduce the dose slowly.

[scarecrow]

After reading all this thread properly I may be in for a bumpy road coming off Citalopram. I think I'm getting the head whooshes and dizzyness but I ain't gonna give in to it. There's no way I'm going back on them whatever withdrawl symptoms are thrown at me! Lets all stick together and get through all this

[scarecrow]

Sorry, but it's me again. These last two days I've been having some funny symptoms (I mean funny strange). In the mornings I am really hot and sweat alot on my face and my Period comes on and then stops after some time. It's a funny sort of hot feeling, not a normal hot, and my Period is really heavy. I don't know if it's because I've come off Citalopram, or because I'm going through the Change, or my Cellulitis I get which I'm on antibiotics for at the moment. These symptoms only started a few days ago and I'm nearly a couple of weeks coming off Citalopram. Has anyone else had these symptoms coming off Citalopram?

I'll let you know how it goes.