comin off citalopram

[oldfizzle]

ive been on citalopram for 1 year and feel ready to come off
i tried cold turkey a few weeks ago n it was that awful i took my tabs again.
sooo i was on 40mg a day
which im not taking 40mg every 3 days now
any advice on what my next step to coming off would be?
thanks x

[nicola1980]

Hi you need to be very careful withdrawing from cit, the trick is to do it very slowly, i weaned myself off 30mg in june this yr within a month and wham come august the anxiety and panics started again and i was told by the mental health team that i did it far to quickly and thats prob why ive had a relapse, they say u should wean off in 5mg and it could take u as long as 6 months to wean off them fully and sucessfully, good luck xx

[pinkdove]

Hi i was on 60mg of citalopram, which was way too high for me, i have been reducing now at just 5mg every 4 weeks or so, i am now on 25mg and will stay on this for at least 4#5 weeks before reducing to 20mg, and i will stay on a maintenance dose as long as i can as i crashed badly coming off it the last time, i have had little or no side effects doing it this way. good luck x

[oldfizzle]

how long does the tablet stay in your system for
cos i took my last tablet on saturday
and should have took on this morning but havent as ive had no sickness feeling which is how i usually know if ive forgot
so i was going to try and reduce a little again
but 40 every 3 or 4 days what that the equvilant of every day

[nicola1980]

Its half life is 36 hours, really wouldnt recommend u doing it that way at all tho x x

[oldfizzle]

what half life mean

[pinkdove]

I think it means that it takes 36hours for half the dose to leave your system, so i always think it takes 72 hours for your system to be clear of the dose. anhyone can correct me, i think it is correct though x

[alfredo1]

I was on 40 mg of cit, but upped to 60mg (didn't make a difference) because of a relationship which caused anxiety. Since finishing the relationship, the anxiety has lifted. I've just stopped taking them regularly about 2 weeks ago and i feel fine. I am kind of taking 20mg every other day - feeling OK, but worried that I'll hit a brick wall soon.

I've been on cit for over 10 years so i wonder if they were not working anyway as to just more or less half the dose in two weeks ago and feel fine, is that normal???????

[pinkdove]

I was on 40 mg of cit, but upped to 60mg (didn't make a difference) because of a relationship which caused anxiety. Since finishing the relationship, the anxiety has lifted. I've just stopped taking them regularly about 2 weeks ago and i feel fine. I am kind of taking 20mg every other day - feeling OK, but worried that I'll hit a brick wall soon.

I've been on cit for over 10 years so i wonder if they were not working anyway as to just more or less half the dose in two weeks ago and feel fine, is that normal???????
Hi you really should have withdrawn slowly, as you have been on a high dose, and for a long time, it does seem to quick to me, however if you are feeling ok, then i am so pleased for you, but when i came of to soon i crashed badly, if you begin to feel any side effects you should go back to your last dose and take it regularly, at least that's what my dr told me, and reducing slowly is so important . goos luck i hope things work out for you x