Citalopram withdrawal Help

[grannyc]

I have been on Citalopram for just over 1 year 20mg and have reduced to 1 every 2 days fo the last 2 weeks with a view to reducing it to 1 every 3rd day for the next 2 weeks and then hopefully will be off it altogether but its not been easy, am feeling agitated lightheaded and scared all the old feelings will come back. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

GrannyC

[cattia]

Hi, I have no direct experience with this but I have withdrawn from Prozac a few times. The first time I did it cold turkey and the withdrawal effects were horrible. The second time I did it by reducing to every other day for two weeks then half dose every other day for a further two weeks and I still had some withdrawal but not too bad. The final time, I withdrew super slowly over about 6 weeks and cut right down to quarter dose at the end and had no effects. Bear in mind that your anxiety could be worse as you are withdrawing because you feel anxious about the problem coming back so will be hyper tuned in to every sensation. Try not to put too much pressure on yourself, and remember it isn't the end of the world even if you have to go back on it for a while, just means you are not quite ready yet.