Reducing dosage.....not liking this at all!!

[jenbo50]

I can't believe I am back on the forum after a year of being normal again. Feel like I am going straight back to where i came from which wasn't a great place.

I started Cit in 2011 for anxiety. Been on 30mg for about 18 months and been absolutely normal again!

We want to try for another baby this year so am reducing my dosage with the intenton of coming off full stop.

4 weeks ago i reduced by 5mg for 2 weeks with no actual side effects at all.

So after the 2 weeks i went down again by 5mg to 20mg and this is when i started to feel awful. Really tired, panicy, irritable, teary and just generally a bit of a mess.....

It's been 16 days on this dosage now and i am not getting any better...........can anyone give me some real life advice on whether i will be able to get over this?? Please xxxxx

[NoPoet]

I recently found something out that might help.

If your symptoms came on suddenly and became severe quite quickly, they are just withdrawal symptoms. If you had side effects when you started the med, you are likely to have them coming off.

If this was a relapse, it would probably have occurred more gradually with the symptoms building in strength over days or weeks. To give an example, I came off for 2-3 months. Stupidly, I did it cold turkey, which is idiotic. I had no worrying withdrawal symptoms. In fact I felt better. Several weeks in, I gradually started feeling upset which grew to become distress and despair, and my anxiety was so bad I could barely function. A relapse comes when you haven't identified or fixed the problems, and you haven't developed effective strategies to help you deal with life without meds.

It does sound like you're just having withdrawal effects. These can last a few weeks. They will gradually start to reduce in strength. Different side effects will disappear at different rates. If you can learn to accept that they're there, but breathe deeply from your abdomen and tell yourself over and over that this is normal and you'll be ok, you might find that you break through the worst of it in the coming days.

[jenbo50]

Really appreciate that reply....thanks for taking the time to respond. Just the thing i needed!! Yesterday was truly awful for some reason.

Anyway despite a night of vivid nightmares again (this time talking guinea pigs having their faces ripped off by foxes whilst in a coke vending machine!!??) today seems to be different so far. Lots of energy.....and quite awake.

I am going to give it one more week and see if i stablise. If not i will go back to 25mg for a month and then drop back to 20mg only i am off on honeymoon in 4 weeks and don't want to be struggling!!! :unsure: xxxx

[southey]

That sounds like a good plan, give the 20mg a bit more time before deciding to change? I recently went down to 20 from 30 mg and was OK but I expected this as going from 20 to 30 mg was OK too.
I did go cold turkey for a week or two a while back when I ran out of Cit' and it was a weird experience, brain zaps, disassociation, feeling fragile and not able to cope with routine problems that I normally brush off and became all weepie for little reason which ain't a good look for a burly bloke:D

Steve

[jenbo50]

Thanks for the reply Steve. No i can imagine that shedding a few tears at the Andrex ad wouldn't do your tough guy imagine much good bless you! :D Can't imagine doing cold turkey....woooo no way jose.

Anyway yesterday was ok and today i am not too bad. Anxiety prob 4/10 today whereas the day i wrote this was off the scale seriously!

No awful dreams last night although i did wake at 3am and lie pondering god knows what for an hour or two....

Are you still on 20mg now then?? xx

[southey]

Glad you had a good day. Yes I'm still on 20mg and I have started to take them every other day. Been like this for several weeks and so far so good, no anxiety.

Steve.