Coming off Citalopram

[theharvestmouse]

I'm thinking maybe one more month on Cit and then I'm going to ask my GP about going off it. It's been 3 months now and they have helped me but I just want to be off medication and try to cope without.

[Pinkcasi]

Hi everyone i've literally only just registered here because i saw this thread and felt compelled to get involved.

I have been on citalopram for about a year and a half - two years now, and i've been functioning really well but recently i came off cold turkey, i didn't mean to i just ran out of pills and i was thinking about talking to the dr about coming off them anyway o i just thought ok i'll just not bother getting another prescription, this was about a week ago, and since then i swear i've not stopped crying, i dont have the head 'wooshes' that a lot of you talk about i just feel so depressed and i dont know whether it's withdraw or just depression.

I do have chest pain, but then I have had pleurisy on and off for a few months but this chest pain is different but i cant describe it, i feel tense all the time, cant cope having to talk to anyone i've fallen out with my sister, have been fighting with my mum and my poor boyfriend cant say or do anything right, he's never known me not on drugs and im concerned that this wreck of a person is just the real me when im not hiding behind a haze of pills it's been a real a struggle to come to work, i know that i need to just get a prescription but people on the internet say that these 'withdraw' symptoms only last a couple of weeks, should i just ride it out? im trying but i dont know, i cant afford to take any more time off work and im actually thinking about self harm for the first time in months and it makes me feel weak and pathetic, seriously was it only the pills keeping me 'stable' am i going to need them for the rest of my life or will this pass, am i being a total drama queen.

Sorry im rambling but i've barely said 2 words to anyone in about 3 days and certainly not about this, i have no one to talk to about this.

[Kelseywelseyyy]

STOP! Don't self harm please! It gets better I promise, I felt like utter crap for the first couple of days but im now on day 17 and feeling much better. As mentioned above, meds are not meant as a long term solution and I decided to come off now rather than years later. But like you I just forgot to get my prescription. I'm getting a weird head feeling now but I know its just my anxiety going into overdrive because of the time! Just look at the amount of people viewing this subforum and ha to the rest, mine is worse at night. Anyway, if you can carry on as normal and don't give the symptoms the attention they want, they soon go away!
Whatever you feel is best for you, maybe go and see your doc and what they think.
If you're feeling like you might self harm please post or pm me! Its not the only way.

X

[Pinkcasi]

Thanks Kelsey I did speak to the dr yesterday about going back on the pills it's just not the time for coming off, it makes me sad tho as I thought I was strong enough but there's too much going just now and I feel like I'm totally losing it .... Again. So I'm just waiting for the pills to kick in now just gotta keep functioning till then.

[Kelseywelseyyy]

You are strong just no isn't the right time. Hope your feeling better

X

[Pinkcasi]

Thanks, but no not really, i made it to work but i cant actually do anything, someone i work with it's herlast day today,she's retireing, i've known her for years and i'll never see her again, but i just cant bring myself to talk to her and be 'normal' im doing a really poor job of hiding any of it just now and all i want to do is go home curl up on the sofa and cry. Had a call from my sister, we're in the middle of a fight and apparently im dead to her now, in fact if I and i quote, 'If you were to drop dead right now i wouldn't care' that's what my own sister said to me and im pretty sure she meant it, so i lose my sister, and my 6 year old neice who i love more than anything, meanwhile my mum is stuck in the middle trying to keep the peace, getting upset, but never mind i guess im doing that woe is me thing that my sister hates so much, i even thought about topping myself last night for the first time in ages, but i dont want to give my sister the satisfaction, i just thought, let it all go be free, and it was a nice feeling, and then there,s mum and boyfriend and everything else that im supposed to give a damn about and i bottled it.
So i took my pill instead like a good little crazy person, after my boyfriend found me in a heap on the bathroom floor, it's ridiclous really i know exactly why all this is happening, but i cant do anything about it, just take the drugs and hide the truth.

Im sorry im rambling, but it's really nice to have this place to vent, there's no one else i can talk to, i dont like to worry my loved ones, and i've alreay lost friends because they couldn't handle the crazy, and it gets to tiring keeping it all in, and now my boyfriend has moved in i dont really get any time to talk to myself or the cat, you know not like an insane person just getting it out you know.

[Pat77]

I am on SRI for the second time now ... I 've learned to be friendly with my medication because I need it to function properly ... we don't know how long it will take, and it doesn't matter because this is what makes you feel better at the moment. Give yourself time, do not count it ... it is not worth it.
If was a medication for tooth ache we would take until we feel better, it is just something we put in our mind that is "controlling" us, NO , they are helping us.
I was on it for 16 months first time and after went counselling for almost a year to help dealing with my life medication FREE ... now , 10 years after, I am back on it ... was for 6 months and want to plan for my 2nd child and need to get out, I am on day 3 on 10mg, starting feeling the light head, and few discomforts, hope I manage without it, for a great cause , I don't want to get pregnant on the meds ... but if I feel I cannot cope, is because it is no the right time for me and my baby will have to wait a little longer ...
So do not put too much pressure on yourself to be Medication Free ... put on a scale what it worth paying for ... live a great life with a little help or be miserable with ourselves and others just not to take some pills.
Take care and be good to yourself !
Pat:yesyes:

[TJSMITH]

Hi there
Can i ask a question as im into week 7 now and going to gp to talk bout increase you said removes negative thoughts??? i can now funtion and laugh etc... but this is almost robotic as i dont ever genuinally enjoy anything due to the cloud lurking around me (if makes sense) and constant negative thoughts im trying to deal with.
Do you think an increase may help?? not as bad as before but still not nice and not myself. Would be grateful of input x

[Pat77]

When I increased the dose was because of the symptoms, chest pain, palpitations, shakings that were difficult to control ... The negative thoughts I try to manage with counselling but I did notice that they went away and kind of came back after I started cutting down my dosage. Good luck :winks:

[kerry51]

Hi everyone,

This is my first time on this site, I just googled 'coming off citalopram' and found it. Last week I stopped taking citalopram after two years, reduced them gradually from 40mg down to 10mg every other day. I also stopped taking my headache tablets the same day-amitriptyline- which I've just found out is also given as an anti depressant. I'm feeling a complete mess and a bit frightened to be honest. Can't stop crying, feel sick and dizzy, I just want to feel normal. Any advice would be graefully accepted xxxx

[Sam122]

I know the feeling. I feel like I am in the movie the matrix. I am trying holy basil for calmness and evening primrose for other issues females have after age 40 and a hystorectomy. I feel good except for the extreme dizziness. Exercise is helping but it is a process. This is the first full week of cold turkey for me. I dont cry but i do get anxious sometimes. The other herb that I take is damiana for the female sex drive to come back.. It is wonderful. But ask your doctor first just in case you take other meds.

[Cleanlife]

I have exactly 38 tablets left (20 mg) i intend on cutting them in half and taking one a day for a week or so, then one every 2nd day, then three a week and so on until they're done....or thats the plan at least!
I know what its like if you miss a few days, i get a feeling of having wet cement sloshing around in my head, hopefully a fairly gradual decrease in dosage wont be too bad....I will post my findings on how things go :)

[Austin]

Don't come off cold turkey. Those little citalopram tablets can be split in two quite easily. Try having your dose first. And talk to your doctor.

[literaryrose]

New poster here - hello!
I am on citalopram 10mg and am looking to completely stop them altogether. What's the best way of tapering them down? A year ago I dropped from 20mg to nothing (over a period of 6 months, doing it one tablet every other day, then one tablet every three days etc) but after completely coming off them I was a mess due the withdrawal symtoms. I had been taking citalopram 20mg for 6 years so I know my body was very reliant on them, hence perhaps why I really struggled to come off them. The Doctor said to go on to 10mg and I have been on 10mg for the past year. I'd like to completely come off though and am scared about going through the withdrawal symptoms again (insomnia, hands and feet felt like they were burning were the main ones - meant I wasn't sleeping at all). So I wonder if anyone had any advice about the best way to do it?
Thanks!

[moomin1]

I haven't been on here in a long time. Been on Citalopram 20mg since 2010, up until a month or so back when I reduced onto 10mg. I have also been a little lax with taking them in the past two weeks - well, basically, not taken any at all as kept putting off picking up my prescription.

Anyway, I'm finding myself feeling very up and down, irritable, and with an extremely short fuse since being on 10mg. I am emotional and generally have this 'background' feeling that something is very bad.

Currently toying with the idea of going back up to 20mg.:weep: