harasgenster
02-10-13, 09:14
I'm going to ask my doctor to take me off citalopram very slowly but I thought I would ask if anyone else has had a similar experience?
I've been in intensive therapy for about a year and I feel very stable, closer to how I felt before I became ill (about 14 years ago) than I ever have. But I'm still exhausted. I counted up how much I sleep at the weekend, which I have never done before, and realised that when I don't have an alarm clock on and sleep naturally I sleep for an average of 15 hours a day. I wanted to have a 'normal' weekend with my friends this week so only had 8 hours of sleep on Friday and 12 hours on Saturday, but by Sunday night I was suffering from a lot of mental confusion and felt as if I were severely sleep deprived. I told my therapist, and after going through my history, it seems likely that it is the Citalopram that is knocking me out. Before returning to medication 7 years ago (had a 4 year break) I had no sleeping issues at all - no insomnia, no hypersomnia - but I did have a breakdown so it wasn't that I wasn't feeling ill. This is what makes me think it might be medication rather than the illness (which I'm happy to say I no longer show any symptoms of!)
Can anyone relate and has anyone tried coming off medication to rid them of long-term side effects? How did it go?
I've been in intensive therapy for about a year and I feel very stable, closer to how I felt before I became ill (about 14 years ago) than I ever have. But I'm still exhausted. I counted up how much I sleep at the weekend, which I have never done before, and realised that when I don't have an alarm clock on and sleep naturally I sleep for an average of 15 hours a day. I wanted to have a 'normal' weekend with my friends this week so only had 8 hours of sleep on Friday and 12 hours on Saturday, but by Sunday night I was suffering from a lot of mental confusion and felt as if I were severely sleep deprived. I told my therapist, and after going through my history, it seems likely that it is the Citalopram that is knocking me out. Before returning to medication 7 years ago (had a 4 year break) I had no sleeping issues at all - no insomnia, no hypersomnia - but I did have a breakdown so it wasn't that I wasn't feeling ill. This is what makes me think it might be medication rather than the illness (which I'm happy to say I no longer show any symptoms of!)
Can anyone relate and has anyone tried coming off medication to rid them of long-term side effects? How did it go?