Citalopram withdrawal symptoms

[Frankie123]

Need some advice. Have been on citalopram 10mg for over a year. Decided I was now a lot better so went cold turkey and stopped taking them. Since stopping have had bad diarrhoea. This has been two weeks now. Can anyone advise whether this is a symptom of withdrawal and how long it will last.

[Fishmanpa]

I can tell you that going cold turkey after taking SSRIs is ill advised as they it will cause adverse symptoms such as what you're currently experiencing. Always consult your doctor before stopping (or starting) any prescribed medication.

Positive thoughts

[rachael t]

I thought i was better so suddenly stoped was ok for few weeks wile was in system then aftemd was in a rite state of anxiety and had to go bak on them

[Havefaithx]

Hi Frankie123

I went cold turkey with citalopram I was on 20mg for 3 yrs, I felt awful for a month, horrible side affects diarrhea wasn't one of them however check the leaflet and it should tell u, I managed to come off citalopram Ben off tem for 3 months now however it was horrible and I wouldn't advise anyone to do it, speak to ur dr about weeniing yourself off them

[SarahH]

Fishmanpa is right .....not a good idea to come off cold turkey.

Sarah

[Florance]

it is better to reduce the dose of any drugs like citalopram, kind of wean off them. Stopping them abruptly will cause you to have some physical side effects as such. discuss it with your dr

[Frankie123]

Spoke to my GP today. He felt it was quite possible to have this symptom but said it would abate and in the meantime take Imodium if I was going away from home and no toilet being available. He did say I could go back on tabs and come off slowly but want to see if I can continue without doing that. Thanks for all your replies.

[prettylittleC]

Hey all
Ive been on 20mg of citalopram for about 3 months now, and today (Monday) my doctor decided it was time for me to start coming off them, so ive gone down to one every other day. I havent taken one today (Monday) and I haven't been feeling wonderful, Im worried that Im going to go back to feeling how I did before.
Any advice?? ox

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hey all
Ive been on 20mg of citalopram for about 3 months now, and today (Monday) my doctor decided it was time for me to start coming off them, so ive gone down to one every other day. I havent taken one today (Monday) and I haven't been feeling wonderful, Im worried that Im going to go back to feeling how I did before.
Any advice?? ox

When I came off 20mg, I went down to 10mg for a few weeks first. I didn't feel the side effects much in this reduction but when I went off tge 10mg dose I did have head zaps and cotton wool heads for about 7 days. After 10 days I had no further side effects.


Maybe cycling off that way isn't suited to you.


Coming off was only mildly unpleasant as opposed to the vileness of going on them.

---------- Post added at 02:54 ---------- Previous post was at 02:47 ----------

Frankie,

Whilst I agree with the above about cold turkey, 10mg is a fairly neglible dose for many people as we go straight onto 20mg at the start. With yours being lower, did you have problems tolerating this at higher doses or did you start on lower doses e.g. 5mg? If so, you may need to taper of into lower doses first.


I would suggest using rehydration salts like Dioralyte. That length of diarrhea could cause dehydration. Your GP will have assessed this but if you detiorate, go back because sometimes they can need to do this via a drip if you aren't replacing your body salts which is more common in at risk health groups e.g. the elderly.