should i ditch citolopram? (12 months here)

[elibabez]

hello i have been taking citolapram in varying doses for a year now

from 20 mg to 30 then 40 (for the last 3 months been on 40mg)

have upped each time according to doctors orders ie slowly upped onto it, not just overnight upped the dose

however, on the current 40 my concentration, memory, energy, metabolism - have all slowed down to that of a 70 year old (i find myself forgetting things i have been told just minutes earlier)

i have gone 3 days without any citolopram and my anxiety is at the highest its ever been
upon visiting the weekend surgery the doctor suggested simply lowering the citolopram dose, not going off it

(oh and i cant go to sertarline or whatever its called, because when i took it 2 years ago it just made me hungry, nothing else)

i dont know what to do im really puzzled

i take my citolopram for my high anxiety (in addition to the absolutly useless cbt)

please advice, thanks .:lac: :weep: :shrug:

---------- Post added at 19:19 ---------- Previous post was at 18:48 ----------

anyone? xx

[Fishmanpa]

Don't do anything without a doctor's supervision.

Positive thoughts

[shiznit76]

Has the citalopram helped your anxiety at all? Did you stop cold turkey, why? You can't just stop these meds, you need to taper down.
You need speak to your doctor, there are other meds out there that can help if these don't

[LiveAboveIt]

You dont ever want to cold turkey one of these medications. I was only on 20mg for around 5 weeks and tried to cold turkey and my anxiety skyrocketed.

[Shazamataz]

Definitely don't ever go cold turkey on these medications. Perhaps a gradually reduced dose will leave you still getting the benefits without any negative effects?

[MyNameIsTerry]

If you've missed 3 days, on Cit that is 2 half lives (half life is 35 hours) so you have reduced the amount of the active drug in your blood plasma to 25%. In another 35 hours it will be down 12.5%.

Rapid withdrawals or cold turkey are never recommended. Whilst some can do it, many can't and the impact is a withdrawal syndrome and then there is the underlying anxiety being masked by the med that has yet to be resolved.

The sensible option would have been for your doctor to attempt to reduce the dose to find a happy medium. 40mg sounds too much for you but how did you feel on 30mg?

Right now you need to get back onto your 40mg dose and reduce down to 30mg once stable again, which in your blood plasma alone will take just over 7 days. If you go back but onto 30mg then you have reduced so it's possible that the reduction from 40-30mg may mean some side effects but that doesn't mean it can be anywhere near as harsh as how you feel from the start if a cold turkey. Again, going back to 30mg will mean the blood will stabilise in just over 7 days however if you have been on 40mg for a while, the reduction side effects may just be present for a while until your body adjusts.