I stopped citalopram too abruptly & worried now x

[Ell]

Hello x
I'm just wondering if anyone has done this before? I know i shouldn't have but I just stopped taking them just under a week ago.
I've been on them for about 6 months. I didn't really think they were working as i was still crying regularly and was a bit mood swing-y so I went to the doctor to talk about quitting. He just told me to double my dosage and packed me on my way!
So i was taking 40mg for about a fortnight and just had enough so i stopped. I'm feeling really strange and i think it's as a result of stopping...
I'm very dazed, often dizzy, crying a lot and overwhelmed by pretty much everything.
I now fully appreciate why you should ween yourself off them.

I'd love to know if anyone has done it this way and whether it works out ok in the end?

Thank you for reading xxx:unsure: :unsure: :unsure: :unsure: :unsure:

[Jimbo]

Hi,

I would say the way you are feeling is probably because of stopping abrubtly. It is usually best to slowly taper off the dose but it won't do you any harm.

I would suggest going back to your doc and talking about it as it's best to change doses with the help and advice of your doc.

I did exactly the same thing and had a pretty rocky ride when I stopped suddenly, but I soon started another AD and the withdrawal effects stopped pretty much straight away.

Jim

[happyone]

Hi,

I stopped citalopram cold turkey style. Not an avenue I would recommend to anyone.
I had an increase in anxiety, in depression and physical flu like symptoms and tummy aches and nausea.
The physical symptoms lasted about a week. I have to tell you I felt suicidal in that week too however was able to rationalise that as a side effect, thankfully.
However, the anxiety and depression did not go, they grew and grew because I still had it and then I realised the citalopram had been working, at least for the anxiety.
After a trip to a shrink, he put me on 3 days of 20mg, 3 days of 40mg and then up to 60mg. that is what I am on at the moment and I have no intentions of coming off them in the near future.

Hope this is of some help.

Happyone
xx

[Ell]

Thank you Jimbo and HappyOne,
I felt really silly after i wrote my message as i scrolled down and read a lady called Sadie's correspondance re exactly the same thing, from the beginning of 2004. It sounded awful and i don't know how she is doing now but both of yourselves seem to recommend going back on to the medication... I don't know why but i just want to find a way of getting it out of my system and coping with life's ups and downs using exercise and B-vitamins.
I haven't felt suicidal, just weepy and dazed and like i said very overwhelmed. I seem to be sleeping ok-ish.
My poor boyfriend is kind of used to me being like this and that is because i wasn't really the twinkling angel for the six months that i was on the pills. that's kind of why i want to get them out of my system.

I may well go back to the doctor and ask him for an alternative, gentler way of quitting though.

I'm glad you both have found the right ways for coping, as Maya Angelou once said, a diamond is the product of a lot of darkness and a lot of pressure.

Thank you both again, i may well write again if things go drastically wrong or even if they go drastically right!

Much love
x

[groovygranny]

Hello Ell!

Sorry you and Jimbo and Happyone had such a horrendous time:weep:.

Just thought I'd offer the 'other' side of stopping Citalopram quite quickly.

I was on the maximum dose, 60mg, from the day I started it until the day I stopped taking it.

Although I was aiming for stopping it gradually before I returned to work, I stopped suddenly quite by accident!

I realised I had missed a couple of doses over the course of about a week. So I went to the doctor and he suggested cutting down gradually to see how it went - I went down to 40mg for two days, felt fine and so stopped it altogether...but wiith the understanding that if I suffered any side effects I would up the dose again and then gradually reduce it over a longer period of time.

I found I didn't need to do this, so didn't take any more and haven't since.

But I think it's sensible that I keep that option open.

I love the Maya Angelou quote - how very true! :flowers:

[Ell]

Dear GG x
Thank you - i was thinking this morning how blinkered i had been writing in the hope that i would just get reassurance from someone that it would be ok. Obviously that's not the way life goes though and it was hard to hear that i have maybe done the wrong thing.

But i'm so glad that you had positive results, that's really reassuring and i am going to keep going with the abstaining. I woke up this morning having had a few strange, dark (but not actually really bad) dreams but then felt fine and really positive. Unfortunately some of the physical effects are back with me now - feeling rather sick, dizzy and dazed again but i'm going to try to confront it head on and get on with the day.
I still have some pills left but i think they take a while to get into the system don't they? So i feel like there isn't much point in taking one as it might give me the same side effects i had when i first started!!? So the effects of quitting and starting at the same time...I'm really not wallowing in self pity but observing from the outside looking in, i do feel a bit sorry for my poor body and brain!!!
I wish anxiety were as textbook as a headache and that we could just pop a side-effect-free paracetomol and it would go away!

Jimbo and HappyOne, i hope it doesn't seem as though i am disregarding your experiences, i'm taking heed of everything i read and learn and am so appreciative

Much love to you all
xxx

[Two heads]

Hi there!
Im sorry you are having such a rocky time with coming off your meds.
My advise to you would be to start taking them again and drop very,very slowly.
I have been taking them for over a year and have been dropping down since nov.At present im taking 1.25mg,yes i known hardly worth taking really.But i dont want to take any chances with all of the anxiety coming back.Im now at the point today as to thinking, is it doing anything for me now as its such a low dose?
I have had no sideaffects with coming off,other than maybe i havet got as much get up and go.In other words im feeling quite lazy again,ha ha!!
Please dont rush in stopping these meds,theres no hurry sweet.Nobody really likes taking meds but sometimes it just has to be.....
Good luck,and if you need anymore advise im hear for youxx

[Jimbo]

I wish anxiety were as textbook as a headache and that we could just pop a side-effect-free paracetomol and it would go away!

Jimbo and HappyOne, i hope it doesn't seem as though i am disregarding your experiences, i'm taking heed of everything i read and learn and am so appreciative


Hey Ell,

I wish there was a magic pill too, shame there isn't. :winks:

You are doing the the right thing for you, and stopping them imediately won't do you any harm, the effects will go away with time. Just take care of yourself and make sure you check in with your doctor if things get difficult.

I'm sure you will be fine. :yesyes: Keep letting us know how you are doing.

Jim :hugs:

[Ell]

Hmmm since the good start, today has turned a bit horrible, i was feeling heavy headed and a little freaked out but had to go into town to do a few things. That sent me reeling a bit. I feel better now i'm back inside but still a bit jaded. It's strange, i don't feel scared outside, just incredibly overwhelmed and rabbit in headlights kind of thing. It really isn't as easy as i thought it might be. I think i will start taking them again, silly to be going through all of this due to a daft and naive sense of principal or stubbornness. As many of you say, there's no real hurry, i'll start again and come off them slowly... here's looking forward to those 1.25mg days yayyyyy!
I'm sorry to have been all me, me, me! How are the rest of you doing??
XXX

[Two heads]

Ell
Your aloud to be me, me ,me once in A while.Not that you are being really.You just feel rubbish at present and caut see much further than your front door.
The time since reduceing my meds has gone quite quickly so you will be down to 1.25mg befor you known it.
Im doing ok thanks,touchwood!!!
I think im going to stop my meds totally after the weekend,im fed up with chopping the tablet.Its so small now it flys across the room........
xxx

[nanny]

Hi everyone

i have been on this med for 8 years, last month the dr asked if i still needed it. when i told her i had been on it for this length of time she said we'd best leave it then!!!! so still on it, yet i have been told you get no withdrawels from this..................... do i believe it

[groovygranny]

Hi Ell, sorry I've just only caught up with you again! :flowers:

Look, you've got to do what's best for you - whether it' staying off meds or going back on for a bit.

There are times when I'm sorely tempted to go back on, but like you, I'm wary of the side effects again even though they did me good before.

But I never rule out the possibilty, and that's what keeps me in control - so keep your options open eh, and good luck!

Don't worry, there's no 'me, me, me' on NMP - just 'us, us, us' ok ?!!

PS: nanny - everybody's different in their reaction to stopping meds, just as they are to taking them so that's worth bearing in mind. I'd always advocate coming off any meds gradually as a precaution.

:hugs::hugs:

[Coni]

Hi Ell,

I was on escitalopram for about seven months (very similar to citalopram but allegedly more effective and without the side effects lol). I was exactly like you, in a rush to stop, convinced I could go cold turkey. I couldnt though. I felt overwhelmed by lots of things (and having just gone back to work at the time this was not a good thing :blush: ), but the main problem for me was the physical symptoms. I felt abit generally unwell for a week or two but the most disturbing thing for me was a kind of 'electric shock' feeling zapping through my head. I eventually decided to go to my GP and came off very gradually....kept halfing the dose a week at a time and eventually I was taking half a 5mg tablet every other day, then every third day etc. This was time consuming but it did work.

There is no way thats right for everyone though, it may take a bit of discussion with your GP and some jiggling around, but only if you're really ready to come off them (my other problem was that I wasnt and ended up on a different type of AD six months later lol.....but stopped them at the end of last year and so far so good:D )

Good luck and remember do whats right for you...theres no rush in these things.

luv Coni XX:hugs:

[mazzy]

I have been taking citalopram (20 mg) for 6 months. In the first few weeks I noticed a difference .. I felt a little 'high' but generally i grew in confidence. apart from the odd shiver, weird dreams and grinding my teeth at night, I didn't notice anything too strange.... until recently. I have been more depressed than ever.. Having very strange thoughts and am experiencing bouts of utter hopelessness. It's ruining my long term relationship, it's destroying my health, I find it hard to eat much of the time. I drink too much, and now wonder if the effect would have been more positive had I giving up my heavy drinking once I began the medication.
I am considering stopping the meds but fear it could do more harm than good if I do it myself, essentially self medicate.. Though I have little faith in Doctors opinions, and though I have been on meds a few times, I even doubt the use of anti depressants.

[kari2910]

Hi,

I would say the way you are feeling is probably because of stopping abrubtly. It is usually best to slowly taper off the dose but it won't do you any harm.

I would suggest going back to your doc and talking about it as it's best to change doses with the help and advice of your doc.

I did exactly the same thing and had a pretty rocky ride when I stopped suddenly, but I soon started another AD and the withdrawal effects stopped pretty much straight away.

Jim

Hi, I have been in celexa for 7 yrs. took 40, winded down to 30 then 20 then I abruptly stopped. Few weeks later got anxiety and panick attacks. I started again on 20 and have been doing that the last 3 weeks and went up to 30 the last couple of days then in a few days up to 40. I did not have a panik attack today yet than god but I have constant anxiety and It is reallllllllly hard to deal with cant eat properly or do anything. Taking over my body.
I read that you started another medication and that the effects stopped really fast I was wondering what that type of medication was????

[venusbluejeans]

hiya, the original post is over five years old now, you may find that Jimbo may not see your reply on here

Emmz :flowers: