Came off citalopram 5 weeks ago, feeling more anxious lately

[Sparkle1984]

From August last year up until the end of January, I was on 10mg citalopram. With my doctor's support, I weaned off them over a 5 week period as I felt that my anxiety was no longer affecting my day to day life and I had learnt lots of coping techniques.

I have been off them completely for 5 weeks now. I have mostly felt fine during that time. For the first couple of weeks I felt especially good. However, in the last few days I've felt that some of my anxious feelings have come back, although it's nowhere near as bad as it was last summer. I've been feeling on edge and uneasy. I think the main thing that's worrying me is that I might suffer a relapse. My mood feels a bit lower as well.

Last night I went out for a meal that I'd organised with my social club. I felt extra anxious for the first few minutes, particularly when I was greeting the members and speaking to the waitress about the booking. I felt like it was more difficult for me to get my words out and I felt tense. As the evening went on, I felt better though. I organised a similar meal back in January and I didn't have those anxious feelings then, so now I'm worried I might be going backwards again.

Is this a belated withdrawal effect, or is it my own anxiety? Is it even possible to still get withdrawal effects 5 weeks after stopping?

A couple of days ago I kept getting a shooting feeling in the back of my head. It happened about 5 times in one day, and yesterday it happened a couple of times. It wasn't particularly painful, it felt weird more than anything. Is this what people mean when they say they get "brain zaps" during withdrawal? I hadn't experienced this up until now.

[Mick081081]

Hi Sparkle,
I'm 5 weeks free of Citalopram tomorrow and doing fine. That feeling in your head is brain zaps so don't worry about it although it is an odd feeling it'll do you no harm. I feel ok for being med free but keep getting afew palpitations which are quite annoying at times but manageable. Try not to focus on the panic feeling when it starts or it'll just give it fuel for its fire and make it worse.

It takes time for our brains to readjust after we stop taking AD's so try to keep busy and give your body the chance to chemically get back to normal. Hope you feel better soon and don't beat yourself up if you have a few bad days as its to be expected.

Take care.

Mick.

[Sparkle1984]

Thanks for your reply Mick. It's helped to put my mind at rest a bit. I just wasn't sure how long it takes for your body to readjust after stopping ADs.

I do feel a bit better compared to how I felt in the morning/early afternoon. I did some exercise at noon so it probably means the endorphins have helped me to feel better.