Weaning advice

[bab]

Ive been on Cip for 6 years - 10mg. I get an awful lot of side effects and im due a baby in 8 weeks so have decided after the baby I want to come off. Ive said this so many times and im terrified of how I will feel but the tablets dont really do anything anyway. Has anyone come off successfully and have youany advice

[debs71]

Hi bab,

I came off of Cipralex 2 years ago. I did so of my own accord, without GP guidance, but only because I was a nurse and I understood how to do so myself. Also, to be honest with you, every time I mentioned coming off meds to my GP and what he thought, he would tell me it was 'your decision, and only you know when the time is right', so I thought I may as well do it all myself, in my own very controlled way.

In my experience,there are two really important things to consider when coming off meds. One is that you are sure that the time is absolutely right for you, and that you feel that you will be able to manage without meds, and that you have enough coping mechanisms and devices in place in case your anxiety/issues should be a problem again, and secondly the WAY in which you come off them, which does mean weaning them down in a very specific way.

This is where you really need GP advice, as weaning down is very important in successfully coming off meds in as smooth a way as possible. It can be tricky to be honest. I tried a couple of times before I actually managed it, mainly because I didn't do it in the right way, or at the right time. I also had some side effects like an edgy feeling again, but these did pass and I did fine with my anxiety for 2 years (sadly I have just gone back on them recently after a very stressy time) Actually successfully weaning off medication CAN be done, and there are many people who find ways and methods of managing their anxiety without medication.

It is entirely possible to do so, and I wish the best of luck to you.x

[Sober2000june]

Im currently going down from 10mg and using liquid form. This will allow to ho down 1mg at a time.

Take care,
Paul

[HMM]

I would also like advice please. Although please bear with me, long story! 7 years ago i was prescribed cipralex by a psychiatrist after taking 15 co-proxamol tablets. I had been drinking and out with my mother, who i told immediately after taking them who took me straight to A&E (cry for help sound familiar?)

I was basically bullied into taking these, even though i did tell the psychiatrist alcohol made me do stupid things and that i was probably a binge drinking functioning alcoholic, he diagnosed depression.

In the last 7 years taking them (20mg) i have gained 4 stone, still abuse drugs and alcohol more than ever, and have the worst temper you can imagine, i feel other people are unreasonable and i'm always right and god help anyone who disagrees.

I came off cipralex temporarily when my gran died two years ago, as stupidly maybe, i wanted to feel the loss and know that it was real without some drug blurring the edges. I felt ok, but by this point my family were probably too scared of me to mention if i was being any more irrational than normal.

Then came the major problem.. three months later my nurse in work diagnosed high blood pressure (150/110) when two years previously it was 115/70. I was given a beta blocker called propranol, which is when it really fell apart. Took it for a month, had anxiety and panic attacks every day, and dizziness due to, ironically, low blood pressure. I think i nearly had a nervous breakdown, at which point the doc asked if i wanted to go back on cipralex as maybe my anxiety was causing the raised BP.

I am now back on it again two years later (the first three days my eyes were like saucers and i felt high as a kite, which didnt happen first time round), my blood pressure is still high but i've lost faith in the doctors, they just don't seem interested in what is wrong.

I guess the main thing i want to say after seven years of this is, why is it used to treat GAD, anxiety and depression and a whole other list of things, when i am always so angry and irrational, high and low mood swings, no sleep, weight gain, feeling superior and that everyone else is stupid, shouting at people, road rage, in debt up to my eyeballs, the list goes on. But on the other hand i am also overly sensitive and hate violence, cry at the thought of cruelty to animals or children and basically cry at the sad bits in the newspaper every day!

I'm so confused, i don't know if this is me or if it's the meds that made me this way, it's been so long i don't remember the old me and what i used to be like.

Opinions please?

xx

[bab]

Thanks so much for your replies. I am still very much an anxious person but I feel that these tabs are doing nothing so what is the point of side effects if no benefit. I know i have to come off really slowly, its how to do it?
HMM im sorry you are feeling so crap

[Sober2000june]

Hmm, you sound like me when i used to drink, or when im not going to my aa meetings. Untreated alcoholism leaves a person restless, irritable and discontent. You probably know this , but if you are using alcohol and or class A's medicinally you'll never get any relief with your SSRi. I feel.your pain and suggest trying to stay off the booze and recreational drugs for the time being. I wish you well,
Paul