Re: im coming off
Hi. As suzy-sue said that's pretty fast to reduce your dose by so much. Especially as you have the drops I'd have suggested reducing by only one or two drops at a time and waiting until your symptoms/feelings stabilised before the next reduction. That seems the best approach to tapering off a medication.
Quoting the SPC for the tablets (should be the same for this bit):
Withdrawal symptoms when treatment is discontinued are common, particularly if discontinuation is abrupt (see section 4.8 Undesirable effects). In clinical trials adverse events seen on treatment discontinuation occurred in approximately 40% of patients treated with citalopram.The risk of withdrawal symptoms may be dependent on several factors including the duration and dose of therapy and the rate of dose reduction. Dizziness, sensory disturbances (including paraesthesia), sleep disturbances (including insomnia and intense dreams), agitation or anxiety, nausea and/or vomiting, tremor and headache are the most commonly reported reactions. Generally these symptoms are mild to moderate, however, in some patients they may be severe in intensity. They usually occur within the first few days of discontinuing treatment, but there have been very rare reports of such symptoms in patients who have inadvertently missed a dose. Generally these symptoms are self-limiting and usually resolve within 2 weeks, though in some individuals they may be prolonged (2-3 months or more). It is therefore advised that citalopram should be gradually tapered when discontinuing treatment over a period of several weeks or months, according to the patient's needs (see “Withdrawal symptoms seen on discontinuation of citalopram”, Section 4.2 Posology and Method of Administration).
On Citalopram with a half life quoted as 35 hours (how fast it leaves your system) I estimate something like 9-11 days for the in body level to stablise and its not quite stable then on a big drop. This is a mathematical guess as we have to guess how much remains after 24 hours (next dose), roughly 1-(24/35*0.5) but thats almost certainly inaccurate.
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Kevin, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, UK
Probably GAD & Phobias. Anxiety and renewed Depression medicated (Venlafaxine). Trying to improve.