Citalopram withdrawal too fast and restart taking it after 2-3 days of missing doses

[Kerikins]

I was taking 40 mg of Celexa, and decided last week to change to 20 mg. At about day 5 or 6 I stopped taking it all together and had 2/3 days of no meds. After that I was feeling horrible ... muscle tremors... headache, nausea, dizziness, panic, overall sick with withdrawal.

It was a particualarly horrible w/d. And I've come off Effexor/Prozac/Paxil . I think Paxil was the worst of all, but this was pretty up there.

I called the pharmacy and explained what I'd done. They kindly sent me out more Celexa, which I am to start taking 20mg. I also recieved repeats on my Klonopin/Clonezapam. Which I took 1.5mg of immediately upon recieving meds to stop the panic I was experiencing and eat some food. I also took a 'gravol/travel sickness tab' 50mg. And then distracted myself with a video game in the hopes that I'd feel better.

Within about an hour I was able to eat some plain ramen noodles, cucumber slices and a handful of almonds with my ice water. It's now 3.5 hours later and I feel at least more calm, less dizzy, and less nauseous. My stomache is still upset.. but I don't feel like my dinner is going to end up in the toilet. I'm hoping that the anti anxiety meds will help take the edge off feeling like death while I correct my mistake of going off the meds too quickly. My stomache seems to be tolerating the food well... although I am experiencing gas, and more than likely will have diarrhea... but I'm OK with that. I'm treating the symptoms as they occur, as well as trying to be gentle with myself.

I had found one extra tablet of Citalopram in the medicine chest and cut it into 10mg pieces. I took 10 mg. yesterday, and 20mg today, while I was waiting on the pharmacy to send out my meds. (which were all due yesterday, but I did not receive until today due to doctor error)

I was advised to take 20mg for the rest of this week, and next week up it to 30 mg if it was tolerated and finally back to 40 mg in the third week. I'm hoping I'll be OK on 20mg, and I'll at least even out. I was very glad to read that all these withdrawal symptoms wouldn't hurt me, because that was a concern I had. I am feeling a lot better after taking the Klonopin. Still a little jittery but... much more human and able to tolerate the symptoms.

I realize I went too fast too soon, especially after reading these forums.. of course hindsight is 20/20. I will update tomorrow as to how I'm feeling, but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to sleep tonight w/o the use of sleeping pills (which I do have, but don't want to take unless absolutely required)

Before this I had been feeling really well, and that was the reason I had attempted to get off the citalopram. I now am going to just strive to feel human again before I do anything else. If you find yourself in this position, contact your doctor or pharmacist and TELL them you made a mistake.

If you are unable, I would suggest going to an emergency room with Emergency psychiatric services available in your area and explaining the situation to them. I have had other medication issues and have sought help there when my doctor/pharmacist was unavailable. They were at least able to give me samples or a script for 3-5 tablets until I could get to see/contact my doctor. The last time I had this happen was about 2 years ago when my doctor again made an error and didn't renew my meds before a long weekend and had gone out of town. The ER services were able to give me 3 days of all my daily meds so that I wasn't going through withdrawal.

Hope this helps.

~Keri

[Kerikins]

So it's day 2 of my way back and I'm feeling a lot better. Took my 20mg tablet this morning with breakfast, as well as .50mg of Klonopin. I did have a broken sleep last night, but I did sleep. 3 hours initially, and then I got up for a few hours, only to lay down and sleep for 8 hours fully and deeply.

As an aside, I did notice that the anti-diarrhea medication, before I was put back onto my meds again, did help in the level of anxiety I was experiencing. I find that diarrhea almost ALWAYS increases my level of panic to an unpleasant level (even when I was compliant with my medication) One doctor told me you feel that way because of the speed at which the digested food travels through your intestinal tract that triggers the anxiety. Your digestive system has as many receptors as your nervous system, hence the reason you feel everything moving.

I really think the Klonopin/Clonezapam made the w/d (med fluctuation) tolerable. I still feel unpleasant. Headaches, muscle aches, diarrhea, anxiety (but not intolerable and constant as before), sweating, chills, minimal muscle tremors.

I am treating the side effects with over the counter medication, tylenol or advil for headaches/muscle pain, gravol/motion sickness tabs for nausea, and antidiarrhea medication. For the anxiety/sweating I'm eating ice/sipping very cold ice water (this is a great no drug treatment for anxiety that I learned many years ago) I also use an old school ice bag (not the gel packs or chemical cold packs) for my headache/neck/jaw... I find that listening to the ice melt inside the bag is interesting and distracting.

As for supplements, I have upped my dosage of Omega 3.6.9 to 3 per day instead of just one (I'm sure this isn't helping the diarrhea in any way, shape or form but I do think it is helping). I'm still taking my daily vitamin supplement, I had missed a few days of it last week, but since resuming it the muscle cramping has been diminished. I'm also attempting to eat more nuts (as they too have natural fats which aid in mental health) So... peanut butter, and dried almonds are my snack of choice. The almonds seem to sit better on my stomach but I think that's a texture difference, the peanut butter consistency (crunchy) is somewhat off putting to my mouth somehow. Drinking lots of ice water.

I'm doing a lot of self soothing activities, extra long showers (for the sweats) with nice smelling body wash or a drop of essential oil in the tub. I really enjoy using Fructis shampoo as a body wash, it smells so good! I have a thumper massager, which I've been using on my sore arms, legs, back, and even on my jaw and face (very light pressure). I've been stretching quite a bit and attempting to perform light household activities, laundry, vacuuming as I can. Distracting myself with video games and some television.

I don't think I'm going to raise the dosage next week to 30mg, as I don't want to endure the side effects and the reason I wanted to get off the meds was that I was feeling better overall. I'm going to stabilize myself at 20mg and see how that goes. If my mood changes for the worse, I will then re evaluate.

At some point I'll also attempt to discontinue the Clonezapam/Klonopin, but not until I'm far behind this error, and not without a doctor's assistance.

I hope my experience can assist others.

Thanks for reading, updates to follow

~Keri

[Kerikins]

Day 3 of my reintegration.

Panic has been somewhat worse today, but I'm almost positive that's due to the fact I'm overtired and diarrhea is bad today. Which is due to the fact I'm taking more fish oils. JOY!

I'm still experiencing muscle aches, although no real spasms. I feel pretty sore in general all over, just achy. Planning to go lie down and rest for a bit, only slept approximately 5 hours last night. Very sound sleep but not as long as I'd have liked.

Still staying positive as I can, just keep reminding myself this had a beginning a middle (which I'm in) and at some point an end to the feeling like garbage. Still eating when I can, lots of whole grain breads, pasta, soups, crackers and arrowroot cookies with chamomile tea, gingerale or ice water. This morning I was actually able to eat some turkey sausages and mashed potatoes for breakfast (which had been dinner last night).

Each day I get closer to me again.

[Kerikins]

Day four was pretty horrible. I had very bad stomach cramps as well as diarrhea. I didn't feel like eating, but ate simple foods, peanut butter sandwhiches, chicken soup etc. My panic was pretty consistent the entire day. I distracted myself as best I could and drank a lot of ice water.

Few times I had to lie down, and put a heating pad on my tummy. I also have a 'thumper' massager which I used on my tummy as well. Eventually I did take an additional Klonopin/clonezapam (.5mg) and I didn't beat myself up about it. Total dosage on Klonopin today was 1.5mg (3 tablets)
I repeated the mantra, 'This is only being caused by the medication and it will pass.' Which did help at times.. and at others only caused to frustrate me.

I was up most of the night, I finally got some rest this morning and slept for about 6 hours. Despite feeling icky, I forced myself to go for a walk with my husband (about 2km) which made me feel better when I got home from it. Like I'd taken a step to being healthier and.. being able to function. During the walk I had no panic at all, but I did get blisters from my shoes

I'm going to try to continue this walking, it's good exposure therapy and good excercise, something is better than nothing

I still feel a little off mentally, which I attribute to the meds. It's been approximately 14days since I stepped down my dosage from 40mg to 20mg which I'm still taking. I have not altered my Klonopin dosage, which I take as required up to 2mg per day. I have been doing pretty good on about 1mg since the change.. and that is primarily to combat consistent panic.

I'm hoping for a break in the general anxiety feeling at some point. As of yet, it hasn't happened, but I know it will.

updates tomorrow