Dear All
I have been on citalopram for 5 years. I very stupidly tried to come off them by going cold turkey last week. I missed a couple of nights and thought, hey maybe I can get off these now. How wrong was I. I started getting palpitations in my chest, going dizzy, sharp pains in my head etc etc. Felt so ill. I spoke to the doctor who told me to start taking them again because coming off them too quickly was not the right thing to do. I am now back on my 20 mg dose. He suggested I try again in a few weeks by reducing gradually. He suggested to take mon,tue,wed,thur,fri,sat and drop Sunday first week, then drop Saturday following week and so on till off. He said if you start getting symptoms back in teas again. That's ok but how do you ever get off these tablets and feel normal. I'm worried I will be on these forever. This is what the doctors don't tell you about this medication.
hi from greece.
I am 63 years old ,and got 20 mg citalopram for 10 years.
when I felt well, I cut them down ver very slowly during a period of 3years!
I am with no pils for 4 years now ,withought any symtoms,
however in the last two months some light symptoms have retuned ,but gradually are reduced ad can handle them.
Hi all, just wrote a long detailed account of my own experience with citalopram and the kids pounced on my with pictures they'd drawn and once they'd finished I looked down and it was gone, omg, so here's the shortened version while i still have the motivation to write it, struggle massively with this nowadays. Anyway to cut a long story short, I tried a natural therapy treatment while I was having withdrawal symptoms, more from an interest than any conscious attempt at relief from my symptoms. It was called crystal therapy and after treatment I discovered that not only had the brain zap feeling disappeared but I didn't take anymore tablets and the depression was reduced massively, not completely but enough to make it manageable without drugs. 9 years and two babies later I'm back on them and trying to come off, same brain zap feeling and irritability but unfortunately the lady I had the treatment from is 200 miles away as we moved by the coast. I will definitely be seeking her out again, best £25 I ever spent, just have to set it up for when I visit the family again. I'll try to remember to update this once I have had another treatment, feel free to jog my memory if I haven't done so in about a months time.
Best wishes to everyone struggling
Donna
Yep, I too am stuggling w/withdrawl - on Celaxa for around 8-10 yrs, 20 mg that i dropped to 10 mg for around 3 months (few problems, not bad at all), and finally to 0 - have been off for around 2 months now, and lots of issues w/anxiety, big mood swings, depression - at least seeing a lot of other people here w/same issues. From all I've been reading, seems like I really need to give it at least a couple more months - AND - need to exercise and eat well, and get some supplements to help as well. But I'm relieved somewhat to realize it's not just me, or there's something else uniquely wrong w/me - just the reaction to my body needing to adjust to being off the drug.
Hi just wondering how you are doing now ..I ve been off about 5 week and am feeling a little low hoping it's still withdrawal x
Hi laura i totally sympathise with what ur going through right now i stopped taking citalapram about a week ago and suffering really bad mood swings to the point where i almost start taking them again my partner and i are going through a rough patch at the moment and im thinking maybe its the wrong time to stop taking them but iv been on them for 5 years and iv had enough
Hi there Laura,
How are you feeling off the meds? I wanted to mention that I've been also getting the same side effects after I weaned myself off cipralex 10 mg after 3 weeks of taking it. I have anxiety and panicked attacks sweety. I don't know what to do.
Does anyone still use this
What are anyone’s experiences with supplementing 5-htp during the taper off citalopram? I’ve read it can lead to serotonin syndrome if not treated carefully so not sure whether it’s worth the risk?
I’m going to get magnesium and fish oil supplements as they seem risk free.
Dear all, I was on citalopram for 6 years, tried and failed at least 6 times trying to get off as withdrawals were just too awful. After much research, I finally got a doctor to prescribe me citalopram in liquid form, meaning I was able to taper down to 1.25mg. Going down from 10 to 0 after 6 years was just impossible. I was worried I'd never get free but liquid form has solved it. I'm now 4 months post citalopram and feeling great that I'm finally free. Please please ask your doctor to speak to your pharmacist if they aren't sure, as I was fobbed off many times saying that liquid wasn't possible. But it is, and it made coming off actually
manageable.
How are you doing now ? x