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Citalopram and Braticardia

Posted , 3 users are following.

lizzie10887
lizzie10887

My husband and I have been on 20 mg of citalopram for around 15 years. They have made an incredible difference to our lives.

However over the last 4 years my husband who is now 73 years old has suffered with Bratacardia episodes where his pulse has gone down to 23. very very low, should be about 50

He has been taken to the hospital 3 times by ambulance in the last month .

I started researching his medication and found that in elderly people Citalopram, can cause Bratacardia it is a rare side effect but age is a factor.

My gut feeling is to take him off of them slowly, but would welcome any advice

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • katecogs
    katecogs lizzie10887

    Posted

    Hi Lizzie

    I took Citalopram for about 16 years too and successfully came off. Does your husbands doctor suggest he comes off meds too?

    Firstly have you considered reducing as a lower dose might be the answer rather than withdrawing completely? I first reduced mine to 10mg and stayed on that for years as a maintenance dose, and eventually went down to 5mg and still felt well. I eventually came off but had to restart due to family illness (stress) years ago.

    Anyway, if he wants to withdraw completely may I suggest doing it very slowly over a long period because coming off too quick will produce withdrawal effect. Coming off slow as I did second time on meds by 5mg each reduction. I bought a pill cutter / crusher and I went from 20 / 15 / 10 / 5 / 2.5 / 1.25 having to crush the last 2 tiny doses. I spent about 1-2 months on each reduction and had no withdrawal effects at all.

    This took me around a year, but I chose to linger a bit longer on the 5mg dose so it might not take as long.

    Since coming off meds I now take 5-HTP which is a natural alternative to SSRI’s and also take l-tyrosine.

    • lizzie10887
      lizzie10887 katecogs

      Posted

      Hi Kate, thanks for your reply.

      I have today cut him down to 10mg. I think what you are saying is an excellent idea.

      I will cut it down monthly.

      Also I am thinking that him staying on 5mg is a good idea. I checked his hospital records and they were only giving him 5mg while he was in hospital. I was really surprised that they told him to go back to his original dosage.

      I keep a 4 x daily count of his pulse and this morning I checked all his paper work and realised his low pulse of 23 always happened shortly after he had taken his citalopram.

      thanks again Kate, kind

    • katecogs
      katecogs lizzie10887

      Posted

      Hi Lizzie

      Be careful with halving his meds from 20 to 10 as it can be felt with withdrawal symptoms which can be felt immediately or a delayed reaction. When I reduced from 20 I first went to 15 before the 10. He might be fine though.

      First time I reduced meds I halved and it made me nauseous, dizzy and had brain zaps (which are harmless - but weird).

      But yes, when I eventually lowered to 5mg I stayed there for a few years and felt quite good on it too. Hopefully it’ll sort out his pulse problem.

      Hope it works out well for him.

      K x

  • marsh23433
    marsh23433 lizzie10887

    Posted

    Hi Lizzie ,my suggestion would be too speak to your doctor and see whether this is doing this and ask the doctor what he suggest

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