CITALOPRAM TAPERING WITHDRAWAL HELP
Posted , 4 users are following.
Hi.
Is anyone out there like me? Really struggling (again) with discontinuation symptoms as soon as I get down to under 15mg from 20. Been on citalopram for 20 years. Previous attempts to come off, done 'properly' using liquid and tapering have all been scuppered by life events or I've been unable to cope any lower than 15mg and decided life is too short to put up with feeling so bad. I find myself there again. I'm on 15mg one day, 12.5 the next - so averaging 13.75mg per day and that's enough of a dip from 15 to make me feel ill, cry all the time, have no patience, no motivation, not be able to sleep, have horrendous nightmares when I do .... is it really worth it? should I just stay on the damned things? Has anyone seriously tried and tried and decided they actually need them? or has anyone found anything else to help? Does anyone else feel shamed for feeling they need them or am I just too weak willed to see the withdrawal period through? if its going to be months feeling like this I'd rather bot, thanks. is staying on them really that bad?
0 likes, 7 replies
shelly85064 Katienan
Posted
Have they been working for you at 15mg? If so why do you want to go off them? I've tried in the past after being on CItalopram for 20 plus years.....I've decided that I do need them and will take them to my grave. LIfe IS to short to feel like yuk! IM like you, any small adjustment up or down causes issues with me. The first time I went off of them even at a slow taper, but apparently not slow enough, it was within three weeks that I knew I needed something and I was going through withdrawal. My doctors at the time had tried me on several different medication's, and that was a nightmare. I finally started back with citalopram at 10 mg and got stable again after several weeks. Fast forward six years and I decided I probably needed an adjustment as I was starting to feel very anxious. So I have, for one week went on 12.5 and now I am on day 13 I believe on 15 mg. Still not feeling great and of course you get the start up affects again anytime you make an adjustment. Once I get stable this time, I am leaving my meds alone and just excepting the fact that I need these meds just like somebody would need insulin if they were a diabetic. I feel no shame in that whatsoever.
Katienan shelly85064
Posted
wow, that funds just like my situation. thanks so much for replying. Its incredible that such a tiny adjustment makes so much difference - if it wasn't me saying it I wouldn't believe it, but it really does. I've been reading around and so many people say years on them means months of discontinuation symptoms at best, many just say life is too short. I never meant to stay on them, sense of not wanting to be 'flaky' and the journalism around d their overuse etc. but 20 years later and I'm still on them. this time was triggered by having a terrible reaction to morphine/tramadol and various other drugs and reading about serotonin syndrome and drug interactions. But maybe you're right, maybe I'm just a lifer now and I should learn to accept it. x
shelly85064 Katienan
Edited
I just realized you were at 20 to begin with, are you stable on 20? Or were you stable on 20? My doctor wants me to get to 20 so I am on that average therapeutic dose. Please never feel ashamed to take your medicine and live a happy, healthy life.
barb97671 Katienan
Posted
Hi Katienan
You have answered your own question. You obviously still need these meds. Having said that, each time you go up or down, you get the same feelings as if you just started the meds. I had all those same feelings all the while getting to the right dosage and then some. If I were you, I would Def stick with 15 mgs as it makes you feel better. I am on 20 mgs of Cit, and I will continue to keep them as long as I need to. DO NOT, feel bad for needing them. You are not weak for needing them. Maybe you can try again at a later date. Whatever makes you more comfortable is what I say, but that's just me. Maybe Katycogs can give you a little more insight in what she thinks. Please don't think that's needing these meds make you weak. What's more important, feeling good or feeling terrible? Like I say, you can always try again later. I hope you start feeling better soon.
Katienan barb97671
Posted
thankyou for replying. I can cope on 15 I think. am stable on 20, have been for years. I don't know - not wanting to be part of the over prescribing of antidepressants problem, residual worries about being flaky, I'm not from a mentally very healthy family so am hard on myself. maybe I'll just try to accept being a lifer without a sense of shame.
x
brian49010 Katienan
Edited
katienan
I had one typed out for you but this thing timed out on me and erased it all.
why were you sensitive to morphine because of taking the ssri or because of tapering the ssri?
ive been sensitivevto other meds because of tapering and anxiety.
anyway ive been tapering for about 3 or 4 years and Im clawing my way back up. I tried many things to help and still use them to help calm nerves.
There is a specific safe way to taper ssris with minor side effects. Most drs do not know how to taper safely. it is sad.
everyone is different.
if i would have correctly tapered completely off it would have taken me about 8 years.
keep your dose steady same every day same time. nervous system does not like change.
if you take ssri for anxiety then you have start up side effects which include anxiety then to taper off you have withdrawals which include anxiety so you see how hard it is to see whats what.
magnesium calm helps.
hang in there !
Katienan brian49010
Edited
thanks for replying. my doctor is great and knows all about hyperbolic slow tapering. I've tried before using different methods over 20 years and each time somewhere between 15mg and 10mg i decide enough is enough. honestly, I don't think I'm motivated enough to come off them and put up with the discontinuation symptoms beyond a month or 2 - it's easier to just go back on them. life is hell at this point - suicidal thoughts, not helped by lack of sleep and vivid dreaming, emotional instability, withdrawal from the world, anxious state, jumpy, flu symptoms ... is it worth it?
I read about serotonin syndrome as I had to take some serious Painkillers after an op while still on my steady 20mg and reacted really badly to them - even small dose of oramorph depressed my breathing so stopped each time I didn't consciously force myself to breathe. didn't sleep for 3 days afyer and all sorts. decided the future might be difficult if I needed pain meds at some point qnd couldn't take any so I'd try again to come off citalopram .... but uts just ending up like every other time - discontinuation symptoms dominating my life. wondering if it's worth it, it could be years of bad symptoms and for what? maybe I just need them, depressive personality type, not just a one-off triggering episode but multiple anxiety/depressive problems all through childhood til late 20s when I started on citalopram. I don't feel comfortable in my skin when I'm trying to come off them but feel fine on them. maybe I'll just stay happy and medicated.
thanks for your reply.