Citalopram withdrawal day 6, is this normal?

Thanks Amy. Unfortunately I didn't have a choice in the matter of my withdrawal as my GP wanted me to come off them immediately and wouldn't prescribe me more even if I did want to do a slower wean. I've been off fully for 10 days now and feeling very rough, like brain fog with very bad flu. I don't have any other choice but to battle through the withdrawals! Xxx

Hi Jade,

I'm so sorry you're having to deal with it this way! Some GPs are really, really unempathetic and I question their knowledge a lot of the time!

I hope this passes for you, maybe try some Evening Primrose to give your serotonin a hollisitic boost, but most importantly, be kind to yourself and do whatever you need to do to get through.

Amy xx

Hi Amy, I know he doesn't really believe in antidepressants so doesn't believe in withdrawal either. So I'm having to do this alone with the hope I get kind words and tips from websites like these! I don't have any other option but to suffer and pray it doesn't last too long before I can finally focus on managing my anxiety better. Thanks for the tip, I'm taking magnesium, fish oil and calcium too so hopefully they'll help. 😊 Thanks for responding. Xxxx

Hi Jade,

I think your GP is absolutely awful! How can you not believe in a proven medication and allow patients to suffer unnecessarily - its borderline cruel. My GP isn't the best either, she told me 'the daffodils will soon come out again and the sun will shine again so don't worry', I told my psychologist and she was mindblown! We are still fighting to breakdown a stigma with mental illness and how can we expect to get anywhere if this is how professionals behave?!

I really hope you get further on soon, Jade - I also take vitamin b6 with magnesium in a 2 in 1 pill and the b6 really, really helped with my hormones. Sometimes its a case of trying to balance hormones, too, to really help with anxiety. Do you keep a diary? I track my cycles as I get pancreatitis in line with my estrogen drops but I also started to notice mood changes when my estrogen drops and then the week before my period tends to be quite grim to be honest. I've been researching something called PMDD and my psychologist seems to think I have that, too. The things we deal with as women! My full vitamin intake is - multivitamin with iron, magnesium and b6, fish oil, b12 and vitamin D. Vitamin D is a really important one - it can help ease depression by giving us what we are lacking due to having no sunshine at the moment. It's been linked to helping those with SAD and easing depressive episodes.

I know I might sound like a thousand other people but I started walking each day with the dog and it really did help my anxiety - some days I'll be honest, I literally can't be bothered and have to force myself, but I never regret it when I get in. The exercise burns the adrenaline that can cause anxiety. I find if I stick to routine as much as possible this helps, I know what to expect and it keeps me at ease. Everyone is different of course, but these are small things I do to help myself if I can but I'd be lying if I said I did it every single day, somedays I just need to do nothing and indulge myself in doing that xx

I know 😭 it's rubbish to be honest! Yes I agree I think most doctors think that it's just a 'down day' and you need to cheer up or stop worrying etc, like it's easy! I do keep a mood and anxiety diary with my symptoms and what I did to help my symptoms, I'm always worse around my period 100%, I'm due on in 3 days and it's always the run up to my period I'm bad. Once I come on, I'm much better! I've had my hormones tested privately and they were fine apparently! But I'm definitely worse around the time of the month no doubt. Yeah I'm still on furlough at the moment so I'm walking daily at least 5km daily but once I go back to work I won't have that spare time, I take strong vitamin d because I had low vitamin D a few months back. I take fish oil, probiotics, magnesium, multivitamin, so I do take quite a lot of supplements that have been advised. 😊 Thank you so much for replying to me. It's just stressful when you feel like you've got no support from a professional like a GP I guess!! Xxx

Oh Jade you're literally like a carbon copy of myself we even take the same vitamins ha!

I'm exactly the same, as soon as I come on it's like I feel like 'me' again. Have you ever read about PMDD? Take a look - I think you might find loads of things that are like you. My hormones have been tested too and they were within normal range, but we can be sensitive to the fluctuations even if they are within normal range - some women deal with it fine, others suffer with it.

xx

Ha ha ha bloody hell we are!!!!! Yeah honestly as soon as i see it's arrived I feel an instant relief and everything just seems to get better from there for a few weeks and then it's back to the start again!! Yeah I've seen PMDD and it wouldn't surprise me if I've got that, but knowing my GP he wouldn't know what it is anyway because when I researched it, it said its not very widely known yet. Yeah I think I'm just very sensitive to the hormones and I've had previous trauma in life so I've always been a nervous ninny. To be fair, I've literally never had issues with periods until I had my son. Since then I've had painful periods, heavy, mood fluctuations etc. It's so crazy how my body has changed, I'm like a different person! Xxx

Literally the same - I always say having kids changed my body and cycle big time - it feels like I am going through puberty again sometimes and my hormones reset after having kids! I've always had heavyish periods but nothing I couldn't manage - but they have definitely got worse since the kids.

I've had past trauma, too, I'm having EMDR now to process the trauma and get to the root of all the other behaviours - that's a good one to look at Jade and they can do it on the NHS xx

Yeah it's crazy isn't it!!! 😭 I've actually had EDMR therapy before and found it very good. It was a very weird experience and made me very emotional. So that has helped some, I think I'm just scared of my anxiety now and how the anxiety makes me feel so I need to beat that! That's my main issue now! Honestly feel like it's bloody never ending!!!! Xxx

I've only processed my safe space via EMDR so far, I haven't actually hit the trauma yet which I'm a bit worried about because I know it won't be easy, but I'm hoping for short term pain and long term gain. How old are you Jade? I've been studying hormones and I'm convinced that when we hit our late twenties/early thirties we go through a major hormonal shift, because this all seems to be so much more prevalent as we get older. I don't remember suffering like this and I don't remember any of my friends suffering, either! x