Coming off citalopram. :(

Not a good day :-( feeling tired and drained need to reduce from 30-20mg tomorrow. Work have advised me to stay off until im off citilopram and on new one whatever that Will be. Seem to be doing everything in slow motion as I have to concentrate so hard! Feel like a failure that i need so much time off. Some people have life threatening illnesses and I have depression :'( Feel as though people are fed up with me now. Moan overt I intend to join the gym to see if that improves things. Wish me luck

Hi julie33343 ,How can work advise you about stay off cit? And as far as just having Depression? It is an illness but some people dont want to aknowledge it as bieng so. Iam on day 6 of cold turkey and its getting harder, been to shopping centre today and i have never had a panik attack but today i was close. Bieng in there made me me feel so vunerable and alone it was so wierd, you feel like the world is just spinning around you and you have no control, wierd.

Hi ged43598 hi julie33343, bless ya both, bad days will happen, and I felt just the same, like people are so bored of me being down, then up then psychotic especially my poor partner, who has born the brunt of it , I even thought "oh my god, what if this is the real me!! As unstable as sweaty dynamite", but I don't think I am , although I can't remember a "normal" time in my life .. So I just ride it and hope/know that it'll be ok we have to let the suppressed emotions/feelings out, sounds right?.

julie33343 can you not work reduced days at work?, maybe that's an option?, we are in the position of having to kinda retrain our emotions and take control back, it's no easy feet but we are doing it.

My last blow up with my partner I asked him why he had done no research into coming off the cit, he said he was just going on what I told him, perhaps partners/close ones could look for a support forum for themselves? Ged43598 your so right it's an illness not a choice but I understand what your saying, distraction, distraction, distraction and pushing ourselves to be arsed to go out, get up etc, it's the only way to overcome this.

Your both doing great, I know you won't believe me atm, it will most def get easier, and your good days will increase.

Stay strong & focused beautiful people, remember it's completely normal how your feeling atm..

Xx

Hi Kat & Ged Work were just being supportive saying it was ok to give myself some time for me which Im not so good at lol. Should be grateful for that and I'll still get paid. Ged I have also experienced that feeling in shops and you're right its weird! I know depression is an illness as I've suffered for years but don't you sometimes wish it was a matter of 'pull yourself together'? it would be so much easier! Kat I must push myself especially to get out of bed, I have started to meet up with friends for coffee but its surreal and a huge effort

Anyway I do really appreciate your support its so good to talk to people who understand. Love to you both. xxx

Hello

I am very new to this (just started reading today) But so glad I did. I thought I was just getting lazier that is

why I am gaining weight. And I haven't slept except with help from sleeping pills in days. I am edgy and I thought I was getting Alzheimer's because my brain isn't working properly. Thought it maybe because I cannot work anymore due to an accident I had in 2006 and I had less to think about. But I forget halfway through a

sentence what I am talking about and can see words in my head but cannot get them to my mouth lol.

Now I can see that this could be being caused by the Citropram.

Thank you all so very much.

Bless you beverly10109 its awful I also see words and pictures in my head but can't seem to formulate the words. Are you in the process of coming of citilopram? This forum is such a massive support.

Hi, I have been reading all the helpful information about stopping cit, have been taking it since 2008 and really want to come off. Am on 20mg per day. The main reason I want to come off is I have no sex drive at all and no feelings of tenderness towards my husband, it is now becoming an issue between us, and from what everyone has written all my emotions should come back. Also I've put on weight and am so tried all the time, which no one in my family seems to understand, and I'm just fed up of feeling like this and also font want to be on this forever, has anyone else felt like this, I just want to feel normal again. Any ideas??

caroline91330 bless ya, think EVERYONE on here has felt like that being on cit , you've been on them quite a while, as you've seen on here the withdrawal symptoms are crap, but the long term benefits far outweigh the side effects, so if your ready to stop feeling crap and start feeling again then reduce your doseage.. One or two myself included went cold turkey, the sensible ones just reduced.. 20-15 alternate days I think that's been the preferred easiest way.

But if you do decided to reduce you must tell all your close family and friends so that they can understand and support your decision. We don't mean to take it out on them but sometimes it just happens.

Ooo and most importantly prepare yourself!!.. You may just sail through it, I hope you do, but then again, just in case.. Xx

Thanks kat, for all your words of wisdom, I'll just be glad once I'm off the tablets and I can start to feel human again. Hope you are starting too feel the benefits, perhaps going cold turkey is the way, just fight through it? Good luck too you, god bless caroline

Hi all, had a really good day today, after only 6 days free of the demon, no fuzzy head today, maybe its a one off but i am enjoying it while it lasts,

I cut back from 20mg to 10mg 4 weeks ago.

The first couple of weeks I experienced flu like symptoms.

I new it was the symptoms of reducing the medication so I took a little extra care of myself and often slept in the afternoon and also have kept to myself a bit more than usual.

I have chosen to use this forum as a support because I am concerned that my family will worry that I am wanting to get off this medication.

I have been taking it for 8 months now.

Being on the medication initially gave me and my family some relief from the dysfunction of depression. But If I complain to anyone about the fatigue, emotional indifference, blurry vision, nausea, forgetfullness and short memory span, no one really understands.

I am concerned that when I get off the medication, that the depression may creep back in.

I have been told by a doctor that I may need to be on medication for the rest of my life, as this is not the first episode I have had.

It is hard to weigh things up. Putting up with the awful daily side effects of the medication or the potential to relapse with depression.

I will continue taking things day by day and keep being proactive with good diet and exercise.

After 4 weeks of taking a reduced 10mg, things have kinda evened out. I haven't been experiencing the wave of nausea about an hour or two after taking 20mg. I also don't feel so vague or tired. For the next 4 weeks I plan to reduce to 5mg one day/10mg the next/then 5mg then 10mg and so on.

Good luck Tarn :-) I don't think I'd even noticed how suppressed I felt until I've reduced. It's hard going but hopefully worth it. When you're off it you may find you need different medication rather than going it alone. Don't expect too much of yourself depression is an illness and there are other meds to try. Ged glad you've had a good day I wish you many more x

Updating my own advice and taking it....

Have posted enough times here about slow reductions but I got caught out myself last week as after two weeks of 10-5-10-5. I thought I could do 10-5-5-10. But ....NO

Ok yes I did only do a week of that but I realised almost immediately that was not good for me

Upset irritable , almost back to how I was, even debated whacking tne dose up such was me fear of being back how I started...

So have gone back to the 10-5-10-5. And am just about ok again as the half life levels catch up and I stabilize

How are people getting an accurate 2.5 dose by the way...for when I get that far...I use a pill cutter to get a 5 mg dose. But 1/4 Ing tne 10mg tablet I am sure is not going to be easy!

I do seem to get very tired, almost worse than when I was on 20mg..

Hi Gillian,

Sorry to hear that things didn't go too good last week, I have to resist the urge every morning to not go back to 10 but I am still on the 5, it has been a struggle as it is now 8 weeks since I dropped to 5 but I feel that things may be slowly getting better, I thought that the less I was taking the easier the drops would be but it seems to be the other way around as going from 20mg to 10 was a lot easier.

My pill cutter doesn't do a very good job, it seems to cut it into 1/3 and 2/3 so I am now using a razor blade to do it, cutting into a quarter is going to be difficult.

Hope you are OK now and it will go better next time.

Christine.

Hi all, well after 8 or 9days cold turkey i broke today. The fuzzy heads and dizziness have stopped me driving which is probably a good thing because i was becoming a danger not only to myself but to other road users too. Going to docs in the morning to see what is the best plan of action. Anybody else trying cold turkey all i can say is good luck but even more so don't do it, its hell....