Coming off citalopram. :(

Good evening all,

I found this forum thread after searching for "coming off Citalopram" on Google. This thread has been incredibly helpful, reassuring and insightful. Thank you to everyone who has posted in the thread. I wanted to share my experience with coming off Citalopram, for others out there who are doing the same. For reference, I am female and 24. Apologies, wall of text incoming!

I started taking Citalopram in August 2013, after finally going to the doctor about my anxiety and depression. I started on 10mg for the first two months, then I progressed onto 20mg a day. The first few weeks on Citalopram were downright terrible. Barely sleeping two hours per night, having terrible nightmares when I did manage to get to sleep, headaches, nausea...the lot. I also suffered a loss of libido, which at the time didn't bother me.

Citalopram did work for me, after the side effects subsided. I felt much calmer, happier and in control of my emotions. In December 2013, a long time friend and I became a couple and he has made me happier than I've ever been. He knows about my depression and anxiety and is incredibly understanding. However, the lack of libido that I didn't care about before has been a real problem for me now that I am in a relationship. For weeks, we have tried numerous things and nothing has worked. Apologies if this is TMI, I will correct it immediately if it against forum rules. I can rarely reach orgasm and when I do, it takes an extremely long time.

This made me feel down, even on Citalopram. I decided that even though Citalopram made me feel better, I could not live without having a drive and I personally consider this to be an important part of my relationship. Two weeks ago, I decided to come off it with the advice of my doctor. OH BOY, it has been hard. I'm anxious, I worry about everything and I'm angry, REALLY angry. I snap at the smallest thing. I've been treating my boyfriend like crap, which makes me feel even worse because he is incredibly supportive.

I want to keep coming back to this thread to report my progress. I hope it will be of use to someone. If anyone has any advice, I would be happy to hear it.

Hope you are well,

Luckybell

Hi luckybell and welcome to the forum

how did your doctor tell you to come off them

Juliex

Hello Julie

Thanks so much for your writing :D... How long did u take to get to the 5mg. ?

I am on 20mg, always have been, and think to cut down over a period of about 4-5months. Does that sound reasonable you think?

And Luckybel, what you go through sounds very similar to my first try to get of the cit. I was cutting down way to fast, and in short ...I turned into this super B..... Lol..I have no other word then to describe myself. I am confident that this time I will do better, as I am going to take my time but also now I understand that I might have some withdrawals so I am more prepared for them.

Good luck to everyone and don't forget to Smile

Oh and one more thing lol.... I read here and there about brain zaps ?? ... What are they or how does it feel? Is it something to be expected or is it different per individual ?

Sunday evening...weekend is over...hope everyone is going to have a great week :D

hi maria

its good to chat to someone going through it. Its took bout 5 weeks to get to 5mg (20, 10, 5), but have been on the 5's since 11th march. I wanted to make sure i was stable on the 5mg before i reduce further.

I tried last year to come off them and it didn't go to plan, i got all the symptoms everyone has and more lol, it was horrendous and i couldn't cope and ended up back on 20mg even though i reduced much slower than i have now.

The only difference is that i am taking omega 3 capsules, from the supermarket nothing fancy or pricey, now am not saying that they help but i have had minimal side effects this time. I did some research on the internet before reducing this time and a lot of people suggested these supplements. whether it is the placebo effect or it is actually helping to me it doesn't matter as long as it works thats ok with me. I started on 1 a day, now i take 3 a day and so far its all good.

Last year the brain zaps where bad, like a sort of buzzy and tingling effect when i moved my head it felt as if my brain wasn't attached inside my head and it was moving, but i've not had that this time, infact apart from the occasional muzzy head like you have when you are getting a cold, i've been very lucky but its early days and am prepared!!!!!

The next part of the plan is to take a 5mg every other day for 2 weeks, then go to every 3 days etc until am off them, i bought a pill cutter from the chemist as i am cutting up 20mg tablets only because i like a particular brand of citalopram which gives me no side effects at all when i was taking the 20mg, as i found that if i took a different brand each month i got side effects as if i was taking cit for the first time, the pharmacist said it was the fillers/coating of the tablets which didn't agree with me.

So i think that altogether it will take me at least 4 months to come off them which i think is a short period of time considering i have been on the for approx 15yrs, yeah i know 15yrs is such a long time, but now's the time to be free of it, am in a good place at the moment, have a fantastic husband so i know i can do it with his and my family support.

Am just worried that i dont know the real me or what my personality will be like as i have been emotionless for so long and my hubby married me 5yrs ago when i was still on them, oh i just have so much going round in my head lol i know it will be fine hes a sweetie

sorry for the war and peace post as i can and do waffle on, but just do baby steps as my hubby calls them, a little at a time its not a race and it doesn't matter when you finish as long as you get there and if you fall down along the way thats ok to, just pick yourself up and carry on as tomorrow is another day.

Juliex

Good afternoon all,

Thank you for your response Julie. My doctor advised I come off the citalopram slowly, using the following schedule:

1. 10mg for two weeks

2. 10mg every other day for two weeks

3. none at all and make appointment with doctor

It has been two weeks since I started taking 10mg a day and I have not been coping well. I'm assuming I must be adapting to the lower dose.

Thank you for your response Maria. Your post has reassured me and I think I may have be cutting down too quickly too. I phoned my doctor this morning and she advised to continue taking 10mg daily for another two weeks. So hopefully I will stop being a Grumposaurus soon. Good luck to you on coming off citalopram.

I am feeling good today although this could be because I am off work, haha. I got a good nights sleep too which is nice as I had not been sleeping well on the 10mg daily. Here's hoping it lasts!

Lucky, my doc advised 20mg one day and 10 the next for a week then next week 10 mg and nil for a week then nothing. When I went back to her I told her it was far too quick and her reply was to have taken it slower. I told her I only did what SHE told me! Please do it over a longer period as I felt dizzy and had a muzzy head.

I'm not coping too well, at the moment, but want to lose this weight before considering any other medication. Don't expect miracles. I'm on a roller-coaster ride but my life was like then on medication.

Lucky, my doc advised 20mg one day and 10 the next for a week then next week 10 mg and nil for a week then nothing. When I went back to her I told her it was far too quick and her reply was to have taken it slower. I told her I only did what SHE told me! Please do it over a longer period as I felt dizzy and had a muzzy head.

I'm not coping too well, at the moment, but want to lose this weight before considering any other medication. Don't expect miracles. I'm on a roller-coaster ride but my life was like then on medication.

have taken the following from Depressionforum.

While these events are generally self-limiting, there

have been reports of serious discontinuation symptoms.

Patients should be monitored for these symptoms when discontinuing

treatment with Celexa. A gradual reduction in the dose

rather than abrupt cessation is recommended whenever possible.

If intolerable symptoms occur following a decrease in the dose or

upon discontinuation of treatment, then resuming the previously

prescribed dose may be considered. Subsequently, the physician

may continue decreasing the dose but at a more gradual rate

Hi There, I am new to this but would like some feed back from others that are in my place. I was on citalopram about 10 years ago it help for the time and i dont remember any side effects. Then about 2 years ago I just started crying all the time for no reason and feeling so alone. My doctor put me back in it again. I dont feel like crying all the time but now I am so tired all the time it is really starting to get to me. sleep on all my sons naps and almost feel like im going to fall asleep trying drive to work.I told this to my doctor and asked if it could be the meds and she didnt think so. Then today I acually looked at the side of the bottle and it says to take caution operating a car and that it causes drowsiness....so i go on the internet to see what it says and here the answer to my other problem is found.. I am sooo upset i had a relationship end because i had no sex drive .I didnt know it was because of this drug.. wow what should i do ??? any ideas i think im better off without this drug ????no?

Sleepy, I, too had bad bouts of lethargy. Go back to your doc. and ask for a change of antidepressant. I would never tell anyone to come off them until they felt ready.

Don't blame everything on the drugs. They have to tell you every possible side-effect to cover themselves.

Julie,....your post is so fantastic ...so helpful, you have no idea. I do know that each person is different and what works for you might not for me, but the fact that I have something to go by is great to have. Thanks so much. Everyone posts here are great and very helpful. This morning I shaved off some of my 20mg tablet but I think I have to buy a pill cutter.

It is interesting that I got on the UK server actually (assuming that there are other servers lol) but English is not my mother tongue so I might make mistakes. I live in Canada however, (but am from the Netherlands

) sitting out yet another super snow storm lol.... Ah well, nothing I can do about it. I'm just so happy I have all you here to talk with about this issue I have sweet sweet people around me but they do not have this 'issue' ... Take care everyone

hi sleepy

everyone responds differently to citalopram, i was never sleepy infact quite the oposite and even though am down to 5mg i still wake every couple of hours and dont feel rested at all when i get up.

The lack of sex drive was a big issue for me as newly married lol, and it has come back somewhat now that i have reduced down to 5mg.

I think you need to talk to your doctor either about another anti-depressant or how to come off them, only you know when the time is right, as ms mac says that sometimes we blame everything on depression and that we cant cope, but there is times that we feel down due to situations we are in and not because we are depressed.

We can feel down in the dumps cause were sad, unhappy, angry, fedup, financial problems, and usually when things are beyond our control but this is not a reason to use anti-depressants, this is working how to cope with life situations.

With my own situation when my 9yr old daughter died, i think i would have benefited more from grief counselling, and someone to talk to rather than to numb myself with pills for years, which i might add worked a treat possibly to well as i was emotionless.

what i do is that i like to write lists, it helps me put things into perspective i write the the positive and the negative for each situation, and when i read it in black and white i seem to accept that some things are beyond my control and that its not depression just life.

well thats my coping strategy what yours?

Juliex

Wow, what an awesome forum which I only found yesterday! Thank you for all the amazing posts!!

After doing the math, I realised that I have now been on 20gms Cit for about 15 years, I just about fell over when I actually thought about it and have decided enough is enough. I've tried to come off it a couple of times before but to be honest, I haven't really tried that hard or correctly and always thought it was a chemical imbalance that I would always need correcting.

But I now believe differently, so starting today, I've started shaving!! And I'm going to do it very very slowly..., thanks to all the recommendations. I'm still irrational, grumpy, fly off the handle, low libido so why should I stay on it! It definitely served its purpose back when I needed it however, now I have no reason to be on it as life's pretty good so I actually thinks its now having a reverse effect on me - unfortunately I am now addicted, which is very scarey so its going to be a long slow process. Along with very slowly lowering my dosage, I'm also going to up my Vit D levels and fish oils through supplements (a good quality one) and search out foods that provide a natural source of seratonin.

I'll keep you posted with my progress. 1st April, today is the day!