Coming off citalopram. :(

Thanks Ms Mac. I think I will. As they say tomorrow is another day. It is so good to know I can post on here and get a real honest opinion. Take care and look after yourself. Hope your knees are all healed now. xx

It's not the knees or the palms but the boobs, Cuckoo but dealing with it. It's good to have somewhere to vent your feelings and that place is here.

Just go at your own pace.

x

hi everyone

not posted for a few days as had a very bad stiff neck, think i was laying awkward on it, not to bad now and pain berable, you definately dont realise just how much you move your neck for everyday lol

still on the 5mg, so nothing to report regarding the cit, but will definately cut back more soon, its just deciding when, i know i should just bite the bullet as go for it, but am so scared that i will end up back on the 20's like i did last year, and had 4 weeks of suffering till i could cope no longer

oh the joys of citalopram hey lol

Juliex

Julie, if you are happy to be on 5 mg for the rest of your life then so be it. You're having no real effect from it apart from a placebo effect and I think that's fine. I would have been happy with that but gave all my old tablet to the pharmacist to destroy. No point giving up completely then going back up.

Cuckoo goose the way I am doing it is reducing my intake by 2.5 mg bi weekly. Its the only thing that seems to be working so far. cutting a pill into half would be a lot of reduction for me. I am extremely sensitive to the drug. In order to reduce 20 mg by 2.5, you need to cut your pill to eight pieces and reduce your intake by 1/8 of the pill bi weekly. If you cannot cut your pill this way please ask a pharmacist to do it for you. Also I am not a health professional so please don't take my reply as professional advice. Do speak to your pharmacist about my suggestion and see what she/he has to tell you. Good luck.

Hi ms mac

thats the problem am not happy being on 5mg, i want off this drug but am sitting on the fence deciding when, but as previously stated i dont have many tablets left so the matter will be sorted sooner rather than later!!!

Am a grade a wimp when it comes to anything medical, i dont mind needles, you can stab me as many times as you like but anything else i go into child mode lol

trying to come off them last year i now realise it wasn't the right time for me, and it was horrendous i suffered crippling withdrawals for over 4 weeks then i gave in and ended up back on 20mg, but its those 4 weeks that i remember vividly and thats what's stopping me for doing it this time, but i know i've got to bite the bullet and just do it

i can wait to post and say hey folks and julie and i used to be a citalopram addict lol

Juliex

Hi Everyone ....

Yesterday, I could not have enough tears to fill my crying spells..... wowie ... Mind you that yesterday we also the day we heard that there is finally a place for my mom in a homecare facility. She has dementia. Being away from my parents (I live in a different country) is not always easy and I go overseas at least 3x a year to be with them as much as possible.

For the last few times when i was overseas and returned to my own home again, I said "so long" to my mom in silent because she was not 'my mom' anymore the way i knew her. Dementia/Alzheimers is a terrible disease... your parents are slowly being robbed away from you. However, having all said that, if you know how to handle it, reading as much about it as possible, you understand the person with the disease a lot better which in return helps you too :D ....

It was a bittersweet moment yesterday, but I tell you ... all the tears i had over it yesterday was the best feeling I have had in a long time :D ... one might say this is not the right time to get off the Cit but I think it is the perfect time as I am feeling real emotions, with real tears and real everything and that is very much Okay :D ....

Have a great day everyone and don't forget to smile.

.... and Cheers for tomorrow that I will feel the same way as i do now .... i know that can change, but I'm ready for it :D ... Bring it on withdrawals ! ... I won't be fighting them. Accepting them takes away 3/4 of the problem

Julie, ... from the post i read from you lately, there is no doubt in my mind you can do this !!! ... You know when it is the right time, and I personally would not wait until you have your very last tablet. Perhaps it feels better for you to try to stop when you have a few left, as a "security" feeling, if that is what you need ...

The thing is that nobody can unfortunately tell us when it is the right time, but the one thing we do know is that you can do it

Hi Maria,

You are doing very well and are very brave considering what you are going through with your mum to try and come off these pills. I know its normal to feel so very sad when our parents are ill or dying, but its hard to know whether we need meds to help us cope. Wish you all the best, hope you can get through this without having to take Cit again.

xxx

Hi Julie and Maria

Julie - Just expect the days when you might not feel great as just bad days that everyone gets. I'm coping so much better without those darn pills. My tears stop much quicker.

Maria - My mother didn't have dementia but I looked after her for years. I miss her so much as we stayed together and that is a cause of a lot of my depression.

With dementia, at least your mother doesn't know what is wrong with her and that is a blessing.

It's so strange to hear of others whose emotions left them when I was the exact opposite - I cried for Scotland! Now I can cry and gain control but on medication I just went into a deeper depression. To me, that proved that they were not helping me.

Cheers folks!

Hi maria

thanks so much for your kind words

am sorry you are going through this with your mum, i can and do know how you feel, my mum had dementia and it was heart breaking to see her become someone i didn't know. I totally understand as i am a qualified social worker and specialise in mental health in the over 65's, so have total empathy about how you feel

am not at work at the moment as i have took some leave, but my heart goes out to anyone in your position, there is just not enough support for people who need support never mind their families, all comes down to money, but hey thats another story!!!!!

take care maria and dont forget to have some me time, its easy to try to be strong for everyone else but you need to look after yourself as well

Juliex

Hello people.

I've been on 20mg cit for a little over 18 mths. This has really helped, but like many of us here - now is the time to come off.

I have a lovely GP who understands me well. He has suggested alternating between 20mg and 10mg for as long as it takes for me to feel comfortable, but certainly now sooner than 2 weeks. After that down to 10mg a day for a couple of months. Then back to see him.

I have also booked onto CBT which should start in about 10 weeks, just in time for me to be dropping down the cit mg again. I have actually a belt and braces for the CBT ..... I've signed up onto two different waiting lists so if I don't gel with the first centre, I have a back-up, without having to go back to start. I think this will really help me keep on track.

We deliberately planned the timing so I would be hopefully cit free for the start of the summer months......hopefully this will give me a good chance to settle my responses, behaviour,habits over the good summer months before the winter days set in once more.

I did a silly thing about 6 weeks ago and went cold turkey ...it took 4 days until I was beside myself in all sorts of turmoil ( inconsolable crying, bedridden, unable to hold my body up, exhausted,) .....so bad I didn't even realise it was the withdrawal. It took my partner to ask me if I had been taking my meds! Funny now, but hey, please don't go cold turkey ....doesn't seem like a good way to start a more positive chapter.

So.... The plan is in place ...I'm a week into the alternate 20/10 and the side effects are showing..... I cried today, twice........maybe this is just rediscovering the act of crying, it's been a while !

I'm getting funny restless legs thing, especially in the evening......I've not seen anyone else saying they get this ...... Is it just me ? I have to fidget my ankles...it's mighty irritating but luckily isn't constant.

Happy to have found you guys I don't really want to talk to people around me too much about it .... I just want them to be chuffed when I've done it I guess we can't sit there endlessly thinking were the only one facing this anymore .....we know different now we've found this forum !

I'm apprehensive, scared, excited, hopeful and curious about how the next few months go........ Wish me luck

We're doing it !

Im sorry escapee but you sound like a chemist.get off this site and do your research somewhere else.We are all glad we started on cit but we find it hard to come off.thanks for your by the manual advice,but get lost drug dealer!

Ian are you talking about a very old post by Escapee?