Coming off citalopram. :(

Hi well done to you all so far, I have been following since January.

I went from 20mg to 10mg (half) then when renewed pills was given 10mg as a different brand which took a while to get used too. Then went to half again 5mg had some side effects each time but nothing too drastic and not for long. Tried to cut into a quarter with pill cutter but it's not easy so gave up Saturday altogether main symptoms are dizziness but can cope, but my jaw is constantly tight has anyone else had this I also feel low in mood. Now my million dollar question is, is the low mood me or will it pass in another week as it's withdrawal?

Ms mac and Julie you have helped me so much over the last 3 months and not even known it, like me I bet hundreds of people are following your success, keep posting please. I find you can follow someone who starts to come off then they disappear so we hardly see a success story, I suppose once people are clear they just want to move forward, so we don't usually hear the outcome. Good luck everyone x

Forgot say I have taken your advice Julie and been taking omega 3 and b vitamins which someone else recommended. And cut done over 14 weeks.

Hi Mel,

I've just started reducing .....

So have you stopped completely now ? Over the 3 and a bit months.

Do you feel the supplements were worth doing ? I guess it feels like you're being pro active in feeding your body if nothing else....I'll probably give it a go.

Got any words for me as I set off ? I'm sooo looking forward to getting to the position you've managed to get to, even if there are going to be bits to iron out when I get there by the sounds of things. Well done, and I hope it only gets better.

Hi Mel and others

Still here and going strong. Haven't taken any supplements, apart from trying a couple of HTP5 and BeCalm from Superdrug but I was better off without them. Maybe good to have in the house, fi you hit a bad spot, just be able to take SOMETHING.

Glad to get rid of the overwhelming tiredness I felt at times. I, now, realise the difference in ME.

I didn't take a note of the last day I took a pill but it's been two months now without anything.

Hi mel

am still taking the omega 3 and b complex vitamins, not sure if there doing any good, but i feel a millions times better than when i tried to give up last year, so definitely going to continue taking them.

well i think today is going to be the day when i stop the 5mg due to the fact that i cant remember whether i took it this morning or not lol, oh well its kick started me into stopping as i definately want to but i am soooo scared to take the leap so will give it a try and see how it goes, i know i can always go back on 5mg if it gets to rough.

I have got other things on my mind at the moment, i've got a stiff neck, had it for a couple of days think i've slept awkwardly, so am busy with my neck so hopefully will take my mind of no cit lol

Juliex

Hi mel

just noticed that you mentioned that you had problems when you got a different brand of tablets.

wow its great to hear that someone else suffers this as well, as i have stated on previous posts i have had terrible problems with different brands of tablets, so much so that i thought i was going mad!!!!

Juliex

All the best, Julie!

Knowing that you've done it will make you feel stronger. I'm still going through with aches and pains after my fall and dealing with insurance claim for my kitchen water leak and managing fine.

Honestly, if I can do it after 13+ years, you can.

Hi ms mac

you post is so encouraging and i admire your strength, especially since you live alone

Well feeling better knowing that i've finally done it and said goodbye to the dreaded little white pill, have got some on standby just incase, emotional crutch and all that, but i know i'll be fine

right am off to bed, am completely drained, stupid dog thought it was a mile sprint instead of a nice walk lol

Juliex

Good luck Julie. You've already done it and, after 2/3 weeks you will start feeling better and better and better. No crime committed if you have to go back on them for a short time but I know i never will. May have to try something else but I hope not.

Yes, I have no-one here to give me a cuddle and tell me everything will be alright so have to get on with it.

Keep posting and goodnight.

x

Hi Rosie yes I took my last quarter Friday 4th April. As for supplements don't know if they are making a difference but read other people took them i.e. Julie and she felt they did so thought why not try even if it's just a placebo effect. Good luck but I'm sure you won't need it, I went from 20 to 10 and had a few of the mentioned brain zaps but as I expected them from reading this site went with the flow and they didn't scare me they only happened a few times a day for a week, also for that week felt anxious and shaky. Told myself I would give it 2 weeks then go back up but as I say after a week it passed. Stayed on 10 till I felt good again for a while. Then I think I was getting more stressed as I wanted to just get off them so bought a pill cutter and started on alternating 10 and 5 this time only remember side effect of having a headache for about 4 days but paracetamol dealt with it. Carried on alternating for 3 weeks and felt ok. Then dropped to 5 for around 4 weeks, initially had a 4 day headache again then felt better than ever. Saw my doctor who said you may just as well stop, but after reading other peoples stories decided to try and cut pill into quarters so alternated 5 and 2.5 for a week then 2.5 for a week then stopped. since dropping from my constant 5 have noticed a low mood, tense jaw and dizziness, the dizziness comes and goes but have read this is the no.1 symptom of coming off so not going to let it worry me, the low mood I mainly notice when I'm not busy, usually in the morning before I get out and about, but the jaw thing is a pain, but all bearable so have told myself I will give it 2 weeks and if I feel I felt better on 5mg will go back for a bit longer. I still have a packet as back up, which I hope not to take but like the fact they are there. As others have said I'm sure 5mg does nothing anyway. The key I have found that helps me is KEEP BUSY, I think I could break the world record on doing 1000 peice puzzles now, when I feel anxious I get carried away in it, they can be expensive but charity shops are great. Hope I haven't sent you to sleep with my long reply lol.

Ms mac well done you should be so proud of yourself sending you a cuddle and everything will be alright x

Julie well done it's mainly this site and ms mac and you that gave me the courage to cut down and eventually stop, it's been a week now so will give it another if I feel mood is still low then may go back to 5mg but will take things a day at a time x

Mel.......sounds like you've approached this with the positivity, practicality and dignity I hope to employ........ The coming off slowly, the giving yourself permission to up the dose if necessary, the supplement 'placebo' and the KEEP BUSY and the taking paracetamol to get rid of the headache ( why didn't I think of that, instead of trying to cope with it ?) I'm liking it all. It's a culmination of all the advice on here that I've tried to put together before I started .....and you're at the tail end of getting there !! Whoop! It sounds like there's still a bit of struggle lurking about tho, you are so close to finding out who's going to emerge out from the cit fog you've been surrounded within ! That's the bit I'm striving for...what's left of Me inside here ?

Mrs Mac says something interesting ....... About considering a different med if things get difficult. ( thanks Mrs Mac ) I'm taking this bit on board too.

So here we are, intelligent, strong minded people all struggling enough that we went on pills and now all brave enough to poke our heads back out and see if we can shed our caccoons ........ I'm ever hopeful that it's going to be good, but ever realistic to get that it may actually simply mean a different med.

I'm so very encouraged by all the characters that post ......thank you people. Real, not dramatic, struggling but strong, generous of spirit people ! Keep going !

Thank you Mel and Rosie.

I just wish the doctors could read all these posts to realise what people go through trying to come off these (and similar) pills. They dish them out like sweets and I swallowed them likewise!

I think they kept me in a bad place - an ever-ending roller-coaster. I would feel bad, on 20 mg (I never went lower) and would go to the doc. and she would tell me to increase them to 40 mg., until I felt better so I played about with the dose myself and she trusted me to do that,

Believe me, I was SO bad and my family and friends were so worried about me because I would rather have died than continually go through those dark, dark days of which there were far too many. If I was getting so many, antidepressants weren't doing the job they were supposed to do.

It was the weight gain that really made me want to go off them as that was depressing me further and it was gradually going up and up and up. I, then, decided enough was enough and I had to come off ALL SSRI's. I'm so glad (at this moment) that I did. It was a bit of a rocky road but, really, not any worse than any other bad day. Just take the paracetamols for the headaches and you WILL get through it.

If you find something that you find helps, then go for it. Don't worry or listen to anyone else as you are the most important person.

I had a serious of traumas that I will never get over so have to realise that a few tears are ok as long as I stop!

Take care all.

x

Hi everyone

well day 2 lol, nothing really to report apart from feeling like ive been hit with a truck, feel achy all over, but not sure if its the cit or the stupid dog yesterday when i took him to the park. If there are any dogs about i keep him on his lead its extendable so he can mooch about, but he thinks that the park belongs to him and that no other dog should be in HIS park, hes a pain for it he stalks the other dogs but if they turn and bark at him he runs as hes a wimp lol

he decided that yesterday that even though he is 6yrs old he was a puppy again and wanted to run up and down the hills, and cause of the nice weather and lots of dogs in the park, he was on his lead, so Julie was up and down the bloody hills!!! Hes half Labrador and half red nose pit, so hes intelligence with teeth, 4 stone excitable puppy lol i luv him to bits though which is why he gets away with murder, hes fully trained, but can open door and cupboards, had to turn door handles round the wrong way as the little monster goes on my bed when i go out lol and used to help himself to his biscuits.

Hope everyone is doing ok, and i definitely agree with ms mac, that gp's should read this site so they can try and understand what we are going through, i have often wondered how many of them are on anti-depressants as i feel that my gp is very emotionless lol

Juliex

It's lovely to have a pet, Julie but I can't go through any more grief, having lost my fantastic, talking, action budgie, 3 indoor cats from the same family I took in, a semi-feral who lived in a kennel outside and several ferals I fed, since I moved here 23 years ago. That, on top of my parents so a lot of sadness. Oh, oh, crying now so had better stop thinking about them.

I can't remember now if I had aches and pains but the only ones I have are the ones due to my fall. I've been urged to go to the doctor but too sore to let them touch me.

Keep positive Julie and try not to blame too many things on the withdrawal as you probably would have had them whilst taking them. Just one of those things. As long as you feel, mentally, ok, you an put up with some physical discomfort. Mental torment's the worst!