Life after citalopram and how to cope

thanks for the mail, myself personally i would stick to one reduced dosage rather that doing alternate 20/10 etc, due to the fact that our bodies are getting different dosages on different days so i would presume the withdrawals would be worse as you would crave more citalopram on the 10 days, thats just my opinion though.

I have also found that omega 3 capsules have helped, i take 2 a day, but you can take up to 6 1000mg capsules a day, i also take odourless garlic capsules and vitamin B complex.  There are just the cheap ones from the supermarket nothing fancy lol

Whilst some say that supplement dont work and are a waste of time, even if i am getting the placebo effects then thats good enough for me as its helping.  When i started with the muzzy head i uped the omega 3 to 2 aday and it does seem to help.

my own advice is to take baby steps, one day at a time, and if you have a down day or cant cope, then just up the citalopram to the dose which you could cope at and stay on that dosage for a bit longer.

Its great that your going for CBT, this will help with your coping strategies, why not stay on your 10mg till you start CBT and then it will help with the reduction and how you cope with it.

I wont say never to citalopram again if i need it, but if i find that i do, then i will make sure that i am monitored more closely and not just left for 15yrs with repeat prescriptions and nothing much else.

I also do firmly believe that if i had been offered bereavement counselling when my daughte died instead of being put on pills then i dont think that i would have needed them.

Good luck in your journey, and if i can help shout away lol

Juliex

well i decided to start reducing in Feb this year as i wanted to feel emotions again and just be me for a change as i couldn't really remember who me was!!!!

I am also newely married (4yrs) and although i have a fantastic husband, citalopram played havoc with my sex drive lol   but i was also very worried that my hubby wouldn't like the me without the pills as he didn't know me before i started them.

I also had a major problem with the brand of tablets i was getting which was different each month, the sandoz brand was the worst omg i thought i was dying it was horrendous, dizzy, nausea, headache, unsteady on feet, it was like the first couple of weeks of starting citalopram.  I used to have these symptoms for 2 weeks of every month and was just starting to get better when i was given a different brand.

My pharmacist worked it out that something in either the fillings or coatings of the tablets didn't agree with me and this was why i was feeling rough, i found out the if i took the Bristol Labs brand of tablets i felt fantastic no side effects, so my pharmacists tried his best to get these for me, but he couldn't guarantee it as it depended what was in the wholesalers each month, so this was another reason why i decided enough was enough.

I was on 20mg daily and had been for 15yrs so i got a pill cutter from the chemist and cut them into 4 making them 5mg each.  First i reduced down to 15mg and stayed on this for a good 3 weeks till i felt settled and had no side effects, then i went to 10mg and again stayed on these for 2 weeks, then i went on 5mg.

On the 10th march just before bed i looked at my tablets and couldn't remember if i had taken my 5mg in the morning, so i then decided that if i hadn't taken it then maybe this was the time to stop, which i did, so have been pill free since then.

I have had a few wobbles, but nothing major and i could cope, last year i tried to come off them but couldn't cope with the withdrawal symptoms and ended up going back on them, the only difference between then and now is that i take 2 omega 3 capsules, 1 garlic capsule and 1 vitamin B complem tablet a day, now as ive previously said i dont know if these supplements work for everyone but they have for me.

If i was you claire i would get your gp on board and take it slowly, its not a race, just reduce by 5mg at a time and stay on the dose until you have no withdrawal symptoms, just start small baby steps my husband calls them lol

You have been on 40mg for 10yrs so it doens't matter how long it takes, you may decide that 20 or even 10mg suits you better and decide to stay on that, at the end of the day, only you know how you feel, so go with your gut instinct and do whats right for you.

If you feel the need to shout or moan, am only at the end of the keyboard lol

Sorry for the long post i can chat for england lol

Juliex

I made a hash of my first try..........About 3 months ago, I just stopped...and 3 days latter was a jibbering bed bound wreck unable to do anything, I was so far gone I hadn't realised it was withdrawal, I just thought I'd finally flipped....so yeah....cutting down in baby steps is the best way for me for sure.  

I'm glad I'm on the waiting list for CBT ...and as Julie says, I may well be on the 10mg still when I start that. Having 15 yrs plus of struggle, I'm so hoping the break cit gave me has now put me in a strong place to move forward. I have been offered CBT several times before, but just couldn't face it. It's one of those things where the time needs to be right for the individual. 

You mention you would like to reduce as you sleep too much, are there any other things you are looking forward to ( or worrying about ) about reducing your dose? 

Heres hoping the the good days outweigh the sketchy days  

sorry to jump in on your post to claire, what i have learned and it has took a while is that i cant change what life throws at me, that is beyond my control.

What i can change though i how i deal with it and how i let it effect me, that is the difference

Juliex