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Sharing withdrawal effects?

Posted , 3 users are following.

Yai
Yai

Hi!

I was on Citalopram for two years and gradually came off it 5 weeks ago. I feel my stress levels have gone up a lot - I have a very stressful job which requires a lot of extra hours and many many deadlines.

I feel I am starting to have weird thoughts again which are a bit of an obstacle for a peaceful happy mind. I often get fashbacks when I am exposed to certain situations/places that evoke awful feelings and thoughts from the worst moments of my major depression disorder. However, I feel like I am handling it alright without extreme reactions but it does make me feel worried so I was wondering if any of you felt any of this when coming off their meds?

Thank you! Hope you have a lovely day :-)

0 likes, 5 replies

5 Replies

  • gary78460
    gary78460 Yai

    Posted

    I DID WHEN I CAME OFF THEM AND I ENDED UP BACK ON THEM,THINK IM DESTINED TO ALWAYS BE ON THEM,THINK I ABUSED MY BODY TO MUCH WHEN I WAS YOUNGER AND THATS MY PUNISHMENT,
  • jimbourg8
    jimbourg8 Yai

    Posted

    I think you proably came off if it too quickly....... and still having withdrawAL symptoms.......dont know how  gradual you came down  but having been on it for 2 years......gradually tapering over a few months might be a better way.  I have been on Gabapentin for 4  1/2 years and had begun a gradual tapering off about 5 to 6 weeks ago but I still get some flashbacks or recurrence of anxiety, agitation, headaches etcc......I'm making progress and anticipate about maybe 1 or 2 more months of withdrawal........good luck to you.

    • Yai
      Yai jimbourg8

      Posted

      Hi!

      Thanks for your response. I am not too sure as I started to reduce the dose in February and fully came off it the last week of August. I went from 20mg/day to 15 mg/day and I was on this dose from February to June and then my doctor suggested that I started taking it day on day off for a month. After that, I only had to take it twice a week for another month and that was it.

      I was feeling "perfect/normal" in the last stages of my meds, but everything became a lot harder when I stopped taking them for good. On the bright side, I am not having any panic/anxiety attacks or unmeasured reactions as I used to, but I do feel I have become a lot more sensitive to everything and I tend to overthink every feeling/emotion and link it to my mental health issues.

      I am hoping this is "normal" within the withdrawal effects!!

      Best of luck to you too, and thanks again for having taken the time to reply! smile

    • jimbourg8
      jimbourg8 Yai

      Posted

      It still looks like you went too fast at the end to me......maybe you should have down dosed it much slower for example the 15 mg should have been every day for a month, then 7 mg every day for a month, then, 4 mg for a month....etc...etc....ect......  unfortunately some people have protracted withdrawal phase ( I have read about it ) and it can take months or even a year or two to come back to normal again !  Terrible, but that may be what it takes.........
  • lindsey02370
    lindsey02370 Yai

    Posted

    Hi Yai,

    I'm also getting off meds, effexor-3 1/2years on it, Trileptal-5 months, and Cogentin which I took for exsesive sweating. On it for at least 3 months. I mention that one also BC it had similar side effects to some of the other meds. Which I think the sweating got worse from one of the meds.

    My family was extremely concerned BC the side effects I was having for over a month. Still having issues. My PC and psychologist, and also therapist didn't know what was going on, I was the ONE who thought it could be my meds making me have all these terrible problems. I wasn't even aware until my sister called me crying asking me to go to the ER. they noticed the abnormal behavior/and movements,extremely severe sweating, large pupils, uncontrollable tremors, unquenchable thirst, nausea, memory loss, vision changes, lost 35lbs in a month without even noticing. I don't know if that's BC I had a lot going on? Tons more stress than usual. I wasn't seeing my doc n therapist at that time BC I don't have insurance and I've already had to file chapter 13 BC of medical bills just 3 years ago. Well I was forced to the ER and all they did was a prediabetes test n sent me home. So I've been the one forcing the issue that its medication side effects. I just stopped my last dose of 75 mg of Effexor a day. Its been 3 days now, the other ones I stopped a month ago. I still feel awful, still having serious issues, dizziness, unstable balance, vision problems, tremors but not as bad, I also have bad flash backs of my depression episodes, still have anxiety issues, crying spells and then laughing spells then sometimes crying again. I felt out of control. I'm very moody, irritated, anxious, restless, so many things. I don't know if its just coming off those meds or if there's others meds I should get off of.

    I'm seeing my docs again in order to get rid of these issues and continue medical care. I'm on wellbutrin now for about a month, I don't feel any help or difference with mood/anxiety/depression/BPD/agoraphobia, I don't know all the diagnosis names for they said my condition is complicated. I've been on so many meds since 1999. Still going strong in 2016 with medicine issues aka trying to find something to help cope with all my diagnosises. I know I will always have to be on something, but I too feel the withdrawal symptoms of them. I look them up and write them down. Then I see what issues I'm having and what med is likely to cause it, I also read the other possible symptoms just so I can be prepared just in case. I tell my doc about the withdrawal issues/side effects that I'm having then we go from there. Sometime the dose may need to be changed, or need a different med. I've been through a lot of medicine and different treatments.

    My advice would be let ur doc know what is going on in ur body and start a different plan. Such as coming off of meds slower, and slower. Keep an eye on it. I wouldn't try cold turkey again, I felt so aweful. But I figured it was better than what I was dealing with.

    I don't know if this helps at all, but I wish you the best in your health journey.

    Again hope this helps some way?..?

    Thank you for listening to my experiences as well, sorry for talking to much. 😕

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