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So sad, I had to go back on it.

Posted , 4 users are following.

maria35963
maria35963

My (new) doctor who seemed very informed about weaning off Citalopram encouraged me to wean off in three weeks and that i'd be fine. I have been on it for 4 years. She seemed to know a great deal about the drug and coming off of it which was encouraging. Now I took 15mg for 2 weeks (no withdrawals) which seemed fine. Then 10mg for 1 week (as recommended by her) but started to have the body zaps. I then stopped taking it completely on Monday. It’s now Thursday and I've sadly just taken a whole 20mg tablet. Why? Because of the ‘brain zaps’ and dizziness. I'm also crying and feeling depressed but it was really hard to work out if its because I have been sick in hospital and now in bed with pneumonia for the last 3.5 weeks. I was having such a brilliant year, was on a roll with my fitness and then got so hard hit with pneumonia it's just hard to know if that has caused me to be sad or it's a withdrawal symptom. Either way I'm so sad I had to go back on it. If only I knew how bad the withdrawals would be. I have read that it's good to taper off by 10% each time but very slowly. I will try that next time. I’ll be honest this forum put so much fear into me about coming off citalopram. Are there any success stories out there?

0 likes, 5 replies

5 Replies

  • yommymommy79
    yommymommy79 maria35963

    Posted

    Hi Maria...

    I would have thought after 4 years on 3 week to come off is VERY fast.

    Please dont beat yourself up...pneumonia muat have sat you on yoir butt...be kind to yourself and maybe you can try to come off again in a few months. I came off first time with no problems...i was only of for 6 months but came off over a period of a month. I was only on 10mg and tye went to 10 every alternate day for a month...x

    • maria35963
      maria35963 yommymommy79

      Posted

      Thanks for  the encouragement and great to hear a success story. Did you get any side effects when you fully stopped?
    • yommymommy79
      yommymommy79 maria35963

      Posted

      No none that o can remember. ..so if i did have any there werent that bad...😊
  • katecogs
    katecogs maria35963

    Posted

    Omg - your frigging doctor needs to be struck off.  She certainly does not know anything about weaning off these meds and has put you in a very difficult and uncomfortable situation.  You should have spent months weaning off, because you can be quite ill, much to your discovery.

    I have come off these twice ...... first time it took a few months, and even then I had some withdrawal symptoms, and this year I've withdrawn again taking much longer and have had NO withdrawal symptoms at all.  I've gone from 20mg and reduced it my 5mg each time allowing each reduction to last a good month or more.  Am now on my last 5mg.

    Im not surprised you're suffering.  I get sick of hearing how doctors are so misinformed about these medicines - either starting their patients or telling them to stop them.  What the hell do they think?

    You poor sweetheart, I do feel for you xx ...... so you're right in reintroducing your meds, but you may want to do it gradually as not only may you feel withdrawal symptoms but you may also get initial side effects of starting meds.  Once you reintroduce the meds gradually, let it all settle down, let your body settle and feel well again, and then you can start withdrawing from them properly.

    Big hug ...... and go slap that doctor of yours xxxx

  • cmc46
    cmc46 maria35963

    Posted

    Hi Marie, I agree with the others you came off far too quickly, but I know that is what the GP's say as I was told the same but last spring I decided to come off of the citalopram without saying anything to my GP, I had been on them for over 3 years, I decided in March to cut down gradually by 2 1/2 mg, I was on 20mg, just when I felt it was right for me to do it sometimes I would go 2 weeks and sometimes 4 before cutting down again, it took till mid September, the occassional headache and brain zaps but nothing drastic, I did feel down at times and wonder if I had done the right thing but that didn't last long so it has now been over 3 months that I have been off of them and touch wood feel fine, I did try to come off them 2 years ago but it didn't work, I don't suppose the time was right so was back on for a year, apart from coming off very slowly I think you also have to feel that the time is right for you. I have heard several people say that sadness is all party of the withdrawal. Good luck.
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