Tapering off citalapram

i would take the phychiatrist advise before gp.

it's not uncommon for people to stop one and start the other the next day once down 20mg of citalopram

either way chances are you will get withdrawals and start up effects. the theory is when you swap over the withdrawals wont be as bad because you have the new drug in your system

dunno if it works like that though tbh.

its weather you can stick the side effects aswell as withdrawals at the same time. this doesn't mean it will happen.

if you are suffering withdrawals you will be the same again when you drop to 10mg so I would bite the bullet now and get it over and done with but that's just me.

I went straight from 20mg of citalopram to 50mg of sertraline one day after stopping citalopram

My psychiatrist suggested for me to take 1/2 the celexa and 1/2 the zoloft for 1 week then completely quit the celexa and continue on with the zoloft, he had said that it's worked the best for his patients in the past. I don't know if there is a 'good' way to transition but he said that it seemed to have the least side effects doing it that way. I've quit the celexa so far 100% and it's been 3 weeks and I've not yet started on the zoloft but I think thats because I wanted that celexa completely out of my system before doing anything as it caused some very unwanted effects for me.

Zoloft has been a very good med for me in the past though, it worked very well! I've had some of the best times in my life while on it so I am looking forward to going back on it. I probably should not try to keep coming off knowing how things go and just stay on it for life if needed though so don't have to deal with this anymore lol. I guess you live and you learn though right?

Hi Deblou,

You should be able to do a straight switxh when you get to 20mg Citalopram.

On all the drug switch websites, it says as soon as you get down to 20mg, you can do a straight swap.

At the moment, youre getting the pain of a 'fast taper'.

When you dona straight switch, you will still get withdrawals and startups together.

Ive just gone across straight from 20mg Citalopram to 75mg Venlafaxine ( sounds huge but they are 'equivalent')....not gonna lie, day 4 til day 12 was super agitated and had some awful thoughts, but I knew what to expect so it made it more tolerable. Im into week 3 now and just wish I had made this swap about 6 months ago. I would just bite the bullet and get the suffering out of the way. Try and have some support around you, if you can.

deblou45 sorry you arent feeling good rt now. drs arent very well schooled in coming off ssris. ive tapered too fast and crashed a few times also. ive been doing some research. discovered another web site forum that is very knowledgable in this specificly . ive learned to taper down with little side effects drop the dose that i am taking no more than 10% per month. like if you are on 40 mgs that would make you first dose 36 mg and the next month would be 32.4 mg and so forth. but the only way to do it is to be stable/ level. a few months ago i tapered to fast and it started hitting me i went back up in dose a little and it relieve withdrawal symptoms some. im stable now so last week i start tapering again by only 10%. if you want i can pm you the website? hang in there!