There is more to life than Citalopram

Posted , 13 users are following.

About a month ago I joined this forum to discuss my life without Citalopram. I have discovered to my great physical cost what a truly nasty drug this is. However, the only notifications I get are from people lauding this drug and actively encouraging people to stay on it. This is not why I joined. Good luck to those who continue with these meds.

1 like, 24 replies

24 Replies

  • Posted

    Are you not on it anymore? Are you better with out it? How long and how many mgs were you on (if you are off it).
  • Posted

    Your taking this out of context totally.. many people on this forum me for 1 can NOT live without medication.. I would be dead today without it. It's great you are well I wish we could all be like u.

  • Posted

    Hi D. Yes. I feel the same. I need support and encouragement to stick to coming off. I'm now down to 12.5 mg after 7 years of 20. I have so much more energy and am feeling the return of my soul. I can't wait to get down to zero and am pushing myself to stick to the plan. Stay in touch and keep going. It's nearly destroyed my relationship and also my enjoyment of life. A grey world on cit. maybe good for some but for me it's been depressing beyond words.

    I thought the drugs were keeping me on a level but they were actually a good proportion of my problems. I will never go back. Xxx

    • Posted

      I beg to differ......Cit is raising me above and out of a gray existence
  • Posted

    cital ruined my life!! dr gave it to me thinking i was depresed but i wasnt at all.

    i suffered the most horendious panick attack after taking only one tablet of 20mg and i never cane back to normal. after 2 months i was put on sertraline , im a lot better now but still on sertraline.

  • Posted

    Has any body just come off cit cold turkey iv stopped taking cos iv found out I'm pregnant but the side effects are really bad constant dizziness fatigue and short of breath I'm wondering if anyone knows how long it takes to fully leave your system and for side effects to subside

    • Posted

      Hi Lauren

      I just came off 3 weeks ago. I had reduced to 10 mg first for a month after taking 20mg for almost a year. I had the dizziness d a spaced out feeling for about a week then it went. Hope it eases soon for you!

      Jill

  • Posted

    Hi everyone of us respond different to medication.... I also had a horrible experience on Cit an was only on for 3 weeks then reduced it slowly and stopped while my daughter used it for a year with great results for her migraines... each one to their own.... I felt 100x worse drinking it an everyone kept saying just hold out 2 more weeks my heart went crazy anxiety increased an my chest was tight.... I never took it for depression just hormonal anxiety. .... listen to your body
  • Posted

    Can I ask if anybody has came of citilopram 10 Mgs after 5 days. Did they have any side effects? thank you
    • Posted

      Hi yes I was on 10mg for 3 weeks I tapered back down to 5mg for 5 days then stopped no side effects.... if you been on it long I would taper down 5mg every 2-3 weeks.... my daughter did that after a year an had no side effects.... slower the better good luck
  • Posted

    Hi Deryl

    I've just come off citalopram after 12 months. I have to say it helped me immensely through a bad period in my life but I never intended for it to be a long term thing. I stopped it about 3 weeks ago and feel much less tired. I also feel much more in control of my life. I wasn't sure of it was the meds or my coping strategies that were helping but now I'm pretty sure the meds were doing nothing by the end other than making me think things were ok.

    I guess all medication affects people differently, some people need it and others are better equipped to cope without. I do think it's worrying that some people take it for such long periods, I felt that at some point I hadto learn to cope with life for myself rather than relying on medication, that's my personal opinion though.

    Hope your doing well without the medication.

    Jill

  • Posted

    Hi. I would love to hear your experience with coming off them. I have been taking for over 10 yrs and am in process of weaning off them now x
    • Posted

      Hi lorraine

      I was on citalopram for over 10 years then it just stopped working what I can say with my experience is if I would have known what I know now I would have never started them but that's to late now last 3 years have been hard tried lots of ad's with no joy from what I went though with cit is it doesn't solve the problems it just masks things and numb things I'm staring to deal with my problems instead of just taking ad's to mask things what I would say to people is try all the natural things first before starting ad's exercise eat good things councilin Cbt meditation yoga only use ad's as a last resort ??

    • Posted

      Hi Don, pleased you are feeling better. AD's do not mask problems....they raise the amount of serotonin in your brain so you can overcome problems with more reasonable thoughts.....you start to do your own form of CBT

    • Posted

      They do mask thing you can raise the amount of serotonin with out ad's naturally

    • Posted

      Of course you can raise serotonin naturally with diet, exercise, sunlight (Vit D), but many depressed people just need that little bit of lift from meds to do these things, then own motivation takes over.  People call them "happy pills"......they are no such thing.  Once you are well, your own brain takes over, and you produce your own serotonin with happy thoughts and experiences,

    • Posted

      I'm not saying they don't help because they can help its just in my experience people should try their best to do it the natural way first is just you go to your doctor saying you feel low and they just throw them at you without explaining the side effects of going on them and coming off them

    • Posted

      I agree in theory and principle Don, though my sister in law had to be sectioned after the stress of my brothers illness...she had stopped eating, poor hygiene (nil in fact), and she had to have ECT......left to her own devices she would have died.  The meds got her well, but she then didn't think she needed them, stopped taking them, and ended up back in the unit. Medical intervention was definitely needed in her case.  I agree that some  gps hand them over too readily, I know natural remedies are far better, but even though I'm much better after 3 weeks, I still cannot be bothered with exercise, though I do eat healthily.  The sun is beautiful out there, I know I should be sitting out, but watching Olympics.  They do actually say that meds shouldn't be given for mild depression, but my sister in law had severe depression with psychosis.  ECT was starting to help...she had four successful doses, but the fifth time produced a mini stroke.

    • Posted

      What about anxiety and panic will natural way help that?
    • Posted

      Yes, exercise, fresh air, sunlight (or Vit D supplements), good diet to include fruit veg and oily fish.

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