Sonia009: Citalopram discontinuation/reinstatement

[Sonia009]

15 hours ago, Dahlia50 said:

@Sonia009 Yes it is, terrible.

 

Hug to you.

@Dahlia50Thanks🙏😊❤

[Sonia009]

I've been four months now on 0.5 mg Citalopram reinstatement, shortly after taking my dose today my eyes were blurry, I am dizzy again, my balance is off, I feel weak and tired and generally unwell. I think I should have felt better and not worse by now. There's not been a glimmer of hope in weeks. I have decided to reduce my dose and come off it. I know there will be symptoms but I have them now in any case. I shall start tomorrow. Best wishes everyone.🙏😊

[HelenR]

1 hour ago, Sonia009 said:

I've been four months now on 0.5 mg Citalopram reinstatement, shortly after taking my dose today my eyes were blurry, I am dizzy again, my balance is off, I feel weak and tired and generally unwell. I think I should have felt better and not worse by now. There's not been a glimmer of hope in weeks. I have decided to reduce my dose and come off it. I know there will be symptoms but I have them now in any case. I shall start tomorrow. Best wishes everyone.🙏😊

@Sonia009 so sorry to read you're still struggling. As you are still not stabilized it's maybe the best thing to start reducing a tiny bit. Well done for getting this far in your journey.

I do wonder if our brains can ever recover completely after years of Ssris. 

I'm doing ok but not as good as I hoped but I do have a lot of other health issues anyway so I never know if it's Ssri damage or just other health problems. Having said that I'm still functioning so I'll have to think that this is as good as it will get.

I'm still stuck at 5mg and I haven't the courage to reduce yet in case I go backwards and I just can't afford to do that. I noticed you do a liquid mix with your tablet. I'm still just cutting a 10mg in half so will have to read up about doing mine in the water mix when I taper as like yourself my doctor doesn't prescribe Ssri in a liquid form.

I hope you have success in your tapering but remember not to reduce too much too soon.

I pop in and out of this forum so will check on you to see how it goes if that's ok. We are all learning from each other's experiences.

Take care and keep fighting the good fight!!

[Sonia009]

21 minutes ago, HelenR said:

@Sonia009 so sorry to read you're still struggling. As you are still not stabilized it's maybe the best thing to start reducing a tiny bit. Well done for getting this far in your journey.

I do wonder if our brains can ever recover completely after years of Ssris. 

I'm doing ok but not as good as I hoped but I do have a lot of other health issues anyway so I never know if it's Ssri damage or just other health problems. Having said that I'm still functioning so I'll have to think that this is as good as it will get.

I'm still stuck at 5mg and I haven't the courage to reduce yet in case I go backwards and I just can't afford to do that. I noticed you do a liquid mix with your tablet. I'm still just cutting a 10mg in half so will have to read up about doing mine in the water mix when I taper as like yourself my doctor doesn't prescribe Ssri in a liquid form.

I hope you have success in your tapering but remember not to reduce too much too soon.

I pop in and out of this forum so will check on you to see how it goes if that's ok. We are all learning from each other's experiences.

Take care and keep fighting the good fight!!

@HelenRHi Helen, good to hear from you. Sorry you are still getting symptoms, can't be easy when you're holding down a job as well. It is confusing to know what is causing what with symptoms unfortunately, it's not always black and white.

I decided I've had enough of waiting for something good to happen, rightly or wrongly I'll start

reducing tomorrow. It won't be easy but I'm pretty much housebound at the moment in any case. I'll keep posting with updates. 

I found diluting easier than cutting and weighing so good luck with that. My scales were never accurate and I found my tablets each had different weights.

It's not easy deciding when to begin reducing again and as you are quite stable on 5 mg, that makes it even harder. I would be tempted to stay on 5 mg rather than go through this again but you will do it the correct way, and not like me cold turkey. I guess you will know when the time is right for that decision. Thank you for your continued support.❤

Hope to speak again soon. Sending best wishes.🙏😊

[BaccatePlayer]

Good luck Sonia! I hope your decision turns out good for you. It came from rational analysis of your situation and not from desperation, so you're playing it wisely. Take care!

[Sonia009]

17 minutes ago, BaccatePlayer said:

Good luck Sonia! I hope your decision turns out good for you. It came from rational analysis of your situation and not from desperation, so you're playing it wisely. Take care!

@BaccatePlayerThanks very much, I hope so too.🙏😊

[Sonia009]

@EmondaI hope you won't mind me tagging you but I read in your reply to Threelittlebirds that you held for five months before recovery. May I ask if you ever felt like your symptoms worsened over this period of were you gradually feeling better? Thank you.

[Emonda]

16 minutes ago, Sonia009 said:

I hope you won't mind me tagging you

 

All good, Sonia009. BTW: Your encouragement of Threelittlebirds was wonderful 👍

 

17 minutes ago, Sonia009 said:

May I ask if you ever felt like your symptoms worsened over this period of were you gradually feeling better?

 

It was a while ago now, but, I do recall windows and waves.

 

I recall some dreadful times, and other times when I had symptoms, but I could go about life as required.

 

I learnt that being consistent and accurate with my dose was vital...I may have been a little casual in my attitude back at the start of my journey.

 

I hope this helps.

 

[Sonia009]

15 minutes ago, Emonda said:

 

All good, Sonia009. BTW: Your encouragement of Threelittlebirds was wonderful 👍

 

 

It was a while ago now, but, I do recall windows and waves.

 

I recall some dreadful times, and other times when I had symptoms, but I could go about life as required.

 

I learnt that being consistent and accurate with my dose was vital...I may have been a little casual in my attitude back at the start of my journey.

 

I hope this helps.

 

@EmondaThank you for replying so quickly. Yes your words have helped a lot. As you know I have been holding for four months but recent weeks seem to be getting worse. Today I ever so carefully reduced my dose. It's difficult using a syringe but where I used to draw up 5 mls, this morning I just went ever so slightly below the 5 ml line. I'll see how it goes and if it goes bad I'll go back to 5 ml. It's just the not knowing whether Citalopram is doing me more harm than good. Sending best wishes to you and all moderators, it can't be easy doing your work whilst still getting symptoms. Thank you.🙏😊

[Sonia009]

Day two since reducing my reinstated 0.5 mg dose ever so slightly. I feel awful, nausea, feeling faint, head just weird, no appetite again. I have been busy this morning cooking, cleaning so that hasn't helped. I think I may have to go back on my previous dose 0.5 mg, I'll see how the rest of the day goes although it's not very encouraging.🙏😊

[HelenR]

7 hours ago, Sonia009 said:

Day two since reducing my reinstated 0.5 mg dose ever so slightly. I feel awful, nausea, feeling faint, head just weird, no appetite again. I have been busy this morning cooking, cleaning so that hasn't helped. I think I may have to go back on my previous dose 0.5 mg, I'll see how the rest of the day goes although it's not very encouraging.🙏😊

@Sonia009 you are really going through a rough time , I feel for you. A worrying factor is how long do you wait to see if reinstatement helps . It's not good to keep going up and down with Ssris but I understand why you decided to taper again as you hadn't stabilized on the dose you were on.  Oh my it's a real conundrum for you. Some people are successful in tapering with little side effects. 

It took me 9 months to get to an even keel on 5mg which at times I could have given up with but I'm glad I stuck at it.  If you decide to go back up again my suggestion would be to hold for a good few weeks as the brain will be all over the place.

Hopefully someone will chip in here as I'm only going by my experience. I'm nowhere near perfect at my dose and today I had a large cleaning job to do and I'm feeling very off balance with a lot of head pressure. Going to get an early night to try and stop the dizziness. 

Wishing you better days soon Sonia.

[Farm24]

On 3/20/2024 at 1:48 PM, Sonia009 said:

Hi, thanks for replying. I had been on 0.5 mg citalopram for around 10/11 weeks but was not feeling any better, worse if anything. That's why I stopped taking it to see if it made a difference. I was doing ok but was dizzy this morning and I panicked. I think I should have stayed off it.. your advice would be much appreciated.@FireflyFyte

Has that heavy feeling gotten any better for you?

[Sonia009]

53 minutes ago, HelenR said:

@Sonia009 you are really going through a rough time , I feel for you. A worrying factor is how long do you wait to see if reinstatement helps . It's not good to keep going up and down with Ssris but I understand why you decided to taper again as you hadn't stabilized on the dose you were on.  Oh my it's a real conundrum for you. Some people are successful in tapering with little side effects. 

It took me 9 months to get to an even keel on 5mg which at times I could have given up with but I'm glad I stuck at it.  If you decide to go back up again my suggestion would be to hold for a good few weeks as the brain will be all over the place.

Hopefully someone will chip in here as I'm only going by my experience. I'm nowhere near perfect at my dose and today I had a large cleaning job to do and I'm feeling very off balance with a lot of head pressure. Going to get an early night to try and stop the dizziness. 

Wishing you better days soon Sonia.

@HelenR Hi Helen, sorry you haven't had a good day, I think you had a busy stressful day and that seems to flare up these horrible symptoms. Hope you have a better day tomorrow.

My daughter called today for lunch so that meant extra work for me, cooking, cleaning etc. It's worth it though because I love seeing her but it does affect my symptoms. I was ok doing all of that, it's when I stopped the dizziness started. It's ok at the moment, I think i'll stick with my new dose, it's hardly anything which is annoying but it's on the way down which is what I want. I think most sensible people only start reducing once they've stabilised on a dose but with me I hadn't stabilised and I always felt unsure whether it was the Citalopram that was actually making me feel worse. Ah well, it's done now.

Thank you for your support, hope you have a peaceful night.🙏😊

[Sonia009]

22 minutes ago, Farm24 said:

Has that heavy feeling gotten any better for you?

@Farm24

 

22 minutes ago, Farm24 said:

Has that heavy feeling gotten any better for you?

@Farm24 Hi, at the moment I don't have a heavy head feeling but I find symptoms just seem to come and go, sometimes new ones crop up like increased tinnitus and sound sensitivity (hearing the toilet flush sounds like Niagara Falls in my left ear) and sometimes old ones come back. I have stiff neck and shoulders today, could all be tension🤔.

[Farm24]

37 minutes ago, Sonia009 said:

@Farm24

 

@Farm24 Hi, at the moment I don't have a heavy head feeling but I find symptoms just seem to come and go, sometimes new ones crop up like increased tinnitus and sound sensitivity (hearing the toilet flush sounds like Niagara Falls in my left ear) and sometimes old ones come back. I have stiff neck and shoulders today, could all be tension🤔.

I get the stiff neck one too. That seems to be coming back less and less.  Of course now that I say that....

[Sonia009]

5 minutes ago, Farm24 said:

I get the stiff neck one too. That seems to be coming back less and less.  Of course now that I say that....

@Farm24  Sounds a bit like me, sometimes I read symptoms others have had and all of a sudden I get it too. Best not to overthink things.😏

 

 

 

[FireflyFyte]

On 4/28/2024 at 8:16 AM, Sonia009 said:

Day two since reducing my reinstated 0.5 mg dose ever so slightly. I feel awful, nausea, feeling faint, head just weird, no appetite again. I have been busy this morning cooking, cleaning so that hasn't helped

 

While it may be difficult, it is important to look at the larger picture of how you are feeling versus focusing too intensely on individual symptoms as you seem to make a lot of changes (stopping your dose, restarting, stopping again, etc.) based on potentially short-lived symptoms.

 

It may be helpful for you to give an overall rating, say 1 - 10, on how you feel each day and then look back to see how you did over a week or more.

[Sonia009]

2 hours ago, FireflyFyte said:

 

While it may be difficult, it is important to look at the larger picture of how you are feeling versus focusing too intensely on individual symptoms as you seem to make a lot of changes (stopping your dose, restarting, stopping again, etc.) based on potentially short-lived symptoms.

 

It may be helpful for you to give an overall rating, say 1 - 10, on how you feel each day and then look back to see how you did over a week or more.

@FireflyFyte Yes, good advice, thank you. Third day at reduced dose. This morning was good, managed to do what I needed to do, the best morning I've had in a long while. Felt tired this afternoon so rested, but overall a better day. 🙏😊

[Sonia009]

This morning I awoke to a husband who'd been awake all night for the fourth night in a row, he's in withdrawal himself but won't talk about it. He has lots of symptoms and he's exhausted. Watching him I could feel my anxiety/panic rising and had all the symptoms that go with it. How can we get well when there is so much stress in our lives.

[BaccatePlayer]

19 minutes ago, Sonia009 said:

This morning I awoke to a husband who'd been awake all night for the fourth night in a row, he's in withdrawal himself but won't talk about it. He has lots of symptoms and he's exhausted. Watching him I could feel my anxiety/panic rising and had all the symptoms that go with it. How can we get well when there is so much stress in our lives.

I'm very sorry for both of you. We can't control events or other people's reactions, so all you can do now is recognize how these events make you feel and accept them. By letting go of such worries, you're doing yourself a favor. Now that you've expressed your feelings, you've overcome one challenge. I hope you can find some time for self-care, like taking a hot bath, listening to a reassuring podcast with a pleasant voice, or taking a short nap. If you feel overwhelmed by carrying it all, remember, you don't need to maintain a tense focus to handle all your responsibilities. Nature doesn't rush, yet everything gets accomplished. Time can completely change moods.

[Sonia009]

10 minutes ago, BaccatePlayer said:

I'm very sorry for both of you. We can't control events or other people's reactions, so all you can do now is recognize how these events make you feel and accept them. By letting go of such worries, you're doing yourself a favor. Now that you've expressed your feelings, you've overcome one challenge. I hope you can find some time for self-care, like taking a hot bath, listening to a reassuring podcast with a pleasant voice, or taking a short nap. If you feel overwhelmed by carrying it all, remember, you don't need to maintain a tense focus to handle all your responsibilities. Nature doesn't rush, yet everything gets accomplished. Time can completely change moods.

@BaccatePlayer How did you get to be so wise? Honestly, your answers are brilliant!

I'm just about to take a shower as it happens, got the cooking underway, feel like crap but hey what's new. Hope you are feeling better today too.🙏😊

[BaccatePlayer]

On 4/30/2024 at 5:23 PM, Sonia009 said:

@BaccatePlayer How did you get to be so wise? Honestly, your answers are brilliant!

I'm just about to take a shower as it happens, got the cooking underway, feel like crap but hey what's new. Hope you are feeling better today too.🙏😊

You're making me blush. I aim to provide you with the highest quality support in hopes that you will feel better. To be honest, I was experiencing a very intense panic that felt like unbearable, never-ending pain. It was getting late, so I just tried to finish my day and fall asleep. This mood persisted throughout the night; I either barely slept or experienced the most shallow sleep, which felt more like closing my eyes and ruminating rather than actually sleeping. I woke up with it still persisting, but somehow, it just stopped suddenly after I started my day. Panic was ready to ignite from the smallest spark, but this should start easing after around a week of consecutive low-stress days. Consistently working on countering neuroemotions, distracting from ruminations, and easing panic is hard and seems to take ages. Our mind makes us believe we need to find a solution in anything but these methods, but it eventually pays off. Wishing you a long-lasting relief.

[Sonia009]

1 hour ago, BaccatePlayer said:

You're making me blush. I aim to provide you with the highest quality support in hopes that you will feel better. To be honest, I was experiencing a very intense panic that felt like unbearable, never-ending pain. It was getting late, so I just tried to finish my day and fall asleep. This mood persisted throughout the night; I either barely slept or experienced the most shallow sleep, which felt more like closing my eyes and ruminating rather than actually sleeping. I woke up with it still persisting, but somehow, it just stopped suddenly after I started my day. Panic was ready to ignite from the smallest spark, but this should start easing after around a week of consecutive low-stress days. Consistently working on countering neuroemotions, distracting from ruminations, and easing panic is hard and seems to take ages. Our mind makes us believe we need to find a solution in anything but these methods, but it eventually pays off. Wishing you a long-lasting relief

@BaccatePlayer You always have the right answers and I'm sure your comments have been a great help to others too.

I've had those weird dreams you speak of, it's like your dreaming but actually still awake. I don't get them anymore thank goodness, I used to think I was losing my mind, hopefully they will pass for you soon enough. Actually, my husband is going through similar at the moment.

I've been watching the Angie Peacock and Dr Mark Horowitz video today where they discussed reinstatement among other things. You've probably seen it, I would provide the link but am unable to on the device I am using. I hadn't realised that Mark held for six months after reinstating and if I'm not mistaken, on another occasion he held for nine months. Angie knew of others who held for eight months, I was very encouraged by it. 

I also watched Dr Claire Weekes video on panic attacks, I love her voice, it's so reassuring. I got her book too, Hope and Help for your Nerves, it always gives me a boost when I'm feeling low.

I'm on holiday next week, not too far away, just an hour by car to a seaside cottage. I'm a bit nervous about going but you never know, it may do some good.

Keep up the good work but don't overdo it.👍

Hope you have a peaceful night tonight. 🙏😊