Katinka: Stopped citalopram after 10 years

[Katinka]

Hello, i am very happy to have found this site. I am from scandinavia and have not found any supportpages in my language. I have made introduction about my history in my profile. Shortly, i reduced medication for 4 months and then stopped. Its been 6 weeks and I am suffering strongly from tinnitus, anxiety, shivering inside, fast hartbeating, small "lightnings" in the head, pressure on the chest and hard sweating especially while asleep.

The hard part here is the not knowing how long these will last. Am I ever going to be happy and normal again. I get psychiatric help on the side, it helps but it is devoststating Wien home and having panic attacks. I have has suicidle thoughts but I know I am not going to do anything bad. I think of my children and try harder. I cry easily and lose my nerves also easily...I am like my teenager, embarrasing.

I would love to hear stories about succeeding and how long did it take. I know we are all indivuals and react differentily.

Today I went for a 2 hour walk with husband. It was nice. Have not been able to do that in weeks because of the short breathe and heartbeats and beeing sick constantly. I got complaints at work for making mistakes and beeing sick to often. It was hard because I could not tell why. Now I worry about my job also and try t be normal at work and not get sick.otherwise I have no job at all...

But weekend was partly ok. I had moments without wd.

Katinka

[AliG]

Hi Katinka.  Welcome.   It sounds like you are in withdrawal.  Reinstating a small  amount of the drug , could help to alleviate the symptoms. Please have a read of these links , and then come back with any questions you might have. No one can say how long this will last , but reinstating  a little will help you to stabilize, and keep functioning in your job and your life. Then you can taper off , slowly using the 10% taper method.

 

What is withdrawal syndrome?

 

Please put your withdrawal history in your signature

 

About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms

 

Ali

[Ali4]

I stopped over one month docs orders after being on ten years as well, I reinstated after 2 weeks of agony and noticed immediate improvement, so I could at least some what function, you may try that as well, the WD syptoms just get worse, but that's just my experience, reinstating is your choice, have a read through the forum, great info and help here, welcome to SA and good luck with everything. Ali.

[Katinka]

Thank you for your answers. I am a bit shocked how the doctors have not warned me about these very strong wd. I have contacted him again (proffs. Psych.) and he was surprised of the sympthoms and said normally they are not that difficult.

I dont want to go back taking antidepressions after suffering for months. Also reducing (you call it tampering off?) has been so difficult. So I have decided to suffer and try to go this through since I started it. If it gets worse i have to reconsider.

 

Katinka

[AliG]

Katinka.  As it's only been 6 weeks , you are in a good place to reinstate, if you so choose. You might want to reconsider , as it can be many months or even years, sometimes of withdrawal symptoms.

You never really know , how it's going to be . After so many years , on the drugs , it could take a lot longer than you think to go through this process.

Have a read of these links , and see what you think .

 

What is withdrawal syndrome?

 

Brain Remodelling

 

Ali

[Fresh]

Hi Katinka , welcome to the site.

If you go to the Relationships section , there's a page for people from Nordic countries to connect and converse in your first language.

 

After 10 years , you are likely to be in for many , many months of bad withdrawal ... AliG can testify to that. Success stories from people who've tapered too fast come literally years down the track.

It's not a matter of being strong enough to endure a month or two of feeling uncomfortable.  It will likely mean you're unable to keep your job and care for your children.  You'll just be too sick.

 

Please read the link on reinstating provided.   We would suggest 1 or 2 mg to start to see if that gives you some symptom relief.

Most people stabilize on less than 5mg a day ( we do not support dosing on alternate days - it just destabilizes the brain further).

 

You may want to consider this over the next week or two as your withdrawal continues to develop.

 

Best wishes ,  Fresh

[KarenB]

Welcome from me too, Katinka.

 

The other have given you good links and advise.  Reinstating is likely to be your best way through this.  There will be lots of support for you here, and you can ask questions whenever you like.  We very much want you to be okay!

 

Of course, it is a lot to get your head around all at once - so much new information and decisions to make.  Just keeping reading through those links, and coming back to this thread to discuss things until you feel you understand it better.  You don't need to go through this alone.

 

Hugs,

Karen

[ChessieCat]

Hi Katinka and welcome to SA,

 

As the others have already said, reinstatement is your best option to reduce your withdrawal symptoms and then once you are stable you can then do a 10% taper of the last dose.  The reason for this is that the drug has changed your brain and it is expecting to keep getting the same amount of the drug.  When we take the drug away quickly the brain has trouble working properly and causes the withdrawal symptoms.   If we reduce the drug a little bit, the brain is able to adapt to not getting as much of the drug during the holding or stabilising period (4-6 weeks) and then we repeat the process and reduce the drug a bit more and the brain can adapt again.

 

If you decide to reinstate the drug you might feel a bit of relief from the withdrawal symptoms within a few hours or 1/2 day.