0wen: Hello! Citalopram

[0wen]

Hello!  I'm glad I found this site as it has provided me with an excellent amount of information to use when[ever] the tapering process will start.

 

I'm new to SSRI's [3 months on 10mg Citalopram].  I started taking it because my anxiety escalated from an auto accident [I turned a bit too sharp and ran over a center divider].  The anxieties [mainly work related] I had which prompted me to see the doctor were resolved within the 1st couple of weeks.  However, other core anxieties I had prior to taking the med weren't being controlled very well - which at this point I'm not sure if it was the med or that my brain needed time to re calibrate it's response to anxiety.

 

3 months into taking the med, I can say that my core anxieties are under control again [reading the Dare Response was an immense help with this].

 

The only anxieties I have now are directly related to the side effects of the med - slight dizzy spells, light headed, and something that appeared at about the 2 month mark - elevated Tinnitus.  I'm not sure if it's because of the med, because of where I work [elevated high pitched noises] or both [the med has increased my sensitivity to high pitched sounds.]  It's so far an annoyance that I only noticed when it's quiet..but I fear it may now be permanent if I take the drug for too long [and this is a huge motivator to stop taking the med!]

 

I take my med ~2am every night [end of work shift] and recently decided to test the tapering waters by lowering the dose from 10mg to 8.7mg.   I want to see if I can handle anxiety at a lower dose which hopefully would have reduced side effects [random slight dizzy/light headed feeling].   When waking up the next day after the dose decrease, I immediately noticed the change - all over body agitation, random slight headache during the day, and feeling "off" [where you know something isn't right].  The positive - my anxiety didn't spike  .  I went back to 10mg the next night and everything was back to normal.   2 days after the drop to 8.7mg, dizzy/light head slightly increased, really bad diarrhea, slight nausea, and a weird "feeling" in my head appeared for about 30 minutes. 

 

I haven't started the taper process yet - but I am thinking about going to see him to start tapering process specifically for the Tinnitus issue [and that I'm confident I can control the anxiety now].  Until then - just wanted to introduce myself and say hello.  

 

 

[baroquep]

Hi Owen,

 

Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants, I'm really glad that you found the site and have been doing a lot of reading.  Unfortunately antidepressants do have a long list of side-effects some of which you have already had the misfortune to discover.  It looks like you haven't been taking antidepressants for very long and feel that you will have every success in tapering off of Citalopram safely with minimal discomfort.  That you have already experienced a panic attack and chest tightness tells me that you are quite sensitive to the effects of this drug.  At this time it would be difficult to say with any certainty whether you are still experiencing start-up difficulties or if your central nervous system is so sensitized to the effects of Citalopram that you are susceptible to developing withdrawal syndrome if you aren't careful tapering.  It's always best to err on the side of caution as so much is unknown about how these drugs affect the central nervous system.   

 

Personally I think it is always better to try and deal with your anxiety using non-drug techniques to cope rather than becoming dependant on an antidepressant.  Long-term use of antidepressants generally does more harm than good and users have found that they become physiologically dependant on these drug and oftentimes the resulting problems are far worse than the issues that many started taking the drugs to treat.  If I were in your shoes now, I would seriously consider finding a good psychologist/therapist experienced in dealing with anxiety to help you work through and teach you techniques to help you to manage using a more holistic approach.  You may very well save yourself from the grief that many of the people on this site are dealing with today. 

 

In case you haven't already discovered, Surviving Antidepressants recommends that a person taper by no more than 10% of their current dose with at least a four week hold in-between decreases.  The 10% taper recommendation is a harm reduction approach to going off psychiatric drugs.  Some people may have to taper at a more conservative rate as they are sensitive to even the smallest drops.  I noticed that you tried tapering slightly more than 10% on September 30, with bad effect and this might suggest that you may have to reduce at a more conservative rate.  
  

To get you started, and familiarized with the protocols followed by SA, I am linking a few topics so that you have a better understanding of what is recommended here. 

 

What is Withdrawal Syndrome?

Before you begin tapering what you need to know
Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

Tips for Tapering off Celexa / Citalopram

  

[0wen]

Update - Tinnitus seems to be getting worse at times [louder when I feel stressed] so I went and saw my GP today.   He really didn't show too much interest about my Tinnitus complaint.  He is a GP so I should [literally] walk across the hall and schedule an appointment with an ENT instead  .   He's always had a hands off approach whenever I've seen him and seems to rely upon data to make decisions [I passed my physical because nothing abnormal was found in my [blood] lab results and nobody in my family has had Prostate Cancer].

 

I told him that nearly all of the situations that use to cause anxiety have been resolved.  The only remaining issues lately are whenever I have to go into work for our weekly meetings on Wednesdays or if my boss wants to chat.  There should be absolutely ZERO reason for me to have heightened anxiety as we basically just sit and listen during the meeting and my boss never says anything bad about my work performance].   When anxiety hits now - it's mainly limited to a light head feeling with only one instance of where I felt like I was going to pass out.

 

At this point, he asked what I would like to do as he had a long list of options [other drugs to try].  I mentioned the night before I originally saw him back in August that I thought Buspirone would have been a better choice.  He said - ok, we can try that.  Since your on a low dose of Citalopram [10mg] you can stop the med tonight and start on very low dose [5mg] of Buspirone.. which I'm pretty sure I gave him a "Are you insane?" look [very much appreciated for the information on this website!!].  I went ahead and accepted the prescript for Buspirone but don't think I will try it as Citalopram and Buspirone reportedly don''t play well together [plus the boat right now is steady and calm!] for people who are sensitive to meds of this type.  

 

He did also prescribe me a small quantity of 0.25mg alprazolam as I wanted to have something "just in case" as I hadn't flown since my anxiety spiked ~5 months ago.  Really interesting as he asked me how much I wanted... 

 

I did get the Ok to start tapering off the Citalopram [10% or lower - again much appreciated for this website].  So I can begin the process of very slowly tapering by starting with 5% reduction this time around.

[0wen]

It appears I experienced withdrawals with a 3% reduction.  

 

I use a scale that measures down to 0.001g.  I reduced the dose from 10mg to 9.7mg by sandpapering enough off the side of the pill until it's ~9.7mg.

 

Dec 11 About 15 hours after taking 9.7mg, a light headache started [which lasted the rest of the night]  and a 1 time dizzy spell [after standing up] that felt like I was going to pass out - I'd never experienced that type of feeling before]. Last time I had a slight headache all day was when I tried 8.7mg.

 

Dec 12 -About 4 hours after taking 9.7mg, I woke up with night sweats, paresthesia, insomnia, constipation/diarrhea  - all of which I experienced the 1st couple of days when I started taking the med.

 

Is it possible scraping off the coating could affect the rate at which the med dissolves?  Or am I really that sensitive to any dosage reductions below 10mg?