Sammi: Quitting citalopram

[Sammi]

Hi...

I'm a newbie here and glad to have found this site. My story runs like this: I took citalopram for 10 years and started taking an excellent natural product alongside it when I began weaning off. I started weaning in August 2018, and took my last 2.5mg dose at the beginning of October 2019. The first reduction was 5mg, which was too much, but I persevered with it and eventually stabilized. After that I discovered the book Your Drug May Be Your Problem How and Why to Stop taking Psychiatric Medications by Breggin and Cohen and realized I might have to taper very slowly, so I started shaving off 2.5mg roughly every 6 weeks, sometimes longer, depending on symptoms.

 

Long story short, I did this for the last year and 2 months with very little upheaval, but I quit the drug completely 5 weeks ago. I was only taking 2.5mg and cannot even cut the pills any smaller without them disintegrating to powder...but I seem to be having many of the side effects of withdrawal. Thankfully, the brain zaps, sense of constant pressure on my brain, and severe headaches are all gone, so I can see there is progress....but I just wonder if I ought to be taking a little of the drug...to mitigate my withdrawal symptoms, or if at this point I ought to just persevere...

 

I live in Canada and cannot get liquid citalopram- at least not where I live. I have 20mg pills...what would be the right proportions of water to pill in order to then draw a 1mg. dose of citalopram with a pipette or syringe? I don't know that I will do this, but it might be worth a shot. To date I've been weaning off this drug with few issues. I only had issues when I initially started weaning in Aug. 2018 because I cut back too much; now I am having issues again, also perhaps because I quit too fast and need to wean more slowly still...

 

What is your experience? Thoughts?

 

Thanks so much

Sammi

 

 

 

 

Edited November 14, 2019 by Shep
Added question about water solution for citalopram (Sammi), added username to title (Shep)

[Sammi]

Hi again..

 

I looked over the site a bit...please check my math for me because it's not my strong suit at the best of times, and just want to double check myself...if I were to cut my 20mg citalopram in half, I could take 10mg, dissolve in 20ml of water...this would mean 1mg of citalopram would be present in every 2ml of water....then if I wanted to take a 1mg does of the drug, I just pipette up 2mls of the solution...and down the hatch, correct?

 

Thanks again

Sammi

[Sassenach]

Hello     Sammi    and welcome to SA.

 

This site is run entirely by volunteer Administrators and Moderators, all have been through or going through withdrawal.

There are no commercial interests or influences  involved .

 

I am sorry you are having such a rough time but you are now in the right place.

 

On 11/7/2019 at 5:52 PM, Sammi said:

..if I were to cut my 20mg citalopram in half, I could take 10mg, dissolve in 20ml of water...this would mean 1mg of citalopram would be present in every 2ml of water....then if I wanted to take a 1mg does of the drug, I just pipette up 2mls of the solution...and down the hatch, correct?

Your maths are absolutely fine.

When you half the pill ensure you cut along the line to be sure of accuracy.

You will find that there appears to be undissolved residue. This the binding filler, the active ingredient is dissolved.

Stir well before taking and draw from the centre not top or bottom of the glass.

On 11/7/2019 at 4:35 PM, Sammi said:

but I just wonder if I ought to be taking a little of the drug

In view of your current symptoms it would be a very good idea to reinstate a small dose of the drug.

These drugs are far more powerful than they need to be, so for the moment I would reinstate only one miligram of Citalopram.

There are two potential benefits,

1. You will still have the opportunity to updose to 2mgs if you do not feel an improvement within 7-10 days. It takes the drug this length of time to reach        full state in the body.

2. If the lower dose works you will have less to taper off. I know 1mg difference does not seem much but is 100%

Please see:

about-reinstating-and-stabilizing-to-reduce-withdrawal-symptoms/

the-windows-and-waves-pattern-of-stabilization/

why-taper-by-10-of-my-dosage/

dr-joseph-glenmullens-withdrawal-symptom-checklist/

Please feel free to browse the site, it is a wealth of info.

Other members threads will give you an insight and the opportunity to share experiences.

 

Again welcome.

 

Sassenach

 

[Sammi]

Hi Sassenach...

 

Greetings and thanks from snowy Calgary, Canada to Bonny Scotland! :)

 

Thanks very much for the welcome and the feedback about things.

 

I cannot even tell you how pleased I am to have found this forum. There is a lot of good info here and I'm so thankful to everyone for creating this site and sharing.

 

Kind regards and best in all...

Sammi