beans tapering off celexa

[strawberry17]

Well if there is a reason that's me stuffed, I've been doing this taper for 5 years

[Altostrata]

I think Glenmullen was saying some people are so afraid, they go off slower than they need to. From my perspective -- do whatever works and don't set yourself up for withdrawal symptoms.

[beans]

Just checking in. I'm down 15% from where I started 2 months ago.

 

Surprised at how strong the symptoms are sometimes. Depression and headaches. But it's bareable. My main reaction is change in sleep. I'll take a nap, but it's "fake" sleep. At night I wake up regularly, but can fall back to sleep regularly too.

 

I assume (hope?) that tapering will get easier as I will know & anticipate my reaction to cuts?

 

Wondering if there are foods or activities that make symptoms worse...

[Altostrata]

Hello again, beans. That sounds like maybe you're going too fast, or making cuts that are too big. What is your tapering schedule?

[beans]

I've cut 5% approximately every 3 weeks

 

I usually feel symptoms right after a cut, and then they go away. That's what it seems like, but I'll know more once I get used to this "lifestyle"

[Altostrata]

Is that 5% on your last dosage? Your decreases should be getting smaller in milligrams.

[beans]

Oh, good point. Thanks for your sensitivity to these details.

[beans]

Darn.  I made a second batch, but it separated, I just lost 2 months worth of pills. The only difference was I used only 40 mg pills this time, the first time it was a combination of 20 mg and 40 mg.  Not sure why that would matter.  It never happened with benzo.

 

Going to have to find another way, I can't risk it happening again.

[Skyler]

Darn.  I made a second batch, but it separated, I just lost 2 months worth of pills. The only difference was I used only 40 mg pills this time, the first time it was a combination of 20 mg and 40 mg.  Not sure why that would matter.  It never happened with benzo.

 

Going to have to find another way, I can't risk it happening again.

How much are you trying to mix that you lost 2 months worth of pills?

[beans]

I was just being lazy I guess.  30 x 40mg pills and at the rate that I'm tapering it should have lasted 3 months in the refrigerator.  It worked the first time.  And all through the benzo taper.

 

bummer

[Skyler]

I was just being lazy I guess.  30 x 40mg pills and at the rate that I'm tapering it should have lasted 3 months in the refrigerator.  It worked the first time.  And all through the benzo taper.

 

bummer

In the refrigerator.. you were mixing 3 months in advance and refrigerating?  I use water as a diluent for lyrica and Alto only recommends keeping the mixture no more than 3 days... (I was keeping my mixture for 5 days and caused myself considerable grief).

[beans]

 

I was just being lazy I guess.  30 x 40mg pills and at the rate that I'm tapering it should have lasted 3 months in the refrigerator.  It worked the first time.  And all through the benzo taper.

 

bummer

In the refrigerator.. you were mixing 3 months in advance and refrigerating?  I use water as a diluent for lyrica and Alto only recommends keeping the mixture no more than 3 days... (I was keeping my mixture for 5 days and caused myself considerable grief).

 

Hi Skyler,

 

Yes, I use Ora-plus, and generally make 1 batch per month, although compounding pharmacists have told me that it should last even longer.  Soooo much better than water because it is a suspension fluid - meaning the medication stays EVENLY distributed throughout the liquid.  In water, most of these substances fall or spin to the center - you've got to be super fast to get a dose. Fat holds medication better, like milk but I don't drink milk.  So, I found Ora-plus as a natural enough suspension.It's how, or similar to how, pharmacists create liquid medication. 

 

I love it for the ease of use. I only do calculations once a month, not every day.

 

However, this batch separated immediately. Never happened in the 2 years I've been doing this.    The pharmacists I asked said it just happens sometimes.  It must have something to do with the brand (?) of citalopram I'm using. 

 

Guess I'll have to try water until I figure this out. 

[beans]

Finally quit coffee.  again....  but more serious this time.

Just feeling so anxious and unpredictable, why not 'control the things I can' and quit coffee and sugar?  I wasn't taking my mood swings seriously until I lost my temper (inside at least) with a sales person. I was walking around like a ticking time bomb unaware of how my mood was affecting everyone around me. (clich'e but true)  Final straw was fighting with my boyfriend - enough.  I need to chill out.

 

I felt calmer and much better from the first day off coffee, even with the headaches.

 

The opposite swing is depression, but luckily I am not in the grips of it, just a lingering 'invitation' to wallow in despair.  Happily, thankfully, I've been able to choose not to accept for now. Maybe the scare is giving me energy to make more positive changes.

[beans]

I'd appreciate suggestions on benefits of updosing versus holding the same dose.  The irritability is more than I've ever experienced.  Unbearable really.  Will it go away on it's own, or do I NEED to stabilize at a higher dose first?

 

I'm taking 3.5 mg now.  down from 20

 

any advice is appreciated

 

[Altostrata]

What drug are you talking about?

[Petunia]

Hi Beans,

I merged your topic in tapering with your introduction thread because your question about irritability and withdrawal is part of your own withdrawal process and better understood in context.  It looks like you may have been decreasing too fast.

 

How long have you been feeling increased irritability?

 

Petu.

[beans]

Thanks Petu,

 

I think I've been feeling this way for at least a month.  But it seems just get worse with time even though I've been holding at the same dose for a couple weeks.

 

It is definitley possible that I've been decreasing too fast.  Since I tapered off clonazepam first, over a two year period, I was used to certain reactions to my reductions.  I never reduced by schedule, but instead by feeling. And since I didn't get the same reactions with celexa, I kept reducing?  Again, just going by feeling.

 

So wondering now: is it best to go up to a much higher amount? to go up a bit at a time until symptoms abate? or hold as is?

[Petunia]

It looks like your increased irritability began shortly after you reduced from 12mg to 4mg  on 11/28, which was more than a 50% cut.  But you wrote that you have been feeling that way for more than a month.  Did this begin before or after you made that last big cut?

 

We recommend cuts of no more than 10% of the current dose.

 

Then, about 2 weeks later, you made another reduction of .5 mg, even though your irritability was increasing.

 

Did you hold at 12mg for about 4 months and then drop to 4mg suddenly at the end of November? I'm getting this information from your signature, so please correct me if I'm wrong.  Also, the last date you have as 12/12/12, rather than 13 for the year, but I'm figuring that's a typo.

 

If this is correct, then its quite possible  that what you are experiencing is a withdrawal symptom from the drop from 12mg to 4mg at the end of last month, and an updose may help.   But you wrote that you have been feeling more irritable for more than a month.

 

If this is the only symptom which is bothering you, I think its important to work out if this started before you made the cut from 12mg - 4mg, or after.

 

Keeping daily notes on dosage and symptoms can help to keep track of how things are effecting us as we taper.

 

Are you still avoiding caffeine?

 

I'm reluctant to suggest anything until you can clarify that I have these details right.  But it is looking like you would benefit from an updose, close to where you were last stable at 12mg.

[beans]

Hi Petu,

Sorry I wasn't clear.

That large jump was actually 50-ish small cuts in a 4 month period.

 

See, since I taper using liquid, I can make very small daily decreases.

Not saying that's the wisest, but that worked for benzo, so I used that method

since I started tapering Celexa in February.

 

Once I started feeling irritable, I stopped tapering completely and have held steady. 

 

 

This is a new symptom I've never had before in 3 years of tapering.

 

I notice I do feel much worse after I've over-eaten.

I'm sure it would also be better if I avoided chocolate and caffeine better.

[Petunia]

Hi Beans,

It sounds like you may have been tapering too fast, here are our tips for tapering off celexa:

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/2023-tips-for-tapering-off-celexa-citalopram/?hl=celexa

 

If you feel better when you avoid caffeine and chocolate, perhaps it would be good to give those up for a while, I am the same and can no longer have caffeine, it increases anxiety for me.

 

You could reinstate a little, back up to the dose you were at before the irritability started, or just continue to hold, two weeks really isn't a long time, sometimes people find they need to hold for several months as part of a taper when symptoms persist.

 

Please let us know what you decide to do and I hope you feel better soon.

 

Petu.

[Altostrata]

beans, it sounds like you went too fast with the micro-taper. Even micro-taperers have to hold sometimes.

 

As Petu so perspicaciously put it, you might updose very slightly, perhaps back to 4mg, or hold for a good long while.

[beans]

Thanks for answering my question Petu.

If it's just the same to hold as updose, I'll hold for another month or so then decide.

 

just saw your response Altostrata.

Okay, I'll go a bit up and hold a month and see how things are.

 

thanks!