Search the Community

Hello friends, I need help. I reduced my dose of citalopram during my taper in January and quickly increased three days later due to physical withdrawal symptoms. I have been holding now since then, and things have improved a lot, but still having sporadic side effects, such as headaches, a little brain, zap here and there every few days, louder Tinnitus, some headaches, insomnia. I have two questions. One, what are your thoughts as a community regarding Mark Horowitz Receptor Occupancy taper strategy? Does anybody have any advice if that strategy is better than the other protocols regarding percentage? I still have not seen pharmacist to under how to read the mg reductions on a syringe 😞 I do not have a psychiatrist who is helping me with this. I can’t find a Doctor Who knows zilch about the tapering and withdrawal issues. Second question, is it OK to continue tapering after over 6 weeks even though I’m still having some mild withdrawal symptoms? I want to add that I wanted to get off this medication as soon as possible because I do believe it is the reason I am having some medical problems. thanks for anybody who might have some insight and can give me advice. KC

Hello, I am very grateful to have found this website and the large amount of knowledge which I have been busy reading and learning but I still have many questions. Some background information; I was prescribed citalopram at a dose of 20 mg in 2020 for an adverse reaction to a medication which was misdiagnosed as depression. Soon after I started citalopram I developed what I think was hypomania but this was not linked to the medication and I lived my life spending too much, very impulsive and hyperactive for several years destroying my relationships in the process. I also gained weight and had various physical symptoms e.g. my stomach. Citalopram had no benefit on my mental health and in fact it made me feel worse. It actually seemed that the longer I stayed on citalopram the worse I became. All of these problems were blamed on a mental illness or medical disorder. At one point the dose of citalopram was doubled from 20 mg to 40 mg but after a week or so I became so emotionally disturbed the doctor had to lower it back to 20 mg. In November 2023 I joined the dots, I realised I needed to take action. Long story short I was given a very quick taper over about a week which I could not tolerate. I became acutely paranoid and dangerously agitated and suicidal with strong urges to destroy property and much more. So I saw my psychiatrist as an emergency and he reinstated me on citalopram again for me to taper off. I reinstated to 10 mg which made all of my withdrawal symptoms go away within a matter of hours. Unfortunately at this dose my baseline side effects before withdrawal of feeling hypomanic and extreme compulsive spending came back so I was soon forced to lower the dose to find a happy medium between side effects and withdrawal symptoms. I lowered the dose to where I felt most stable and this dose is 5 mg. In the middle of December I made a bad decision — as I was not fully stable on 5 mg per day (in two divided doses) — and tried reducing my dose to 3.75 mg citalopram but I developed very strong anxiety and after 10 days I was hit by acute severe depression which forced me to increase my dose in small steps to 7.5 mg citalopram around the start of January for 6 weeks to stabilise. I realise with hindsight I was not ready to reduce my dose to 3.75 mg as I still was very irritable, grumpy and had not stabilised. Unfortunately, I was forced a few weeks ago to reduce back to 5 mg due to hypomanic symptoms of feeling high and spending money uncontrollably on 7.5 mg. I have read on this website that after a big reduction in dose or reinstatement it is best to wait perhaps several months to stabilise as much as possible before reducing. I am thinking of waiting another couple of months (or longer?) and then spend 6 months or even longer (listening to my body) to wean off the final 5 mg of citalopram. I am thinking of taking about a year in total (I started my process of reducing, albeit rapidly, in October 2023) to come off citalopram completely but keeping the option of being flexible based on how I respond to reductions — does this sound sensible? I take it twice a day (2.5 mg morning and 2.5 mg at night) as I found I am more sensitive on the lower doses to the drug wearing off. I do feel I am slowly stabilising as time goes on but still have periods of increased anxiety at least once per day, I am eating and sleeping better although a few days ago my appetite and sleep was not good for a couple of days which makes me worry I am going to experienced delayed withdrawal symptoms, hopefully just a bad couple of days. My new psychiatrist supports my decision to come off antidepressants and is allowing me to reduce very slowly at my own rate. She feels antidepressants are unlikely to benefit me as I do not have evidence of major depressive disorder. If I do get hit with delayed withdrawal that is severe I am wondering if I should do a small up dose like by 1.25 mg (an 1/8th of a 10 mg tablet) or even 0.6125 mg (a 1/16 of a 10 mg tablet)? I am still quite worried of any delayed withdrawal symptoms emerging as my brain chemistry tries to sort itself out. I am also concerned about protracted withdrawal symptoms. I am not an expert and I would warmly welcome any advice or constructive criticism of my ideas from this community of volunteers. In addition to my question in the above paragraph I guess my questions are: given the large dose reduction, how long should I stay at this dose before making very small 0.625 mg reductions? Is there any advice that can be given? I have been on 5 mg or lower since November (apart from the up dose to 7.5 mg through most of January and to the middle of Feb. 2024) and I am finally starting to stabilise after dropping back to 5 mg. Although my anxiety is at times worse I am actually doing much better than when I was on 20 mg in many other ways. I am caught between a rock and a hard place. Another question is the rate of reduction. I was thinking I should wait another 10 weeks before considering any further small reductions and then making less than 1 mg reduction every 4 to 6 weeks? Thank you for considering all of this, Jonathan

I hope you are well. I am on Escitalopram 10mg reduced overnight from 20mg. After being on this specific medication for 7 months and having been on Citalopram from the age of 22. Meaning I have been on an SSRI for 22 years. Last year after my breakdown in April (I’m actually thinking it might have been my medication stopping working that caused all this) I was put on Venlafaxine immediately without any tapering off citalopram for 2 weeks (Actually wanted to commit suicide due to that drugs side effects) I was then put on Sertraline without any tapering off Venlafaxine. That caused incredibly unpleasant side effects. In August without tapering again I was put on Escitalopram 10mg then two months later upped to 20mg to “give it a go” by psychiatrists. Not one of these medications have worked and have made me worse. Come more recently I suggested I wanted to wean off Escitalopram because I felt constantly in fight or flight. That was about a month ago. I was then prescribed buspirone 5mg x 3 a day and had my Escitalopram reduced to 10mg overnight, no tapering. A week into that regime I stopped Buspirone of my own accord and am currently on just the 10mg of Escitalopram that hadn’t been working in the first place. I actually think I’ve been withdrawing from all the antidepressants since April in some peculiar way. Since I first started antidepressants in 2002 I haven’t once had a doctor review my medication, not once have they asked me about coming off, the only time things changed is to up my medication or “give another” on a go. Today I have chronic muscle twitches, that don’t stop. My mind is clearer bizarrely and less brain fog but my physical symptoms are another matter, I’m aching considerably, I wake up shaking in the morning, and the cold makes my body shiver uncontrollably. The muscle twitches in my legs are 24 hours a day every minute. I try to go to the gym but it’s hard as my calves cramp. I have contacted a nutritionist as I’ve had dozens of blood tests thinking something must be out of sync, deficient. I’m on a good diet plan of protein and high fibre. And supplements. I currently don't know where to turn or what to do, as I am now on 10mg Escitalopram only, I don't know whether to go up gradually to try and resolve these physical constant muscle spasms/twitches even though the medication itself offered me no relief from anxiety/depression etc and actually made me 100 times worse, or to taper down. Either way I'm stuck. My body is a mess, that was once absolutely fine, it's now all over the place. Something that’s keeping me going is knowing someone is highlighting the daily struggle of these drugs and the complete disregard for the patients that are prescribed them. I hope this email reaches you all in good health.

2012-2023: 10 mg and 20 mg Citalopram. Had tried to get off, but felt weird below 10 mg every time. Then saw a YouTube video about hyperbolic taper and decided to do that. June 2023 - January 2024: 20 - 10 - 7,5 - 5 - 2,5 - 1,25 mg at random intervals. That's not good. Because I am an idiot who can't do math. 🤦 At first it was fine, finally I got below 10 mg. I didn't realise that I became more and more depressed and anxious. January 16th: Severe symptoms, almost incapable of eating, breakthrough anxiety. I had never dealt with anxiety (although in hindsight I can see that it has been increasing since the start of the pandemic, and) and didn't recognise it as such. Several visits to the doctor to figure out the stomach issue. From January 18th: Total insomnia due to nerve twitches/pangs and muscle jerks. January 22nd: Stilnoct 10 mg, then 31st: Zolpiclone 7,5 mg. Took and still tale every night, getting 4-5 hours of KO/"sleep". Because the constant nerve pangs otherwise kept me completely awake, no sleep. January 27th: Finally(!) realised Citalopram symptoms might be the cause. Reinstated 2,5 - 5 - 10 - 20 mg over the course of the next three weeks. Got Quetiapine/Seroquel, and tried for a few days. But it didn't work for the nerve pangs at all, so still awake. And very doozy for most of the day too. So stopped them after 3 days Update March 2nd: Brain zaps gone, full body chills gone. Speedily learned to accept and defuse some of the anxiety symptoms, which made them go away. But having bad sleep anxiety. The 4-5 hours of "chemical sleep" on Zolpiclone keeps me - minimally - functional. Can't work, bare mimimum home chores. This late night/morning I actually didn't have nerve pangs, but in stead was extremely restless in bed. I can't decide if it is better or worse. I decide that it is better. The nerve pangs are worse. Doctors have absolutely no suggestions for what I could get for the nerve pangs instead of Zolpiclone other than this or that sedating meds. I don't need sleeping pills, I can fall asleep just fine. It is the nerve pangs that keep me awake, like being pricked with a needle randomly all over the body. Oh, and bought a precise weight for weighing meds.

Tapering off 10mg Citalopram

Posting on behalf of my partner who I am caring for through withdrawal and tapering. He is not in a good place to be on the internet much currently but we have questions and still need support, so I am posting for him (hope that's okay). Anytime I say "we", I am referring to my partner and I as we've discussed and strategized together. Longer-form version of his drug history: 2008-2012: Fluoxetine for 4 years during high school Doesn't remember exact dose but likely 10mg Had a really easy time discontinuing in 2012 when he wanted to stop taking it. Doesn't remember if he stopped cold turkey or did any kind of taper at the time 2016: Fluoxetine 20mg for a few months, around age 21 Remember it being easy to start without bad symptoms from updosing Was experiencing sexual side effects and stopped cold turkey Remembers it being "medium" difficult to stop. Mostly some increased depression for a period after stopping, but nothing close to what he is going through right now with citalopram 2018-2020: Began citalopram 20mg for depression and anxiety after difficult life events. Wanted to avoid fluoxetine due to sexual side effects Severe depression as side effect from updosing when originally starting. Remembers it being about a month of the worst depression he had ever felt up to that point, worse than the depression that led him to take it in the first place. Then was at 20mg for a few years after stabilizing Jan - Mar 2020: Was feeling happy, wanted to discontinue citalopram. Psychiatrist said the 20mg dose was so low that he could just stop cold turkey, but that he could do a few cut and holds if he wanted to be extra cautious. After cutting to 15mg, was feeling agitated for months Mar 2020 - Jul 2023: Decided to reinstate the 20mg citalopram and micro-taper Got liquid form of citalopram and tapered from 20mg -> 5mg over a few years, with some holds along the way Mar 2023: Began feeling regularly agitated. This was around the time of an injury and some other difficult life circumstances that challenged his mental health routine, so he thought maybe he needed a higher dose. Bumped up to citalopram 7mg all at once Jul 2023: Was still feeling regularly agitated. (In retrospect, we're pretty confident the agitation beginning in mar 2023 was poop-out) Bumped up to citalopram 10mg all at once This bump up was severely destabilizing. Began experiencing panic attacks, chest pain, and higher anxiety (had never had panic attacks or chest pain from anxiety before in his life, so these were brand new as a result of the updose). Started taking hydroxyzine 25mg or 12.5mg regularly as needed to manage the heightened anxiety, and propranolol 10mg or 5mg very occasionally as needed to prevent/manage panic attacks Determined the citalopram had probably been pooping out before bumping up. Made a plan with psychiatrist to switch to fluoxetine in the short-term to get off the citalopram, and then eventually taper off the fluoxetine since he had gentler reactions to fluoxetine in the past when starting & stopping Plan was to make the switch in January 2024 - this was due to some planned life events that made it inconvenient to switch sooner, and because the poop-out symptoms seemed somewhat manageable in the short term Around November-December, the poop-out symptoms were worsening again and we determined he needed to make the switch sooner Psychiatrist was concerned about serotonin syndrome and did not want him to take fluoxetine and citalopram simultaneously. Instead they wanted him to do a clean switch, taking 10mg citalopram one day and then fully switching over to 10mg fluoxetine the next day (with 0 citalopram from that point on) Dec 21 - 25 2023: Began the "clean switch" Began feeling some moderate withdrawal symptoms after a couple of days By Dec 25 the withdrawal became severe, both physically and mentally. During a peak wave of uncontrollable shivers, headache, nausea, chest pain, insomnia, severe anxiety and depression we decided to reinstate 2mg citalopram. Within an hour of reinstating the worst of the physical symptoms had significantly lessened - especially the shivers, headache, and nausea. The anxiety and depression also lessened. Dec 26 2023 - present: Have been taking 2mg citalopram (1mg morning and 1mg nighttime), 10mg fluoxetine Taking 25mg or 12.5mg hydroxyzine as needed, generally totaling about 37.5-75mg daily depending on the day Also taking 0.125-0.5mg lorazepam occasionally as needed, not every day. Has been about a few days per week. From Dec 26-Jan 2, it seemed like things were improving. We starting tracking FINISH a few times a day and he was doing better than he had been at the peak waves before we reinstated the citalopram. But since January, most of the withdrawal symptoms have plateaued. The physical symptoms have improved a lot: headache and nausea are almost nonexistant now, and dizziness has steadied at a low-medium level. But ever since those lessened, he has been having more insomnia, and constant and severe anxiety daily, accompanied with chest pain and stomach pain, and occasionally a more severe bout of panic. This has also begun being accompanied with increasing depression, often at the same time as waves of panic or severe anxiety. The depression is increasing day by day from the despair and exhaustion from the prolonged physical and mental pain with no improvement on any of the withdrawal over the last two weeks. For the first time in his life, this has brought on questions of his will to keep on trying during his worst waves. He is running out of steam and feeling very scared and demoralized. Our immediate goal: We want to try to get him stable on 2mg citalopram in the short-to-medium term (from there, we will begin a very slow micro-taper from the citalopram, but for now we are just struggling to stabilize). This is complicated by the fact that the citalopram has been pooping out since Mar 2023, which may also be contributing to the plateau in any improvement on the withdrawal symptoms. We're trying to use strategies other than drugs as much as we can. We are both taking medical leave. We're being strict about our bedtime routine, eating extremely healthy with tons of fruits and veggies daily and little-to-no processed foods, getting out for two walks outside daily, meditating 1-2 times daily, doing yoga at home, avoiding stressful or over-stimulating activities. We are visiting his family until things improve, for extra help with care and morale. These things are making a difference, but even with them we are in the current state. We don't want to increase the citalopram any more, (a) because he seems to have a severe kindling effect from any dose changes to citalopram and (b) because it's pooping out so updosing may not do much to help anyways, even in the short-term He would like to increase his fluoxetine dose to 20mg to help stabilize, provide some relief on the sooner side for the anxiety and depression, and hopefully continue to help with some symptom relief when he eventually tapers off of citalopram. We know that he's had a gentler reaction to fluoxetine starting & stopping in the past, which we feel makes it an okay strategy for him to use as an intermediate step. We're also hoping increasing the fluoxetine can allow us to eliminate the lorazepam sooner - although he isn't taking it daily, we know it is highly habit-forming and would like to remove it before anything else. But in his current state, it's the only thing that has been able to get him through his worst waves. Our primary question-area for now (we'll probably have more later): We're trying to figure out how to updose the fluoxetine, assuming that we do. What we're considering: All-at-once updose to 20mg pros: get it over with; less time spent going through any updosing effects after getting past updosing effects, will get to any relief it provides sooner cons: could be very destabilizing updose very slowly, basically a micro-increase pros: likely less destabilizing if it ends up providing some therapeutic effect at a dose lower than 20, he could stop there at a lower dose cons: if there are still some negative effects to updosing, those would be drawn out over a long period of time likely will take longer to get a therapeutic effect from the drug to get relief from the citalopram withdrawal/poop-out. in the meantime, his anxiety and depression is already severe and worsening day by day rather than improving middle ground?? target 20mg, but updose over a few weeks by 0.5mg/day or similar pros: maybe still less destabilizing than the all at once updose? still get to some therapeutic effect sooner than the micro-increase version cons: could still end up being destabilizing, and then just prolong the destabilized period Questions: In your experience, does kindling tend to be specific per drug, or have you tended to find that when somebody develops a kindling reaction to one drug, they also begin to have kindling reactions to other psychiatric drugs including those that they haven't had severe reactions to in the past? We have read the reinstatement advice which says that increasing a dose after reinstatement should be extremely cautious and slow due to the likely kindling effect. But are there any general patterns or learnings around how best to increase dosage of a medicine in general, when not referring to a drug that you're already hypersensitive to? Any other advice on stabilizing for his particular situation?

Short Story After 6 months of being on 3 SSRIs and 1 SNRI, tapered from Pristiq for 1 week by cutting 50 mg pill in half. After being stuck in hypomanic like anxiety state for 6 months since i got off, seeking help on next move - small dosage reinstatement, go along with bispurone suggestion from doc, or other? I recognize reinstatement after such long time is contentious. Current Symptoms Anxiety (maybe hypomanic?), switching from distractibility to hyperfocus, brainfog, difficulty organizing thoughts, planning, lack of drive, motivation and sex drive. In the 6 months since i am off meds I had under a 7 days (total) where i felt present, calm, w/ reset nervous system - after a rare moment i was tired enough to nap. The rest of the time I was in an agitated, restlessness nervous state with distorted perception of time (highly accelerated). The higher stress, excitement, or other trigger like intense work session, the stronger the symptoms, which without significant rest, can lead to greater distress and extreme brain fog. Long Story I'm in my early 40s. My depression flared up after end of a long-term relationship. Pandemic isolation happened shortly after. The immense stressors during this period caused bad anxiety. I asked for anxiety meds but scored high for depression so I agreed to anti-depressants. Cycled through celexa, lexapro, zoloft and ending with pristiq; all helped anxiety with mixed sideffects, such as removed drive and motivation, which specifically remained after the meds. My pristiq taper - was told to half my 50 mg dose for a week and get off. I was not dissuaded from my suggestion of cutting my 50mg pill in half - i now know that was bad. In weeks and months since (total 6 months now), I am unable to sustain cognitive performance w/o causing aroused state from which i find almost impossible to return from. In fact a lot symptoms and triggers to a varying degree, except for the risky behavior, look like hypomania. It started during the weeks after taper, with a hyper arousal, over-productive brain. I never experienced something like that before and no bipolar history in me and family. Psychiatrist's response is that its likely anxiety. Strange, as I never got so anxious I could not calm down before from stimuli of social night out with friends, working with a coworker, from an angry conversation, or even intense workout session. In the early months of withdrawal, any sort of excitement/stress lead to insomnia, short term memory loss, or even disorientation in navigation (new to me) and I'm frightened to see time and my life passing so fast. I'm unable to perform at any decent rate at work (work as engineer) so much I'm considering quitting or taking sabbatical if they'd allow me. I seem to have lost whatever drive i still had left before i got on the drugs. Sleep stabilized in last 2 months. Most recently once or twice, I reached tired state and got a nap (common in the before-times). This caused me to finally leave my 'hypomania'/hightened anxiety state, felt present, 'reset' back to normal and thought creatively, calmly for rest of day. Since i left the drugs 6 months ago though, I didn't experience more than 5-6 (individual) days like that. Question I don't know if this is hypomania or just a level of anxiety i haven't experienced or heard of before. I read that although people may get hypomania when getting on these drugs or upping the dosage, in rarer cases its possible to get it when stopping. Given the slow rate of improvement, distress, mental performance at work, and inability to consistently get off feeling anxious state or slow down perception of time (despite doing supplementation, meditation, regular exercise), I'm debating either to go on anti-anxiety med like bispurone psychiatrist suggested, or try small dosage reinstatement to abate some symptoms. Highly appreciate any suggestions, comments. Thank you

Hello all, glad I was able to find this forum. I have been on citalopram for about 3-4 years now for anxiety (20 mg) and for a number of reasons have wanted to stop. About a month ago I tapered to 10 mg doses, and now for the past 3 weeks I have not taken any at all. The first 2 weeks were quite rough - had all the brain zaps, lots of muscle stiffness, very fatigued, mood swings, severe anxiety and hyper awareness of sensations in my body. Now that some of those have passed, I am still struggling with a few things and wanted to find if anyone has had similar feelings. This past week I'm finding that anytime I walk somewhere or walk upstairs that my heart beats much faster than normal and I'm also noticing more palpitations and such and it's making me scared to exercise again. Of course I am waiting for a doctor's appointment as well but would like to hear if anyone else has experienced similar heart rate "issues" after withdrawing from an SSRI too. Thanks in advance, this seems like a fantastic community

Hi, I wondered if I could get some advice as to whether reinstatement might be wise in my situation. I stopped taking 20mg Citalopram around the end of October 2023, following quite a quick and seemingly unadvisable taper (I believe full details should be in my signature - apologies I'm not totally sure on exact dates). Initially, things felt okay - I noticed some withdrawal symptoms during the taper (e.g. depersonalisation, vertigo, brain zaps), but thought this was to be expected so continued. In terms of mental symptoms, I was struggling a lot prior to and following the withdrawal, however at the time I thought this was related to an emotionally abusive relationship that I had come out of in July. Looking back, my difficulties did get a lot worse after coming off my medication thought - at the time I thought I was experiencing symptoms of PTSD (e.g. intrusive thoughts, intense anger, 'flashbacks' of sorts, obsessive behaviour). Luckily I started therapy, and my difficulties surrounding this seemed to have improved. However, I've noticed ongoing difficulties - intrusive and obsessive thoughts, feelings of hopelessness/loneliness, rapid mood swings, anger, brain fog, inability to focus on tasks for long, feeling very disconnected and trapped in my own mind, difficulties sleeping (sometimes jolting awake frequently in the night, over night struggling to sleep and waking early). Over the last few weeks, I also seem to be experiencing some sexual difficulties - but I'm not sure if these are perhaps partly due to my obsessive thinking and anxiety, as they have become the focus of this to some extent. I'm also noticing palpitations, and increased pressure in my teeth, head and eyes... but again, I'm not sure if I've become quite obsessive after discovering protracted withdrawal and have in some ways worried these into existence. These difficulties are having a big impact on my functioning - I'm currently a trainee therapist, and have had to take some time off work. I simply don't feel able to do this job efficiently when feeling so disconnected from the world and people around me. Whenever I try to work on assignments, I feel paralysed... almost unable to think and crippled by a sense of dread and inability to string a sentence together. I was hoping to get some advice around reinstatement... I wasn't sure if this would be ill advised since I stopped taking medication around 2-3 months ago? I'm also incredibly anxious about doing this and potentially worsening my difficulties and sexual side effects potentially permanently. I just feel quite lost and so unsure about what to do... part of me isn't even sure if I'm experiencing withdrawal, or have just become so fixated on it that I've willed it into existence. I feel like I can't really trust my own mind anymore... Thanks you so much.

Hello everybody, I've been on 10mg of citalopram for 14 weeks now for constant anxiety and panic attacks. I want to start tapering off this week and am trying neurofeedback to deal with the completely dysregulated nervous system I've had since I was a child. Hoping to get some guidance as I do my 10% gradual reduction. I hate feeling spaced out and the insomnia hasn't been a barrel of laughs either....

Hello everyone. Recently discovered this site and would like to share my story with SSRIs. Hopefully it will help some people out with similar struggles. I grew up with a lot of anxiety all throughout my childhood but always just pushed through it. As a child I just assumed everyone feels this anxiety and they must hide it better, or be stronger pushing it away. As I got older into my late teens I realised I have a social anxiety disorder When I was 20, in my second year at university things reached a breaking point with anxiety levels. We were tasked with giving presentations to the class the following week and I got triggered so badly at the thought. I went home riddled with the most intense anxiety, feeling I would rather jump off a cliff than go through the upcoming task, more or less resigning myself to the fact that i would have to drop out of school and never have a chance to do the things I want in life. I went to my doctor who prescribed Sertraline after a very brief chat. They give me the common explanation there is a chemical imbalance in the brain and this will correct it. Cant remember the exact details of the conversation but the message I got was that this medication is perfectly safe and its no big deal taking it. Being in a lot of pain, desperate for some sort of improvement and completely trusting my doctors expertise I agreed straight away and started the medication. After that, things did stabilise enough for me to finish school, start working and slog my way through life painfully with high anxiety but now dulled enough to cope moderately. I had counselling many times (all CBT type) which helped me gain some perspective but did little to resolve my anxiety and when the next situation came up Id get as anxious as ever. After several attempts to resolve my anxiety problem through counselling, I pretty much gave up on ever getting resolution and resorted to management strategies. A few years later another doctor suggested I switch to citalopram which is better at treating anxiety. They give me their usual short confident explanation, without any warnings about side effects or in depth knowledge of the drug. Due to the sexual side effects I attempted to stop citalopram in 2018 as I thought things were going pretty well. I tapered far too quickly and went off the drug completely for 3 months. In hindsight it was a doomed attempt from the start because I hadn't found any strategy to resolve the underlying anxiety problem. So the anxiety got bad again and I reluctantly reinstated. Fast forward to Mar 2023. A new job opportunity has came up in my company and I really want to apply, but anxiety will be a major problem for me going to an interview and doing well in it. I apply anyway. Days before the interview the anxiety is starting to get very strong and persistent. In desperation I begin to research social anxiety and find EFT tapping. I try following along to a youtube video of someone tapping on accupressure points thinking this is the stupidest thing Ive seen yet, this must be a scam, I hope nobody sees me doing this crap, etc. After about 10 minutes doing this tapping I notice the anxiety level suddenly drops in intensity and at that point I started to believe that this actually works. I felt straight away that this is exactly what Ive been looking for and its going to change my life for the better in every way After that I was hooked and began to research and practice EFT daily and have being getting great results on the things that have been causing me the most misery over the years. I since learned through my research that my social anxiety is a learned condition due to negative experiences or traumas in my childhood. I would have always said my childhood was perfectly normal, nothing to see here, but looking a little more in depth, there were many subtle experiences of embarrassment and humiliation that created this habitual anxiety response in certain social situations. I would now have to disagree with my doctors "chemical imbalance" theory. My brain is and was always perfectly balanced. I was never actually depressed had any other conditons. My anxiety was purely situational and I could feel normal when I wasnt in those situations. What caused my suffering was my subconsious mind percieving threat in particular situations due to past traumas. After a few months tapping my results were great but I felt I wasnt able to truly feel the bad childhood emotiions due to the SSRIs blunting emotions so I began to taper. I tapered from 40mg, to 30mg then to 20mg then to 10mg. After each step i would feel the brain zaps etc and would allow it to settle for a few weeks before stepping down again. I went to taking 10mg every 2 days for a few weeks, then every 3 days for about a week then stopped. The first couple of weeks off were rough enough with zaps, anxiety and general lower mood and at times unexplained rage. Since march I spend at least 1 hour eft tapping per day and this habit really helped me through this period. There is an odd hellish day where it seems hopeless like I would never get my life back but this would pass quickly enough. About a month in the acute withdrawl subsided. The brain zaps faded away After this i have being having what I would call symptoms of the protracted withdrawl phase. This has largely been a feeling of pressure in my head or a headache, brain fog, tiredness all the time and limited motiviation or joy in things usually enjoyed. As expected (and what I had actually hoped for) the anxiety that the SSRIS had dulled could be felt more intensely and when doing the EFT some incredibly intense releases of emotion started happening. To me this was the healing or resolution that needed to happen, and I dont think it would have been possible on the SSRI. I am now into my 5th month off citalopram. The challenges seem to come and go like last week i felt worse than I had in recent weeks but it passed. The daily EFT practice is my go to when anything comes up. I also joined a gym last week to try and lift my mood and energy and found running along with the sauna and plunge pool (ice cold) really lifted my mood in a big way. I had been trying cold showers recently too and get a good mood boost off it. There were short periods in the last few months where I felt demoralised like I couldnt cope, but these are very short lived and pass. On a bad day I like to myself that how I feel is not a truth, just an emotion/perspective and it will pass. I also always be kind to myself after a bad day/experience and remind myself of the big picture, of all the progress ive made over months. Its so easy to get demoralised after a setback or rough patch but I guess the wisdom of being a bit older now helps me see things in a more rounded way. My younger self may have went to panic stations after a few rough days of symptoms. Currently I am doing great and well on top of the symptoms most of the time but I feel very fragile and my brain has a lot more healing ahead. I am fully confident that I will never put another SSRI in my body, thanks to making huge strides to resolving the underlying anxiety root causes. What worries me a bit reading peoples stories is the timeline for the brain to heal. It scares me to think of how much longer I might feel headaches, tiredness, sluggish generally not myself, but there is no alternative I suppose. Hopefully things wont get worse before they get better I will post a later update to my story to let you know how its going. I really hope this information helps some people on here. Id also love to hear any thoughts/advice from the group.

I am in the UK. I started on 10mg of Cjtalopram in 2008. A couple of times I have gone up to 20mg for a week or two when feeling very bad but each time it just took away any joy I had in life without taking away the depression. The cause of the depression went away in 2013 and I have made a couple of attempts to come off the citalopram over the years since then (apologies, I cannot remember which years). I have tried changing to Fluoxetine on the doctor's advise but that made me feel worse. To help with the withdrawal symptoms I have tried counselling, tried CBT, tried hypnosis and tried neurolinguistic programming and nothing helped. My main symptoms are irritability, anger and anxiety but I do have other symptoms of a more mild nature too. I am currently going through another attempt to come off the citalopram that I started at the beginning of January this year. Firstly I cut my 10mg tablets in half, then into quarters, as best I could. In May I couldn't stand the anxiety so I stopped taking them. I was okay for two weeks but then the horrendous symptoms came on. I went back on quarter of a tablet (2.5mg) and things stabilised a bit but it wasn't great and I thought this was probably because it is almost impossible to get an equal dose each time when splitting a small tablet into quarters. I then asked my GP to prescribe me the liquid instead and I started on 1 drop = 2mg, which in liquid form is the same as 2.5mg in tablet form. I started to reduce this by diluting the drop in water and discarding some of it but again it wasn't very accurate as I wasn't able to measure exactly how much I was discarding, but roughly it was 1.4mg, and my moods were all over the place. I purchased some syringes so that I could measure exactly how much I was discarding of the diluted solution containing the 2mg drop. For the last month (Oct 2023) I have been diluting one drop (2mg) in 20ml of water and then taking out 2ml (10%), leaving me with a dose of 1.8mg. I was reasonably stable on this but I was having random bad days and it appeared that the dropper in the bottle wasn't able to dispense EXACTLY the same amount each time so I started putting 2 drops in 20ml, taking out 10ml and then taking our 1ml, effectively still giving me the 1.8mg but hopefully a more even dose each day. However, I am still having problems. I spoke to my GP today and asked to be referred to a prescription drug addiction service but she couldn't help. She couldn't believe that I was having problems on such a small dose and hadn't heard of anyone else struggling like I am. Don't get me wrong, she wasn't dismissive, she just didn't have any experience of it or advice to help me. After being fairly stable, with 3 or 4 days of blips in the last 4 weeks, I am now in a downwards spiral of anger and irritability again. I just don't know what to do now. I really don't want to keep on increasing my dose but I don't want to destroy my marriage, business and friendships either. I wish I could get away from these feelings as I just do not know where to turn and don't feel there is anything else I can try, other than accepting I will have to be on this hideous medication forever.

I’m at my wit’s end here. Earlier in 2023 I was on 20mg of Citalopram after having been on them (with a brief change to Sertraline in 2020 after upping Cit to 40mg in 2019, if I remember correctly) since 2017. I was given them alongside 20mg Omeprazole for suspected anxiety-induced gastritis, which still hasn’t been confirmed. They helped me cope well enough, except for the dip that caused me to change to Sertraline. Sertraline wasn’t as effective and seemed to give me IBS. In January this year I was given 10mg Amitryptyline for painful IBS symptoms. it made me feel confused and limited my cognition and concentration, and didn’t seem to help my pain either. Meanwhile, I had decided to go off antidepressants altogether as I have now been in therapy for three years and wanted to explore my emotions properly in a safe space that I didn’t have when I started. The antidepressants had made exploring my emotions very difficult and I was under the impression that coming off would give me the space to move forward. I was instructed to taper off over three months, decreasing to 10mg, then alternating between 10 and 0 before dropping altogether. After the last decrease, I started to feel odd, but decided to persevere, not knowing any better. My appetite started to decrease and my health anxiety was increased. I thought I had breast cancer and in the first week off Citalopram entirely, I was in a massive depressive state convinced that I was dying. It gradually subsided as everything was fine health wise, so I again decided to persevere as I was desperate to feel like myself again and move forward, having felt stuck for years. I now realise that I should have reinstated at 10mg. I thought I was getting on okay, but very lethargic and my appetite was slowly decreasing, which I didn’t quite notice. Citalopram had made me voracious and almost overweight before I got that under control, so I was pleased to lose that. I was able to maintain my weight for a month or so, and thought that I was just going through the motions and must be getting better. My mood was a bit off, but there were positives coming up such as old memories and generally feeling more like myself. But I was starting to have brand new depressive thoughts creeping in, and suicidal ideations, which have never happened for me. Making my mood worse was the mental impairment caused by the Amitriptyline. I can’t work much at the best of times and do very minimal freelance work at home, and this was just making it worse, so I was desperate to get off. I had told the doctor about all of my symptoms (so so many, including no appetite, weight loss, heavy heartbeat, fatigue, weakness) and had a clear blood test come back, with a note of low iron that was just left at that. I had mentioned wanting to come off Ami and doctor told me to do it over a week, taking a pill every other day. I had a feeling this was a bad idea, but I was desperate and trusted that the doctors must know what they’re doing. I could get through the initial symptoms, but then I had another huge depressive episode, maybe even psychotic, where I was doubting my own mind and unsure of what to trust, my anxiety was huge and I had to drop everything I was doing because everything made me too afraid. I had real trouble eating after this, not wanting to eat much other than carbs and fridge snacks. This regressed into being unable to eat anything without sobbing because it made me too anxious. I am still in this place. I have continued to lose weight because I simply cannot eat enough. I have had a lump in my throat (apparent globus) since July or so, which makes swallowing extra sensitive now. I’m experiencing an intense internal electricity panic sensation, and tremors, which is increased when I try to eat, hence the sobbing. I got desperate last week and asked the doctor to increase back to 10mg Citalopram because of how hungry it had made me in the past. Instead, I now just have impossible insomnia and flare up of my gastro issues, nausea, excessive burping, early fullness, catastrophic thoughts, and complete food aversion. My sense of taste has also changed, it’s oversensitive and makes eating so so difficult. I keep descending into moments of fear that I will keep wasting away and end up in hospital and inevitably be put on more medications. I’m trying to eat more, and realise that I probably got my stomach used to too little food, but it’s incredibly tough and I’m having to rely on high calorie foods and Complan. The doctor had initially wanted to give me Mirtazipan for my appetite but I really didn’t want to be on a sedative after how Ami made me feel on it. I’m at a complete loss of what to do, I realise that my central nervous system is in complete shock and I’m so scared that this has done some real permanent damage. I’ve never felt so hopeless in my life, how am I supposed to get to sleep? I just lay awake buzzing with electricity. On the off chance i get an hour or so, I jolt back awake. Some moments I feel like I can handle this and things will slowly get better but that's quickly replaced by panic. If anyone has any advice or kind words, please please leave a comment.

Hi All, Brand new here, and like many I happened upon this site after frantically googling after just over a week of horrendous WD symptoms. Here is my story and history. I had suicidal ideation at 15 and visited a doctor. The doctor took one look at me over his glasses and said, "well you don't look very depressed," but wrote me a script for Seroxat. That was I think the year 2000, and I have been on one SSRI or another (and Mirtazapine to mix it up) since. It was around this time last year (October 2022) my annual low mood took hold and I decided to actually take control of my own mental health. I had been bluffed off by doctors all my life and switched around SSRI's, but almost always ended up back on Citalopram. The diagnosis was anxiety and depression, and some wishy washy half baked, low funded group based therapy (CBT) was offered alongside drugs. For 20 years I towed this line, periods of highs and lows, things sometimes went well but my life always had this backdrop of chaos. Missed bills, final warnings, red letters, court dates, missed speeding fines, so on on. I insisted on further assessments, and had 2 very brief encounters with mental health clinicians, told I had GAD and I make it all worse by drinking/smoking weed, and or both. There maybe some truth to this, but the diabolical and haphazard approach to my mental health care was akin to someone licking their finger and sticking there finger in the air to see which direction the wind was blowing. Self medication is almost guaranteed if people aren't taken seriously. It was finally agreed after a couple more appointments that I probably have undiagnosed ADHD, maybe EUPD from the constant low key trauma but I am not entitled to a "proper" assessment because I smoke weed. My only option was to remove the crutch that in my opinion is keeping me alive and functioning, and once I can piss clear of drugs I can go on a waiting list for assessment. Currently estimated wait time 18 months +. At this point I have decided to disengage with medicine for my mental health care. I am seeking alternative therapy that at this time will require me to travel abroad. I don't want to go into the details. It's "out there" therapy that is making waves in science, and requires my withdrawal from Citalopram. I have tapered from 40mg Citalopram, to 30mg, to 30/20 alternate days, to 20, 20/10 alternate, 10, 10/0 alternate to 0. This was done over a period of about 4 months. We are very limited in the UK and specifically in my NHS area, as licencing does not allow them to prescribe the "branded" version that also comes in a liquid form for slower tapering. They also can't advise me to "break" pills smaller to attempt to taper in smaller increments. The WD symptoms hit me within about 30-48 hours of been on 0. Cold chills, muscle aches, a feeling of rigidity in muscles, brain zaps, heart zaps, cold and flu symptoms the whole shebang. I still don't have access to a psyche so am dealing with a GP. I suggested maybe switching to low dose Fluoxetine after research to take the edge off and the longer half life. She did her own research and agreed, so yesterday after fighting it out a few more days hoping it would pass, I took a 10mg Fluoxetine. 11 days after withdrawal. Today my head is somewhat clearer and the feeling of "G-Force" in my muscles has somewhat gone. I still have really bad tinnitus and brain fog. Brain zaps are still present but much reduced in frequency And that is where I am at... Desperate to get off but those 10 days or so were ROUGH!

I don't know how to improve my symptoms. Two months ago I stopped citalopram after taper over two months from 20mg. After 3 weeks I got slight blurred vision and dizzy I reinstated 5mg after 5 weeks with no improvement I went up to 10mg 2 weeks later After 2 weeks I started getting ringing in my ears (doctor says it's drawn in eardrum probably after an infection and will get better in a few weeks) A week later my symptoms seem worse not better Doctor says I should go up to 20mg.

Hello. I stopped citalopram on 9/5/23 at 1.98mg into my taper of 3+ years. I just wanted to be done. I’m now having EXTREME anxiety and I don’t know what to do. It is effecting everything and I’m really struggling. I was ok the first couple of weeks but this week I feel like I’m going to panic and have a nervous breakdown. Is it too late for me to reinstate? also my dr just gave me some Buspar yesterday. But I’m too scared to take it. Should I take this?

Since tapering off SSRIs (citalopram then sertaline) I've had ringing in my ears and buzzing head. It worse when I wake up. Any suggestions on how to mangage this?

Hello After intense low mood I was offered Citalopram in 2017. Since then I tried to reduce it but the tapering advice I received was on a short timescale of around 6 weeks and I couldn't manage the lowness. In 2022-2023 I managed a reduction myself to 10mg and everything was fine. I am hoping to reduce to zero, although recent experience has shown me that my own methods aren't failsafe! I tried taking 10mg on alternating days over the Summer which was fine until I stretched to 10mg every 4 days. Anxiety was getting very difficult, more teary etc. Finding this site showed me that an on/off approach is not sensible... So I have gone back to 7.5mg daily (not precise-- I just break the tablets myself) and things are fine. I really didn't want to go straight back to 10mg per day - it would have felt like an anxious few months wasted! I went to doctor to ask for advice for reducing (a different doctor in the practice than last time). She was not able to order the tapering strips I had found online based in the Netherlands. Instead she was willing to provide liquid citalopram but said the tapering schedule should be a reduction every 4-6 weeks starting with 8mg liquid, -> 4mg liquid, -> 2mg liquid,-> 1mg liquid. According to your site, that seems too quick. I think I need to handle this process myself and would value the insight of this group to advise me on the best way of either continuing with tablets or moving to liquid. Personally, I think I would find tablet reductions easier to manage, with a decent set of scales. I have read some of the pages on this site about different tapering methods and the calculations seem a bit of a headache with the liquid! I think I have had a fairly good tolerance for reductions but I want to know that I have done the best I can to mitigate anxiety and difficult upsets in mood. Meanwhile talking therapy has been very helpful and the therapist is very supportive of me moving off medication and is well aware of the limits of their use long term.. Many thanks Thelonggame 2017 started Citalopram 20mg for low mood 2019 tried tapering off but schedule suggested by doctor was too fast, went back to 20mg after a few months Feb 2023 reduced to 10mg myself. July 2023 forgot to take 10mg on holiday for a week. Mood ok but teary by the end! August 2023 Tried taking 10mg on alternating days to see if I could manage the existing withdrawal and reduce a bit at the same time. Ended up trying 10mg every 3 days for 5 weeks. Increased anxiety. September 2023 returned to 7.5mg daily (breaking tablets myself- not precise) and feeling fine. Looking for advice how to sensibly reduce eventually to zero. Doctor offered liquid citalopram but suggested reducing each month starting with 8mg liquid, then 4mg liquid, then 2mg liquid, then 1mg liquid. According to your site, that seems too quick.

Hello, I wanted to share my story in hopes that it may help someone else now or in the future just as many have shared their stories and helped me better understand protracted withdrawal. I began taking Citalopram in 2016 for social anxiety and depression. I was told that there was a chemical imbalance in my brain and that this drug would correct it. Initially, the drug made me extremely happy and I didn’t question it. In the next year, the efficacy of the drug wasn’t as high so my doctor switched me to Escitalopram. A few years later, I increased to 20mg. I decided to stop taking the drug because of erectile dysfunction, low libido, and emotional blunting. In my first attempt to quit in Feb of 2022, I did a fast taper, over 2 weeks roughly, down to 0mg. It was going well up until I was getting ready to start a new job in Aug of 2022. My anxiety was extremely high after a recent Fourth of July party and I began having tension headaches that wouldn’t go away. I felt like the only way to cope and make it through starting a new job was to resume taking the medication. Upon reinstatement, within 1-2 days, I felt immediate relief of the headaches and my relentless anxiety began to dissipate. I started the new job, began feeling better physically/emotionally, and comfortable with the job duties/people I was working with. In Nov of 2022, I was ready to try quitting again and this time I did it cold turkey. I was mad that I gave up so much recovery time by reinstating and wanted to get started on recovery as fast as possible irregardless of the potential withdrawal effects. My knowledge of potential length of withdrawal and severity of symptoms was sparse and I felt I could tough through it after going through it the first time. Boy was I wrong. This time was much, much different. A few days after stopping cold turkey, I was hit with what I thought was a really bad cold/flu. It was the worst sickness I had ever endured. I began to wonder if it was related to discontinuing my antidepressant so I did some research and confirmed that this was likely the case. Over the next few weeks/months, I began to not feel emotionally numb but at the consequence of debilitating anxiety, depression, and irritability. The first physical symptoms I noticed were a swollen eyelid, dry skin on eyelid, and dry lips. Two months after stopping, I began to have diarrhea with blood that wouldn’t go away. I was concerned so I saw my GP who referred me to a Gastroenterologist. They conducted a colonoscopy and found inflammation in the colon so I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. I told my doctor about my history of antidepressants and thought it could be correlated to stopping my medication which increases Serotonin levels in the body. It made sense to me because Serotonin is mainly made in the gut. My doctor dismissed me and told me that I should go the Mayo Clinic for a second evaluation if I didn’t agree. They prescribed me Mesalamine to help with inflammation in the colon. I took the medication for a couple of months as I still was unsure what was happening in my body. I have now discontinued this medication because of my experience with prescriptions/side effects and I still question the validity of the diagnosis. While I was having GI issues, I was also dealing with chronic daily headaches that wouldn’t go away. This has been my most debilitating symptom and still is to date. Other notable symptoms, body aches, muscle cramps, fatigue, cognitive impairment, difficulty communicating, anxiety, depression, intrusive thoughts, and difficulty sleeping. I assumed the headache and GI issues were protracted withdrawal symptoms. However, I was going to bed/waking up every day with debilitating headaches and couldn’t wait to see if it resolved with time. There’s been a doubt in the back of my head saying “what if you wait years for it to subside but nothing changes.” I would kick myself knowing that I didn’t try to do what I could to help my situation and pain. These headaches are best characterized as Occiptital Neuralagia and starts at the back of the skull, radiates up to the top of the head, and also on one side of the head around the left ear and around the left eye, between eyebrows, down through cheek, and into neck. It generally is most painful behind the left ear and is a stabbing, burning, dull ache that won’t away. It tends to get worse as the day goes on. This is my experience and it could be more painful for others in other areas of the head. It took a lot of time, awareness, and understanding of the nervous system to get to this diagnosis of my headaches. Before this, I was committed to researching and looking at every possible solution to alleviate the head pain. I started with a neurologist where he took an MRI of the head which looked fine. He recommended taking an anticonvulsant to help the CNS calm down. The drug prescribed was Topamax. I researched the drug and its user reviews and just knew that this wasn’t something I was going to do. I competed a sleep study as I felt the headaches, fatigue, and cognitive impairments could be related to poor sleep. I had 10 “events” per hour which basically means your breathing stops. They diagnosed it as mild sleep apnea and prescribed a CPAP. I’m a fit, 30 year old, so it stunned me that I was being told I have sleep apnea. I tried the CPAP for over a month and saw no improvement in my headache, fatigue, brain fog, and emotional well being. I have a water damaged home so I took a Myocotoxin test to check for mold toxicity and that came back negative. Next, I visited a craniofacial specialist who specializes in TMD. I had TMJ popping, pain behind my ear, and headaches so I wanted to see if I got any relief from treatment. They gave me steroid and lidocaine injections throughout the shoulders necks and head with no relief. Additionally, I was given day and night bite splint appliances to take pressure off of the TMJ joint. I’ve worn these for a couple of months with no relief. The craniofacial specialist took a CT scan and noticed that I had a deviated septum. She referred me to an ENT for evaluation as nasal blockages can cause headaches and be a contributor towards TMD. Last week, I underwent surgery for Septoplasty, Turbinate Reduction, and Adenoidectomy. I was really hoping that this was the cause of my headaches and ear ache but so far I haven’t seen any improvement. I was in his top 10 worst septum’s operated on over his 25 years. He told me to give it a few weeks until it’s healed to see if my headaches let up. Post surgery, I had to take an antibiotic. At this point, I’m 11 months off of Escitalopram and have noticed that I have an extremely sensitive stomach. Earning processed foods, grains, dairy, sugar, and alcohol all seem to upset it. I’m still not positive if it’s due to Ulcerative Colitis or discontinuing the antidepressant. I hadn’t had any diarrhea or blood since my initial UC diagnosis in March of 2023 up until last week when I had to take the antibiotic. It brought all of those symptoms back. I’ve become a hypochondriac and just want to have control over my health but it seems I can’t. After visiting various doctors to look for answers, I continue to land back at my initial assumption which is protracted withdrawal. This is my fault for not doing my research and quitting cold turkey. I want to share my story for input from others on what they think is going on and to help others to not make the mistake I did if this is protracted withdrawal. It’s like being stuck in your worst nightmare and it doesn’t feel like reality. I wouldn’t wish this pain upon my worst enemy.

Hi All, I hope everyone is doing OK. Here's my introduction. I'm a 56 year old female living in the UK. I've been on antidepressants for over 20 years. 40mg Citalopram. I've had some of my worst times with my mental health while taking antidepressants though for many years I just stayed on them because I thought they were doing me good. After all, I had no idea of what life would be like without them. During the time I've been on them, I've had very little drive or impetus to do anything at all with my life. I have had massive problems with sleep - in that I have always been tired. I can sleep for 12 hours and still feel tired. I don’t know why this is, whether it's a side effect of the ADs or just depression. I have felt the most depressed I've ever felt while taking antidepressants. About 4 years ago my sister came off Antidepressants as directed by her Dr. This proved to be far too fast and, as we now know after finding this website, she has been through what is described as protracted withdrawal. I'm glad to say that now my sister is doing so much better and though she does have bad days - (don't we all) - on the whole she is in a far better place for coming off the Antidepressants, in spite of the protracted withdrawal. Having learned so much through my sister’s journey, and being sick of being so lethargic and numb to everything, I would really like to see what life is like without taking antidepressants. I realise now this is not something I can just try - for a while to see how it goes. I understand that I must taper slowly and carefully to even begin to see what life might be like without the drugs. In May ‘23 I reduced from 40mg citalopram to 30 mg. I have found that one of the GPs at my practice has been very understanding. While she doesn't seem to know much about potential problems of coming off antidepressants, she seems very happy for me to decide how I want to come off them and has even prescribed the liquid form of citalopram so I can taper however I want to. At the beginning of this month (Sept ’23) I swapped from tablet form of citalopram to liquid form but kept on the same - equivalent dose. I am taking things very carefully. I have also done the initial assessment for the Bath University - Antidepressant Withdrawal and Maintenance Study, but didn’t fit their criteria because I have had a recent episode of depression. I would be happy to take part in any research that might help find out more about the effects of antidepressants.

Good morning, I have been tapering off Citalopram for roughly two years in total. After a huge crash I recently reinstated .5 MG liquid to stabilize my nervous system. After however many months it takes to stabilize I will reconsider a taper. If for some reason in the meantime the Citalopram becomes ineffective or poops out what other medications and dosage would work to continue stabilisation? My doctor has suggested Buspar, which I'm agreeable to but would need a dose recommendation as I suspect it would be smaller than the normal starting dose. Thank you

Hi! I just started to taper and I am in my second week of reducing from 20mg escitalopram. I already cut off 10%. What I find confusing: 1. Does it matter if I just take on ONE randomly chosen day 10% less (which I did already) or do I have to distribute the 10% cut throughout the 2 weeks? I can't see how the latter would be possible, given the infinitesimal amount that needs to be reduced this way, but I thought I will ask anyway :)> 2. Whilst I am aware of the huge variability in individual histories, I wonder if anyone here has been experiencing gradual tapering (as advised per medication here) and had withdrawal effects that were bearable and short-lived? In other words, if one does it right, generally speaking, and assuming that one is only on one antidepressant and all other variables are more or less constant, does it help avoid the worse of withdrawal effects? This is something that I am confused about. It is important for me, if any data, anecdotal or scientific exists in regard to this matter. Where can I look for this kind of information? Many thanks.

I stopped taking Celexa five months ago. At first, I abruptly quit with 40 mg, afraid of side effects. Then there were unbearable symptoms of nausea, loss of balance, fog in the head and sensations of electric shocks to the brain. I endured 2 weeks. I had to resume taking 20 mg and these symptoms disappeared within a couple of hours. I then tapered the dose over about 10 days by splitting the pill and taking 15mg, then 10mg, then 3mg, then 5mg. After a couple of weeks, all these symptoms returned but were already better tolerated.

Hi, I am new here and thank you for this forum and all your input and personal experiences. I am looking to come off 30mg of citalopram and have been on various antidepressants for 11 years I have also done CBT. I am interested in UK stories and how the NHS has helped or if you needed to seek further help rather than just your GP. Thanks in advance

Hello everyone, I'm new here. I found this site two years ago when I first became aware that there were other methods of "getting off" of SSRIs besides the typical schedule suggested by primary care doctors. I was thrilled to discover a community chock full of resources to taper. I was on a dose of 10 mg of citalopram (brand name Celexa) at the time, which is below the standard therapeutic dose of 20 mg. I stayed on 10 mg because it seemed to give me enough of a mental/emotional boost with less intense side effects, and I had dealt with more troublesome side effects of other SSRIs at higher doses and was fed up. That's not to say the 10 mg had NO side effects - they were just a bit less bothersome. I have been on and off SSRIs since I was about 17 years old, and I am now in my 30's. I've had years where I wasn't taking them, but inevitably I would go through some kind of mental health crisis and desperately ask my doctor for meds again (or they would, of course, offer it after ascertaining I was depressed again). In the last two years I've come to wonder how much my mental health struggles are present in my brain without meds, and how many relapses *may* have been in fact caused by having started SSRIs in the first place? I can't know that answer for sure, but I do know - and have always known - that I am NOT ok with the idea of taking SSRIs for my entire life. To be frank, the side effects, even at lower doses, are unacceptable to me. Some of the side effects I've experienced depending on the SSRI: Blurry vision, hot flashes/heat sensitivity, sexual dysfunction (every single SSRI I've taken), dry mouth, trouble sleeping, trouble waking, anxiety, daytime sleepiness and lethargy (sometimes so bad I had to drink a lot of caffeine and felt it distressingly difficult to concentrate or accomplish anything), increased/voracious appetite leading to significant weight gain that I am still struggling to lose, jitteriness/restlessness. Family have told me that these are a small price to pay for not feeling suicidal. That when it comes to sexual dysfunction vs. despair, choose the lesser of two evils. And while this seems obvious on the face of it, I'm not so sure those are the only two choices. I have been diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, major depression, OCD, and I'm being evaluated for ADHD next year. OCD in particular is quite difficult to manage without medication. But difficult is not impossible, and earlier this year I was doing well off my meds for a while, until work stress triggered emotional issues in me (although it could have been a long term withdrawal effect, and I don't really know, so this time I want to monitor more closely and support myself better). This is my third attempt at tapering and this time, I am joining this community as a member to really commit but also to closely monitor my symptoms and do this the right way this time. Glad to be here, and thanks for reading.