Side effects of coming off citalpram

moneysaver12

Hi i have borderline personality disorder and for many years now have been on anti depressants. Up untill two weeks ago i was on citalpram. I saw my psychiatric doctor just less than three weeks ago who has taken me off my tablets. He said to take one every other day for a week then stop them. I was on 20mg a day. This was done because i am pregnant and because i have been stable for a long time now and i am recovering. He wanted to see if i could cope without tablets. I agreed to this as i too want to come off anti depressants and they have been slowly reducing my dose down.

Now i have been getting some side effects from coming off which my doctor did not tell me about. I find that im getting like dizzy feelings and electric currents (this is hard to describe) also feeling emotional, wanting to cry for no reason, feeling irritable and getting more stressed than normal. Have done some research on the net and it seems that these side effects are common.

I am due to see my doctor again in just over a weeks time to see how i am getting on.

I really don't want to have to go back on to anti depressants. I am trying to deal with this for my unborn baby and for myself. Has anyone had any experience of this.

I am wondering if there is any vitiamins that i could take to help. I have looked on the net and seen that vitiamin b could help.

ragz_2

I would recommend eating lots of oats as these have a positive effect on the brain (I think it's a vitamin in them). When my DH was coming off prescribed drugs I gave him porridge every day to lessen the withrawel symptoms, he said it helped. Avoid caffeine as that will exacerbate symptons. Make sure you get plenty of fruit and veg. A vitamin supplement is worth taking too, get a multi vit that contains B vitamins too (most do)

Remember, these side effects won't last forever and you have the great experience of pregnancy to take your mind off them.

Best of luck, you are doing the right thing and it will get easier, you can do it!

moneysaver12

ragz wrote: »

I would recommend eating lots of oats as these have a positive effect on the brain (I think it's a vitamin in them). When my DH was coming off prescribed drugs I gave him porridge every day to lessen the withrawel symptoms, he said it helped. Avoid caffeine as that will exacerbate symptons. Make sure you get plenty of fruit and veg. A vitamin supplement is worth taking too, get a multi vit that contains B vitamins too (most do)

Remember, these side effects won't last forever and you have the great experience of pregnancy to take your mind off them.

Best of luck, you are doing the right thing and it will get easier, you can do it!

Thankyou very much for your help. I will get some multi vitamins. Will start drinking juice and eat more fruit and veg. Only thing is i don't like porridge, is there any other oatey things i could eat, i know you can get them in flap jacks.

ragz_2

moneysaver12 wrote: »

Thankyou very much for your help. I will get some multi vitamins. Will start drinking juice and eat more fruit and veg. Only thing is i don't like porridge, is there any other oatey things i could eat, i know you can get them in flap jacks.

flapjacks, muesli, oasty cereal, oat bread now too.

minimoneysaver

Maybe your doctor would have been better putting you on the 10mg dose for a few weeks daily and then dropping that to every other day for a couple of weeks and then coming off them. I think that you have probably come off them much too quickly. If it doesn't get any better please put in a call to your dr sooner than the three weeks. Good luck.

elfen

moneysaver I have BPD too, cept mine isn't stable and I have psychotic episodes. I've had citalopram before but I'm now on escalitopram and that has many of the same side effects.

blue_haddock

I'm also on citalapram and over the past few weeks i've been feeling better than i have in a very long time. I dont want to be on them forever but at the moment they really are helping me.

Hope things work out for you x

hayley11

I was on citalopram for 6 months and I just stopped taking them and had some side effects, vomiting, dizziness etc but they went after a few days. Ideally I should have come off them gradually rather than just stopping.

I also think you should go see your doctor in a few days if they haven't eased at all.

jenniewb

I was on a different pill/antidepressant and took 18 months to come off it to avoid the side effects as the previous time I tried over 14 months and landed myself in a psychiatric hospital- go easy on withdrawal, its not a race, your health and wellbeing is far more important. Maybe do a search on what your taking, for me there was a whole forum of people trying to do the same thing, people who had been there and lived to tell the consiquences. I'd bet its quite different whatever you take so maybe something more suited to your circumstances would be better? Hope you get things sorted.

moneysaver12

blue_haddock wrote: »

I'm also on citalapram and over the past few weeks i've been feeling better than i have in a very long time. I dont want to be on them forever but at the moment they really are helping me.

Hope things work out for you x

Thankyou. Im glad that things are getting better for you.

hayley11 wrote: »

I was on citalopram for 6 months and I just stopped taking them and had some side effects, vomiting, dizziness etc but they went after a few days. Ideally I should have come off them gradually rather than just stopping.

I also think you should go see your doctor in a few days if they haven't eased at all.

Thankyou. Im going to see how i am over the next couple of days and if no better will get in touch with my doctor.

jenniewb wrote: »

I was on a different pill/antidepressant and took 18 months to come off it to avoid the side effects as the previous time I tried over 14 months and landed myself in a psychiatric hospital- go easy on withdrawal, its not a race, your health and wellbeing is far more important. Maybe do a search on what your taking, for me there was a whole forum of people trying to do the same thing, people who had been there and lived to tell the consiquences. I'd bet its quite different whatever you take so maybe something more suited to your circumstances would be better? Hope you get things sorted.

Thankyou, i will have a look on the net.

moneysaver12

ragz wrote: »

flapjacks, muesli, oasty cereal, oat bread now too.

Thankyou. I will have a look at getting some of those. I have got some flapjacks today and some more juice so can cut down on caffine.

minimoneysaver wrote: »

Maybe your doctor would have been better putting you on the 10mg dose for a few weeks daily and then dropping that to every other day for a couple of weeks and then coming off them. I think that you have probably come off them much too quickly. If it doesn't get any better please put in a call to your dr sooner than the three weeks. Good luck.

Thankyou. I think that he took me off them as they could cause harm to the baby.

elfen wrote: »

moneysaver I have BPD too, cept mine isn't stable and I have psychotic episodes. I've had citalopram before but I'm now on escalitopram and that has many of the same side effects.

Thankyou. I do hope things get better for you.