Citolapram (Celexa) withdrawals, I hope..

[Michaelluque]

Hey, I've been on citolapram for a year and a half and recently decided it no longer worked for me so wanted to try a new drug, and was told to take sertraline soon. So I've been on 30mg and have just been recently tapered off, 20 for a week, 10 for a week, stop for a week and then start the new tablet (Sertraline). I've been in kind of a rut as my doctor is on holiday and have no way to contact her to ask about the withdrawal symptoms, as she never told me what they were or are. So it's been 3 days now that I've been off them and they have been awful for me, my anxiety has been so high.. back to daily panicking attacks and also really low and crying so easily over small things, I've also got something I've never experienced before, it's like a shock feeling through my body, along with dizziness this will happen constantly and make me panick, however when I lay down it seems to not be there, I move my head and eyes and gets worse and worse, I was told it was "brain zaps" but do not know enough about them to really know for sure. If possible could anyone relate to this? I'm so lost and fear that I'll end up back like I was at day 1. So tempted to take 10mg to see if that's the case, I sure hope it is withdrawals. Thank you so much.

[Agora1]

Hi Michaelluque, it sure sounds like withdrawals. It was a pretty fast taper that you went through. It's surprising how dependent our body gets when taking a mind altering drug. Also the symptoms usually get worse before getting better and that is probably the reason your doctor wants you to start on Sertraline after a week, to ease up on the withdrawal symptoms. Hope you can make the transition without too much more distress. x

[camillen]

I was taken off Citalopram, after taking it for a couple of years. But, I was taken off this drug suddenly, and the only relief that I could get was to take a tiny little nibble of the pill a few times. I wanted to get off the prescription, but it took me three weeks, with no tapering down, which were three of the most horrible weeks that I ever experienced. I think that it is insane to try to get off of this drug suddenly. I found out that the "doctor" who told me to stop taking the medication immediately, with no information about how to slowly reduce the dose was actually a physician assistant, and I felt like punching him in the nose when I found out that he wasn't really a full physician. I would have gone to another doctor. You really need to work out a method of reducing the dose over a slow period of time. Otherwise, it is painful and you might experience cramps, muscle aches, crying jags, depression, headaches, sore swollen tongue, lack of appetite, and other strange symptoms. It causes strange thoughts and your hearing becomes very irritable. Light bothers your eyes, too. Probably because of the crying jags in the early stages of withdrawal. It is much easier to get off other prescription medications. My experience was really frightening. I really didn't expect this type of experience. Your doctor may give you another drug to help you counteract your withdrawal symptoms. I watched a few youtube.com videos about younger people having problems reducing their dosage of this medication and explaining what their symptoms were. The videos seem to just disappear when I go back to see if there are any new videos, the older ones are gone. Good luck.