I was prescribed citalapram anti-depressant over a year ago to help me through bc treatment. I have now just come off them…WHOOOOOO, its hit me like a sledghammer!
I was on 20mgs reduced to 10mgs over the past month, then stopped just over a week ago.
I feel awful, sick, and dizzy (exteamly dizzy, walking into stuff dizzy) is this normal??? Please let me know your experiences of this drug. I havnt felt this bad since taxotare! Head just swimming all over the place.
Thanks in advance
Ness1. x
Hey Ness, i know EXACTLY what you’re talking about, i came off citalopram last year and experienced the same withdrawal effects…dizziness, nausea, also really strange what i called brain flicks, like electrical flicking, hard to describe!!!
My GP changed me to fluoxetine, which has helped enormously and she says these are much easier to reduce and stop…its a horrible feeling isnt it? And they say it isnt addictive!!
Take good care
Kathy x
Although prescibed for post-natal depression, not breast cancer, I can completely sympathise and understand. I have taken ani-depressants on anf off for almost 10 years and have had bad effects as you descibe, despite doing things slowly. I came off Seroxat around 5 years ago and in all it took almost 4 months to wean myself off it completely, so much so that I even had it in liquid medicine form to have tiny amounts decreasing in regularity - this might be worth mentioning to your GP? Thankfully this seemed to work for me, I haven’t needed any medication since and wish you the very best, take care x
Thanks, Ness, for the forewarning - I’ve just started taking this drug and postponed taking it in the first place because I was worried that I would become addicted to it. I’ve been taking it now for about 2 months, and was surprised to notice a real difference within a fortnight. I’ve been prescribed 20mg a day but I perhaps should have questioned why I noticed such a difference so quickly on such a small dose. It has helped enormously but I am concerned about how I might react when I am weaned off the drug, as well as the difference it might meake to the effectiveness of tamoxifen, as an SSRI.
I’m seeing my oncologist shortly and intend to discuss whether I should be taking this drug, given recent research, but I definitely do not want to be in a position in 6-12 months time of having to cope with the side effects that you, and Kathy, have described.
Your post has just encouraged me to pursue this.
Naz
I have been taking citalapram for about 8 months, more for anxiety than depression, I only take half which is 5mg. I know you think how can such a small dose help but it does, it helps me sleep and not feel so up tight.
Its very hard breaking them in half as you know how small they are, I use my nail clippers. Maybe you could just cut down to half before you stop altogether.
Well it works for me and my gp is quite happy to let me carry on with such a small amount, I found if I took a whole one which I did at the beginning I felt so tired.
As if we haven’t enough problems.
Take care.
Jan
Hi ive been taking them on and off for a few years now, when i decided to come off them my doctor reduced them down to 10mg and told me to take them alternate days then increase it to every couple of days and do this untill i was only taking one every 7 days then stop completely, this helped me and i didnt get any withdrawal symptoms. Maybe this is something that you could try,it did work for me so hopefully it would work for you also.
julie x
I’ve been on Citalopram for about four years. I noticed positive effects within the first week on 10mg.
My GP put me on 10mg for two weeks before upping the dosage to 20mg. (They prescribe much higher doses in the US for it, where it’s called Celexa).
After three years, one of the a GPs at the practice suggested I start to reduce the dosage with a view of coming off them (I had intended to stay on forever, since I feel they fix a neurological problem of going over board emotionally). They suggested dropping to 10mg but, remembering what I’d read in forums earlier, I went via 15mg for a week. Then 10mg for a week, I think, and then 5mg. I had a really bad day two days into 5mg and so went back up to 10mg, where I have remained for a year.
If I were to ever come off them, I think I’d do it in three stages of reducing the dosage (although the smallest unscored pill is 10mg as someone else mentioned).
Fluoxetine is the proper name for Proxac. A friend of mine started Citalopram a year after me but it didn’t suit him and he’s now on Proxac.
Thanks so much for all of your prompt responses, particularly you Kathy, who it seems knows exactly where im coming from. The bit of your post that I dont understand is why you went back on A.D. when you were trying to come off them??? Have I got the wrong end of the stick (in my current state its not hard!)
It seems that each doctor advises different ways of coming off these things, I want to come off them,but currently dont know if the side effects are so bad because they just are or because im not ready to come off them???
Does this make sense - probably not!
hi there everyone
i too had been taking citalapram for quite a few years, and i have been in hospital for a few weeks, and they just stopped it straight away because they were concerned about how it may be reacting on my potasium levels which are too high and other reasons too, i havnt had a single side effect even though i was scared of how i would respond to not taking it, in fact i havnt felt any different theyve also stopped my blood pressure tablets which id also been taking for ages.im at a stage i have to just trust in the medical proffesion they normally now best, im sure though if you have any problems they will sort them out for you x
Hi
I agree with reducing the dose very gradually when you come off it - it worked for me. I’ve had 3 runs on citalopram, and wonder whether I’ll ever come off it completely - I’ve come off it twice and been good but then life events have pulled me back down. Luckily I was already back on them when dx’d last July!
My GP helped me a lot with making the decision to go back onto them - I would take tablets for high blood pressure, insulin for diabetes etc, and I need a bit of help with the chemicals in my brain.
Having said all that, I think we’re all right to follow up on the research on SSRIs and the drugs we’re taking. I’ve recently started on Arimidex - another tiny tablet which is big hitting!
One more thing. It took much longer for the benefits of citalopram to kick in the third time, and I felt awful - worse before it got better.
River
what is SSRI’s pls?
Hi again
I just had to look it up - it’s a mouthful… to quote
“SSRI stands for ‘selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor’. They are a group of antidepressant drugs that are used to treat depression.
Antidepressants alter the balance of some of the chemicals in the brain (neurotransmitters). SSRI antidepressants mainly affect a neurotransmitter called serotonin. An altered balance of serotonin and other neurotransmitters is thought to play a part in causing depression and other conditions.”
If you look at the ‘latest news’ section on this site, there’s mention of SSRIs and Tamoxifen.
Hope that helps, and isn’t too much information.
River
Gosh that is a mouthful. thanks for explaining
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter. I’ve always understood “reuptake inhibitor” to mean that normally it’d be used up and absorbed but the medication makes it hang around for longer. There’s wikipedia pages on these things but they’re quite technical.
Thanks everyone for your advice about these tablets…I’ve only been on them since my first op in November (I wasn’t coping) and my GP told me they weren’t habit forming but now I’m starting to worry that they might be, I’m currently taking 20mg every other day.
Also can anyone tell me if its better to take them at night as one of you mentioned that they help you to sleep as I’m having dreadful problems sleeping at the moment and don’t want to take too many of the sleeping tablets I have been given as they make me so headachy the following morning?
Phillippa x
Hi
I’m on citalopram too, but started it to avoid getting depressed, as I have suffered depression on and off since age 14. Amazingly, I’m not depressed at the moment and probab;y dont need them. It is normally recommended that they are taken at night as they can cause drowsiness. Paola is spot on about how they work (I’m a nurse and MSc).
Julia xx
Hi Julia
Thanks for the advice…why oh why didn’t my gp tell me that he knows I can’t sleep he prescribed me the b****y sleeping tablets!!!
Think its a good job I am on them might even start taking them everyday (every night) as I am feeling so weepy at the moment.
Phillippa x
I also had problems sleeping when taking Citalopram. I experimented taking it at different times and now take them late morning (10-11am).
I do still get vivid dreams with them (a known side-effect) - not bad ones, just unusual or interesting.
Whereas before I stayed in bed as I didn’t want to face the day, sometimes (not often) I now lie in half-sleep, relishing my dream and realising that my dream’s far more interesting than my real life if I were to get up! Hehe.
Paola
Im so pleased I started this thread, am learning loads and it helps to know that what i am feeling is not unique to me.
Along the sleep lines, I really struggle to get to sleep at night even when im so tired, then struggle to get up as in such a deep sleep etc,maybe this is part of the citalopram as well then…
Just one other thing, does anyone elses legs twitch when they are trying to get to sleep??? mine do most nights, I am moving them back and forth until I fall asleep. I am also taking Femara so could be down to that also.
PS, know what you mean about the dreams, Ive had some lovely ones!
I am so pleased I dipped onto the site this evening. I have just reduced from 20mg to 10mg over the last couple of days, so a bit anxious about how I will feel.
I have been on citalapram for a year and have really noticed the difference in my mood and am a lot more able to cope, but my reason for trying to reduce the dosage is the zany dreams.
I wake up in the morning with the same thought every morning.
“What goes on in my head”
I think I will give it a long spell now on 10mg before I think about stopping the treatment completely. Thanks for the posts everybody!