abrupt stopping of citalopram?!?

has anyone ever done this?

i ran out of tablets 2 days ago, and being xmas theres no way i could just pop into the docs for some more, even as an emergency patient, seeing as im at home from uni at the mo.

ughhh i feel soooo nausious at the moment, have done all day. and stupid headache and stuff. i cant concentrate at all!!!

has anyone else had this???

Anna

you can go to any gp surgery as a temporary patient if you are away from your registered g.p. They will ask you for details of your gp, current address and sign a form that only takes two minutes to do.

If you are staying at your parents till after new year don't leave it that long without meds

Hi anna, I take citalopram and also suffer from a poor memory. I havent thought a lot about it and thought it was just one of the symptoms of sad. It would be interesting to see if other citalopram users have the same problem as us. I do suffer from a poor memory and find its worse in winter. Perhaps its a combination of sad and the tablets. :? paul

yeh, i have 2 calendars in my room, one is a university poster with big dates on and a list of what im doing in practical estate skills each week (i have 1 day a week working outdoors) and your usual one for appointments deadlines and suchforth, i also have a notice board i use to put up important peices of paper like hospital cards, prescriptions, docter info etc and i have an organiser which i write down appointments and all of my lectures down in.

yet i still forget things. it sucks big time, however im leaving a post it noe on m tv so that when i wake up in the morning i shall remember my driving lesson instantly. ive also set an alarm to go off 15 mins before on my phone and i have a friend phoning me to remind me tonight and my moms ringing about an hour before to remind me!

hoepfully this time i shant forget!!!!

Hi guys, im back on my 20mg citalopram and the doctor said i should never have weaned myself off them without his advice. I was gobsmacked to read your post paulst about lack of emotion.When i stopped i felt exactly the same. Roll on the summer i say.By the way, could anyone tell me is citalopram prescribed mostly for s.a.d. sufferers? thanx. Dawn

Although some of what I experience is seasonally related, I didn't present my feelings as being SAD related when I started Cit. at beginning of November last year.

After two months of successful treatment, my doctor and I discussed altering the dose but he suggested staying with 20mgs as it had worked.

I'm glad for that advice and would suggest if you get on well with your doc that you discuss with him/her or at least write to him/her and say what you're doing or planning to do.

Sexual dysfunction is a common side effect of all SSRIs. Mine was drug-induced and it did not go away when I came off the drug, which was almost 2 years ago. I currently take some herbs which help a little, but I seriously wonder if I have received some permanent damage. Makes a marriage difficult at times.

Well aaron and linda u both give me different feedback. I just dont know what to do because ny marriage is affected trenendously.

Just to add, my dh would rather have a civil wife!

Was talking to a friend today who had been on cit for 10yrs. She takes ginseng with cit to balance out. She hasnt lost her libido she says. Im just tinking, would it work having chemicals and herbs?

St. John's wort is one of the rare herbs that should not be taken with an SSRI, as it is itself a mild SSRI. Taking both can lead to serotonin syndrome, a life-threatening condition.

Ginkgo and ginseng will not interfere with an SSRI. There's an Ayurvedic herb you could also try, called ashwagandha. Solgar is one company who make it, and I take it along with ginkgo. As well as helping with sexual dysfunction, it's an adaptogen, meaning that it helps correct existing imbalances in the biochemistry. There are a few other herbs that have "aphrodisiac" properties, though, which in themselves are not necessarily safe. One that I know of is called yohimbe. (For a brief time I belonged to a discussion board for people like me whose sexual dysfunction did not go away after SSRI use, and they were trying everything under the sun, including -- staggeringly -- going on another antidepressant.)

In the long run I think 10 years on an antidepressant is far more dangerous than most any herb you could take, but that's another discussion.

Hi there, although i was prescribed citalopram for anxiety and panic attacks, im sure more than ever now that i also have sad. Looking back on the last 5 months or so ive become a hermit. Wanting to come in from work and just close down the world by shutting the blinds(even when its light) and just stay in my pjs. These last few days the mornings are getting lighter and i find myself up at 6am even on my days off more happier and a bit more energy. I must admit i do hate the winter but these last few days my energy and my personality has been lifted.I find myself slleeping better and i dont have as many crazy dreams anymore. Dawn.

Thanks Linda, have a very healthy diet, love my fruit n veg and very rarely eat junk food but will consider fish oil and magnesium. I do eat alot of oily fish.Excuse my ignorance but what benefit does magnesium have? thanx. Dawn

Will do thanx.

Yes. You need to go back on this drug and then taper it appropriately or you will continue to experience withdrawal symptoms.

Medication and light therapy are two of the weapons in my armoury for my war against SAD! I wouldn't consider replacing one with the other.

Regarding memory...I think I blame the condition as much as the treatment. Ginkyo Biloba is supposed to help.

You can get an emergency prescription at any chemist for a LIMITED ammount of the medication

My doctor told me to stop the 20mg citalopram straight away and start the 10mg.
Everything went alright till yesterday (12 days till I started the 10mg). Then, yesterday evening I had a 10 min slight anxiety attack and at least a full hour of memories full of frustration. I am having violent thoughts and this morning, when I decided to contact my doctor, I used a swear word when talking to the receptionist because of her incapability to grasp that I needed good quality help now instead of accepting the usual 'go and beg tomorrow morning and she'll give you a 3 min meeting'.
I don't know what to do with myself. The care is abysmal in England just when I need good quality support and a walk-in see-you straight away doctor surgery.

I've been on 10mg of Citalopram since Christmas. It's a low dose but I didn't want to go any higher in case it was harder, I'm scared of coming off them, sounds like there are some nasty withdrawal symptoms. Has anyone come off them ok without any withdrawal or just minor symptoms? I'm hoping to come off them in April.

Regarding memory, I have the same problems. I thought it was SAD not the med, but could be a combination of both. Also re sexual dysfunction, I've lost my libido completely on these meds, but I always do more in winter anyway. Thanks for the ginko tip Linda, I will try them.

been on citalopram for nearly 4 months, have NO sex drive at all but use to be sex mad b4, have decided to just stop takin them and pay the cons...wish me luck,,foul moods,violent,angry,aggression towards all again...here i come

I took celexa for about 2 years and decided to taper myself off in order to not be dependent on drugs for the rest of my life (I'm 23). I did research & did the proper amount of dosing, i.e..20 mg/day down to 20mg/every other day, then 10mg/every other day. Each interval was at least two weeks. Then I stopped completely. When i first started the drug i felt like a zombie-no emotions whatsoever & decreased sex drive, but anxiety went away, depression weakened but I still felt depressed at times. Never anxious. Being a young adult I would occasionally drink while I was on the meds which would usually result in a giant emotional mess if I had more than 3 drinks. Now that I've stopped the drug I haven't had many withdrawal symptoms at all, or maybe they just are too minor to really notice. I'm feeling slightly depressed but it could be due to the gloomy weather. My sex drive increased immediately. I feel more like myself. In the past six months I've been working out 3-5 times a week. I find throwing your negative emotions into physical exercise can help with internal struggles. In fact, often times after going into a workout angry I come out & finds anger was about something trivial or unnecessary. It also gives me more energy and in general I'm happier with myself. I would strongly suggest trying this if you're still suffering when taking the drug.