Trying to come off citalopram, but feeling its really hard?

Question

ive been on citalopram for nearly 2 yrs now for anxiety and i felt t was time to come off them, i did the right thing by going to my GP and seeking advice, i was on 20mg per day and reduced to 10mg per day. i was on this dosage for 3 wks and felt worse, i was snapping at everyone not my lovely bubbly self. i think I'm more scared that ill never ba able to come off these. I'm only 24 and just about to go to uni to do my nursing and ive got my life a head of me just dont want to be stuck on tablets for the rest of my life. has anyone felt this way before?? or any advice?? thanks laura

Answer 1

Laura, I found citalopram (Celexa) difficult to come off of as well and had pretty much the same reaction.  I went ahead and cut down to 5 mg. and then went off.  After a few days I did feel better.

I have been on medications off and on since being diagnosed with panic and anxiety 24 years ago.  One of two or three things will happen once you are off the medicine.  The withdrawal symptoms will subside and you will do fine, the anxiety symptoms will return and you will have to go back on this medication or another one, or, you may be fine for a while but when stress or another life event triggers it, the anxiety will come back.

One way or the other, you will be okay and that is the thing to remember.  The medicines are there is you need them.  In the meanwhile you might want to try learning some other methods of working through the anxious times.

One book I highly recommend is The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Dr. Edmund Bourne.  It is available at Amazon and other bookstores.

This link has a lot of great information too and many links to go to and find great information.

http://mentalhealth.about.com/od/anxiety...