coming off my citalopram.........update!

[vixta]

read the internet mostly its says stay on if your at risk which makes sense because if the mum isnt happy and stable there isnt much hope really!!

Its funny how different doctors give different advice, my doctor told me to stay on prozac as it may be made worse if i come off but the woman at the chemist wouldnt give me my prescription for it as she knew i was pregnant, I had to wait for her to phone my doctor to prove I could still take them and even then she was still telling me I should come off them, I've been told that if I do come off then I will have to be weened off I dont think its good to just be told to come off them straight away though.

i read that its considered ok to stay on them as long as ur weened off 2 weeks before birth to prevent the baby gettin withdrawal side effects x

see my doc said (panic panic) stop them right away there're toxic to the baby!! cant will go mad (madder)

I think that your doc is misleading you, they arent toxic to the baby at all. I have searched the web thoroughly about this subject and never have i come accross that.
I know how you feel, i went mad indeed when i was weened off mine, thats why i am back on them. See what your gp thinks again hun, and if he/she still says you cant take them ask if there is somethin else you can take,(or just change your gp)!

 

[tashbella]

i expect you know how good it feels to be able to speak to someonw who knows where your at!!! i think i will change gp if she says anything again about it!! i honestly do not think i could carry on with pregnancy if i have to stop taking them, the last 48 hours have been hell on earth. even while asleep im dreaming of death and morbid horrible scary stuff and thats from someone who has only ever watched 2 horror films in my life...cos im such a wuss!! i like fluffy films!! anyway see what she says tomoz. the least i could try is weaning off them!! thankyou !!

 

[xxEMZxx]

Your doctor sounds awful by saying that.. then again when my best friend went to her first appointment to say she was pregnant i sat with her and said to the doctor dosent she need to take folic acid and he turned around and said NO! He also said no need to avoid any foods and forgot to tell her she had to come off her acne tablets till about a week later when they are very dangerous to babys.. I would change your doctor.

 

[vixta]

i expect you know how good it feels to be able to speak to someonw who knows where your at!!! i think i will change gp if she says anything again about it!! i honestly do not think i could carry on with pregnancy if i have to stop taking them, the last 48 hours have been hell on earth. even while asleep im dreaming of death and morbid horrible scary stuff and thats from someone who has only ever watched 2 horror films in my life...cos im such a wuss!! i like fluffy films!! anyway see what she says tomoz. the least i could try is weaning off them!! thankyou !!

There are a lot of girls on here who are in the same boat as us hun, and its a big huge dilema for all of us. I told the doc straight that if i cannot take the citalopram then i was going to have a termination! I sooooooo get where you are coming from! when i wasnt on my tablets i was so full of hate and all i wanted to do was smash the place up! I hated the sight of myself and i couldve smashed every mirror in the house! I am not a nice person when i am not on my citalopram, there is no way i could ever try to come off them again, i have accepted now that i AM dependant on them and i AM ill.And if people cant accept that then its tough! if people wanna judge me for taking meds whilst i am pregnant then tough! nobody knows what i have been through in the past to end up having to take these tablets, and i bet every one of us has been through something in our lives thats fucked us up(excuse my language).
Sorry that turned into a bit of a rant! I hope you get on ok at the docs, i truly do know what ur going thru x x x

 

[tashbella]

oh she made sure i was taking folic aciD!! my friend got prescribed preg friendly anti d's because the dad left her and she nearly went crackers. she held off thro until she had baby and breast fed. but is on them now.
the thing is i have a 4 yr old to deal with and its not fair on her. shes at grans today as i cant venture out...so somethings gotta give. mental illness is really really hard, i do know there are people lots worse than me...but it doesnt help when your in your own head. with the tabs i lead a normal life ive been on them for over 2 years!! have you had any luck with advice today?

 

[amy16323]

hun im going through the same thing.i have anxiety really bad.im on Klonapin.their weening me off of it here soon.i dont know how im gonna beable to do this.

 

[vixta]

oh she made sure i was taking folic aciD!! my friend got prescribed preg friendly anti d's because the dad left her and she nearly went crackers. she held off thro until she had baby and breast fed. but is on them now.
the thing is i have a 4 yr old to deal with and its not fair on her. shes at grans today as i cant venture out...so somethings gotta give. mental illness is really really hard, i do know there are people lots worse than me...but it doesnt help when your in your own head. with the tabs i lead a normal life ive been on them for over 2 years!! have you had any luck with advice today?

I learnt to find my own advice and weigh things up in my own head. The fact is i HAVE to take them so thats that!I have been on them for 4 and half years and before that i was on fluoxetine for 2 years. The thing that gets me mad is when people say "just pull yourslef together"! wish i bloody well could! if only it were that simple eh

 

[vixta]

hun im going through the same thing.i have anxiety really bad.im on Klonapin.their weening me off of it here soon.i dont know how im gonna beable to do this.

I have never heard of this medication, all i can say is if you feel you need it and rely on it then you fight to stay on it. unless they can prove that it is harmful to baby then your mental health is paramount!

 

[vixta]

I feel like i would definately end up with post natal depression if i had no pills

 

[AlwaysPraying]

This is all great information! The medical community needs to get their act together and have a united front. Everyone is telling us different things!

I just was told to up my C to 40 mgs and that it would be perfectly fine for pregnancy, it's amazing the difference in advice! My view is that I would avoid getting pregnant at all costs if I wasn't on this drug, I'm so afraid of what happened last time. This is the only way I can sanely become a mother!!

 

[vixta]

This is all great information! The medical community needs to get their act together and have a united front. Everyone is telling us different things!

I just was told to up my C to 40 mgs and that it would be perfectly fine for pregnancy, it's amazing the difference in advice! My view is that I would avoid getting pregnant at all costs if I wasn't on this drug, I'm so afraid of what happened last time. This is the only way I can sanely become a mother!!

What happened lasttime hun x x

 

[tashbella]

do you have to come off it totally!! is so hard for us all, just know your not alone there are lots of people here to encourage you and empathise

hun im going through the same thing.i have anxiety really bad.im on Klonapin.their weening me off of it here soon.i dont know how im gonna beable to do this.

 

[tashbella]

i give up on there version of what you should and shouldnt take now. i'll be sat there tomorrow thinking how im going to tell doctor what i want and then go in there and cry
after taking 10mg today (normally on 20mg snapped it in half) i feel normal (for me) no head zaps they've stopped i cooked dinner tidied up and only felt a bit like crying ..... the mad thing is i forget im pregnant its the mental health issues which are taking over. maybe i may even be able to think about being preg for minute soon.

 

[JLT]

I learnt to find my own advice and weigh things up in my own head. The fact is i HAVE to take them so thats that!I have been on them for 4 and half years and before that i was on fluoxetine for 2 years. The thing that gets me mad is when people say "just pull yourslef together"! wish i bloody well could! if only it were that simple eh

I totally agree, you have to listen to yourself and take your own advice, only YOU know what's best for you (particularly when the doctors can't agree on what advice to give).

 

[vixta]

i give up on there version of what you should and shouldnt take now. i'll be sat there tomorrow thinking how im going to tell doctor what i want and then go in there and cry
after taking 10mg today (normally on 20mg snapped it in half) i feel normal (for me) no head zaps they've stopped i cooked dinner tidied up and only felt a bit like crying ..... the mad thing is i forget im pregnant its the mental health issues which are taking over. maybe i may even be able to think about being preg for minute soon.

I know from experience, when i was off my citalopram and ill i didnt care about being pregnant at all (how bad does that sound) and i was completely emotionless! I was completely consumed in how bad i was feeling in my head and how ill i was!Nothing could snap me out of it, not even trying to feel pregnant cheered me up. It was that bad for me that i was going to have a termination!
Now i am back on the citalopram though i feel so much better and i feel pregnant, i am constantly looking on pregnancy sites and thinking about the baby and i just cannot believe that i nearly got rid of my bean!
When u go docs i suggest you do what i did and just be brutally honest. There is no point in beating around the bush, doc needs to know exactly how you feel and how its affecting you. an ill mom makes an ill baby and u may end up with post natal depression. will u keep us informed about what doc says ?

 

[AlwaysPraying]

This is all great information! The medical community needs to get their act together and have a united front. Everyone is telling us different things!

I just was told to up my C to 40 mgs and that it would be perfectly fine for pregnancy, it's amazing the difference in advice! My view is that I would avoid getting pregnant at all costs if I wasn't on this drug, I'm so afraid of what happened last time. This is the only way I can sanely become a mother!!

What happened lasttime hun x x

We lost our boy to a very rare fatal genetic problem at 4 months. I remember being worried about miscarriage, worried about spotting, worried about everything, but what came and hit us was something I didn't know existed. It rocked my world, for a long time (and still) I worry about other things now as well. I feel like I need to worry about everything to ensure that I will be ok, but I know that's impossible. I feel, if I worry, and something bad happens, it won't hurt as bad. Because I didn't know about the fatal issue my boy was carrying, it came as such a horrible surprise that I was really hurt and angry when it all happened. Maybe if I knew about the chances of it happening, then it wouldn't have hurt so bad? I know that's not true, we were a 1 in 4,000 case, but still, it's how my mind works. So with that, I worry about my dog being dead when I get home, a car accident, my house burning down, let me tell you ITS EXHAUSTING! (and embarrassing to be honest). With the meds, it's been a life line, that extreme fear is gone and I can start to cope with reality and know that I can't control or know everything.

I feel like I just dumped all over you guys!! I'm just really glad there's others there that understand and we are able to talk to each other. Generally, I'm a normal run of the mill girl, I hold a lot in and don't share my worries, so it's nice to get it out like this!!

 

[Mocha]

I have been on Paxil, Celexa (what you are on) and Zoloft, and then gotten off all of them. It's very normal to experience side effects like this. The most common is dizziness. You probably feel like your blood pressure drops right down whenever you stand up or even turn your head a bit too fast. Another you might experience is a "zapping" feeling in your head or hands. You might be more temperamental than usual, and wanting to sleep a lot. There's really no way around this, and these withdrawal symptoms can last a couple months after you've completely weaned off your pills unfortunately.

I would suggest, though, to ask your doctor if you could try another method. You aren't on a high dose, which makes things quicker and a bit easier. But you still want to take it slowly. In my opinion the best way is to reduce your dose by only 5mg and stay on that dose until the withdrawal symptoms subside, then reduce again by 5mg. Ask him if you could try this method, because 10mg is enough to cause some pretty annoying and stressful effects that you really don't need right now.

However, I haven't read this entire Thread, but I wonder why you're choosing to go off of it? Is it because you're pregnant? Again you're on a very, very low dose and the risk is so slight. Many doctors feel it's better to stay on these medications. If these drugs helped you significantly you might want to consider that and talk further with your doctor.

 

[vixta]

This is all great information! The medical community needs to get their act together and have a united front. Everyone is telling us different things!

I just was told to up my C to 40 mgs and that it would be perfectly fine for pregnancy, it's amazing the difference in advice! My view is that I would avoid getting pregnant at all costs if I wasn't on this drug, I'm so afraid of what happened last time. This is the only way I can sanely become a mother!!

What happened lasttime hun x x

We lost our boy to a very rare fatal genetic problem at 4 months. I remember being worried about miscarriage, worried about spotting, worried about everything, but what came and hit us was something I didn't know existed. It rocked my world, for a long time (and still) I worry about other things now as well. I feel like I need to worry about everything to ensure that I will be ok, but I know that's impossible. I feel, if I worry, and something bad happens, it won't hurt as bad. Because I didn't know about the fatal issue my boy was carrying, it came as such a horrible surprise that I was really hurt and angry when it all happened. Maybe if I knew about the chances of it happening, then it wouldn't have hurt so bad? I know that's not true, we were a 1 in 4,000 case, but still, it's how my mind works. So with that, I worry about my dog being dead when I get home, a car accident, my house burning down, let me tell you ITS EXHAUSTING! (and embarrassing to be honest). With the meds, it's been a life line, that extreme fear is gone and I can start to cope with reality and know that I can't control or know everything.

I feel like I just dumped all over you guys!! I'm just really glad there's others there that understand and we are able to talk to each other. Generally, I'm a normal run of the mill girl, I hold a lot in and don't share my worries, so it's nice to get it out like this!!

Oh my god what a terrible time you have had!
I cannot imagine what it must be like for you, i cant even try to imagine!
Thanks for sharing with us, anytime you wanna dump on us, you go ahead hun!
My thoughts are with you,take care hun x x

 

[bexxie]

aww I ditto above
x

 

[tashbella]

went to doctors today laid it to them...i said i cant function on nothing i have my child to consider firstly and myself. i said i took 10mg yest instead of nothing or instead of 20mg and i intended to do the same again today. im now waiting for the obs consultant to tell me the deal and also a psychiatrist to get in touch...not sure what there're doing, but considering i went radio rental about 3 years ago i think that maybe i should of seen the shrink then. oh well !! feel bit more relaxed.(no brain zaps with withdrawal anyway today well just little ones, can cope with them)

was thinking tho citalopram has made me put on a stone. so if i come off theoretically i'll lose weight while im pregnant, then prob go back on them after and put weight on after preg!! whats that???? twisted thats what!!
will tell all what decision is with the cpram!!