My Antidepressant Withdrawal Story - A Journey Coming Off of Celexa
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- Опубліковано 22 вер 2021
- This is my journey attempting to get off of Celexa twice. This is not medical advice.
Surviving Antidepressant Safe Tapering Forum
www.survivingantidepressants....
The Inner Compass Initiative
www.theinnercompass.org/
GeneSight Testing
genesight.com/
Self-Directed Neuroplasticity Exercises (DNRS)
retrainingthebrain.com/
The Breggin Hour Podcast/UA-cam Channel
breggin.com/the-dr-breggin-ho...
BOOKS
A Mind of Your Own by Dr. Kelly Brogan
Taking Back Prozac by Dr. Peter Breggin
Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal by Dr. Peter Breggin
The Antidepressant Solution by Dr. Joseph Glenmullen
Prozac Backlash by Dr. Joseph Glenmullen
CITATION
Gilbert ME. The phenomenology of limbic kindling. Toxicol Ind Health. 1994 Jul-Oct;10(4-5):343-58. PMID: 7539949.
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Thank you for making this! ❤
Thank you for being a voice for all of us suffering. Your story is very very familiar and I understand the need to spread the word.
Thank you so much 💗 Its so comforting to be validated especially when you don't have real support. I'm not sorry I went on them but I do wonder if it was the right decision as I didn't know all this before hand. But they did get me through some rough times. I'm about two weeks in now and I can really see the shift in my mental health. I'm so glad you mentioned memory as this is a huge problem for me. I need to get on top.of this as I'm in a new role managing a team and I'd hate to impact them negatively in any way. I think I just have to bebecome very aware of myself and what I do and say and keeping checking in. I'm sticking with it though ... there has to be a better way 🌼💗🌼
A whole heartedly 2am thankyou..
Long long road.❤
Thank you so much for sharing your story. Your story mirrors my own in so many ways. Listening to you share your experience brought tears to my eyes. I have felt so alone in my struggle to come off my antidepressant. I don’t feel alone anymore. Thank you, and God bless!
We are in this together! There will be better days! It will get better!
Thank you for making this video
Thank you so much for sharing 💖
I am so proud of you! Keep telling your story!! You are helping so many people! You are amazing and so BRAVE!!!
Love you!!
Thank you so much for this video you made me feel like I am not alone going through this. You hang in there and god bless.
You are so welcome! You are not alone in this! I hope you find value in what I shared here!
Thank you for sharing! I'm going through withdrawal now and I really needed to see your video! Thank you for the resources.
You’re so welcome!! Sending you love. It will get better!
Omg I’m going through all this now I’m stuck on lunesta thank you for sharing your story when I was in the psych ward they put everyone on celexa I couldn’t take it my heart was racing ❤️🙏🤗😢
Thank you ❤
Thank you Ashley for sharing your experience! I hope you have recovered from all the side effects that came with the withdrawal. I took Citalopram (also a SSRI) for 1,5 years, 10 mg. I withdrew within a week, way too fast, and got severe problems, I felt dizzy and kind of like I had water in my ears, really spooky, and had severe headaches and also got a tinnitus all of a sudden which became chronic and wouldn't go away any more.. It's so important to withdraw antidepressants slowly, i.e. over several weeks or even a couple of months.
Take care and stay healthy!
Greetings from Europe 🙂☀️
Thank you so much for sharing your story! I am so sorry you have experienced this! I wish you all the health and healing!
Suffering now- just under 4 wks since withdrawls began after stopping fluoxetine by 40 to 20 mg for a month and then stop. Its absolute hell and owing to me being a locum worker having to work through it too. May be too late to reinstate as stopped the meds about 11 weeks ago and then had the common long half life so not starting WDs for about 5 or 6 pattern for Fluoxetine. This video has been very helpful.Thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing!
Of course!! Thank you for watching!
you're beautiful i resonate with your story on so many levels thank you for your vulnerability
Thank you so much for sharing! So many of us are going through this and it's so important to feel that you are not alone. It's really brave of you to share, especially being in the medical field yourself.
I love that you are including neuroplasticity in your talk!
We've been part of the longest running, non-consenting, non-informed clinical trial of long-term SSRI's and SSNI's (as well as other psychotropics drugs like benzos and z-drugs).
You are not alone. Big love.
Thank you so much for your encouragement! Yes, neuroplasticity has been paramount for me.
I got question can 10 mg Citalopram be crushed dissolved water use a syringe to reduce 10 percent per month ?
@@Amnigaggh Hi Sean, the notification on your question was buried.
If this question is still relevant, it appears that this can be made into a liquid as long as it's not XR or beads.
If you haven't found "Surviving Antidepressants" yet, I highly encourage you to check out that site. There's information on different types of antidepressants that you may find helpful.
Thank you so very much for sharing your story. I took ONE 40mg pill as prescribed by my psychiatrist after being on the drug previously and was thrown into the depths of a hell I wouldn’t wish upon anyone. It’s been just about 3 weeks now and some days I can barely function. Trying to keep on living, keep on pushing through.
how are you now?
Thanks you make me feel less alone.
Thanks also for the fertility mention. I even did not think about it bearing enough distress being off after a decade ... I saw an abrupt period reduction after being off, so now at least i am mental preparing myself to have problems. All the best for us. ❤️
I am sending you love and hope! Healing is possible. You are not alone.
@@ashleesymcox how slow do you taper from 15 mg 10 percent per month I don’t want to get sick. So it takes more 4 months to taper off this drug. How long did it take to go from 15 mg to 7.5 mg do you use liquid Citalopram
The tablet don’t go small enough how are you supposed to reduce dose and how long are you staying on the 7.5 mg dose ?
@@ashleesymcox how long realistically is it gona take to get off 20 mg Citalopram after 10 years of use ?
@@Amnigagghseveral years
Thank you for sharing your experience tapering off Celexa. I fast tapered Xanax. I had the same symptoms as you. I believe our brain stops making gaba, serotonin naturally, that's what causes our body to react when there is only glutamate being produced in our body. It affects our brain to work correctly. It will take months to years for our brain to get back to some normalcy back. Our whole body is completely out of wack. Our cns is very super sensitive to everything during this process of healing. Navigating our symptoms to a minimal is all we can do & let time do its thing. God bless ❤
You are so right God bless you I was on cetalapram for 8 years and had to stop because I starting to have terrible night terrors and bad feelings in my body my doctor wanted to put me on willburtrin but I was scared so I didn't go back one year went by I could not find a doctor I ended in the hospital they gave me some injections to stabilize me they would Tell me what it was I wish I had never started them
Your video is inspirational. I'm sorry you had to go through that. I'm trying to get off celexa. It's been 10 years. I'm tapering slow and still got withdrawal symptoms.
My symptoms are similar. I got that anxiety and terror that comes and goes, depressive mood, loss of appetite, gut issues, shaky hands, Throbbing head and fingers
How are you doing now?
So happy you decided to share this. The more of these videos & the more people coming out talking about their journey coming off these things the better. I plan on uploading my video soon! What's your name on surviving anti depreesants if you dont mind me asking? I think I might've seen your story. Did you still have symptoms even when you reinstated?
Thank you so much! Sharing your story will help so many! My SA name is AshleeM. My symptoms got a lot better with reinstating but that was when the fatigue started but the doom, depersonalization, etc got better reinstating.
I stop Sepram 20mg which is Citalopram like Celexa here in Europe. Now over month without it and Quetapine, I get paresthesia symptoms which means cold/heat sensation and tingling skin. I Also suffer low B12 vitamin levels and minor thyroid issues and they may boost these symptoms but another than paresthesia symptoms I also get shivers, mood swings, feeling fatigue, mouth is dry and some dizzeness.
I also try to eat healthy, doing exercises, using vitamins and drop 15kg alredy in month after stopping these meds. 19 years I have use these type of meds but doesn't anymore suffer condition why I start them and now my physical condition need my attention before I have diabetes because over weight I get the meds.
Same! Six months off ZOLOFT AND STILL FLEE LIKE DEATH!
This is exactly what I'm going through and I'm going to reinstate because of how I feel and its the scariest thing I have ever been through can you please let us know how your going. I was 23 years old when I was put on this medication.
Really interesting video...I am looking to come off Citalopram (been on 30mg for 14 months and was on 20mg for 10 months prior to that) - have alternated 20mg/30mg every other day for 3 weeks and now taking 20mg daily....I am guessing this maybe too drastic a reduction ? Also, should I even seek to come off Citalopram if they are working for me ? I am concerned that I will make myself I'll by coming off them and if ever off them completely will my extreme stress/anxiety return....?
I am in the throws of extreme discontinuation syndrome. I"m saving this vidoe to watch later because I am too distracted by my brain seeing her as a cyclops because her eye is covered. I hate these withdrawals.
I’m so sorry!! Praying for you!
Very frightening.....
I was put on celexa at 16 and I'm now 30. I made the decision that I didn't want to be on it anymore I didn't want to be on a medication anymore as the side effects of it were effecting my sleep. I was on 40mg, my dr suggest I go to 20mg a week and then 10 a week and then nothing. That was too much for me! So I did 30mg for 2 weeks 20mg for 2 weeks 1 mg for almost a month and then stopped. I am currently like 3 weeks of no meds and the withdrawal symptoms are wrecking havoc on my life (brain zaps, dizziness, crying all the time, anxiety for no reason, headaches, etc) I'm fighting through it and hope I can get past the symptoms and not have to reinstate them.
Hi kaity my names Ashley. I did the same weaning off process as you. I also took a 40 mg dose for 9 years.I am curious to how your doing now? Although this video was extremely informative it kind of scared me. I’m going on my second week of officially being off of celexa all together. Your literally the only one I could relate to becuase your the only person I’ve heard that took the same milligrams as me for almost the same amount of years as I did.It would be helpful to relate to someone at this point in my journey. Thanks!
@Ashley Khatami hi Ashley, I did about 2 weeks off completely and started to have really bad withdrawal symptoms, I lasted about another week seeing if they would go away (this was over Christmas so I pretty much missed Christmas with my family due to the issues) Jan 1 I had to reinstate at 10mg because I couldn't handle it anymore (extreme dizziness, Brain zaps, nausea, no appetite, anxiety, depression ) after almost a month at 10mg I was feeling like 10mg maybe isn't enough and then I lost my job which put me over the edge. I upped to 20mg and have been on that since Jan 29th so far with no issues (other than restless legs and sleep problems). I probably won't try to come off it again for a while. I'm waiting to see a psychiatrist as well so they may switch my meds. Sorry I wasn't a success story! I hope you are doing well.
Hi, did you end up feeling better
@@nili3529 I ended up back on them at 20mg, tried to switch to cymbalta and didn't work, back on 20mg of celexa. Might try a different one idk
@@kitkatsmeow18 my suggestion is you have to tapper the very very slowly 20 to 15 for 2 months then 15 to 10 another. 2 months like wise every 2 to 3 months at the same time you have follow proper supplyments like magnesium, Omega etc which are best for your brain
you may get withdrawal but you can manage
I’m so sorry you had to go through this. I got on antidepressants because of depression and not being able to get pregnant. And if I understand correctly you are infertile because of them. My heart goes out to you and I wish you the very best on your journey. Question, So is it better to stay on or to go off. I’m trying to go off and now I’m scared. Thank you. 🙏🤗❤️☀️
Thank you! For me, it was the right thing to come off but then it was the right thing to get back on when withdrawl symptoms were the worst. Everyone’s different. Hope this helps.
@Chris Perkins - I was on 20mg of Lexapro for years. I weaned of a few years ago & it has left me completely dysfunctional & without any libido whatsoever. I feel the damage is permanent ....
I am going through the same thing with mirtazapine. I have been on this medication for 6 years and then went up and down in dosage within a month so I have the withdrawal symptoms. I have impending doom, chest pain, worsening menstrual cycle, pressure in head, tacchicardyia. I have gone to the ER for heart palpitations and tacchycardyia. This is scary because I am on the dosage i've been on for years now for a month and the symptoms have not gone away.
I’m so sorry!! I have had similar symptoms! Sending you love and praying for symptoms to get better!! This does pass!
@@ashleesymcox I have a lot questions hypobolic tapering when you go from 5 mg to 0 there 58 percent drop in sert in the brain you need to go 10 percent from previous dose I’m already dreading.
This was two years ago. How are you doing today? Were you able get off the antidepressant?
I had the same simtomes and also thropping in my ears, and I had heavy depression and it feels like I gonna be unconscious , I want through MRIs and its scary and my dreams are bad demonic like, I will never go on antidepressants. I must trust God
How did you eventually get off and get better?
Hey Ashlee, I replied to one of your comments but I think it didn't go through. I noticed your in OKC & so am I! Was wondering if you've done any advocacy work or even cared to? I'd be interested in linking up if you are down for something like that?
Hi! Yes! I am interested in advocacy! Please email me at ashleesymcoxNTP@gmail.com! Thank you!
How are you doing now? Are you off of meds?
20 mg to 0 in a month I’m tapering from 10 to 0 I plan taking 9 months to do this 9 years on the meds
I was on antidepressants for 30 years. I weaned off 2 years ago, & I'm still completely dysfunctional. I believe the damage is permanent.
Can anyone out there relate?
I don’t believe that the symptoms have to be permanent. Your subconscious mind will go to that worst case scenario in order to protect you. If you believe it will be permanent, it probably will be. You have to shift your mindset to be adamant to heal. Others heal so that means you can too!! Be careful what you choose to believe about this.
@@ashleesymcox @Ashlee Symcox - Thanks for your advice! At the end of the day only time will tell. However, the trajectory of my life as far back as I can remember is negative. I"ve tried shifting mindset many many time throughout my life in order to have a more positive outcome, & it has Never worked. This my own personal journey the universe had in mind for me. Everyone's journey is different. I'm signed up for Physician Assisted Suicide in 2023, so at least I have that to look forward to if there is no improvement
This is one off the best videos I’ve seem.It makes total sense.I have been on 20 mg for 23 years and left to get on with it.I suffer from side effects of this drug and was told many times it wasn’t the drug.I have tried many times to come off them when told it should take a couple of weeks by my doctors.There is now information on you tube about tapering and your information is correct about reducing by 10 percent ,especially at the lower end off the amount of the drug due to a low dose has the biggest impact on you Sert resecters in the brain,which is why the last 5 or 6 mg is where you really need to go slow.Personally I’m now on 7.5 mg and I’m very up and down but I think I’m winning.You can buy a pill splicer on Amazon for about £5 or 8 dollars this helps cutting the tablet down but micro measuring will be a problem below 5 mg.Great video,my feelings are reduce by 10 percent at least giving yourself a couple off months per time or stay on 5 mg until your feel safe to try further.5 mg is responsible for 50 percent off the sert inpact on the brain where 60 mg is 80 percent,so you can see the danger is in the last 5 mg.l am not a doctor so this is just information I’ve got off some UA-cam sites
Thank you for sharing this!! Sending up prayers for you to safely taper! It can be done!! And thank you so much for your encouragement!
Did you ever wake up breathing very rapidly? I've have breathing issues since coming off xanax and sertraline.
@@tyrel510 no
Too quick ..! 1/4 too much !! I.m two years tapper 10mg to 0.4mg, liquid citalipram. As soon as I stopped I felt bad so I’ve come back on again within one week to 0.4 again and I’m going to keep on that for at least a few months you need to stabilise for about 4 to 5 months at every drop of dose! When you get a very low dose it has a very strong affect on your brain because even at 0.5 mg up to 10% of the brain is still impacted I’ll say that again 0.5 of a milligram!!
I think its more addictive for me than pain pills. It’s utterly awful.
You will return to Citalopram / Celexa. 👍🏻
why? I stopped taking it 4 months ago and feel a million times better!