citalopram cold turkey

Hello i recently been having problems with severe anxiety again and i had to go see psychiatrist and was taking 30mg citalopram for 3 years and they said it was more for depression so told me to come off instantly and start on venalfaxine this was 2 weeks ago and they just increased it from 75mg to 150 and i been getting moments where can't stop shivering and really bad anxiety will it go away, is it normal and how long it usually last thanks?

About withdrawal

If possible you should try to come off citalopram slowly to avoid possible withdrawal symptoms. Some people are able to stop taking their medication suddenly without experiencing any problems, but others can have great difficulty.

Citalopram has a relatively short half-life, which means it might be more difficult to stop taking than some other SSRIs.



Possible withdrawal effects of citalopram



•agitation
•anxiety
•confusion
•depersonalisation (feeling detached from your surroundings)
•disturbed sleep, with strange dreams
•dizziness
•electric shocks or ‘head zaps’
•nausea (feeling sick)
•numbness or pins and needles
•sweating
•tremors (shaking)

http://www.mind.org.uk/information-supp ... opram/#wit

I've never used it myself though, so can't really tell you anything that you can't find out online about this yourself.

Hope you feel better soon.

I cold turkeyed off Citalopram after two months of taking it and on a different occasion another anti depressant that I can't remember the name of because I lost my health insurance. I can't remember having short term effects from it but i often wonder if the problems I now face were magnified by coming off them suddenly.