I've never come off it. But I take celexa 40mg also. Im guessing you discussed this w/ your doctor? If I go much more than 24 hours between doses I get a horrible almost like sinus headache. I would sugest doing it VERY slowly. What does the pill look like can you crush it into 4ths? I ask because there are diffrent brands and some are easier to break. Pick a day and drop down to 3 quarters. I would do that for a week or two then go down to 1/2 and so on and so forth. I can't tell you it isn't gonna suck cause it is. But if this is something you and your doctor have decided on its best to go as slow as possible. I WOULD NOT suggest cold turkey that would probably cause way more damage then good. GL HTH
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i've never taken celexa, but i agree it is a good idea to talk to your doctor before trying to discontinue antidepressants. they all act differently and b/c of their action and very long half-lives (generally speaking) sometimes i can difficult to come off.
You absolutely need to taper with care, and you would be very lucky if you were able to drop from 40 - 20 in one hit without some pretty heavy duty withdrawal - that's a huge drop, and your brain needs time to re-adjust when you whip the drug away.
Probably you'd be best to try a 10mg cut, and see how you go (cut the pills in half) for a few weeks. WD symptoms usually start day 3 - 6 with Celexa, and can often last 10 days or so. You want a clear few weeks after that of feeling OK again before making another drop. A sensible taper will not only reduce the chances of a rebound of whatever you were taking the celexa for, but also be a lot more comfortable for you.
I have come off 2 ssris (ended up taking celexa in an effort to get off Paxil, which was withdrawal hell), and it took a total of a year to get from 40mg to nothing. Not suggesting it will take you that long, by any means - esp since Celexa has a much longer half life than Paxil, and generally milder withdrawal (or 'discontinuation syndrome' as the drug company's so cutely put it), just that you need to take care.
Once I was off Paxil and on Celexa...it was only about 4 months til I had tapered from 20 mg to nothing, which was great.
Docs can be woefully uninformed about sensible tapering - suggest you check out The Antidepressant Solution by Dr Joseph Glenmullen for a tapering programe, or Peter Breggin's Your Drug May Be Your Problem. Glenmullen is more recent and up-to-date.
For more info, there is excellent background and guides at www.paxilprogress.org. Don't be deterred by the reference to Paxil - it's the same class of drug as Celexa. And don't be deterred by the 'I can't get off it' horror stories - I could never get off Paxil, either, but did manage to quit Celexa.
Good luck with it, and good on you!
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I have come off of Celexa twice with no side effects Mazarin, but it was done gradually and under close doctor supervision. That's really the only way to go without getting withdrawal symptoms, it seems. It was a couple years ago so I don't remember exactly how we did it, but it only took a few months for me. Each person is different with this though, as some seem more prone to withdrawal than others.
Just wanted to let you know it can be done, but it has to be done carefully!
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Thanx for the response on this.... I did split a 40mg pill into half so I guess it was a 20mg pill only yesterday just to see, and all was well till the evening when I would stand up and feel dizzy, like the room was spinning! Could that be a side effect.... I've never experienced feeling faint or dizzy at all before, but this was just weird.
Back to 40mg today and appointment made to see my GP on Friday to get some 20mg tabs and cut the dose to 30mg for a few weeks.
definitely talk to your doctor about it... also look up "ssri discontinuation syndrome" on the 'net; there is a lot of information out there about the side effects you might experience and possible ways to taper off/minimize symptoms.
i know one site had some information about it, i'll have to try to find it again for you... it suggested some ways to taper down slowly. it mentioned switching to prozac in syrup form when you get to the lower doses b/c you can measure it out and gradually wean off. (it's the same drug class.) you'll have to talk to your md about this.
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Last edited by isenephthys; 01-24-2006 at 06:22 AM.
i couldn't find the article i was thinking of, but i did find this on www.crazymeds.org:
Quote:
SSRI discontinuation syndrome. Read the article to learn more about it. SSRIs are some of the most physically addictive drugs in existence. Addictive isn't really the right word, you develop an intense physical and psychological dependency without a craving and urge to abuse them (unless you're bipolar, then you may abuse them), but addictive is close enough. To suddenly stop taking them is to feel so very much worse than you were feeling before you ever considered taking meds. There's a term, "brain shivers." You'll know it if you ever experience it. Mouse and I have kicked opiates and we have kicked SSRIs cold turkey. We'll take the opiate kick. If you're taking an atypical antipsychotic along with an SSRI, the discontinuation is often not nearly as bad, so if you have some Seroquel (quetiapine) on hand for insomnia, you'll want to take some for your SSRI discontinuation. Not everyone experiences SSRI discontinuation syndrome, and for those who do the effects range from mild to extreme. Not all doctors recognize this as an issue, so that sucks even more. Be sure to read the section about how long it takes for a med to clear out of your system and wait that long to taper down to the next stage in your dosage. And, as Paula writes in her article, invest in a pill splitter. Another option is to switch to the liquid form that many of the meds have available, that way you can reduce your dosage by as much as you damn well please and take as long as you can afford to discontinue to med. If it's really bad you may want to switch to liquid Prozac (fluoxetine hydrochloride) for the final discontinuation. That can take a very long time, but because of Prozac's 9.3 day half-life it usually has the mildest discontinuation syndrome effects of all the SSRIs. The long half-life is a double-edged sword. If you're on a high dosage and especially sensitive to the discontinuation syndrome, it will take forever to get off of Prozac, but at least it won't be as bad as the other meds. If you're not as sensitive to the discontinuation syndrome, Prozac's long half-life makes it easier to discontinue than any of the other SSRIs.
here are a few other links i found:
some articles are reccomending b-vitamins to alleviate some of the symptoms.
Coming Off Celexa 
