# Hey



## MoreMeowBell (Sep 12, 2015)

Hey all!

I am 24 years old and love music, the outdoors, and my Sheltie!I am struggling with DR/DP. Right now I'm going through a flat-line phase so it's hard to pinpoint any feelings, so I'm here to try and recover as best as possible. I have experienced anxiety/depression since I was 12. Back in 2013 I started Citalopram (SSRI) and came off of it this past February (so I took it for a little more than a year). Coming off was really rough and I think it was the brain "shocking" experiences of SSRI withdrawal that really brought on the DR. I had some DR/DP experiences before that, but coming off of the meds really aggravated it and made it worse. Then, a few months later-this past May- I unintentionally recovered some suppressed memories of trauma when growing up. So all of this combined has brought me to where I am now... So ya, I hope to get well sooner rather than later >.<


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## eddy1886 (Oct 11, 2012)

Did you just stop the Citalopram or did you gradually wean yourself off it?


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## MoreMeowBell (Sep 12, 2015)

I gradually stopped taking it over the period of 8 weeks. I started out with 40 mg and decreased it by 10mg every two weeks. For the last part I took the 10 mg for like 3 weeks so that I could have more time to adjust. Not sure if that was too fast or not, but either way it affected me quite a bit. I had the shocking brain sensation for about a month after being completely off it.


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## eddy1886 (Oct 11, 2012)

You may have come off it too quickly...Did ya do this under a doctors supervision? Or just by yourself...

How were ya managing when you were on your full dose...Did ya find it helped with your anxiety and depression?


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## Guest (Sep 12, 2015)

SSRI's are generally tapered VERY slowly, do to the withdrawl effects, I came off this drug when I was in Highschool and I recall having to cut the pills down to tiny sizes to avoid the brain zaps.


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## MoreMeowBell (Sep 12, 2015)

It was done without any supervision unfortunately :/ But I stopped because I felt that I couldn't remember much of things before I started taking the meds. I began losing my sense of self and also a good bit of memories- like my friends would ask if I remembered this or that and I wouldn't be able to remember it very well without prompting- and even then I wouldn't remember things sometimes. Also I couldn't feel emotions very much- I wasn't able to cry after the first 6 months, which isn't a big deal I guess but it just kind of freaked me out. Also, the meds ended up making me more anxious in the long run, but my depression did go down. In hindsight, I should have come off of the meds slower, but it's too late to change that now...

Do you guys have any advice about getting to a better place in terms of coping/managing DR/DP?


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