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Trazodone to Citalopram


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Hi everyone,

 

My doctor wants to change my trazodone to citalopram. (That's why I needed to stop xanax as it interferes with trazodone which no-one told me at the time).

I am in my 14th month of withdrawal, the depression and lethargy I am having is almost intolerable. I am also on propranolol which will be stopped (as it can cause depression), so I am here and I am petrified of all these changes, how my brain react, ( I started to take prozac when I was 24, after they changed it to sertraline - no side effects, I remember taking prozac I was in a very bad state for 10 days and one day I woke up and I was smiling)

I find really difficult now to live with myself, tolerate all of these mood changes, lethargy is on a level that there are days I am not able to get out of bed. I don`t see that I will heal by the month 18th...and I am alone. No help, far from my family, and friends. And I need to work.

Anyone who did a Trazodone-Citalopram swap ? Any input on this?

Thank you guys

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Hello,

 

I too am on trazodone and have been on it for a while: 3+years and I have done some research on it for my own education.  I intend to taper it when I stabilize from my current mess.

 

If you swap traz for cit, you will almost certainly experience withdrawal.  These two ADs are not in the same class: traz is a SARI and cit is SSRI.  Only drugs that are in the same class can be swapped with little withdrawal (as you saw when you switched from prozac to cit - both are SSRI's).

 

Why do you need to get off trazodone now?  Unless you are having an adverse reaction to it, I would strongly suggest that you wait until you stabilize from the Xanax, and only then tackle trazodone.  Otherwise you will be in a hell of a hurt with two WDs going on at the same time.  Stability from the Xanax could take months, so hunker down for the long haul.  But it will get better.  WD from traz is hellish, I tried to rapid taper in 2016 and had to reinstate. 

 

I currently have a baaad reaction to steroids then anesthesia (now in my tenth month of WD!) and I will not be doing any tapering of trazodone until I stabilize.

 

Hope this helps.

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I wonder on what basis he says trazadone and Xanax have an issue?  Trazadone  is night sedating and surely should help your Xanax withdrawal.

Citalopram would definitely increase anxiety for a while. But ultimately it does help panic.

The previous poster has said some wise stuff but I would also ask for a psych referral if you can.

 

How do you feel about it ?.

Dick

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Another thing: if you do decide to swap (which I really do not recommend!), there is a major interaction between them that can possibly cause serotonin syndrome (read up, this SS is not to be toyed with).  Not all will develop this but why take the risk. 

 

Beware of psych doctors (no disrespect to Forty...).  Many are well-meaning but are clueless about WD.  That's why many of us are on this forum - poor tapering advice from professionals.

 

Forty... brings up a good point:  Why is there an issue between trazodone and Xanax?  The only "interaction" I could find is that they both increase sedation.    (Note that citalopram also is very sedating.  I recommend going on survivngantidepressants.org.  They have a lot of info on ADs.)

 

Best.

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Fortylongyears,

 

Well, the psych are clueless here where I am, the general practitioner deals with these things mainly, and I asked if I can go back to sertraline (which I was on before trazodone), we use citalopram. So it`s kind of everyone gets the same. I might just try to lose the propranolol as I don`t know if that is the cause of these depression , which I am in the last 6 month...or it`s just the withdrawal. I don`t trust the doctor to be honest...I won`t do the swap for now that`s for sure...I am petrified, and everyone says the same here, so that`s really helpful

 

Thank you for your input :)

 

 

I wonder on what basis he says trazadone and Xanax have an issue?  Trazadone  is night sedating and surely should help your Xanax withdrawal.

Citalopram would definitely increase anxiety for a while. But ultimately it does help panic.

The previous poster has said some wise stuff but I would also ask for a psych referral if you can.

 

How do you feel about it ?.

Dick

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Atshey1,

 

I have read that somewhere that until you stop benzo, you can`t stop trazodone as the withdrawal can be 5 times worse than normally...I had that because the doctor wanted to stop it, and I thought that night when the first wd signs came that I am gonna die. So I reinstated...

And after came the xanax wd. They forced me to stop in a week...that`s why I am here where I am. Here in the UK xanax is not used widely, only diazepam, so the general practiyioner cannot prescribe only "private" and she prescribed 9 tablets and told me i have to taper down in a week.

Anyways, its sucks. I lost interest in almost everything, I am putting on weight, my hair is falling out, have to kick myself to get out of bed...I don`t know really what to do. It`s just sucks big time, but I won`t swap, I have read enough, and thank you for your input too.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Cookie... it is tru, while in WD from one drug, you should not be tapering/stopping a second.  You will be non-functional that way. I know it from experience also. Accept that this is where you are, unfortunately; I'm glad you are sticking it out, it is the only way.

 

For what it's worth, my 50mg traz is making me fat also, and I too am losing hair from a steroid shot given many months ago.  I am not going to taper the traz until the steroid WD is over, however long that may take (I am thinking 6-12 months!).  So try to get stable then proceed.

 

Best

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