Weaning Off Celexa Is Hard

Weaning off Celexa is hard.

I tried to wean. I really tried. It was not some half-assed attempt.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was a failure, but it certainly wasn’t a success.

My prescribed dose of Celexa, since 2008, has been 20 mg daily. With my doctor’s consent and guidance, I slowly decreased. I started by alternating 20 mg and 10 mg doses. That went well. If there were any perceptible changes in how I felt, they were slight. I had no concerns.

After a few weeks, I dropped to 10 mg daily. I tried not to focus on the change, and for a while, I thought I was doing quite well. I was proud of myself. After all, I dropped my dose by fifty percent. Okay, maybe I was a bit moody. Perhaps I was more irritable than usual. But I was not panicky, and I was not emotionally impaired, and that alone felt like a win.

A few weeks later, I dropped to 5 mg daily, but I did so with mixed emotions. On one hand, I could see complete detox on the horizon. On the other hand, I knew things were not quite right. I was not in a state of crisis, but I was not feeling normal either. Withdrawal? Maybe. The underlying panic-prone Jamie shaking off a Celexa-induced six-year snooze? Also possible.

That’s a hard zone to sit in, but I decided to stick. So, on I went at 5 mg per day. I can’t recall how long I lasted. I didn’t track the days closely. When you keep track, you focus on it, and that’s precisely what I did not want to do. Still, I don’t think I made it that long. After a few days, I began to have what felt like mini brain shocks.

Picture a guy hot-wiring a car in a movie. He touches the two wires together and zap! A spark. The car does not turn over, so he tries again. Another zap. It felt like that. It was fleeting, but it was real, and it was very disconcerting. It’s possible to ignore a zap or two. More than that, though, takes serious willpower – more willpower than I possessed.

And with that, I caved. I am now back at 20 mg daily, and I am happy to say, feeling quite good.

Weaning off Celexa is hard. Weaning off many psychiatric drugs is hard.

I’m proud of myself for trying, and I’m not willing to feel bad about myself for not entirely succeeding. I believe in the use of pharmaceutical therapies, even though I hope to avoid feeling dependent on them. I’ve accepted that this is a long-haul process, maybe even a lifelong one. I’m okay with that because when it comes down to it, life is short. I’m not willing to live in an impaired state when, thank God, amazing life-improving therapies exist.

(“Weaning Off Celexa is Hard” was first published on Mental Health Safe Space on April 1, 2015. This version was edited slightly and republished on Papa Used to Say on July 1, 2025.)