Effector symptoms and conditions

I've been trying to cut down on my celexa ( although i take the generic citalopram 40 mg) I found that if i came off it too quickly without decreasing the dose in stages (i had tried cutting down to 20mg) my head would become extremely fuzzy, whenever i turned my head or moved it it would feel all tingly and disoriented. I also found it was very hard to concentrate. now that I'm gradually getting off of it i notice that my dreams are very real and vivid and i can no longer tell my dreams from reality. I wake up confused not knowing where or who i am until reality sets in. I was hoping to get off citalopram completely due to the fact that it is not recommended to use when you are considering becoming pregnant due to the impact on the fetus. however, i found that without it i'm very spacey and find it hard to concentrate. I don't know if thats another side effector if thats my anxiety coming back from not taking it...

The Journal of Immunology, Vol 146, Issue 4 1294-1302, Copyright © 1991 by American Association of Immunologists

ARTICLES
Urinary nitrate excretion in relation to murine macrophage activation. Influence of dietary L-arginine and oral NG-monomethyl-L-arginine

DL Granger, JB Hibbs Jr and LM Broadnax
Division of Infectious Diseases, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27710.

Murine macrophage oxidation of L-arginine guanidino nitrogen to nitrite/nitrate yields an intermediate effector, possibly nitric oxide, with antimicrobial activity. Total body nitrogen oxidation metabolism (NOM) was measured in vivo by determining the urinary nitrate excretion of mice ingesting a chemically defined nitrite/nitrate-free diet. As reported previously, mycobacterial infection with bacillus Calmette- Guerin led to a large increase in urinary nitrate excretion. This increase was temporally related to macrophage activation in vivo. The substrate for macrophage nitrogen oxidation metabolism in vitro, L- arginine, was deleted from the diet without ameliorating the urinary nitrate excretion response induced by BCG. This suggested that L- arginine was synthesized endogenously because there are no other known natural substrates for NOM. A competitive inhibitor of NOM, the L- arginine analog, NG-monomethyl-L-arginine was fed to mice in their drinking water. NG-monomethyl-L-arginine ingestion blocked both basal and bacillus Calmette-Guerin-induced urinary nitrate excretion over a 2- 4 week time span. These experimental conditions should prove useful for further investigation on the role of macrophage NOM in host defense against intracellular microorganisms.