If you get the serious side effects of citalopram...

[DonaldDucksTowel]

What happens next? Will I be given an alternative?

I’ve been on them for 2 weeks now and I’ve struggled with a headache and a slightly dizzy/blurry kind of feeling, also random insomnia on occasions
I was powering through regardless because I was told all side effects would calm down after a couple of weeks

Then I got an unexpected very heavy period, I actually took a pregnancy test because it was unlike any other period I’d had, it was bright red and very thin/watery, thought it odd but nothing sinister after a negative test
I also have lots of unexplained bruises on my legs atm, again not alarming with a boisterous toddler around

So after a particularly headachey day I’ve just been reading through the list of side effects online and the bleeding and bruising is on the ‘serious side effects’ - I hadn’t even connected these to the medication at all

Obviously I’m going to speak to my GP in the morning, just wondering if anyone else has had similar and what happened? Will I be taken off the meds? I’ve been seeing positive changes in my moods on them already and I don’t want to go back! Is there an alternative?

Bump

Sorry, I’m worrying

Could all be in the realms of normal imo. I got quite severe bruising after starting citalopram, all side effects took a good 3 months to settle down, give it time but of course speak to your gp if concerned

It took me a while to settle and I had the bruising. All fine now though and it works well

But talk to the doctor

Definitely talk to your doctor. It took me a good few months to really settle in with citalopram, but now it's great. I did start on a very low dosage though.

Oh that’s very reassuring, I’d kind of assumed that the ‘serious’ side effects would be a problem and the GP would say they’re not agreeing with me so to stop/change
You hear lots about the dizziness and things but not many people saying they’ve had bruising and bleeding, so it’s very reassuring to hear that it’s fairly normal

Thank you both

Oh x post wrenika thankyou
The doctor said that all side effects should stop after around 2 weeks so I think he’s got my hopes up a bit unrealistically, I was hoping I’d be a new woman by now

I got the bruising and it took about 6 weeks to stop for me, I got strange periods for roughly the same time and terrible bowels! (sorry tmi!) when it calmed down I felt fine. It was worth sticking with it.

Hope the side effects stop soon.