Citalopram week 4

[maggiemuff]

Hi, can anyone help with this. Feb 2017 I started fluoxetine, this was the first time I had taken an AD. It worked great, I was on 60mg, but around September that year it just seemed to stop working. I was moved to sertaline and ended up on a 150mg dose. I had really bad night sweats and diarrhoea however I would have stayed on them if I had of thought they were working.

The doctor has now changed to to citalopram. I weaned off the sertaline and took 10mg of citalopram for 2 weeks, then I took a week at 20mg. I am now starting my 2nd week at 20mg. At a few points last week I thought they were working but the past few days I'm not so sure.

I am so disappointed, I never wanted to take anti depressants but when I agreed to try the fluoxetine and it worked it was great. It was like I should have done it years ago, but it just seemed to stop working after 7 months.

Is there any chance the citralopram might still start working at this stage or should I change again to try and find something that worked like fluoxetine did?

Sorry this is long winded. I just want to find something that works again, it was such a relief when I started the fluoxetine.

Ps. Have reposted this here for traffic and help.

Do you feel any better? I know when i started taking sertraline they had to increase the dose slowly and i had to spend about 2 weeks on each dose before they upped it again, it was frustrating because it was slow and i ended up on 200mg but i could feel the improvement with each increase if thats makes sense?
So i would say if you feel 0% better then maybe its not for but if you feel slightly better then you probably just need a higher dose, 20mg is quite a low dose i think.

It can take 6-8 weeks for citalopram to fully kick in, so definitely a good chance it will get better x

For me it took about 6 weeks before it started really working. 10mg did nothing at all. It was only after I went up to 20mg that I felt a difference.

I took Citalopram for around 8 months a few years ago ... I can't remember how long it took to 'kick in' but I don't think it was very long. I think I was only on 10mg, and what I liked about it was that it seemed to 'take the edge off': I still felt like myself, only more able to cope. I didn't feel mega happy or chilled: felt completely normal but without the knot of anxiety that I had been living with. How were you expecting to feel? Obviously without knowing what you were dealing with or how you were feeling prior to taking medication it's difficult to know how things have improved for you. I would say if you have concerns then maybe go back to your GP: perhaps see if you can see another one if possible - if your practice allows that - to see if they have the same view as whoever prescribed it.

6-8 weeks to see effects. If this doesnt work can you go back on fluoxitine? Maybe after this break it will work for you again.

Thanks for the replies. I have an appt at the end of next week to review the dose. I think the doctor said I would likely have to go above 20mg judging by the dosages I was on with fluoxetine and sertaline.

The fluoxetine worked great for me at the beginning. It felt like what life should have been like and I never realised. I didn't feel anxious, I was able to talk confidently to people, I enjoyed going out with the children and doing things and I was more affectionate with my husband (although not much sex drive but that's normal for me) and also I didn't worry about everything constantly. Then about 7 months later it stopped working.

I am feeling a bit better (although I didn't feel great the past 2 days) with the citalopram so really I think I am hoping that it's just taking a while to work. But i still very irritated and don't have much patience.

Stick with it x

Sorry slightly divergent but have a read of ‘lost connections’ by Johann Hari. It’s a really interspersed perspective on ADs and I thought of the book when I read your OP.

Citalopram can take a couple of weeks to work and it can also make you feel worse before you feel better

I'm on 40mg of citalopram. It definitely helps, as I'm useless and horrid when I'm not on it. I'd persevere for a while. At 4 weeks you're still on early days.

And I agree it can make you feel worse before better. It's an adjustment period.

MrsPatrickDempsey

Thanks I will give the book a try. I never liked the idea of anti depressants but when I took the decision to take the first one and it worked so well I thought this was great as life just wasn't a chore anymore. I have w stressful job but I wasn't worrying anymore about going in each morning. I just got on with it.

I am half way through it at the moment. It’s been a revelation for me. I have not been medicated since 2012 but since then have felt at times that I have needed to be. I heard the author talk on the radio which prompted me to get the book. Would highly recommend.

Citalopram works by blocking your excretion of serotonin, a neurotransmitter involved in feeling happy. You may not be producing much of it, so it takes a while for the level to build up.
Think of it as a bath. You turn on the “happiness” tap, and it’s trickling serotonin slowly into your bath. But you haven’t put the plug in, so it all trickles out down the plug hole, and the happiness bath can’t fill.

Citalopram acts as the plug - so now your serotonin can start to slowly fill your happiness bath. After 6 to 8 weeks, your bath will be full enough for you to feel happy.
I hope that didn’t sound patronising or simplistic - I was just trying to find an analogy that would help explain why it takes so long to work!
May I add that there are lots of other (and stronger) antidepressants, so please give the Citalopram time to work, and don’t despair even if it doesn’t- it’s usually possible to find one that will suit you, and there are other treatments too, such as a course of ECT, which has an 83% success rate in severe intractable depression that’s not responded to medication.
Sending a hug, and my best wishes for your recovery and a happy future.

Babdoc

Thanks for the support. I'm really hoping this one works as I don't want the change for a 4th time. This is week so maybe I will start to see a bigger change. Hopefully.

I haven't previously taken ADs but started on citalopram before Christmas at 10mg then increased to 20mg after two weeks. It took a little while to start feeling the benefit, about 6 weeks.

Good luck.

Citalopram acts as the plug - so now your serotonin can start to slowly fill your happiness bath. After 6 to 8 weeks, your bath will be full enough for you to feel happy.
I hope that didn’t sound patronising or simplistic - I was just trying to find an analogy that would help explain why it takes so long to work!

That's a fantastic explanation. I think my bath must have another leak somewhere because it doesn't make me happy, it just makes me able to get out of bed and pretend to function normally.

Babdoc. Brilliant explanation. Thanks

It took nearly a month for me to realise that my SSRI was working. They definitely don't 'work' after a week.