To worry about chest pain/citalopram?

[VeniceQueen2004]

I have recently been prescribed citalopram at a low dose (20mg per day) and have started getting chest pains (a sort of electric shock feeling that comes and goes suddenly). The thing is it's not completely new (about 10 years ago I had similar pain on and off for about a year, I never did anything about it and went away on its own).

My gran had a heart attack at 40 and 2 more in her life despite living a very healthy lifestyle - just a weak heart in general.

Should I be worried? I know I should just call 111 but I'm worried they'll just tell me to stop taking it as a precaution approach and I really think it's helping me

I'd see your GP next week, you shouldn't just come off any antidepressants and it might be coincidence.

Thanks Alice. Probably best bet.

I think you already know that any new chest pain should be assessed ASAP and is likely to be treated as an emergency at the mere utterance of the words ‘chest pain’ to any out of hours service. I don’t think anyone is going to advise stopping medication without seeing you face to face, I could be wrong but I think 111 would send you to A&E rather than mess with medications.

Given it’s Friday I would be struggling to decide which pathway to take too tbh. Does your area have a walk-in centre anymore?

You do really need to be seen though

Can't even consider A&E on a Friday night! It's only fleeting,very intermittent and not severe - just makes me go "ooh!" momentarily and then vanishes again - as it was years ago thus my inaction! So if I do anything I'll probably wait until Mon then try to book in with GP... Just really don't want to have to find a new medication as just about to go back to work after MH sick leave and regaining my equilibrium...

Agree 111 will just tell you to go to A&E if you phone them on a Friday night and say you have chest pain.

I understand it’s a concern if you’ve found a medication you get on with, but if the price of that is a heart attack you have to weigh up the risks vs benefits.

In all likelihood your GP is going to be of the same mindset and reluctant to just stop your medication without looking into it further. Given your family history your symptoms should be investigated as a stand alone issue anyway and your medication only looked at if absolutely necessary.

I do hope you’re planning on getting an emergency appointment with your GP on Monday?

Oh and if anything changes/something new happens please just go to A&E, don’t talk yourself out of it if something worrying is going on.

You should definitely get it checked out, but I wouldn’t worry too much as Citalopram, although a life saver for a lot of people, can have some pretty hefty side effects until you get used to it. Chest pains, palpitations, hot flushes, shortness of breath, numbness/pins and needles, metal ‘fog’, feeling of doom, and a worsening of anxiety are things that I came across and googling seemed to bring up quite a lot of people with the same side effects.
I will say that most people seem to get over the side effects if they can push through.

I do want to add that I do think you should get it checked out even if that means A&E.

Citalopram can sometimes cause Qt dysfunction I think I'm on two medications that can cause this and have an ecg once a year. All chest pain should be spoken about with a doctor. I've had chest pain and been told it's normal and palpitations while can be due to anxiety are strange but again always worth mentioning xx