Anyone on Citraloplan (sp?) How bad were your side effects?

[DooinMeCleanin]

After just two tablets DH has twitching eyes, dizziness, nausea, feeling like he is going to pass out, feelings of extreme tiredness ( that bad he cannot walk from the sofa to the TV) and uncontrollable erections which must be delt with before they subside (sorry if TMI).

In the last two days (while I have been at work he has managed to wash a teaspoon and two forks) the children have been looked after by my mum, so he can't use that as an excuse. The house is squalid.

So is he actually that ill or do I have permission to shove the sweeping brush up his arse and spend the rest of the day scowling at him and making degrogatory comments at him?

Unfortunately yes, citalopram can be that bad at the beginning.

I don;t think scowling or making derogatory comments is going to help either him or you.

I actually gave up after 3 tablets but the doctor said to persevere for 2 weeks at least.

I'm now on a different one that gave me a lot fewer side effects.

I don't envy you, the start of citalopram treatment is hideous. I never had the erection problem though

Okay fair enough. He has habit of making mountains out molehillls and 'milking' any illness he has for all he can get.

I will try and bite my tongue.

It can make you very tired, dizzy etc to start with. Takes a few weeks to settle down. Why is he on them? I know before I had them (PND) I used to be very overwhelmed and either clean everything like a woman possessed or be paralysed.

I felt terrible on them at first. The first few days were the worst. I hope he's been advised to start on a low dose? I was started on 10mg, then went up to 20mg. Had to go through the side effects both times. The erections are bizarre though - Citalopram usually has the opposite effect for men!

Try to be patient. The side effects will wear off completely in a few days and he will start to feel the benefits.

I am on them for the 2nd time. I'm on 20mg. For the first 3 days I couldn't get out of bed as I felt so dizzy and sick everytime I stood up and slept for most of that time. I also had pins and needles and shaking in my hands.

I'm now nearly three weeks in and feel alot better (side effects improved alot after first week and after two just had slight sickness and shaking). I just have slight sickness just after taking and slight shaking in hands (I am aware of but no one can tell as only slight)

I would perserve. I was on them for a year last time and went from crying at the slightest thing to being very 'normal' and happy. The side-effects are horrendous in first few days but should get gradually better over the next few weeks.

Well to his credit he has been a lot better this evening and this morning. He says he feels a lot better too. He even managed to spend some money (online x-mas shopping)

He is Citalopram because he has epilepsy and it is considerd a 'safe' med to mix with his other meds.

My DH is also a 'milker' and when he started them a few years ago I wasn't very supportive . However, I was diagnosed with PND a year or two later and was put on exactly the same dose as him and was wiped out for the first week - dizziness, nausea, gnashing my teeth, was very emotional too! I have to say we have found the opposite effect on our libido but while it's working there's no harm in taking advantage of it .

I had a few woooooah moments of dizziness when I was on them - but I know I got off lightly.

He's also male and they're generally wimps - my husband's vocabulary reduces to the level of "cup of tea milk two sugars" when he's got a bad cold (and his flipping mother indulges this - grrrr)!

The tablets weren't working for me that time when I took them so I took myself off them (translation forgot to get a new prescription of them) and got through things - think it was a dose of SAD related depression that time. Can't get anything at all prescribed for this massively bad bout of depression this time though which is being hellish to work through.

It took me a couple of weeks to settle into them. They made me felt like a corrupted hard-drive!

When DH is ill he usually likes to draw my attention to it, even if he just stubs his toe! That is men though I think in general. They like to be looked after as we do when we are ill.

Hope the treatment settles down for him soon and that he recovers from his illness.

I had no side-effects apart from being really really sleepy. And they worked really well.

Coming off them isn't quite so good but I am doing it slowly this time.

BTW, please offers sympathy because he may not be ill but he is clearly feeling like shit. And you will all benefit once they start to work.

Ormirian - definately keep with going slowly coming off them, i was just taken off mine to swap to something else and went from 40mg to nothing overnight and the side effects/withdrawl was horrible xx

OP, how are things today?

Thanks misstired. I am down to one every other day and am planning to continue that for a few months. I have had no symptoms of withdrawal but my mood is changing I can't go back to where I was. I just can't but I don't want to be on them forever. 2 years now and counting.