citalopram

[fairyhead1971]

Hi,i have been prescribed citalopram for anxiety i am so scared to take them has anybody got some encouraging words? x

I think it's great :) It takes a couple of weeks to get used to it and you must follow the directions for starting/stopping gradually. There are lots of funny side effects but most of those lessen or disappear after a while. If you don't feel better after a month or so you may need to adjust your dose, there's a bit of trial and error at the beginning.

Most of all, there's no shame in a bit of mental tweaking. Modern life is tough going and probably more people are on ADs than you would think. Make sure you're taking care of yourself too though...lots of sleep and exercise and good food. Hope you feel better soon .

It helped me, I had a few side effects when I started (grinding teeth, loss of appetite, slight light headedness), but they helped with the symptoms of depression. CBT helped me work through the causes of it.

Plan to be on it for a few months before coming off, and reduce it very slowly. I dropped from 10mg to 0 and had some withdrawal effects that weren't too pleasant, but I'm so much better now and I'm glad I took it.

I've been on it for 11 weeks now and I had very minimal side effects. Very slightly spacey for a couple of day. Nothing more. The same when I went from 10 to 20mg and 20 to 30mg. I had them in my cupboard for a whole month before i took them as i was terrified they'd turn me into a zombie. Kicking myself now as I could have been a month further forward. CBT also very helpful. i would just say they have taken a long time to kick in with me but i think/hope they are finally working. Don't be too disheartened if they take a while.