thinking of trying citlopram any advice ....good and bad ...

[40slady]

hi i suffer with extreme health anxiety my doctor wants me to try this AD starting with 10mg ...
in scared about the side effects ....but considering it as this constant daily battle of anxiety if taking over my life ...
iv also started CBT last week , wondered if should try that first ?

many thanks x

Hi (my first post!). I've just been put on 20mg after the year (so far) from hell. Lost my mum then diagnosed with neuro problems. I was becoming so anxious it was awful. I take them at night I am sleeping a bit better and the sicky feeling of the first few days has gone. They are a good starter anti depressant, don't work for everyone but if they help they will make a difference. Good luck you aren't on your own.

I had no real side effects on citalopram, it made me a bit sweaty in the morning, and it gave me very vivid dreams. It was totally fine.

Go for it. I take in the am because it suits me better but after hellish anxiety it's worked me for a few years, death of dm. Birth of dd. death of baby/miscarriage.

I'm not sure where I'd be without them.

Only good report from me too. Have changed my life, literally.
I'm on 20mg a day for general anxiety.
First week I had a dull headache most days, but started feeling calmer within 2 weeks. I'm now 4 months in & feeling good for me. I still have negative/ unhelpful thoughts but also having CBT to try & get control of them.

I wish you well

I was prescribed citalopram for panic attacks and depression. I found them to quite literally be a life saver. They didn't solve all my problems, but they helped me want to continue living and got me out of bed.

However I did gain nearly 4 stone whilst on them which seems to be a common thing. I seemed to be starving whilst on them, but even once I cut back on food I didn't start loosing weight till I came off them. I came off of them after 3 years because of the vivid dreams. For a long time it didn't bother me, but I started having dreams and flashbacks to a very upsetting time of my life and I decided after discussing it with my GP to switch to another type of AD.

Side effect wise I initially had an increase for a couple of weeks of the panic attack feelings which I had been warned might happen, and I was prescribed diazepam short term to take the edge of this if I needed it. I also had a bit of a woolly head for a few months.

Overall though despite eventually having to come off them, I feel they helped me so much, I'm not sure what would have happened to me if I hadn't had them.

I'm on 10mg a day, no side effects , been on it for about 6 weeks. It suits me to take them in the morning, if I took them at bed time I got bad dreams which made me restless, but I'm sleeping better than I have for years.

oh gosh thank you all so much , im seeing my doctor tomorrow so will discuss with her further , my anxiety has been so bad , its taking over my life , trouble functioning most days and staying home alot and googling adding to this constant anxiety.
i want my life to change and i want rid of this constant feeling its horrible ..
im worried about side effects , but cant be much worse than i feel most days surly ..
thanks everyone keep them coming x

10 mg calmed me down, but did nothing for my depression. I couldn't tolerate an increase- I got totally freaked out in the end. I was switched to sertraline and haven't looked back.

I forgot to ask....has anyone noticed an increased need to pee on citalopran? I've been up about 5 times a night the last 2 weeks since I started them. I'm sure it's not an infection as I have no other symptoms and didn't feel this way before!