Taking Citalopram for period-related depression: what time is best?

[MrsMonkey83]

Hi everyone,
I take a low dose (20mg) of Citalopram for hormone-related depression – really miserable, weepy, horrible PMT 5 days every month, essentially.

If I take it in the morning when I wake up, I’m sooooooo sleepy all day that I can’t stop yawning and find it incredibly hard to focus on work. If I take it in the afternoon or evening, I spend the night having really weird, often disturbing dreams that are so vivid I find them hard to distinguish from reality, which is very confusing and, in itself, quite depressing! Not knowing whether something actually happened or whether you just dreamt it will make you feel like a flake in no time!

Can anyone advise how I can keep taking the pills to deal with the crying and misery and all that, but not be a total zombie? My doctor was sympathetic, but had no advice at all apart from ‘ask around on forums’. So HI THERE.

Thanks very much for your help x

Hi! That's a hard choice, the dreams or the tiredness! How well does the citalopram work for the depression? Would you consider trying a different one, maybe fluoxetine? They all have different side-effects for each individual.

How long have you been taking it for? I have been taking it for just under a month and only now am I starting to feel the effects. I had three weeks of constant yawning, restless sleep, night sweats and more anxiety. It is starting to work now and I feel so much better.
I take mine first thing in the morning.

Lurker here- but had to respond -
I to have recently started to take this due to severe pmdd.
I take it in the night and hope to fall asleep- which I do no dreams here.

Would you take them continuously I was told to take day 15 when I start feeling a bit 'off'. Till day one of menses.

Hi folks, thanks for your responses.
I've been taking it every day for a few months, but have taken it on and off most of my adult life. Never had it be so drowsy though. I guess I could ask my doctor for a different brand but I don't want to turn my poor old brain into a chemical testing factory! I wonder if it's me that's changed (getting older....) rather than the drug having changed in some way.

Have to say, it's doing the job of lessening the intensity of depressive spells though, definitely a thumbs up for that aspect.

errrm, to answer your question - yes I've always been told you have to take them continuously and routinely for them to work most effectively. Think they have something of a cumulative effect.