Restarting ADs

[ColdTeaandHalfaBiscuit]

I was on 10mg Citalopram for 12 months during a tough stressful stage and have been off them now for 2 months.
My depression is really bad again recently and I've got a prescription filled and taken a 10mg tablet last night.
Could I jump to 20mg straight away? I can't get to the doctors for a while.

Hi

Did you come off the citalopram 2 months ago under the guidance of Doctor?

Did you start taking the citalopram again (you said you took a 10mg tablet last night) under the guidance of a Doctor?

You said that you can't get to the doctors for a while. Does your surgery offer telephone appointments?

Erin

Yes, came off 2 months ago on doctors advice. He gave me a prescription to fill if I felt I needed them again (5 repeats worth).

I think because of the extremely low dose, my dr isn't particularly concerned.

I would like to start taking 20mgs to see if I can get out of my depressive slump sooner!

If I were in your situation, I would request a telephone appointment with the GP who gave you the prescription to fill and ask them this exact question around starting dose and your reasons why. At my surgery, a telephone appointment can be faster to get and telling the receptionist that the problem is mental health related is enough for them to book me in as soon as they can.

I do not know the specifics of citalopram, but with medications in general if the dosing guidelines say to start off on a low dose then sticking to the guidelines is generally in the best interests of the patient. I am not a medical doctor but I do know a certain amount about pharmaceuticals and the dosing guidelines are there for a reason. You can look them up for citalopram if you want to, but talking to your prescribing doctor is a better bet, IMO.

(Assuming prescribing Dr = GP, which may not be the case.)

For example you might be advised to take 10mg for x weeks and then increase to 20mg, instead of going to 20mg straight away. That dosing schedule is relatively common with SSRIs of which citalopram is one.

Sorry, yes, Dr is GP (not U.K.)
I guess I was hoping for an easy way to get better quickly. I'm a bit blasé about meds, I've always been told this is such a small dose it's more psychological than actually fixing my depression.

Ah! I am not at all blasé about meds. Maybe I am the wrong person to answer your post! Doubling the dose will not necessarily speed up your feeling better, it does not work like that. I am reasonably confident of this. Sorry.

Thank you very much for your replies, I will ring my GP today and discuss upping the dose, in the meantime I'll stick to the 10mg.
(and be a bit more sensible in my approach to meds)

You're welcome. I hope that you feel better soon!