Would you start a 16 yr old on Citalopram weeks before exams?

[Katisha]

DS has anxiety and occasional panic attacks but otherwise seems his usual self - does his revision, his weekend job, all the usual things he'd be doing.
He says it feels like a feeling in his chest, fight or flight.
He was prescribed beta blockers couple of weeks ago but says they are not having any effect
Dr today says to go on to Citalopram but I am concerned about doing this weeks before GCSEs start as I've read of the tiredness and nausea at first.
Any advice? My instinct would be to try upping the dose of the beta blockers in case the Citalopram knocks him off course in these crucial weeks, but I'm no expert.

I don’t know about your DS but I had absolutely no side effects whatsoever and started to feel better within a couple of days. My sis was the same

I’m also very surprised that your gp is prescribing for you ur 16 year old, maybe it depends on the area.
Ds was put onto sertraline at 15 years old prescribed by a psychiatrist, I don’t have direct experience with citalopram but I do know that SSRIs start to work after a few weeks but won’t be working at full strength until about 7-8 weeks so they could do something for the exams but they probably won’t have the effect you are looking for in the time frame you want.

Sertraline didn’t agree with him so he went onto fluoxetine which has been fantastic for him but he had extreme anxiety disorder and depression for a while.
If you think your ds is showing stress because of exams I wouldn’t go onto anti ds as his stress is short term and he should be fine after.
He shouldn’t take them for a few days only because they will do nothing for him they are a longer term thing and in any case a dose may need to be adjusted which takes time. And he shouldn’t take them then stop suddenly.