3 weeks on citalopram...still room for improvement?

[Alicia44]

Hi
I'm 3 weeks into citalopram 10mg. On the whole I feel way better than I did...but still feel there's room for improvement. Can anyone offer reassurance that I may feel even better in another few weeks? Thanks x

It took me 3 months to feel the full benefit and in that time had to go up a dose. Stick with it

@zenlife thanks so much that's given me hope! Can I ask how you felt when you increased the dose? I think my GP is going to suggest I increase and now I'm back at work I'm reroofed nasty side effects. I didn't really get bad side effects starting 10mg x

i was on it to control anxiety. had terrible side effects when I first started on 10mg, it was the worst time of my life honestly so I was petrified to go up to 20mg, I stayed on 10mg for 4 weeks cos was so scared to go up. But I didn't feel great still and my GP thought I should try going up to 20mg. Had absolutely NO side effects going up to 20mg, only feeling much much better much quicker! Your body is used to it at that point. I still had the odd side effect for a long time but the benefits were huge for me. It saved my life honestly. I'm off them now though and have been for 2 years and feeling great

@zenlife wow thanks for that....I guess I'm quite lucky I didn't have many side effects starting 10mg. I think if he suggests I increase I will try to be brave and go for it 😀 Glad that you feel so well after coming off it too!

Hello, it definitely took me more that 3 weeks to feel 'recovered' - more like 3 months to get to 80% and another 3 to get back to where I'd been before I started to deteriorate. So you definitely still have potential to feel much better . Which is hopefully encouraging.
Side effects definitely less pronounced when changing dose compared to starting fresh - and another poster said the benefits for me were also life changing & worth the horrid time I had at the start.
In terms

I feel so much better on 20mg. Less like I'm standing in the central reservation of a motorway with all the cars going past me at 100mph. My thoughts are calmer and I feel more in control.

Sorry hit send by mistake!
In terms of recovery process I feel like the Citalopram takes the edge of the symptoms so that you can start to work on getting better - using self care strategies, exercise, therapy etc.., When I was in a crisis none of those even touched the sides IYKWIM, but once I was no longer in constant panic mode I was able to start doing things which helped me feel better - it's like a positive cycle of feeling a bit better so being able to do something to help yourself, which in turn makes you feel a bit better & capable of doing more... and so on.

I went from 10 to 20 with no extra side effects. I was really surprised as I tend to get quite a few.

@KarBB @Disfordarkchocolate @iklboo thanks so much for your replies. I feel so encouraged by what you have all said. It really is only the side effects that frighten me and out me off increasing, but I'm sure if I didn't suffer too badly starting off the 10mg, and it will have been in my body for 4 weeks, I should be okay. I'm doing things now on 10mg with such ease, that I had put off for months beforehand. Don't get me wrong, I still get anxiety symptoms but I just get on with it and they don't seem to engulf me. If 20mg can make me feel even better, I will be on cloud 9!!!