Citalopram or escitalopram for anxiety

[Tatty181]

Does anyone have any experience of which is better for anxiety, overthinking and over checking things?

My gp years ago said escitalopram was 'cleaner'. I'd probably say that one.

I take Sertraline and it's brilliant. Best decision I ever made. I have a friend who takes citalopram and that works well for her too.

I've taken both sertraline and escitalopram. The escitalopram works better for anxiety I'd say, makes you feel very laid back. There's a few threads on it here on Mumsnet if you AS.

I am on 10mg citalopram and I am more focused and motivated but equally have less drive (which was anxiety driven)/sense of urgency. I can't seem to get as affected or upset about things which is great and a massive relief at the moment (lots of difficult things going on).

One thing I would say is my sleep is not as good on it whereas I slept better on Sertraline (could not keep eyes open after a time). I take citalopram before bed so this may be why I find it hard to switch off but prefer this as I wake up feeling good. I have tried liquid melatonin which I think is safe 2-3 times a week and slept brilliantly, 9hrs +. Sleep makes a huge difference to anxiety IME.

Would not be without citalopram at the moment, its not a high dose but just enough.

Sertraline affected my motivation too negatively, I imagine it would be very good for OCD though.

Good luck whichever you take. Is your GP prescribing escitalopram? It is newer and not all have heard of it plus more expensive.

Thanks for all the comments so far. I’ve taken citalopram (10mg) before and it was ok, not amazing but it caused some weight gain and was a little hard to come off. I also too seroxat years ago which caused horrendous weight gain (3 stone) and was terrible to wean off.
I’d read that escitalopram was better for anxiety. I’m not depressed just suffer from terrible overthinking at times, dwelling on things, and a little ocd - checking things.

Citalopram contains, in a sense, Escitalopram. Escitalopram is a purer version of it. (So the dosage is only half by comparison.)

I have seen people say that they find Escitalopram to be the better version. I have also seen one person say that they prefer Citalopram because they had worse side effects from Escitalopram.

Both made me more ill than I was before.

In that case Tatty escitalopram didn't cause awful weight gain. Citalopram made me scoff carbs.

Personally good old prozac is by far my favourite but it affects my balance. Badly. Anyway I'm off them all now as a) the main cause of my stress is gone and b) I have an alpha stim machine.

Often drugs have two different forms that are the same except they are mirror images of one another like your hands. The receptor in your body is like a glove and one hand fits better into the glove than another.
Citalopram is in essence both hands whereas escitalopram only contains the hand that fits into the receptor.

I've had both citalopram and ecitalopram. Both feel the same for me. Currently on citalopram and had to go up from 10mg to 20mg to really start to be better with the anxiety.

I’ve just done 4 weeks on Escitalopram and had to stop because of how badly it affected my balance. I’m about 12 days off it and my balance is still really bad. Did yours improve once stopping Prozac and how long before it improved?

It does improve, Kwai. All side effects of these poisons wear off after a while so don't worry.