***Citalopram Buddies... ;o)***

[ShinyHappyPurpleSeveredHeads]

Well.. jumping in on the act of the other "buddy threads", there seem to a shed load of us on citalopram.

How many of us are there exactly?

What dosage are you all on? Is it working?

I'm on 10mg for anxiety. It certainly takes the edge off the panic feelings and stops me waking up with that dreadful, crippling anxious feeling, as if my stomach's in a vice. But being as things are a bit crap at the moment, I do feel generally down even though I've never been technically considered depressed (just suffering from lifestyle induced anxiety!)

DH is on 20mg. Similar reasons, slightly different symptoms.

We have been on it since June.

I came off mine (sensibly) a month of so ago but the horrid panic came back and I just couldn't face all that again. It makes life "un-do-able" and I have a lot of stuff that I have to get done everyday/responsibilities etc. So not sure what the answer is but I certainly don't want to stay on anti depressants forever and GP originally mentioned a 6 month time slot.

What are other's experiences?

PS I hate the "no orgasm" side effect of citalopram!! It really really bothers me.. main reason I wanted to come off it.. but I hate the anxiety more! Anyone else on it suffer in that way?

I was rarely out of bed before 11 until the tablets really kicked in.
The nightmares and headaches are still driving me crazy though.

Hi girls,

Welcome Riles.

Had a good day today, been thrifting round Leeds today, and got some great bargains!

Well hubby snoring his head off on sofa now, and didnt have to go away this week. You will be alright Autumn, think how much cleaner the house is, you ahve the bed to yourself and you can eat cakes in bed without sharing.

Chubby your doing great, its hard to cope with a berevament but things do get a bit easier over time.

Thanks for all your supportive comments girls, feeling a lot more balanced today! Has anyone gone through the coming off the tablets stage before? I'm knackered but I just can't sleep. At the moment I spend half the night staring at the ceiling counting down the hours until it's time to get up for work and then eventually drift off what seems like minutes before the alarm goes off. Is this normal and how long will it last for? Think I'll have to crack open the wine tonight and see if that knocks me out!

hi everyone.
Chubbymummy, how are you feeling today?

Hi Itsa.
Went with the wine idea last night and I have to say it did the trick! I'm not planning to swap the ad's for alcohol but anything to get you through eh!!! Still found it hard to get up this morning and I've been knackered all day, must have a lot of sleep to catch up on. Got really bad stomach pains this evening - not sure if it's the lack of meds or because of the many pancakes I've eaten lol!

Hi Chubby
A drop of the old vino will do you no harm or a hot totty!!! How long have you been off them, im thinking about reducing my dosage from 40 to 20 when i see the doc next. Im starting to feel confused alot lately!!

Hows Squirdle and Kk havent heard from you girls ina while.

How are you getting on Autumn on your own?

Hi Twigy.
I'm not quite off them yet but I've dropped down to one every other day, one every 3 days if I'm feeling brave. It's really hard to stick with the reduced dose because I know I'd feel a hell of a lot better if I carried on taking them every day. I know I need to stick at it though - this was always going to be the hard part! Good luck with altering your dose too! x

chubby are you going with your docs advise or off your own back. Im feeling really fogy lately and dont know what to do.

Hi Girls

I'm still here, have moved up to 10 since last Friday. Doing ok, can't do anything much in the mornings but start to feel better about lunchtime. I guess its still early days, about 10 days now, so have to be patient for a bit longer.

I reduced down to 10mg then Doc told me to drop down to one every other day and if that was going okay then one every 3rd day and so on until it becomes just 2 or 3 tablets a week. She also said that there wouldn't be any side-effects - she clearly has never taken them herself then!!!!!!!!!! I'm sure it would be better to take 5mg a day instead of one every other day but she said not!? Obviously she's the doc and knows more than I do but it seems bizarre to me.
Dropping from 40 to 20 seems a big drop, isn't there anything in the middle you could try (do they do 30)? Sorry never went above 20mg so I can't help.

Hi KK.
Hang in there hun. I'm still no good in the mornings and I've been on the meds for a year (although I've never been much of a morning person so I probably can't blame the depression for that lol!)

kk it kicked in for me after two and a half weeks, so stick with it. Saying that, had a bit of a wobble yesterday and today but time will tell.
Chubby I was on prozac a few years ago, and I remember when I cut down on those I had a few side effects. I remeber a work colleague stopping some other AD, and she had quite bad effects, palpitations and stuff, but as long as you know that it's just the tablets you needn't worry.

Morning all

Doing well so far - altho this morning was a bit of a rush as did not wake up til 7.20am Still, I managed to get the dcs breakfasted and off to school OK and now I am contemplating the sunshine ...

Twigy you made me laugh about sharing cakes - except it was triple choc cookies Sounds like you had a fun day shopping - great stuff picking up bargains (as long as you needed them lol)

kk stick with it, it takes a little time to really kick in fully but you will get there.

keep going chubbymummy, you are doing brilliantly. I rememebr when i was on Prozac several years ago and i just stopped completely - not a good idea in hindsight altho hard to distinguish the pg side effects from the withdrawal symptoms!

itsa, sorry you had a wobble, hope you're Ok now. Hope doggie is coping well after his big op the other day

hi Autumn,
doggie is doing well and has settled in well. Sadly the vet said that doggie has a bad skin condition that could prove costly and needed treatment straight away. He seemed to think that we wouldn't want to keep him, but even after a week I love poor doggie lots and lots and he's not going anywhere! DH took a wee bit of persuading but saw sense eventually (when I said I'd move out with the dog and come and see him and DS once a week!).
Feel poo this morning. Headache. Will go and drug myself up and feel better...

Hi Autumn glad your doing well. You seem like a strong person and we all knew you could cope on your own. Even if you are scoffing those bickies.

Itsa how could you, your poor little dog is now a ladyboy!!!! (Every time my Dh does something really bad I threaten his dog with the snip!!)

Hi Chubby how did you sleep last night?

Kk how are you getting on. Have to say mornings are hard for me. Sometimes you really need to force yourself out of bed, but once up things are ok.

Well now I am sad . looks like we can't get a mortgage because of my poor credit history. So we are back to keeping our fingers crossed for the lottery and lining our landlords pocket with £600 a month

Hi Girls

Managing to get up ok and wash and dress, but lay down again this morning, feel so exhausted, don't know if its the increase in tablets, or catching up from lack of sleep at night. Was about 11.15 before I woke up again, feel such an idiot but feel so weak.
Anyway am going to Tesco's now to do shopping.

Be back later

KK

Hi girls.
Still not sleeping well so I have a killer headache and feel generaly run down.
Had a huge row with my boss today as she treats everyone like s**t and has been particualy nasty to me lately. She caught me at a bad moment and I gave it her with both barrells. I really shocked myself (and everyone else) but I'm so glad that I've stood up to her because I usually bottle it all up and then end up in tears in the toilets! She was so taken aback that she didn't really know what to say, I didn't get an apology (hell would freeze over before that woman apologises to anyone) but I got as close to one as I'm ever going to get. I've no patience at the moment between lack of sleep and my change in meds, I wouldn't normally dare say anything back to her (only ever done it once before and that was when I was 35 weeks pregnant and my hormones were everywhere). I must say I feel very proud of myself though!!!

Good for you!

Well done Chubby, gawd i'd never have the bottle to do that.

Hi Girls, can i join. Im on 10mg of citalopram and have been for about 4 months now. I was on 20mg after the birth of my daughter nearly 3 years ago for post natal depression. Was going to come off them soon but marriage is going pear shaped do darent at the moment. x

Welcome Justonemorecookie.
Sorry to hear about your troubles. Probably a good idea to stick with them, to help you along.

hello Justonemorecookie. I'd like a cookie.

Hi everyone, I'm still about, I've just had one ill boy or another since last Friday evening so not been on much! Fingers crossed that they are all fit and well now and WILL all go to school/nursery tomorrow!!!

I'm kind of ok this week. had a bit of a wobbly weekend (meeting and lack of sleep with ill DS3 but I do feel calmer most of the time. I have to see the doctoe again next week and am unsure as to whether to up my dose or not. I don't feel it has worked wonders, but then I am only on day 14 atm.

My support meeting was very scary. I ended up sobbing when asked how my week had been [shame] It's scary and sad, but I will keep going because I think it will help soon.

that should be not [shame]