Citalopram Week 4 - still feel rubbish

[cindymaddison]

So, I'm not a mum, nor do I plan to be anytime soon but you all seem super helpful so I've decided to post on here!

I'm 21 and have suffered from anxiety since a very young age, however a recent traumatic experience has caused me to be prescribed 10mg of citalopram.

I started the medication about a month ago, and after the first week I felt great! My anxiety was still there but it was so much more manageable and it was the most normal I'd felt since around November! I found myself waking up and actually wanting to get out of bed, which is something I haven't experienced for a while. My productivity levels were high and I was no longer scared of leaving the house.

However, over the last few days I seem to have reverted back to how I was before. My anxiety levels are high again, my intrusive thoughts are constantly on my mind, and I'm struggling to even get out of bed most mornings. I can barely eat and I'm just feeling really hopeless most of the time, as I was sure the citalopram was working.

I tend to get PMDD symptoms around my period and it came yesterday, so I was wondering whether that could be the reason - however I would have thought the medication would help!

Do you think I need to increase my dose to 20mg and is it normal to completely plummet back to square one, even after a month of being on the medication?

Hi op, I am also on 10mg Citalopram and I agree that on such a low dose I still get the ups and downs of hormones. It definitely blunts the anxiety and I bounce back quicker than before I started Citalopram. About day 5 after coming on is when oestrogen tends to pick up again and my mood improves if that helps. Also what I find really helps is 20min Epsom Salts baths as the magnesium is really relaxing and trying to walk every day or every other day.

10mg is a low dose so you could try and up it but be mindful other side effects might increase (headaches, spaced out).

My DH went straight on 40mg several years ago, then he dropped to 30mg when the upper limit was dropped.
It took about 4 weeks of him taking it for us to see the smallest amount of improvement. Then he was noticeably better every month, up to about six months when he had the full effect.
So have some patience but ring the GP for advice, they might ask you to increase it.
The only side effect he had was reduced libido, but he was so anxious that he didn’t have much of one anyway.