Advice from people who have taken Citalopram

[Sara1235]

Hi everyone

I am now on day 3 of taking citalopram and I've started to think I've made a big mistake these side effects are horrible nausea, no appetite, stomach ache, burning sensation, intense anxiety, faster pulse, dizziness, just want to cry all the time.

Does anyone have any advice on how they got through the first week / 2 weeks? How long is it this intense for does each day get better?

Thank you

@littleme21 did you get different side effects each time you took it?

@Sunshinebea

I started this post because I was in the same situation. I took Citalopram years ago and had a relapse with my mental health.

When I restarted Citalopram it was hell the side affects were horrible the prickling I can relate to I wondered what was happening. I didn't want to move, the anxiety was so much more intense. I was on high alert I had a family holiday pending with my husband and Daughter and just didn't understand what was happening. This post really helped me through so many people have similar side affects which gave me hope. It was rough for a month but it did subside and the noise left my head and I am still on them and doing well!

@Sunshinebea

Happy to answer any questions you have to help reassure that it will pass x

@Sara1235 thank you so much for replying to this. I have read your posts and it was super encouraging. I really don’t know why I am having such a bad time as Ive taken them before and not experienced this intensity. I am really freaking out. I feel spaced out, like I can’t focus, my jaw keeps tightening but the hot heat prickles and the waves of intense anxiety and nausea are awful. I am terrified I won’t be able to function again or my brain is reacting badly. I just want to cry all the time and I have a family depending on me. I feel like I’m on another planet and I’m afraid it will get worse still.

how did you function? How did you cope with these symptoms? And did you feel like this at all?

@Sunshinebea

I didn't know what hit me when I started taking them! I didn't remember feeling that bad when I started them all those years ago either!

I also couldn't believe how quickly the side affects came on after 1 tablet.

What mg are you taking?

The ingredients have changed over the years to purify the drug.

If i am being really honest with for the first 2 weeks I couldn't function i had to take time off work and my husband had to help alot over those 2 weeks which was straining on the our family. My friends and family helped, too. I could just about make dinner week 1. The feeling in my head was so horrible and constant, I also had like these brain zaps like you brain shakes they were horrendous. I felt sick constantly the anxiety was unbearable at it's peaks causing panic attacks, I didn't eat alot at all lost alot of weight and I felt desperate the pins and needles pricking feeling was most intense when the anxiety peaked it spread through my arms and neck chest is that the same for you? The sensory overload was awful loud noises would cut through me. I couldn't sleep out of fear i would not wake up i was a mess and questioned whether the tablets where worth it. But I joined this site and whilst it gave me great sadness that so many people were struggling i found hope that it does get better. I just kept talking everyday which was what helped me through nothing else distracted me at that time.

@Sara1235 thanks so much. Yeah I get waves of panic and this prickling heat all through my arms and chest and face. I feel like I’m totally zoned out at times and like my throat is tight and my eyes are heavy. It’s unpleasant. I too feel sick and have to eat little and often.

Im on 10mg which is what I was on years ago. Last time I had some sickness and anxiety but nothing like this. The feeling in my head is intense I keep worrying I’m going to have a stroke or something!!

@Sunshinebea

The end of week 2 we was due to go to Cornwall the fear of how the hell is was going to get through that was just intensifying everything it feel like despair!

I had to do a 8 hour journey feeling like this no idea how I got through that.

The first few days were horrendous I was having like what felt out of body experiences I was worried because I was away from about how hospitals worked but I honestly thought I was ill and it couldn't have been the tablets.

Then the Thursday of week 3 I woke up and I didn't feel so bad. I was weary but the anxiety wasn't so intense and I didn't feel so light headed and I was hungry!

From there everyday got better.

I did find sunglasses helped no end with the sensory and fuzzy head feeling.

I found soft foods helped like yogurts and I had a lot of cearels.

The anxiety causes so much tension that why you jaw is feeling tense I did take regular paracetamol and ibuprofen over the period not advising that it just helped me.

I found white noise helped in the evening to calm me and help me get to sleep.

I took everyday as it came and tried to make sure I did what I could physically manage in those 2 weeks but I didn't push myself, I cooked, watched alot of Friends didn't move alot, when I might have had a moment of feeling OK I would do something wash pot or play with my daughter. I just had to ask for help over that time.

I promise you that your not Ill, your brain is a little broken, and the tablets are trying to rebalance the serotonin it will pass xx

@Sunshinebea I think we gain a bit of health anxiety because the symptoms are so overwhelming and the brain doesn't stop with the what ifs you don't think it could be the tablets and that something is seriously wrong I thought i had a brain tumor and the same was going to have an stroke our thoughts also make the anxiety worse which makes all the symptoms intensify and around we go xx

@Sara1235 cried a little at your kindness - I just feel very fragile and like I don’t know what’s happened to me. Thank you so much for your support.

I’m only on day 2 and I don’t know how I’ll get through more. I am worried the symptoms will keep increasing. Did you find it to be constant through 2 weeks?

Xx

@Sunshinebea

The first 5 days where the hardest, the intensity then slowly decreased for me the prickling went early week 2, the anxiety was still intense but not as bad as those first few days. I could stomach cearels in week 2. You will get through it but expect highs and lows you'll have moments of feeling ok make the most of those moments it helps you to cope with the lows and be kind to yourself even getting out of bed right now is a positive so be sure to tell yourself that recognise those achievements! xx

@Sara1235 thanks so much. Did you ever feel really detached like you are floating or not really here but in a horrid disconcerting way. I don’t know how to describe it. I can’t focus my eyes on things and I feel a bit removed from reality

Hi is anyone there? I’m feeling so afraid. I just had a couple hours feeling ok then a HUGE wave of nausea hit me and my brain felt like it was frozen and I had the biggest panic attack. I’m terrified something is wrong. I feel so sick and shaky. And my brain feels tingly and weird like really slow or something.

@Sunshinebea

I used to feel very disconnected it was like I was watching me from above or i would feel like I was in a dream like it wasn't real but it was all real.

I promise you it's the drugs, when you feel nauses starting to come on what do you do? What do you think? What do feel?

@Sara1235 thr wave of nausea triggers my anxiety and I feel light headed then I feel like I’m gonna faint or pass out and I also feel like my brain slows down and I can’t swallow. It’s horrid. I feel like my brain is full of wool and slow but my body is racing and I feel sick. Then I start shaking and getting prickly hot sensations all up my arms and convince myself I’m gonna die. I honestly don’t know how to keep going with this im dreading taking the 4th tablet tonight. What if it gets worse?

@littleme21 thats a good idea I haven’t tried that I will do!

@Sunshinebea

So when the nausea comes on that is a trigger for your anxiety so when you feel sick I imagine you start to panic because the feeling is horrible?

As soon as you panic your breathing goes out the window you'll without knowing it change how you breath taking in more oxygen as your breath speeds up that also causes a wooly light head then you start to tell yourself all the worst things are going causing more breath changes as your body goes into fight or flight mode.

If I can give you any advice try as much as you can to control your breathing when possible, as suggested go outside sit down and take some slow deep breathes in through the nose out through the mouth.

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/anxiety-and-panic-attacks/symptoms/

Breathing exercises for anxiety - Priory https://share.google/VSMF0r9A7ZvGYcQ1z

@Sunshinebea

I know it's super scary and your wondering what the hell is going on and wondering how one tiny pill can make you feel this way.

Maybe call the doctor tomorrow they might be able to give you something alongside it to help calm the symptoms xx

@Sara1235 thank you so much I will look at the breathing techniques. I know you’re right about the panic. It’s a viscous circle.
right now I can’t sit up because I feel so light headed and I’m worrying that I’m going to pass out or that the medication has done something bad to my brain. My throat feels tight and I can’t swallow which is probably anxiety. But I just keep getting so dizzy and that’s a new symptom today. Like tingling and wooshing in my head. Did you get that?

@Sunshinebea

My brain felt like it shocked like an electric shock really to explain it was debilitating. Are you able to lay down and sleep?

How is sleeping for you?

I'm not an expert i just know all of your symptoms were so similar to mine and others on this site.

When you're in the thick of it, nothing matters. I was 100% convinced I had a brain Tumour convinced I went to the hospital to A&E because I convinced myself i had all these symptoms, I had a CT scan which was clear but I still didn't believe it all the time is was the tablets. Our brains are very powerful, the more you think you feel something and concentrate on it the worse it feels like it's getting.

Easier said than done in these situations but eventually this does start to settle down and you'll realise it was the tablets all long but then you start to feel better and the noise and apprehension starts to dissappear.

But if it's too much don't suffer call your GP and get a professional opinion xx

The sickness has been so intense and I’ve not had a single hours sleep tonight as I am shaking and tingling all over. Going to ring the GP. So upset. My body just feels so broken it won’t relax and the intense waves of nausea when I close my eyes are unbearable.

Did anyone get a weird sort of head rush with nausea and feeling dizzy and out of it?
im on day 4 and the side effects are so debilitating. Almost rang the hospital last night! Trying to keep telling myself it’s just the medicine and it will adjust but the side effects feel more intense today and wondering will they keep ramping up? Worried I’ll not be able to function for my two little girls again 😥

Hello all. Due to the sheer intensity of my side effects and my anxiety the GP has advised me to switch from 10mg to 5mg and see if it helps. But because I have health anxiety I am now worrying that I’ll get some awful side effect from switching suddenly. Can anyone reassure me!?

@Sunshinebea

Very very unlikely to happen if anything you'll start to feel better in the next day or two.