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

@Elliejane

How are you feeling today I hope covid isn't too bad?

@BritInAus

Thank you for your message and reassurance I am really glad it has helped you and your recovery!

@SteveHarringtonsChestHair

What amazing successful end to your journey it makes me smile when I read people have come through the absolute worst and are now enjoying life and are looking forward thank you for sharing your experience it gives me hope on the darker days!

Day 17 update

I slept from 9 till 8 with no panic attacks!
My anxiety has reduced considerably and I'm not over thinking as much as I was I still have fleeting moments but I am managing it much better now since starting citalopram. Thank you to each and everyone of you for messaging your experiences and your messages of support it helped me persevere and gave me hope. I know I have an increase coming the doctor said 20mg is the better dose but i am hoping the side effects won't be as bad to tolerate!

Really pleased you feeling better . I am as well . I have Covid for first time and pre tablets I would been extremely anxious . I am a bit but nothing like I would have been . I also need to increase dose at some point but won’t be for a while and once over this Covid 😩. Really good support

@Sara1235

I tend to find the weekends harder and have actually had a pretty good week in general. I have been really low this weekend. I think I maybe just got a bit too ahead of myself thinking I was almost back to normal.

Also as I am feeling a bit better I find I am able to start looking forward again, rather than being totally stuck in the current moment. But that isn't always so helpful as my negative thoughts are still winning a fair bit of the time and tell me my life is just going to be endless miserable cycles of mental health difficulties.

I also feel like this relapse is turning out to be more difficult and lasting longer than other times, not sure if that is true or just my perception.

@Snowshower

I feel the same this relapse seems a lot more intense than previous it feels harder to deal with each time a dip with mental health comes it's just so exhausting!

I still get anxious by the same thoughts that creep in daily I'm going to be like this forever and my headaches will never go away and I'm just going to live a miserable existence but deep down I know we will get back to more steady days than rocky! Its sounds like your doing everything you can which is amazing when it's so utterly exhausting the strength to get through each day and the resolve is nothing short of exceptional! We don't think we are resilient but when you listen to your story your the most resilient of them all!

@Sara1235

Thanks for your reply.

I have not had a good week at all and feeling really scared. Things seem to be going in the wrong direction. It is good to have you remind me that we will get there because I have been struggling to see that today.

@Snowshower

I'm really sorry to hear you have had a tough week has anything in particular triggered it? Is you anxiety high?

You will get through this you have before and will again I know it's exhausting and harder each time but you will get control again!

What dose of Citalopram are you on?

It has saved my life- no exaggeration.

Thanks @Sara1235

I take fluoxetine and was increased to 60mg approx 6 weeks ago. I am scared that it's not working properly as I seem to have stalled / gone back a bit after initial improvements and that I am going to have to switch onto something else. This fear though is most probably making me feel a lot worse and therefore backing up my thought that the meds aren't working.

I am.struggling a lot more with negative thinking and worried that these feelings are going to spiral further. Not sure what I can do to stop it though.

@Snowshower

If you don't mind me asking is it general anxiety disorder you suffer with or something else? Have you tried CBT or any other therapy?

I understand why your feeling scared, the mind is a powerful thing and I understand why it's hard to break the negative thought process I'm not quite there yet either. There are some things that are working a bit for me I've tried to accept the anxiety and that the thoughts are just that thoughts they are not true and it's just my body being over protective with the fight and flight it's not easy though xx

@Sara1235

I don't actually know what my 'diagnosis' is. It was initially treated as PND, then it was suggested it was SAD after a few relapses, but that no longer fits. I definitely have both anxiety and depression symptoms. I have always been an "anxious" person but just put up with it until it got so bad after children. I definitely have some symptoms of general anxiety and also social anxiety.

Since children I have had numerous "crashes" where I wake up every morning for weeks with extreme physical anxiety symptoms - full on fight or flight, vomiting, diarrhea, unable to eat anything, difficulty sleeping, racing thoughts, mixed in with periods of extremely low mood, feeling hopeless, useless, not wanting to go on.

It tends to gradually improve over a period of weeks / a few months until it is over.

I am also aware when I look back at it that before the crash of anxiety symptoms I have had a period of not being "myself" and showing signs of being quite depressed which I wasn't aware of / didn't acknowledge at the time.

I have had some CBT which I found a little bit helpful. I am now able to recognise unhelpful kinds of thinking when I am doing it and have identified some core beliefs that are causing me problems, but I find that when I have crashed I try to do the self help but it is too overwhelming. Once I am feeling a bit better I bury my head in the sand and don't want to address my problems / am scared to try incase I fail.

I am currently looking into therapy but not sure if more CBT or something else would be better.

@Snowshower

That does sound really difficult to go through daily the anxiety sounds crippling! Your amazing for still getting up and carrying on that takes a great deal of strength everyday and it will not last forever you can overcome this!

I think going back into therapy is a great step If it helps I've done CBT a number of times over the years it usually helps when I have a dip with my mental health and helped me with a proper diagnosis.

Similar to yourself I had PND and Health Anxiety I overcame that went on ADs and had CBT years ago was OK for a few years but tend to relapse often and the past 2 years the anxiety and Health Anxiety has got out of control. Like you I have some deep rooted core beliefs that I want to try and break but have never properly faced in therapy I've only addressed the superficial stuff.

I am going back into therapy CBT Acceptance and Commitment Threapy we are going to do some Mindfulness CBT after.

I know that when we overcome this and we will in the future I will likely relapse life can be tough and throw all sorts at us its unrealistic to think we wouldn't, in the acceptance therapy and mindfulness CBT it helps you learn techniques on how to deal with it when hits.

Hope it’s ok for me to join.

I started on citalopram 10mg about 10 days ago. I am very glad to read this thread because I’ve been feeling worse since starting it. I feel sort of nervous/butterflies in my tummy a lot of the day, slightly panicky sometimes and finding it hard to eat. I’m reassured this is all normal. GP said it could take up to 4 weeks for it to have some effect.

@bendmeoverbackwards

Of course this thread as been my saviour I can assure you that is all normal I started to feel better around day 15 and now I have no nausea and my anxiety is so much better! Keep going it is worth it!

Hi all
Just update from me and a question . I am currently about 3.5 weeks ok 5mg escitalopram. I had increased anxiety to start and loss of appetite nausea . About day 12 things started to improve and I realised I was less anxious

I then got Covid and initially was still doing well with anxiety . However the last few days (day 9 Covid now and faint line ) I been back to feeling more anxious again worrying I will get long covif (I suffer from health anxiety which is why I am
medication) . My son also moved back to uni today so that’s hard and my cat been unwell. So a few things going on .
However do you think it time now to increase from 5 to 10 or maybe 7.5 . Just don’t feel the same again .

Any thoughts ?

@Sara1235 are you still on 10mg ?

@Elliejane

I would say you probably do need to increase it yes do you have a review booked in with the doctor?

I am still in 10mg I have a review Wednesday with the doctor my headaches are getting better and my anxiety is alot better not having as many intrusive thoughts I think if I go up to 20mg i will start to get back to me again.

@Woofie7

That's great that it's worked for you! It's really rough going in the beginning but I am so glad I persevered with them I do feel better I think the next increase to 20mg will help me even more!

Feeling terrible again . Back to having bad anxiety and waking in night. Why is this happening as I was so much better last week ? 4 weeks now on 5mg . I have my gp at 920 this morning . Just shaking and so disappointed that it’s back . Anyone help ?

@Elliejane

Hi, just wanted to offer support. I was feeling a lot better then had a really bad week last week where my mood was so bad and I couldn't stop crying. Since Saturday my anxiety, eating and sleeping are all worse again.

I have been through this many times and do remember that there are ups and downs, but this seems worse.

I sometimes wonder though if part of my trouble is that when I have an off day or feel a bit worse I start to panic and catastrophise that I am not going to get better, the meds aren't working etc and that just sets my anxiety off even more. A bit of a vicious cycle.

I have also noticed a link between dips in mood during my menstrual cycle.

Another possibility is that you are anxious about specific events. Were you maybe worrying about going to the GP? I am anxious about my GP review in case they decide this set back means the meds aren't working and that I will need to change to something else. I am overthinking this a lot and working myself up.

What did the doctor say?

@Elliejane

Meant to add I am 6 weeks into my increased dose of meds. Today has been better though, so I am more able to tell myself it is probably just a little blip and that I am still making progress. Hopefully this will help to break the downward spiral of worrying about feeling worse. It is so hard though.

@Snowshower thank you very much for replying . It’s very kind of you , yes I think you are right when you feel things are regressing or more anxiety then it spirals

I saw my gp and she said I being too hard on myself as I just had Covid and a son going back to uni etc . I said I felt tablets were not working after settling. She said 5mg of escitalopram is low so said go up to 10 but do it in stages 7.5 first for 2 weeks then 10 so just have to try that .

worried that I will get the increased anxiety back but have no option just to try it .

My sleep was poor again last night .

How are you doing today ?

@Snowshower also my period kinda started yesterday so I sure there is a hormone side too .