Citalopram - side effects

[Nannon145]

I have been prescribed 10mg citalopram for post-natal depression and anxiety & of course I’m worrying about taking them. After opening up to everyone close to me I’ve felt a little bit better the past few weeks so actually going out with my partner this weekend for some me and him time. I’m usually at my best when with him.

I'm wondering whether to wait till after this to start the tablets in case they make me feel bad or whether to just get started now.

it’s been a long time since I’ve looked forward to something so don’t want it ruined. I know I obviously need to take them to help my mental health as I am very low at the minute but this is the first up I’ve had in a while.

other people’s experiences/advice would be appreciated. Be kind please.

Bump

Hey! Really glad that you took the plunge & got prescribed the medication. As it is with SSRIs, it takes time to adjust. From my personal experience ( been on it for last 7+ years off & on ) it takes approximately 4-6 weeks to adjust.
It's a change for your body & it can make you tired, feeing nauseous & disruptive sleep but it all depends on individual cases.

I didn't have nausea but I felt extremely tired & thought I was feeling worse than before I started it. But stay put & you will feel better after your initial adjustments.

I had a few commitments & I finished them before I restarted the medication in October, as I knew I will take time to adjust & didn't want the commitments to hang over my head while I was dealing with the adjustments.

As far as holding on until your outing with your husband only you can make that decision. Hope my experience helps you reach a suitable conclusion.

If you need any handhold when you do start, please feel free to message me.

The only side effect I had was yawning. For the first two weeks I yawned constantly. It was weird, because my instinctive interpretation was that I was tired - but I wasn't at all!

The yawning stopped after a couple of weeks, and that was the end of my side effects from citalopram. Lifting the depression took longer, and was much more subtle. Part of it was that after a month or two I noticed that all my emotions were much blander, less intense. This meant that gloom was less intense, but the flipside was that happiness was also less intense. But it was there. Happiness was there and became more frequent, if not particularly intense.

Side effects for me were strange dreams and feeling hotter than most people.

Well worth it for the benefits.

When I decided to come off them I just felt a bit fuzzy headed as I adjusted.

I started off on 10mg and am now on 20mg. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done. It’s made me much calmer ie not blowing up at the slightest thing. It can take a few weeks to adjust but if you push through you’ll notice the benefits. I’m so much happier x

I had a very dry mouth for a few days but was absolutely fine after that. Really wish I had started taking it earlier as it has changed my life dramatically for the better. Good luck.

I had worse anxiety for a few weeks which was hard but I felt awful anyway. But I didn't really have any other side effects. When I went from 10mg up to 20mg I felt instantly better which was weird but it helped a lot going up.
It's really helped me feel calmer and look forward to things. I feel capable of coping with stressful situations but to be honest normal life and getting up in the morning was hard and now I don't dread each day, I even look forward to normal things like having my morning coffee.
I'm able to be in the moment a lot more and not worry about things that 'might' happen.
I definitely recommend taking them but do stick with it and if 10mg isn't working then I'd still recommend trying 20mg! I honestly felt pretty much instantly better once I went to 20mg.
Good luck and keep us posted.

Excessive yawning for the first week and then once it got settled in I completely lost my libido.

Hi there, I'm almost 4 weeks in, 20mg.

Most people going onto antidepressants over think it, it's almost symptomatic of bloody needing them😅I had my prescription on the table looking at me for a week before I finally dared, through desperation to feel better, to give them a shot. My advice is that no time is perfect, but if you need them then the time is now. They are not quick to act so it's not worth delaying feeling better for one day out.

My experience is that the first four days were the worst, I started off taking them at night as I'd read a common side effect was tiredness (Spoiler alert, they did not make me tired! The complete opposite!)

Day 1 I was absolutely fine, no issue at all, confident. Broken sleep but expected.

Day 2 I felt drugged to the eyeballs, high anxiety, sicky, nervous, buzzing, felt that I'd made a terrible mistake and couldn't wait for it to be over, absolutely didn't want to take them ever again but read enough online, plus other Mumsnet threads etc to know that "this too shall pass". I'd also spoken to OH and he helped encourage me to carry on, knowing what I'd told him from what I'd read about getting through the first two weeks. Slept absolutely dreadfully, felt like a zombie.

Day 3 much the same as Day 2 so I decided not to take a pill that night (would have been my fourth pill) to move my pill taking time to mornings, therefore I took my fourth pill on morning 5 of my journey.

Day 5 there was a good mprovement on how I felt on day 2/3 but still felt awful by 8pm

Day 6 I pushed my pill taking tkme back to 10.30am so that by the time the "bad" symptoms kicked in, I'd be asleep. Worked perfectly, felt much better. Still aware that something was happening with me, but perfectly able to cope and go about my business.

Since then, it's been pretty smooth. Had a wobble day 14 were I felt back to day 2, but other than that, I've had much less in the way or dark thoughts, I don't think they are fully 100% working yet but I feel positive that I'm better than I was.

It's a journey! And it's not easy, it almost feels like a test in itself as to how desperate you are vs how much you'll tolerate to feel better. But it is worth it. Stay strong x

Hi, I have health anxiety and it did make the side effects (which were relatively minor) harder to tolerate. My GP said I could increase gradually, starting with 1/4 of a pill, then half, then a whole 10mg one (over the space of 10 days +/-). What that does mean is that the anxiety was still very much present and it was hard to know what symptom was coming from meds vs. anxiety.
After 3-4 weeks I realized that I wasn't spending my entire days fixated on every body sensation, I was able to eat again (which is a barometer for my anxiety)...I still think about health a lot and hope I can continue to improve and have a positive and anxiety -free mindset. My recommendation is you start as soon as you can, sooner you do ...sooner you begin to get better xx

I didn't have any side effects starting citalopram, except needing more sleep. They made me feel immediately better. I'd say just go for it!

Day 4 of taking citalopram. My head has felt a little fuzzy, and if anything feel more peckish than usual but all good so far. Praying they work for me.

When I started it I ate so much more too. I think... I was feeling so anxious that I couldn't eat so perhaps I ate like normal but it felt like loads! I'm a few months in now and the hunger had calmed and I eat like I did before.
Glad they're not so bad so far! Keep on going.

I’m on day two and whoa, properly jittery and on edge like I’ve had a gallon of coffee. Been on them before but swear it wasn’t this bad. Going to go for a run after work just to try and calm down.

I've been on it for many years. Started with 10mg and felt nothing, no side effects and no benefits. Ditto with 20mg.
It's only when I went up to the maximum dose of 40 that I started to feel better - not wildly happy but more on an even keel. So I would say it stabilised my mood. I suppose thinking about it I do need a lot of sleep but I'd never really connected that to taking citalapram.
As for needing 40mg I wonder if that's just because I am rather big.
It took about three months to feel any benefit so stick with it and don't expect it to work overnight.

Day 3 and it’s even worse! Feel like I’m coming down with something, bad head and dizziness. Took the day off work cos I can’t stare at a screen all day. Can’t wait for it to settle down.

Honestly it can take a few weeks to really settle down. Once it does it just kind of does its work in the background. I’m on 20mg and never felt better. More cheerful, positive and chilled. You’ve got to push through and hang in there; plus there are some awful viruses around at the moment so you could even be feeling odd because you may have a touch of one (I currently have) x

DH says they made him tired but I’d disagree, I’d say they relaxed him so he finally could sleep.
The only other thing was erectile dysfunction, but that’s not going to affect you !

Maybe this is me! I thought the tablets made me more tired but perhaps this is just what normal people feel like - not wide awake and on edge all the time because of anxiety!

Day 7? Still crazy floaty/rushy! Started taking them before bed as I thought it would be easier during the day…it’s now just so hard to get up in the morning. Still, I have been getting to sleep easier and I’m staring to feel more at peace so it’s not all bad. Would just be good to be back on a level. Persevering!

Got to say, I stuck with them and the side effects all went after a few weeks. Still get a bit drowsy in the day if I take them in the morning but it’s ok if I take them before bed.
Mood has massively improved and can see the wood for the trees now. Can finally get a bit of clarity!

So glad to hear this. Me too but still getting anxiety and not sure im 100%, its been almost three months so Im going to ask to up my dose next month. I did read a thread where someone had done that and felt awful again though so im a bit anxious!