Citalopram 10mg

[Rainbow1994]

I am 4 weeks nearly 5 into 10mg citalopram for really bad anxiety i have suffered years with it. I have 3 children one been 9month old and it seems to have got worse, i got to where i couldnt eat i was loosing weight couldnt concentrate and just panicky all the time google EVERYTHING, worst case scenario when the children are ill you name it i have done it. I hit a wall and went to the doctor. Now the doctors have tried plenty of times to put me on ADs and i have refused but this time i knew i needed. Anyway the 1st two weeks were awful i wanted to stop. The 3rd week i felt glimpses of my old self and was laughing and had energy. And this week i seem to be struggling again not like i was but its there. is this normal in the first 6 weeks? The doctor wants to up my dose but im so scared of the side effects again.
Please dont give me anything to over think or be scared of as i actually give myself symptoms!
I just want peoples POSITIVE experiences on citalopram.

10mg is a low dose. If you have dipped again suggests dose does need upping. I had to increase my dose up to 30mg to reap the benefits and feel well. Stayed on that for a while and have come back down to 20mg.

You do have to try different doses to work out what works for you unfortunately. But the long term benefits outweigh the short term pain for me.

So is it still not early days? Im so scared of side effects upping my dose.

My side effects when I first started taking them were bad but I have never experienced side effects from increasing my dose of Citalopram. I went from 20 to 30.

Good luck 😊

10mg is a very low dose- probably not even capable of having any significant effect. I had to reach 50 before it really had any impact and 100 to feel like myself. I took it for 2 years and reduced back to 50 and now am not on any at all and doing well

My view is always, you'd take an antibiotic for a chest infection, or thyroxine if your thyroid wasn't functioning, or blood pressure medication if you had high blood pressure so take the medication if it relieves your depression/anxiety- which can be crippling and make life a misery- and take the dose suggested by your GP. You will feel better, function better and know when you can start reducing your use of it.

I speak as someone who has suffered depression on and off since I was 18.

The only side effect I ever had was after 18 months on 100mg, I began to feel as if I wasn't experiencing emotions properly- as if I was slightly numbed emotionally. I was happy to be that at the beginning because things were so awful but realised I felt strong enough by then to deal with it all again. It was reduced to 50mg which was good and 6 months later I stopped taking it altogether.

Is this citalopram or sertriline?

Can you be up and down for first 6 weeks? Or would you suggest i need to up? Sorry i dont know how to reply to your post im new to this.

I must add that it has helped my appetite come back and i am able to concentrate better. I was in A&E over the weekend with chest pain turns out i have pulled it all but i think anyone would panic with chest pain?
Also i think i may have pulled it through "not being able to catch my breatn" so i am always taking deep breaths which everything is fine once i had been checked over. Gp says its anxkety but i dont know if it had turned into habit and i need to retrain my breathing? I am awaiting CBT.
I am also only 3 weeks in at being back at work after maternity so that hasnt helped either.

I have to be honest that I don't remember if I was up and down or not. What I do know is that my depression was directly caused by my anxiety and ever since my anxiety stabilised the depression has gone. I have normal ups and downs now.

@YesItsMeIDontCare yes my anxiety got me to the point i was asking people and my gp if i had postnatal depression but without the crying as i cant cry something else that i overthink. But its the anxiety that caused all the feelings. I have health anxiety and it takes over my life at times. Vicious circle. Think i will go back next week and try 20mg.

I have agreed to up my dose from tommorow.

I take 30mg of citalapram. The initial side effects are that your symptoms will get worse before they get better.

When I started I didn't have an appetite and lost a lot of weight

They did pass.

Speak to your GP as there are lots of different AD you can try

Even if i have 10 mg already in my system? I will still get side effects?

Exactly the same for me, I was really scared of upping my dose after such a horrible time starting out, and i had no side effects whatsoever! I'm on 30mg and it's the right dose for me now, I feel much better

Thats reassuring that 2 of you didnt get the side effects again. Shes told me to take x2 of my 10mg and if i feel there too strong to go back down to 10.

If it helps, because I was so anxious, I cut a 10mg tablet in half the first two nights, just used a pair of nail clippers, so I took 5mg for two nights and then just took the full 10mg on the third when I had no side effects x

@@Screwballs im already on 10 so cant really half it been on 10 for 4 weeks. She just told me to take x2 of my 10mg.

This is really really interesting. I hope you’re okay op. I have been given citilopram for a few months now. Not even tried it. Drs have pushed me off a cliff- no contact at all now for months yet for two years it was almost weekly. And then nothing but I guess that’s the NHS . It’s disgusting. Especially when it’s a Doctor .
It’s an absolute nightmare so just me to rely on.

Good luck op ❤️

I meant instead of taking another full 10mg on top of the existing 10, you could cut the second tablet in half and make it 15mg to help you settle into it x

I must say my doctors have been amazing had 2 weekly reviews and even when i have phoned them to ask questions they have got straght back to me they have been brilliant. Im still in 2 weekly reviews now. But its been so hard to get me on the ADs this may be why. I would say take them if you need them when people mention side effects its not anything you cant handle. Well for me it wasnt. I went off my food and would gip at the thought of it so lived on soup and bannanas for 2 week! I was dry renching alot, my anxiety worsened but i was already at a low point anyway. And i didnt sleep very good but it all seems to have passed and then for the last couple days my anxiety hasnt been great im fixating on things again and googling.

@Screwballs great idea! I never thought of that i think i will feel better doing this.
Thanks!

@Paintedtoenail me telling you to take them and the side effects arnt that bad but im worried about upping my dose because of side effects! It was the anxiety that was hard to deal with thats why im scared.

I just dont know if its a blip or if i need to up them its so hard to tell.

I have been taking Citalopram on and off for about ten years. I have accepted now that I will be taking it for life, and it has given me my life back, so that is okay for me. I never experienced any side effects when starting, but I do get them if I haven’t taken them for a couple of days. I was also so anxious about taking them at the start. I was in a similar position to you - my anxiety was absolutely crippling. It was misery.

@Catsback yes its awful isnt it! I tried everything under the sun before ADs they was a last resort but nothing worked not that im embarrased to be on them but because i heard people talk about side effects! And with health anxiety it doesnt go very good together with side effects but i managed to get through. Just dont know if its a blip or if i do need to up my dose its hard. I actually make my body ache from it! Its crippling like you say.