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Mental health

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Original poster

forgot my tablets, and had loads of energy

19 replies

lucyellensmum · 31/03/2008 21:13

i am on citalopram 40mg for anxiety and depression. Since last june. I forgot to take my tablets this morning and just felt really energetic. Have done this before. I wonder if that means it might be time to come off of them? Or was it just because it wasa a lovely sunny day

OP posts:

gagarin · 31/03/2008 22:33

Might be the time....the weather improving may help too. Don't cold turkey - see the GP and work out how to wean yourself off slowly.

Glad you had a good day

Original poster

lucyellensmum · 01/04/2008 20:10

Well today was quite different, felt terrible and couldnt quite put my finger on why ( i did take my tablets). I have back pains and tummy pains so might be pre menstural, although i never know, i have a very irregular cycle and have a marena bastard contraption coil.

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Original poster

lucyellensmum · 05/04/2008 22:05

after a really really shitty week, i forgot to take my tablets twice in a row - agian i felt full of energy, but im not sure if it was all good or not. DD was being a daddies girl this morning and didnt want me to take her to ballet, so i thought, right, when they are gone i'll do it (kill myself) but i wondered if i would have enough time. DD relented and let me come "for a little bit" bless her, and it was lovely to watch her. The rest of the day was really good, lots of energy, coudlnt understand why, then realised i hadnt taken my tablets for two days WTF?? Now i dont know what to think, i was worried that if i didnt take them i would freak out, DP was nagging me to take them so i did. But do you think my body is telling me enough is enough - time to go it alone?? The thought terrifies me, i love my family so much, i don't want to lose them, or them me. Im proper scared now. Wishing i never started the tablets at all. bollocks. I feel quite happy though.

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Original poster

lucyellensmum · 05/04/2008 22:07

its not like i can go to my doctor, my doctor is on mat leave and her locum is awful, so dont know what to do for the best.

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sushistar · 05/04/2008 22:08

Lucyellansmum, you sound quite up-and-down. It may be that the on-off tablet taking plus sunny weather are making you feel this way? But since you are having thoughts of self harm still, it would be a really good idea to talk to a dr before you make any decisions. Remember coming off the ads can be quite a tricky time, so do be careful. I'm sure you know that already, but please look after yourself and talk to your dr before stopping the tabs completly. It can be quite dangerous.

TotalChaos · 05/04/2008 22:09

funnily enough I get that when I miss a day of prozac. it's short lived though. Seeing as you've been pondering killing yourself, I think it would be a very bad idea to take yourself off them. IIRC from another thread the locum GP was a complete cow - but don't take yourself off them or start cutting down without discussing with another more sympathetic GP

TotalChaos · 05/04/2008 22:10

is she the only GP at the practice? you could always change to another practice if necessary.

exrebel · 05/04/2008 22:21

do not come off, you are going about the wrong way, the fact the you feel great when you just miss one tablet or teo does not mean that it is a sign or that your body is telling you anything. Please tell your doctor how you feel before you stop, 40 mg citalopram is really strong to stop suddently on your own. It happended to me to when I missed some tablets a while ago now. There must be some sort of medical reason why this happens. I ended up a few weeks without tablets and ended up in much worse condition then before, and got into much more trouble.

Original poster

lucyellensmum · 06/04/2008 19:35

I took my tablets last night and felt OK, today i felt quite energetic again (and it is snowing so cant blame the weather). I slept really well too, i could feel the tiredness creeping up on me. Have normally been taking them in the morning so now im going to take them at night because i am hoping to feel less tired.

As for the stupid locum doctor - how does this make any sense. I went to her to describe some seriously worrying PMT symptoms (suicidal thoughts) and apart from being told off for being late, she said, well SSRIs work for PMT just up your dose by ten or 20mg - "um, i'm already on 40mg". So she said, oh, dont do that - her next sentance was "How long have you been taking these, oh a year nearly, well, you can't be relying on these tablets all the time, you have to take responsibility for yourself you know" .

Two things luv:

You just told me to increase my dosage because you couldnt be arsed to investigate with me any alternatives to help with my PMT.
Well if you want me to come off the tablets don't just send me away saying, when you are having a good day (not when you have pmt) slowly reduce the dose and stop taking them.

What? no mention of coming back then? Why did you then give my 40mg tablets instead of 20mg bid like i am taking just now - daft bint needs to go back to med school

Hmmmm, that feels better

OP posts:

sushistar · 06/04/2008 20:46

oh, she sounds useless! GEt yourself a new gp, you really need someone who you feel will take you seriously and you need proper medical supervision when you're on strong drugs like these.

Original poster

lucyellensmum · 06/04/2008 21:25

to be honest sushi, i get the impression it is a case of "here, take these - now piss off and let me have an uncomplicated day" To be fair my normal GP is very good, although i do feel she could have done more refferal wise. I'll just have to "take responsibility for myself" i told the doctor that no way did i feel ready to come off the tablets at this stage as the counselling i had wasnt sufficient - funnily enough she chose to end the consultation at that point

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sushistar · 06/04/2008 21:40

and .
certainly don't just stop them, it could make you very ill. I wonder if mind infoline could give you info about how to stop / how to get better care?

BigBadMouse · 06/04/2008 21:47

IMO it is mainly coincidence. Why did you forget to take your tablet? If I'm feeling miserable I remember to take my tablet, if I'm busy and / or in an upbeat mood its quite often put to the back of my mind and gets forgotten as a result. Does that make sense? I think it is possible however that you are better off taking them in the evening. My GP told me to take mine in the morning as they supposedly cause insommnia but taking them in the morning made me very tired by 10am (I'm usually very awake in the mornings). As an experiment, I changed over to taking them an hour before bed or at bedtime, I felt a lot better and got a far better sleep.

{angry] and stupid locum GP - wonder if she says that to people with more 'physical' illnesses. I would have had a few choice words to say to her for sure. A year is not a very long time to be on ADs at all - what is she on a about???

Doesn't sound to me as if you are ready to come off them, it's not the easiest thing to go through for most people - side effects tend to start at day 3 of not taking them and they can be hard to cope with if you aren't ready.

Good luck

Original poster

lucyellensmum · 06/04/2008 21:53

To be honest i just think she had me down as a "thick downtrodden mother" she clearly hadnt read my notes. I cant be arsed to go back, cant think of a doctor whom i would trust to be honest. Will see how i go, but for now i think i will take the pills of a night

OP posts:

BigBadMouse · 06/04/2008 21:58

I don't think you need to go back tbh...unless you want to do the 'thick, downtrodden mother gives stupid, condescending doctor a piece of her mind and feels a lot better for it routine'

Original poster

lucyellensmum · 06/04/2008 22:14

I am going to do that by way of a letter of complaint to the practice manager

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melimum · 06/04/2008 22:26

40mg is quite a high dose
i use this and often forget tabs feel ok but my periods def prob and whole world collapses

what i was rec was try 1 eod but near period take 1 aday and it works

melimum · 06/04/2008 22:29

that is to say of course i would worry what id be like off during period time cos not full of joy

my doc great really i didnt want to go this route to control my moods but she explained although i forgotton which one it is ......... a hormone deficiency and basically this tx boosts that hormone so other doc talking out her butt

Threadworm · 06/04/2008 22:31

A couple of days off the tablets won't give you an indication of how you would feel without them -- they have a very long half-life, take a long time to clear from your system. I'm guessing the energy burst is perhaps a coincidence. But even if it is not, it's nevertheless not a sign that you could just give up on the pills. THe short-terrm beneficial loss of some side effect might well be offset after a few weeks by the loss of the anti-depressant effect. If you do decide to come off, go really slowly.

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