Citalopram success stories needed

[Annie175]

Really need some motivation to keep going with Citalopram. Been taking 20mg for the past 7 weeks for extreme anxiety brought on by stress at work which caused insomnia and in turn anxiety. I experienced every side effect possible when starting which lasted for almost 4 weeks. I then felt I had turned a corner and had 2 really good weeks only to go back down hill week 6 and anxiety have returned along with sleepiness night for the past 6 days. I’m starting to think I’m never going to get better. Please share some positive or similar experiences with me xx

So sorry you're struggling OP. My DH took Citalopram for anxiety and had no side effects, only good results right from the first couple of weeks. The peace that it gave him allowed him to benefit from some therapy. He was off the Citalopram in a year and for several years now has been his usual, happy self again - anxiety all gone.

Sounds like the drug might not be right for you and something else might work better. I hope you find some relief soon.

Should have added that he did all the other stuff recommended to help anxiety at the same time - gave up alcohol, caffiene, exercised outdoors, spent time with loved ones, removed stress by reducing work hours, had group and individual therapy. It all added up I'm sure....Citalopram was only part of what got him out of a really black hole.

It worked for me fairly quickly, without any side effects. Had I had side effects I would have asked for a different medication…

Thank you both for your reply. Because I’ve had two really good weeks where I felt back to my normal self I really hoping this is just a blip and il pick up. I’m so scared to stop now and restart something different having powered through the awful side effects.

From my experience with my husband the recovery or coming to peace with anxiety is an up and down process. It's not a linear, every day is better kind of thing - more a general upturn but with better and worse spells. Perhaps that's what you're going through. It's horrible. I do feel for you.

I’ll clarify: it didn’t make me feel “back to my normal self”, it worked by making me care much less, and therefore, simply not get emotional about just about anything.
This helped me, because I felt better able to apply logic to the situation that sparked off my anxiety (like yours, stress at work) and to calmly determine that work was expecting too much of me, and that they were at fault for my situation.
I was able to return to work fairly quickly, after telling my manager what had caused my stress (unreasonable expectations from an external project lead), negotiating a fair workload Etc. and am still working there 30 years later - long after the project finished and the external company departed…
Good Luck, OP🍀