Citalopram for Anxiety - New member's experience so far...

Hello there

Sorry to hear about your parents' health.

And sorry you have gone throu that anxiety. Most of us when we start the med we get side effects. In my case the worse was my anxiety got worse. Even worse than before started .... But dont worry you will get better for sure.

You have done the right move going to the doctor for your anxiety.

I'm sorry you are having a hard time I can understand with your parents. I lost my mom last year at the age of 74 and my dad is 80 and in pretty fair health but now going down hill. I have suffered with these systoms for many years. I am on zoloft and xanax. I was having some terrible days for months and they upped my meds. I know it's only a bandaid but it makes a difference with trying to deal with these feelings all the time. I hope you try the meds and everything works out. Best of luck with your parents.

Hi Thumper

So sorry you have developed anxiety.. It seems to have crept up on you and we wonder why...

I was the same 57 good life, good job fantastic family etc etc, and i started last september.

There is light at the end of the anxiety tunnel. besides the medication thére are lots of self help things you can do to help.

I got so fed up and it got me down waking every morning with that anxious feeling and i could tell it was starting to affect my work.. And was worried that my collegues would notice.

So i did so much research on everything i could find about anxiety and the symptoms it causes...

Oxford Univeristy was the best i found for information on their health studies. I listened to some lectures on how mindful meditation had proven studies that after 8  weeks of doing mindful meditation  symptoms had improved by 50%.

UCLA mental health studies showed the same.

So i started 2xdaily doing it... and i wont lie it was hard to master but i stuck with it and i started to improve daily.

I also did a self referal for some CBT after chatting with my GP and 4 days after doing referal on line they phoned me with an appointment.

And that was a good help also.

I am 95% better now thank god... And i keep up with all the skills i learnt along the way... to help make sure i stay well.

If you dont want to do the research you can find some of their shorter video's on You tube. Just type in either mindful meditation for beginners or mindfulness at Oxford Univeristy health and they do some 10  minute guided ones.

Be gentle with yourself eat well, when your appetite picks up Try ginger tea for that. Drink more fluids and get as much fresh air as you can.

If you are in the UK get in touch with age concern to see if they can give you support and advice for your parents. It is a stressful time for you all but there is support out there.

Let us know how you get on xx

Take care 

Gill

You need to give your medications time to work and you understand that. It may be your Doctor will increase your medication dose next time you visit the Surgery.

I would hope a course of CBT may help in the near future, this will give you coping skills. We can short circuit these coping skills by explaining two of them in the first instance.

Mindfulness is a Relaxation Technique that can help you control your feelings of Anxiety and Depression, while Breathing Techniques can also help you control your moods. Both have an explanation in Related Information section below.

There are groups who deal with Dementia and Arthritis, look in Groups Mental Health for various places you can get some further support.

My Father died with Alzhiemers and I looked after an Aunt who died with the same thing about five years ago. Because of the conditions nod of attack it may be an idea for your family to get together and discuss how you want to handle this type of problem as the Dementia proceeds. A Power of Attorney may need to be taken out so you can act on your Mothers Behalf. The Court of Protection can also look after sufferes estates.

It is never easy when our family members become old and we need to understand you need to be firm and kind and help them through their final periods.

You will be suffering many mixed feelings, you will need to be able to discuss with family members what is going on and accept some very trying times.

Whatever you decide it always helps to talk with your parents about past times and you may need some counsilling  to put things in perspective.

Remember it is good to talk with all family Members if needed and you will need time of to refresh your own feelings. It is not unusual to feel the way you do. Delegate if possible to other family members

BOB

I was just having lunch with my son and in the middle of our conversation a wave of anxiety flooded through me. We were not even discussing anything related to my parents/his grandparents yet it just overtook me. 

That is what I struggle with trying to comprehend. I will definitely look into the resources gill and borderriever mentioned in their replies. 

Thank you all again.

Hiya. I am sorry to hear about your parents health. They must be glad to have such a caring son (and daughters) tof look after them. I believe my anxiety started after my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. Although her initial diagnosis was positive I found myself not being able to sleep and waking in the middle of the night after having disturbing dreams. I was prescribed propranolol to take as and when needed and I found these helped and I felt a lot better. Then, just after Christmas my cousin died suddenly from a heart attack and this has made my anxiety come back with a vengeance, I am constantly feeling like something bad is going to happen and I have no control over it. I genuinely believe that our subconscious affects our feelings towards this. I too have a happy family like and good career and it is so difficult to try and control these feelings/thoughts. . I feel at times that I am going mad as my brain just won't switch off and I know how I am feeling doesn't make sense to others but it's tough trying to explain it to others.

Just an update as this is day 6 with the Citalopram - because I had trouble falling back asleep a couple of nights if I woke up during the night, my Dr advised me to try taking the Citalopram in the morning. So I took it yesterday late afternoon in preparation to take it this morning, But - I was so tired and sleepy I could barely hold my eyes open the rest of the evening. One time while watching tv with my wife, i actually dozed off so suddenly I jumped and startled my wife.  

I'm thinking I should just keep taking it in the evening becuase I don't think it is actually causing me to have insomnia; it was just that if I did awaken my mind would race and anxiety would start to race back in.

And last night, I slept well and even though I did have to get up at 330 AM for another bathroom visit I went right back to sleep and slept until the alarm went off.

Thank you in advance for all replies. 

Today I am feeling more anxiety for some reason but I have no idea why. I had a decent night's sleep but did wake up a couple of times before the alarm went off but did go back to sleep fairly quickly. 

I don't feel a lot of anxiety at this moment but as anyone who deals with this knows, a little goes a long way. It was there as soon as I woke up and has been present all morning. Ugh...

And another odd symptom (for me anyways) is that the weirdest external sources seem to bother me and can elevate the stress level. Seeing something on the news, missing something on TV and having to rewind just to make sure I know what I saw was correct, not seeing the logo on the back of car (I feel a need to go back and make sure what it was), and other strange inange things like that are more 'important' today. It is so frustrating.

And there are other things too... Things like making sure the towel is hung perfectly straight, making sure some items are aligned symetrically, and other weird OCD-like symptoms. I don't find myself repeating tasks over and over but it's like a mid-level need to make sure what I see and touch are in order. I try to fight it telling myself that I am just being silly and that it is not important. Yet, those anxious feelings pop right up. I have never felt any Obsessive Compulsive behavior/driver in my life but now it seems to be right in my face. 

It just seems like I am forced to 'feel' this way and it is so very uncomfortable. When the rare moments in the day come that the anxiety seems maybe a little less prevalent, it still sort of feels that it is there just beneath the surface. And then - bam! - it comes back. And for no cognizant reason I can determine.

I sure hope this goes away soon.