1. Community
  2. Brain and nerves
  3. Citalopram

20mg for 14 weeks - no significant changes

Posted , 2 users are following.

jack62006
jack62006

Hi all,

I’ve recently come across this forum and wanted some input on my experience with Citalopram 20mg. I am a first time user of SSRIs for anxiety/intrusive thoughts, which caused a major shift for me at the start of the year.

So far I have not noticed significant improvement of the ‘mind chatter’ from being on this med. There was a point during week 12 where I thought I had improved for that week but for the past week I feel like I’ve gone backwards with anxiety a lot more present.

Do you feel I need to change the mg or medication?

FYI - I haven’t experienced any other bad side effects since the initial weeks settled

Any help would be great!

0 likes, 2 replies

2 Replies

  • yuss88
    yuss88 jack62006

    Edited

    hi jack! for the majority of us nothing much happened for the first 12 weeks and we started to notice little improvements between 12 and 16 weeks. if last week you noticed a little improvement it means the meds have started to work. you will go back and forth between feeling improved and then experiencing a setback where your anxiety and intrusive thoughts return as the body is trying to adjust to the meds and level out the serotonin. eventually your good days will outweigh the setback days. i would give yourself a little more time - if by the end of 16 weeks you still feel like theres been no further improvement you can then reassess a dose increase or med change - but for many people these meds do take months to grant a full recovery

    • yuss88
      yuss88

      Edited

      also are you doing any cbt or therapy alongside the meds? i suffer from intrusive thoughts too and have been using cbt to reframe the way i experience and think about them - i tell myself the intrusive thought is my brain's messed up way of warning me of what i should not do lol! i thank my brain even though it is struggling to warn me in the right way and tell myself eventually as my anxiety goes away and i recover the mind chatter and intrusive thoughts will lessen and i will be able to brush them off instead of them causing me further fear or anxiety.

      search katecogs' posts on this forum as she explains this all further

Back to top

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.