6 weeks, side effects keeping me down?

In another thread (Anyone NOT had any side effects on Citalopram) , the user Adam wrote that a well informed psychiatrist told him that any updose could take as long as 8 weeks to kich in, while the side effects would make you feel worse for quite some time.

Oh really ?? That's good to know - I seeing a CBT therapist tomorrow so hopefully that should help a great deal

Great to hear about the CBT. Medicine is just half of the solution.

I guess that you feel stressed with your new baby coming, then you updose/the side effects build even more anxiety on to your stress induced anxiety, which is why you are still feeling bad.

Two times minus unfortunately does not result in a plus, but time along with CBT works in your favor.

Bless you - I'm feeling so poorly at the Minute - I'm struggling to cope but I still working but I've got massive dark cloud over me plus really obsessed thoughts due to my anxiety- I'm hoping I'll feel better soon but by the sounds of things it's months rather than weeks that I'm gonna feel better

Hi Fiona

Thank you very much for the reasurance! 

No problem, Good Luck.

Hi katecogs

Thanks!

I have a few questions, since you are so knowledgeable.

In a previous post you implied that you thought that it took pretty long for you since you came from many years of feeling bad. I have not been well for 4-5 years, so maybe it often takes longer for people who have been bad for quite a while?

Am I running to conclusions, or might that be a possibility?

In regards of side effects, my current 5 mg updose from 20 to 25 is hard, but I am eating this time, compared to my earlier updose fra 20 to 30 mg, where I had to drop to 20 mg again, because of the severity of the symptoms. Could it be that side effects are covering progress, since the longest I have been on a specific dose is 14 days?

Also, I have started to have feelings in my dreams, both good and bad feelings, which is better compared to numbness, do you think this is a small sign of recovery, or is this just side effects?        

Hi Noolie

I do wonder if the length of time taken to become ill could also work the other way too.  I was ill for 15 years so expected it to take a while to recover, but at the time I didn't know I was recovering, didn't know anyone else taking the meds so couldn't compare or talk to them.  It did take around 6 months but I think that's relatively short compared to how long is been ill.

Most people I see posting in here seem to recover somewhere between 3-8 months maybe?  Everyone is so different.

Re doseage - 30mg doesn't suit everyone and some find that staying on 20mg is better.  Everyone has different bodies, different sizes, so you can't tell which dose you'll benefit from until you've taken just that one for a long time.  

A larger dose doesn't necessarily mean you'll get better any quicker, and whatever dose you're on you'll still get the same side effects, and you'll still go through the same process of having to wait for the healing to begin.

Ooh dreams - could be those good feelings are creeping in 😄  Hopefully it'll start happening during the day too!!

K xx ❤️😄

Hi katecogs

Thanks for a great reply.

10 minutes ago I spoke to my very well informed and experienced GP. Over the years she has started thousands of patients on Citalopram. In regards of the lenght of time before most experience an effect, her experience tells her that patients averages 3-4 months before seeing any real progress.

Oups...I hit reply before I was finished, sorry.

My GP agrees 100% with you.

On the matter of dosage, she does want me to reach atleast 30 mg when the side effects allow me to. Her experience tells her that with my symptoms, my body weight/height (man 82 kg/184 cm), previous working dosage, time I have been bad, and severity of depression/anxiety, that I need 30-40 mg.

I am so happy that she also believes that 6 weeks is still early on, but regarding dosage I am very confused.

Thanks again for taking the time to help.

Sounds like you have a really lovely GP 😊

I think its trial and error getting the dose just right for each person, and often we can't tell until we've taken it for a number of weeks or longer.  If you struggle on a dose then it's best to stay on one slightly lower than it.  It'll still help you to heal - it's just time ... lots of time.

Just keep moving forward - you'll get there xxx

Hi Sissy

Thanks for asking.

Unfortunately the last 7 days have been really hard.

I had a doctor appointment today, and I am so happy to have a very well informed and experienced GP. She said that most of her patients first notice real progress after 3-4 month, and she put my mind to rest regarding my worried that the medicine will not work this time. Also she informed me that the second time around, often it takes longer to notice an effect. She is very sure that I will be 100% well again.

Unlike most at this forum, she is pretty firm that I need to reach atleast 30 mg, possibly 40 mg and wants me to updose from 25 mg to 30 mg as soon as possible.

I really do not know if I am feeling bad at the moment because of side effects or because of my condition, which makes the decision pretty hard on when to updose.

Do you feel better yet?

I have windows where I feel pretty good and then I seem to get overcome by anxiety for now reason. So, it looks like I have another month or so before I really get past a lot of this. Uh? This is my first time on this drug, so I hope my wait isn't too long. I am taking next week off of work, so with the weekends that gives me 10 days from today until I come back to work. I hope I have improvements by then.

When I started to have windows the last time, I was 90% well a month later.

Windows is the best sign you can get that you will just get better and better, and the bad days will be less frequent.

That is good to know! I haven't had a completely anxious free day yet, but I can have several hours where my anxiety is either very low or not really around at all.

Do you have specific times of the day you get anxious? My worse time is early morning for about 1-2 hours and then early afternoon for 1-2 hours. 

It is always bad in the morning, and the best time is usually in the evening. Often I have periods of 5-8 days where my symptoms are really bad, building each day, and then it gets better for 2-6 days and then the circle starts again.

Recently I have noticed that I feel most relaxed when it is time for bed, but the last 7 days I have only had one good evening.

I hope that circle ends for you soon! Right before I updosed from 10 mg to 20 mg, I started having better days. That was the start of week 5. I am hoping that happens after this updose. If so, that means hopefully next week will get better and better. I updosed because I still have too much anxiety.