Anyone NOT had any side effects on Citalopram?

Good Morning all,

I slept all night and didn't wake up once...........achievement! I use Anne's breathing technique and slowly drifted off !

Anne, thank you so so much, I still have a ways to go but day by day I'm feeling better......I am having the odd " wobbles" but now breathing my way out it ............I'm gonna test myself today by driving past an area where I have avoided because I had a major attack there ....... I'm gonna breathe my way through it!!!! Will let u know later how I go xxx

Diane,

You are doing so well and all the right things, this site is fantastic, when we have been through such dreadful times it's so so inspiring to be involved with people who are experiencing all the same effects......remember that little tablet is just retraining ur system.........keep in touch, let us know how u are doing xxx

Cmc

Breathing like Anne says is so so beneficial......it took me a few attempts to get it right, I looked a little silly with my hand on my belly but I didn't care lol, another thing I done which may help, when I done my breathing I switch my mind to a happy place, generally a time that made me smile or giggle.....I think that brings u round quicker too, keep in touch and let us know how it's going xxx

Emma

Work will always be there, I used to be a union rep for a major bank, your work has a duty of care to their staff, let your doctor make the decisions and go with it, they can't fight against medical advice......see it as u r crossing a bridge ...... Ur on it but ur GP will will advise when u have crossed it.....park "when I return to work" it the garage in your mind......leave the choice to ur doc ..... Keep strong and just deal with day by day.....focus on yourself....it's U that's important .... Keep strong xxxxx

Christy,

You done it!!!!!!woohoo we'll done xxx keep on it....... Remember that by taking the tablet u r just retraining your chemical imbalance in your system......we are so lucky we have access to this tablet that WILL do the trick, the worst is the first week or so, the side effects can at times think "what am I doing." But trust me, they DO pass and once they kick in they are amazing.........for the first 10 days I was glued to this site...... Use Anne's breathing technique too .... Take one day at a time, ...... U know what I did too? I pushed myself a little to go into different shops, I had dreadfull panic and anxiety in stores too......but if I was it the check out and felt it all building I told the check out operator that I have anxiety and have made it around the store........(it's my local store so faces were familiar) but my point being that share with others......the awareness others have help tremendously, ....... Keep going, keep in touch.......ur doing so well xxxxx

My partner explains it this way........when u start your journey to retrain your chemical balance in your system your light bulb is almost non existent.........gradually the light flickers on, it may be only a 20 watt bulb but every so often it will increase 40 watts, 60, 80 and finally 100 .......I'm around the 80 watt at the moment ......but initially the light was out! ......everyday gets a little brighter, xxxxxx

Hi,

Is it possible for me to join your forum, I have been following you all, I am on day 2 of 20mg and feeling really unwell could someone tell me if this is the norm when you increase this medication was on 10mg for nearly a month and the dr put the dosage up because the anxiety had started to come back. It's like I've gone back to the beginning! I cannot sleep only having 2hrs a night feeling really nauseous even though I take my

medication in the evening, I am so sorry to ramble on but I feel so ill.

Maria x

Hi,

Tried to speak to my husband last night to explain how I feel inside and to say that I need a bit more support.

I ended up crying and not actually saying how I felt.

Maybe it's easier for him not to ask me how I am but it's not helping me to cope at the minute.

Had an awful hour first thing. Stupid thoughts in my head about not wanting to feel like this anymore. I know it's the anxiety that does this but it makes me feel so low.

I guess I have to plough on and hope that maybe this increase to taking longer than I thought. It will be 7 weeks on Monday. Although I've had a good 2 or 3 weeks. I will be glad to see the back of this one.

Hope everyone has a good day x

Thank you Anne, I will certainly try that, the worst time for me is about 5 in the morning when I wake up and can't get back to sleep, I lie there for about 2 hours without waking the whole house up and by the time I get up I am in a real state so I will be definitely trying it out in the morning.

Thank you also to Susie for your comments, glad to hear that you are getting there.

Christine xxx

Hi Emma,

Sorry to hear that things have gone down hill, you were doing so well, I increased from 10 to 20 4 weeks next Monday, it seems like waiting an eternity for some thing good to happen, the mornings are the worst, is that what is bad for you?, I wake up about 5 and lie there for 2 hours trying not to wake others up by the time I get up I am so tense I don't know what to do with myself and this morning seemed even worse. I just hope it gets better for us all soon.

Maria, yes I'm afraid things do get worse again when you increase your dose, I went from 5 to 10 and then 10 to 20 and each time was bad, hope things will get better for you soon.

Christine xx

Maria,

Increasing the dosage does repeat the side effects, be worried if it didn't ...... It's so hard I know, my doc put me straight onto 20mg ..... The sweating, shivers ,headache, brain zaps are the easiest ones to deal with but the increased anxiety is the hardest........u can do it tho......we know u can so believe in yourself xxx keep on this forum, we have ALL and I mean ALL know exactly what it feels like but it DOES get better .....day at a time xxxx

Emma,

When u feel so low the only way is up, crying is not a sign of weakness , it's a release.......when my anxiety was so high I cried on the spot ........ After a good cry I felt calmer again, u r stronger than u think ......practice Anne's breathing technique too......trust me it helps xxx Don't worry if you feel you can't explain yourself to others, that's what we r here for.......this is such a supportive site, let it out here, talking to others who know EXACTLY how u feel gave me the greatest strength .......u can do this girl! Believe in ur self because we do xxxx

CMC

Good luck with the breathing , let us know how u feel ...... I'm sure it will help u so much xxxx

Susie xxx

Hi Maria,

Of course your welcome to join us here everyone is welcome, yes everyone gets the side effects again when you increase but it will go away and you will feel much better, so stay strong you will get there. Maybe try taking your medication in the morning instead, I have always taken mine in the morning, and now sleep well, try the deep breathing technique when you are lying in bed unable to sleep, deep belly breathing in for a count of 7 then out for a count of 11 this will oxygenate your brain and body and help you get a good sleep, try it !!! let me know if it helps, this type of breathing helps when feeling low and anxious too, calms you. lots of folk finding it helpful. and if something works then go for it.

Emma keep going it will get better, one of the girls on here let her husband read the forum to get him to understand just how she was suffering and it worked as he didn't realise just how bad she was or how bad it could be, as folk whom have never suffered with this just don't get it...and I suppose I would be one of those folk if I didn't have it. I am a lot more supportive of my friends now whom are low and have anxiety.

Hey Christine hope it works for you, I believe it will but if it doesn't they say never lye there for more than a half hour, get up quietly read a book for a bit then maybe try again, u wont wake everyone up its important not to stay like this for 2 hours as u can see it gets you in a state and its hard to get out of this, so its important to put yourself first. let me know how you go.

Take care and be kind to yourselves,

Anne xx

Hi all,

Had a bit of a wobbly day yesterday, think it might be the week 3-4 dip people seem to report. I was absolutely fine and had gone out to lunch with one of my best friends when I suddenly got all the physical symptoms of anxiety, racing heart, shallow breath, tingling feeling. It was very odd because in my mind I was thinking 'I'm safe, there's nothing wrong, I'm with one of my oldest friends who completely understands. I stuck it out and am pleased I did but I had to spend the rest of the day on the sofa resting as I felt so exhausted. Then to top it all off I had a voicemail asking me to call my boss so I started to panic that she was calling to say I had to come back to work. I ended up calling her back because I couldn't settle and she was lovely. She was actually calling to suggest I have a phased return which is a massive weight off my mind as I had wanted to do this but was worried that if I asked people would think I'm not cut out for the job! (a lot of my stress and anxiety is linked to me worrying about people thinking I'm not doing enough/pulling my weight at work or that I'm incompetent, even though I've never had any indication that they do...brains are strange things!) I was so relieved I burst into tears when I came off the phone!

Has anyone else struggled with their attention span and concentration? Mine started to improve but yesterday it seemed to go right down again. I can't seem to follow TV shows or books which makes things very boring and frustrating when I'm at home by myself! It's also another thing that's adding to my worry about going back to work.

Emma,

Was your husband supportive before this little blip? I wonder if he's still in the mindset that you're on the mend. My hubby seems to have started forgetting how ill I've been, I guess it's because (until yesterday) i seem completely fine, I've had to remind him that I'm 'getting' better rather than completely well when he makes jokes etc or is really chatty and cheerful and then he thinks I'm being mardy when I don't join in and gets a bit huffy. I wonder if something similar is happening with you and your husband? Maybe you could write down what you want to say so it's easier than trying to say it and getting yourself upset?

Christy. Hope you've got on okay after taking your first dose yesterday?

Christine, have you found taking the propanalol has helped things at all?

Diane, things sound like they're improving for you, I'm so pleased. It was really helpful to have someone in the same boat as I think we both started posting on here at around the same time.

Susie, that light will shine brightly again soon! I remember thinking something similar, for the first two weeks I could see no light at the end of the tunnel, then it started to appear faintly mainly got brighter but in the times it dimmed or disappeared at least I knew it was definitely there somewhere!

Maria, welcome to the group! Hope your side effects ease soon. As I've said before on here the majority of people who take citalopram have no, or minimal side effects, I took it for four years with no problems. I think the difficult thing is that the people who have no side effects don't tend to post on forums so it can seem like everyone who takes it struggles! I was so glad to find this one because when I first started looking online I could only seem to find people's bad experiences!

Faraway girl, how are you getting on with your sleep? Hope things are improving

Beco, I don't know if you're still following the thread as I know you were finding it tough but if you are, I hope you're okay.

Hope everyone has a peaceful, calm and happy Saturday!

Xx

Hi Christine,

Thank you for your prompt reply, at least now I know the reason for why I'm feeling so ill. I am just so worried because I waited so long to take this medication due to the side affects my anxiety had got so bad that I lost my appetite completely and have lost nearly two stone in weight, and now because of the increase the

nausea has come back again and I cannot face food again so I'm worried about losing weight again it's just

one vicious circle after another but many thanks again.

Maria x

Emma, I've just had another thought, maybe your husband just doesn't know how to react if you say things aren't good so he's avoiding asking how you are to avoid feeling uncomfortable or powerless to help? My husband told me the other day that he read loads on the internet about how to support someone with anxiety/depression and found that helped. Maybe it might help your husband to do that?

Xx

Hi Mrs VN,

I'm having a little "blip" today too. Slept quite well but woke up and had some chest tightness and felt like I was having a flush but didn't sweat much at all. Got up, had a shower and baked a cake (!) and now I'm on the sofa with nausea and feel tired. Like you it's anxiety symptoms but I know it'll pass and seems nowhere near as bad as it was even a week ago. I just keep telling myself things are better.

For everyone here, we all stick it out together!

:-D

Oh, and my attention span is madly variable too. I call it "spongy head". Sometimes it absorbs and other times stuff just trickles straight back out.

:-D

Maria,

The advice my GP gave me with the loss of appetite was to not try to force myself to eat as this would only in rease the anxiety and reinforce to your brain that food is something unpleasant or something to worry about. He said if you fancy cake eat a cake and if you've had enough after two mouthfuls then just leave it. Don't try to force the issue. This really helped because people kept telling me 'you've got to eat, you'll make yourself worse if you don't eat' so that really helped me.

I found having a berocca each day and drinking coconut water helped to keep my energy levels up when I was feeling weak and listless. For some strange reason after a couple of weeks I started to crave McDonald's double cheese burgers (I don't know how I knew I'd craved it because I'd never had one before!) so my very antimcdonalds (or any junk food) husband went out and got me one each day! He said he'd never been so happy to see anyone eat something so unhealthy!!

My appetite came back gradually and I think (fingers crossed) it's back to normal now. (although now I have no excuse for eating a burger every day!!)

Xxx

Hi

Thank you all for your comments It is really appreciated and to know I'm not on my own with this problem

When your at your lowest it's like the light have gone out and no end in sight, It is nice to know that things

get better.

Have a good day x

Maria & Mrs VN

Ironically, I thought my blood sugars were running so low as I tend to eat a meal once a day (never been a breakfast person) ....... My doc told me that as the body fasts during the night then it is so important to try and at least nibble on something every couple of hours, I became quite obsessed with this and stocked up on healthy stuff and drastically increased my water intake ....... My sugar levels r now stable all the time, but over the last few days I've been craving salted crisps ! ...... I guess my body needs a little more salt, have what u fancy ...... Little n often , xxx