Anyone NOT had any side effects on Citalopram?

Louise I was one of the really lucky ones:

a) I hadn't read anything like this before I started so I wasn't expecting or looking for any side effects, and

b) I only had a couple of weeks as far as I remember of antsy, wound up sort of feeling. None of the reported nausea, diahorrea etc that other pour souls have had. Actually after arrhythmia and a stroke I was already on heart controlling meds so maybe that avoided the heart pounding that you are getting. Plus I'm a bloke so a few beers probably beat the non sleeping problem!!!

Trying to be positive is already an advance on what you were feeling. Be brave, pass the short term test and when you look back you will be so proud!

I'm on 40 mgs a day and will never stop because they make me bearable to live with!

Trust the professionals

You can do it!

You'll meet some fine people who have been through what your going through. Anne, especially is a caring and supportive lady. My advice if it's worth anything is not to look for side effects but just wait for the short term changes to stop and recognise when you start feeling better. I was lucky and merely felt a bit hyper and edgy for a couple of weeks having gone straight to 20mg (I'm now on 40) other people have had harder and longer times but the majority have stuck with it and feel better. Good luck and welcome to the "club"!! There is a huge amount of support here and stacks of information if you can wade through all 115 pages!! You will get well soon.

Thanks for the welcome! I decided to ignore all the side effect warnings when I saw "feeling like an electric shock"! Everything has so many warnings these days.

It's nice to have found this community at the beginning of my experience so I can get multiple perspectives on Cit. I'll probably do a bit of lurking for the next few days.

Hi MollyMonday

Hey we are nearly at the same stage in our journey. Like you I have a long on and off history with anxiety and panic attacks. Ive been on Seroxat before which worked fine but was really hard to come off. I was fine till February this year when after a few years of stress and a couple of traumatic life events I began once again suffering with anxiety and panic again. I put up with it at first and ploughed on but in time it got worse. I decided this time I was going to try and fix this problem for good and began seeing a therapist who reccomended Cit cod Im in a right old state now.

My main side effect on day 6 is increased anxiety but I am convinced part of it is me and not the meds. Im also going to increase to 20mg tomorrow.  Stick with it and let us know how you get on x

Louise,

The increased anxiety is because the citalopram is stopping the serotonin been re-absorbed into the nerve cells, the nerve cells have been weakened by the citalopram and therefore more anxiety. But in time, the nerves become less sensitive to the vast amounts of serotonin in your brain, and the side effects lessen, or dissapear, and your mood/anxiety will be much more manageable, if not gone. Sorry for the technical jargon, but it sometimes helps to understand why your feeling the way you are, and hopefully give you some reassurance that this is Perfectly NORMAL and will improve. Take care, keep busy, eat and drink well, and allow yourself time. Promise you it will get better.

Laura xxx

Thanks Laura. It does help to know the technical stuff, simplifies it. Better than thinking Im going mad. Just wondering when I jump to 20mg will it get much worse or will I not notice much difference.

I did 4 weeks on 10mg then went upto 20mg. I didn't notice too much in the way of side effects. But were all different and it's only temporary. 10mg is a very low dose and if I had stayed on that would of taken weeks to feel any better. It seems your doc wants u to jump upto 20 quite quickly ? After only 6 days on 10. But they must think that's what you need. Good luck Hun here if you need a chat xxx 

Prior to starting my anxiety had got way out of control. Literally could hardly function. When I went to docs she suggested 10mg for a month then upping it to 20. I told her I wanted to see a more rapid improvement so she said I could go up to 20 after 2 weeks if I felt able. After talking with my therapist both he and I decided it would be best to do it asap. Only because Im already feeling extremely anxious and want to see an improvement. 10mg is not going to help. So biting the bullet so to speak.

Thanks for your kind words Laura, it really does make a difference chatting to people who have been down the same path.

10mg will just give you a taste of it. But as I said I stayed on 10 for 4 weeks as the anxiety crippled me and 20 made me feel 'ok' but I lacked motivation hence the fact I'm on prozac now. I could of probably given it more time But everyone is different. I was on citalopram for 4 years until two years ago and It gave me my life back. So it does work. I just think I'd become immune to it after taking it so many years. As you said. Bite the bullet. Give it a chance to do some good. It helps so many people. I know you will get there. Work with your therapist, and in the coming days / weeks your days will slowly begin to feel more normal. Xx

Hi MollyMonday - I just started a week ago today.  Unfortunately I did read all about the side effects and everyone's experience of them and low and behold I've had most of them!  Hoping they will start to ease off soon.  Hope you don't get them 

Cool, we can compare notes. I'm a bit nervous about upping the dose today but excited too!

Hi tamsin13 - It seems I've been pretty lucky so far. The anxiety I've experienced isn't any worse than what I normally have and the nausea has been pretty mild. I hope yours become easier soon!

laura85157 and louise1974 - My Doc didn't even suggest staying at 10mg for longer than a week. She just said do the 10 and then start 20mg after 7 days.