Anyone NOT had any side effects on Citalopram?

Hi all.

I hope everyone is keeping well today.

I've been having internet trouble again today so I can only update now.

I saw the psychiatrist this morning. So she says I'm having some sort of psychotic depression episode. She said my face dropped when I heard the word psychotic. I don't feel psychotic - I feel I'm fully functioning. Mt idea of a psychotic person is a mad raving lunatic - which I don't think I have. She says my thoughts about my neighbour are off the scale. My gp wrote on the referral letter my thoughts were illogical. She feels my neighbour didn't cause this - it had been brewing for years. I was doing fine until this happened!!!!

So she's upped my dose of cipramil to 50mg a day and started me on an anti- psychotic drug - seroquel. I've to go from 50mg to 300mg over the next5 nights. I have to see her again in 2 weeks. I'm to continue with the counselling and agreed that CBT wouldn't be suitable at the moment as my thoughts are top messed up.

Will it ever end!!!!

Thanks for all the support. Take care everyone.

Beco

Hi Mrs VN,

A bit of a mixed bag of emotions today. I met with my boss at work which went well.

Looks like I am in for a hell of a lot support when I go back which is great news.

I just feel that I'm not as great as I was over the xmas period. Hoping it's just temporary.

I hope you and everyone else is ok?

X X X X

Beco,

I really hope things are sorted for you. Keep taking your meds and have your counselling.

You are getting help and that's the only way you will get through this.

Stay strong x

Hi Beco,

Its great you have seen the psychiatrist this morning, and the phrase "psychotic depression episode" is just the medical term it doesn't mean ur a mad raving lunatic, its just a medical term for how depressed you are, Hopefully the new meds will work quickly for you to give you some sort of peace to all this as you certainly deserve it, our minds are weird things and don't we now know that first hand, it can blow all things out of proportion, I remember getting shampoo in my eyes in the shower and thinking it was the end of the world ??? felt so real. thankfully that is gone now but it was so scary that I could feel like this, over something so small. The counselling will be good for you, as you are now at the stage where you need something to help you so lets hope this is it and you get some peace, keep us up to date on how ur going with the new meds.

Take care and be good to yourself, remember this is just temporary.

Anne xxx

Hey Emma the support at work will make you feel better in itself, I have had great support from my work also and its made it possible for me to keep working but doing reduced hours.

Like you I feel a bit worse today and its day 18 of my increase to 20mg so not sure its right for me.but will persevere for another while.

Take care and stay strong

Anne xx

Hi Beco,

I'm glad you managed to see the psychiatrist today and that they're giving you a more tailor made treatment programme. I agree that your thoughts sound like they're too muddled to start CBT at the moment. I think that was my problem in the beginning. Because I use CBT at work so much I was desperately trying to use it on myself but I was still too far in the depths of depression for it to be any use, that then increased my negative thoughts and created a vicious cycle of anxiety about me being a terrible useless person because how could someone who works as a therapist treating parents with mental health problems have been stupid enough to ignore the warning signs of depression and also, that somehow I must have broken my brain because CBT didn't work for me! I really beat myself up about it but now I realise that that was all symptoms of the illness! I really hope your new meds help you, but remember, they may take time to start working. When do you see the psychiatrist again?

Emma, it's good that your meeting with your boss went well. I wonder if some of your recent anxiety might be linked to thinking about going back to work? I also think there's a lot to be said for physical health impacting on mental health. It can really effect mood. I know it's easier said than done but try not to worry too much about it because that can increase the muddled negative thoughts which will then make you feel more anxious. It's not permanent, the most likely thing is that it's just a little wobble. My feelings of depression seem to have lifted but I'm still having little patches of anxiety. I'm able to rationalise it now though and I know it's going to pass. Hang on in there! As Diane put it in a recent post...embrace the inner tortoise! I thought that summed it up perfectly!

Xxx

Hi.

I have woken up this morning and feel like crying.

I feel sick and anxious my mind is racing. I keep trying to tell myself to get a grip but I feel like I have no energy.

I am so down after having two weeks if feeling like my old self.

I don't want to tell anyone as I don't think I'm back at square one but I don't want everyone to think I've made no p rogress.

X x

Hi Emma, I'm so sorry to hear that you are not feeling so good and you were doing so well, I hope it is just a temporary blip and you will soon be back to how you were a week or so ago.

I would love some advice from some you if you can give me any.

I expect some of you have read my story before but I started taking citalopram July 2012 and it worked very well, by the April 2013 I was feeling I could come off, I slowed down very slowly and spent 5 months on 10mg, and now wonder why I ever came off, I went down to 5mg in September and felt the anxiety was coming back so the doctor said to go back to 10mg, I felt even worse, I stayed on 10mg for 3 weeks and then increased to 20mg which I have been on for just over 3 weeks but still not feeling any positive effects, in fact I feel as bad as I did before going on it the first time round, I know it gets worse before it gets better, do you think I have given it enough chance or am I expecting too much too soon? I have to see my GP on Thursday and don't know whether to say I will stay on it for a bit longer and see what happens or to try something else. The mornings are the worst and I know a lot of you have said this, this morning I woke at 5 and led there for 2 hours, my whole body was tense and I just couldn't relax but I knew if I got up it would wake everyone up and the dogs would be expecting their walk.

Thinking of you all and hope things are getting better for you.

Thanks for your help. xx

Hi Emma,

I too have had a very bad 24 hours. I am on week 3 and after I thought I was getting better over Christmas and New Year.

The past few nights I though my sleep was getting better but then last night I had a complete shocker. Slept about 2 hours and then awake worrying about stuff for the rest of the night. Obvously got up feeling awful an I can feel that today will be bad as well because of it.

Have others experienced these setbacks even after 3 or 4 weeks on Citalopram?

Just at the moment I feel like flushing the tabs away!!

David

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear you've taken a dip Emma and David. I think there's another thread on here called 4 weeks in or something similar and I'm pretty sure the guy who posted there mentioned taking a dip in week three. It could be really helpful to look into ways of dealing with negative thoughts and worries as it sounds like these May be triggering your anxiety. You could do this either through self help (the living life to the full website is a CBT approach or the book mindfulness: a practical guide for finding peace in a frantic world is a MCBT approach. They are both very good and approved by NICE, I promise I'm not on commission!...I've mentioned them both on here before....but it's because I've seen good results from both) or through IAPT (improving access to psychological therapies) in my area you can self refer to them but not sure if it's the same in all regions but GPs can refer people on too if you'd prefer to do it that way.

Christine,

I'm so sorry to hear you're having slower results from the citalopram. It might well be that it's just taking longer this time, I read somewhere (on one of the medical websites) that if it's worked before it's more likely to be effective again than for someone who's never used citalopram. I guess the gamble is; can you stick it out another week or two with the possibility that you might have to start again on another medication or would you rather go ahead and try something new sooner but with the risk that the citalopram might have worked eventually. (But you'll never know the answer to that!) I know it probably doesn't feel very helpful an answer but I guess it's about weighing up what you'd prefer to do. It would be really good to speak to your GP about this as he'll know more about the different options available, but perhaps he'll recommend something that's more specific to anxiety rather than depression and anxiety. Or there are other drugs that can be given alongside citalopram to accelerate the effects. (Although these tend to be only used in quite acute cases) As I've said before citalopram is the go to drug because it helps both depression and anxiety therefore kills two birds with one stone, has a relatively high success rate and is one of the cheaper drugs to prescribe but there are other options. Don't be afraid to ask the GP about your options and maybe push a little if they seem reluctant to try something else if you do decide you want to try a different medication (Not easy when you're already feeling anxious)

Keep us posted about how you get on at the doctors xx

*MBCT not MCBT! (Incase anyone was planning to google it and comes up with something totally random!) Xx

Thanks Mrs VN I do feel that I should carry on a bit longer with it and hopefully it will work, then there is this niggle at the back of my mind what if it never works, last time I went on cit I was already taking propranalol, I have still got some, I wonder if that would help with the anxiety, I will find out tomorrow, maybe that was why it wasn't so bad last time . xx

They usually say to give citalopram at least 4 weeks. It might well be that the beta blockers were helping with the anxiety too, they relieve the physical symptoms of panic and anxiety which then breaks the cycle of it so it might be worth asking the doctor if you could use these again.

Hope it goes well with the GP and you get some more help xx

And I guess the answer to 'what if it never works?' Is that you can try something new. It's not ideal because it means putting up with all the horrible anxious feelings for a little longer but; just because this drug doesn't work, it doesn't mean there isn't one that will. This isn't permanent, but a symptom of this horrible illness is the muddled negative thoughts that niggle at you telling you that it might not work or it might be permanent. The great thing about us humans is that we're all unique, special and different in our own way, but in a situation like this our uniqueness also means that it's not a one size fits all approach which can be frustrating. The good news in all of this though is that there are loads of other options to try. It might be for you the combination of citalopram and beta blockers works best to manage your anxiety. Your GP will be able to help you out with this tomorrow.

Have you found you've been more able to relax or are you still buzzing around keeping busy?

Xx

Hi Mrs VN,

No still not able to relax, this is how I was before taking them first time round, the morning are awful, I woke at 5 this morning and didn't want to wake everyone else so led there for 2 hours, everything was tight, shoulders, throat, chest and stomach, when I get moving it starts to wear off but take as lot of the morning, and yes you are right if one thing doesn't work there are always others, I am just so negative I am always being told off for that. xx