Anyone NOT had any side effects on Citalopram?

Thanks for that, it makes me feel better, I have been thinking about it all day and have decided that I would rather increase the dose of cit than to lower the citalopram dose and go onto the mirtazapine which is going to make me drowsy all day, that is something I wouldn't want, at least I am able to function to a reasonable extent at the moment even though the anxiety is there at times.

Thanks again

Christine.

Keep going you will find that you have good and bad patches. Until you reach the right dosage and its working you will find that the bad patches will get less and less. When the Cit is working you will find that you start dealing with things more logically.

Don't expect too much of yourself as this process takes time and you won't magically feel cured one day. But I promise things will get much better. I took 20mg for 8 weeks and had to increase to 40mg which I've been taking for 8 weeks now. I look back to the day I first went to my GP for help and I know that it was the worst moment of this whole blip in my life. I am strong enough now to realise that I will probably be affected by anxiety again but I am still learning and want to learn more about how I cope without hitting rock bottom again.

Just keep sharing how you feel and get it out. It helps massively.

Stay strong x x x x

Hope everyone's had a good week!

Emma, I'm so glad work's going well for you! I've had a good week back at work too. I'm shattered now though and I've only done 10 hours across tues, weds and thurs but I feel worn out! I've been in bed by 9 every night! I was so disappointed for you when you took that dip so I'm glad things are back on track for you now.

My concentration hasn't been great, that's been a real problem for me throughout all this. I was trying to plan my week for next week and I kept just getting my days and dates muddled up. I'm taking back a case next week to begin working on that, I'm a bit nervous about seeing my clients as I'm still a bit worried about awkward questions from them but apparently all of my families have been asking when I'm coming back so that's reassuring! I'm just

Beco, you sound like you've made some real progress, the tone of your messages has really changed! I'm so pleased for you as you sound so much more positive and optimistic. I felt really sad for you in the beginning when you were really struggling and you seemed at such a low ebb so it's really great to hear that things are picking up.

Christine, Good luck with your increase. You must be relieved that you can increase a little and fingers crossed you'll start to see some more improvement. How are you managing day to day? I remember you tended to have a 'lift' in the evenings. Has that got any longer or has it stayed the same?

Claire, I know exactly what you mean about the job meaning that you don't want to ask for help. I'm in a similar situation in that I work with families with mental health and/or drug problems. A lot of my colleagues are psychiatric nurses (I'm from a social care background, there's a real mix in the team) and we have a psychiatrist on the team. I felt like everyone would judge me and think I was an idiot for 'letting' it happen to me and that they would think I'm not fit to support other people with mental health problems. I felt so ashamed. Looking back I realise now that was all a symptom of my depression. Everyone's been so lovely and supportive towards me and shown nothing but concern and compassion.

Hang on in there with the meds. It has helped so many people. I've said it a thousand times before on here but it can be so detrimental googling things about side effects and symptoms because generally the people who post on forums are those who have problems so it can seem like everyone suffers terrible side effects or have horror stories to tell but actually the majority don't. The side effects may not last as long for you but if they do you can come on here and find support that is positive and helpful. I finally found this thread through posting on another one and Anne kindly directing me here. All the other ones I'd found before seemed to be just full of people trading horror stories of what a terrible time they were having, which can only serve to whip each other up into a frenzy and increase the symptoms of depression and anxiety. I know they made me feel awful just reading so I can't imagine how awful the people posting must have felt. On here there's a real mix of people at different stages and some really positive stories of success but it makes for such a balanced, optimistic and positive forum.

Chris, I hope you manage to find a way of managing the pain to keep yourself comfortable, it must feel so exhausting for you.

Susan, It's lovely of you to have taken the time to post your positive experiences on here, it really does help to show people just starting out that not everyone has a terrible experience. As I've said before I had six years on citalopram increasing and decreasing my dose as needed and had no real problems at all other than strange dreams!

Jules, keep going, you're another example of people who are still going through the crappy bit but can still offer support and reassurance to others in the same situation, it's so nice to see that. I found offering support to others when I was feeling rubbish, firstly helped me to feel useful when this illness can make you feel so useless, as well as reminding me what I could be saying to myself and doing to help myself. It's interesting with this illness that we can offer so much kindness and support to others but then be wrestling with the self criticism and negative thoughts about ourselves.

Carol,

To answer your question about therapy, it can totally depend what model your therapist uses. The majorty of ones offered on the NHS such as CBT, (cognitive behavioural therapy) tend to be very evidence based and practical, about equipping yourself with tools and strategies to manage the illness and prevent relapse. They are used because they're proven to get results. Other models such as psychoanalytical or psychodynamic counselling can be more about talking things through and delving into your historical experiences. As to whether you'll feel better straight away, some people feel a great sense of relief as just taking that step and doing something to help yourself can feel so empowering and talking things through can be really cathartic, others feel frustrated or disappointed if they don't see change or feel 'different' straight away. I've had others report that the counselling that tends to delve into history can feel great in the moment to be getting it out, but that it can mean that they speak to someone for 45 mins- an hour, possibly opening up a can of worms of new thoughts, feelings and memories but having to wait a week to go back to it and then not quite knowing what to do with all these thoughts and feelings in the meantime.

I think talking therapies are definitely very important and necessary to equip people to help themselves alongside the medication but again, like citalopram, they're not a silver bullet and they don't often make people feel great straight away. One of the problems I think is that we're so used to things being pretty 'instant' these days. I can remember when we first got the internet, you had to wait for it to dial up and then pages would take about five minutes to load but everyone thought it was pretty amazing and magical, now if a page takes a couple of seconds to load I become impatient and frustrated! I think it's similar with therapy and meds, we're used to taking a pain killer and feeling better 20-30 mins later or taking a course of antibiotics and things clearing within a few days, whereas with interventions for mental health we're usually talking weeks at the least, and due to the nature of the illness where we're telling ourselves that it won't work, that we're broken and that we can't be fixed, those weeks can feel like a lifetime.

Faraway girl, Maria, Susie and Diane, how are you all getting on now? It'd be great to hear from you.

I'm probably not going to be able to post on here as often as I have been now I'm getting back into work as I won't always have the time to but I'll be keeping up to date and logging on when I can. I'd love to keep in touch with people, especially those who travelled on this rocky road alongside me (Particularly Beco, Diane, Christine and Faraway girl as we all came on here at around the same time and went through some of the worst of it together) to hear how everyone's doing so if you have the time or fancy a 'chat' please private message me. I feel like I've made some really good friends on here, which I sometimes think seems strange as we have never met and know very little about each other except that we all have this one thing in common!

Keep going everyone, you're all doing great (even if you don't think you are!!)

xxx

It's so great to hear you doing so well. I'm so happy for you!

Saw my gp the other day and she signed me off for another 2 weeks because I have all my hospital appointments in the next 2 weeks and she thinks that'll be enough to deal with (6 appointments starting today). On a day to day note i' ve been doing much better. Still having random palpitations but that will be investigated in clinic. Yesterday I drove to the post office, felt good so carried on to a retail Park and went round 3 shops with no problems (was wearing my sunglasses). I'm looking forward to going back to work but need to get all my investigations out of the way first.

Hope everyone is doing well. Sending hugs and positivity your way.

:-D

Day 3 and the nausea isn't as bad, but my jaw aches, Ive got a horrible taste in my mouth and I feel in a bit of a daze, I haven't really done anything while Ive been off work and that makes me feel worse and really lazy.

Its my boyfriend birthday tomorrow and im trying my best to be positive and believe that we will have a good night out but its hard and I feel really anxious about it and things going wrong, more anxious than I was last week, because I was the one that booked it. I think maybe the cit is increasing my anxieties which can happen cant it?

Yes it can make things a bit worse before they get better but it will get better. Try doing deep breathing. It really helps. If you have a smart phone you can get a free app by excel at life. There is a qi gong one and an anxiety. There are overlaps in both but either will do. Also come here whenever you need support.

Hope it helps.

:-D

Yes I am still having good evenings but that is all it seems to be, the mornings are not quite so bad as far as the anxiety goes but I am waking up at 4 and it is horrible. I have had bad headaches, tremors and palpitations every day this week, it is almost as though all the side effects have come back again that is why I'm a bit reluctant to increase, I am wondering whether to try another week at 20mg.

Hope you are all having a good day. xx

I must have missed you going back up a dose Christine..

Sorry to hear that,

I am on holiday so thought as was doing well I would take the next step to 5/2.5 mg

But I only did it 5 days and started to get irritable and a bit of a tachycardia

Went back to 5 mg daily last night

All these messages go to junk for some reason so I have to remember to go read them!

I thought it was just me but having read through comments again I think it's maybe the side effects of the reduction so I will do 5 mg another couple of weeks then try again ....very very .slow slow is best for me obviously, maybe I will do just one 2.5 mg a week then two

How has anyone else achieved their final reduction?

Thanks

Sorry to hear you are having a bit of a problem, but you are doing well to have stayed on 5 as long as you have,I hope you manage to get off of them completely soon, Yes I am back up again, I do wonder if I gave in too soon but then it's done now.

Christine

It's been one crazy week, I'm on week 5 now to 20mg, all side effects have passed apart from the occasional hot flush. I've been doing a fair bit of driving and feeling more confident.......this week I have had to deal with an extremely stressing situation, a few weeks ago I would have completely have broken, however I DIDNT!!!! I can't believe it, don't get me wrong, at one point I'm sure u could've have seen my heart beating out of my chest, but I breathed, breathed, breathed!!!!!! Guys, anyone struggling at the beginning of the cit journey please, please stay with it, I feel so much happier, I'm not completely there yet but we'll on my way......this forum, especially Anne, Mrs VN, Diane and Maria have been my rocks , thank you from the bottom of my heart my friends xxxxx I dislocated my thumb this week ( I was brave lol I didn't cry!) and it has been heavily strapped and painful so not been able to type on here for a few days but I read every single reply xxx

Sleeping is still only 5-6 hours a night but not too tired in the daytime so I guess I'm having deep sleep when I do sleep , my partner has seen me go from a nervous, panic attack and full of anxiety person to a happier, relaxed me,

Everybody, be strong, be safe and don't be afraid to share your thoughts, we've all been there, we are all here to help xxxxx

Susie xxxx

So great to hear you doing so well. I've missed you! I'm still having flushes and weird tightness and flutters in my chest but otherwise am doing OK. Also having broken sleep and some weird (silly not scary) dreams and my fiance is going through a "talking is his sleep" phase (he does that) which can also be silly. My memory is still a bit off but seems to be improving too.

Stick with it people, we're all here for each other.

:-D

I've been on citalopram 10mg for 4 days now and no side effect.

Feeling a bit better today. Day 12 of 20mg, and I can now see a slight but subtle difference. Still getting anxiety and low moods, but when I'm actually in a low mood, I really know that it won't last, whereas before the Cit I was telling myself it wouldn't last, but didn't really feel it, if that makes sense!

Mrs VN, you are inspirational, thank you for your reassurance and kind words!

Susan, good luck, thanks for the encouragement to all of us not as far down the line as you are....so glad you're feeling better.

Hello Isabel...glad you're not feeling any side effects. I was on 10mg for 20 days and had horrible side effects for the first few days, and it was only the people on here and my close friends who stopped me from coming off the tablets. Because of that I was really worried about the increase to 20mg and getting all the side effects again, because some other people did, but when I went up, I had no side effects at all!

I guess that shows we're all different, but it really does seem that the key is to stick with it for several weeks, because it does take time to work, but is wonderful when it does! I'm well on the way now, and although I'm not getting the positives yet, I'm feeling much more confident that I will soon.

Thanks so much everyone!

It is tough and I have had the jaw clenching too, but I am so glad you are going to stick with it, it will pay off, I promise, just practice the deep belly breathing to calm you, counting in to maybe 5 as u breath in and 8 as you breath out, sunshine in darkness out, then u can build it up a bit so ur doing 7 in and 11 out, its a well known anxiety calming exercise and lots of folk find it helpful I know I did and still use it.

So Claire please stick in there and u will be so glad.

Hi Susie Well done !!!!!!!!

So happy things are on the up for you, looks like ur strength and perseverance has paid off. Hopefully your sleep will increase to about 7- 8 hours as you learn to relax more. Hope ur thumb is getting better, it's really a sore thing as you don't realise how much you use ur thumb and hit it off everything

So glad the deep breathing is helping you and its a tool we will use for life, xx

Hi Chris,

Hope the pain is getting manageable, have you been back to your doc yet? let me know how it goes, and take care, x

Hey Beco,

Great to hear form you, you do sound more positive and stronger like you are facing everything including ur own thoughts and that's a Hugh shift for you. keep it up, one day at a time and I will be so happy when u tell us ur feeling better and able to face the school run without a thought of anyone else but just thinking about whats on ur agenda for the day. so keep it up stay strong and keep in touch, we want u to be well again so u can be happy xx

Isabel I am very glad to hear ur not suffering any side effects, great news to share for those starting out.

Mrs VN great ur work is helping you get back to normality, make sure you keep in touch every so often as we all need ur wisdom, and want to know how ur doing, and any news u can share in time to come. xx

Jules you have a good outlook on this so you will defo get there, well done.

Christine please persevere, ur doing so well and been strong, just give it more time, and you will feel back to normal. it takes us all down so many different routes as we have different tolerances, but the main message is we get there if we stay strong and wait for it, I know its tough but the payoff is tremendous. xx

Grace, hope you doing well, I feel you must be good as your not on here as often and that's just fab !!! I know u have turned that corner. stay well xx

Hi Diane glad ur doing well, I still get the odd feeling in my chest too but breathe my way past it. mostly driving in the dark for some reason?? take care and stay strong xxx

Emma

You are a great boost to everyone here, so glad everything is good for you. That's all anyone wants and hearing this helps us all know its worth sticking with it.

Love n hugs all be strong

Anne

Not been on here for a couple of days, but I read each and everyone unlike most of you I cannot put into

words what I would like to say. You have all been my strength when I needed you Susie you have been my

Rock and inspiration to keep going through the very tough time I had thank you so much. Your well on the

Way now Susie and I am so glad for you as i know you had to face some tough times too hope the thumb

improves for you.

Anne, you always reply to us all and have always got a positive attude to get each and everyone of us on the

road to recovery even when that road has been tough for most of us, and yes the deep breathing certainly

helps I know I have had to use it on many occasions, when just getting back ino my car as a passenger was

Really frightening but I did the breathing and after a while enjoyed my day out, I now have to do it when I

Have to go to the supermarket this is my biggest hurdle right now but I did manage to it but was so exhausted when I got home the things we take for granted when we are well. I'm glad you have reached that light Anne you too are an inspiration to us all that we all can get there a day at a time look after yourself and thank you.

Jules

Thank you for your positive answers when I needed to know where I was going wrong your all so very special people and without you all I don't think I would have had the strength to carry on with it all. I have had a very a very lonely journey with no friends speak of when I needed them not even my family has they have never

Been through this ilness they don't know what to say or do they don't realise it's just someone to talk to you

Want just to take you mind off things for a while but they just stopped coming and it hurts because I am the

One they turn to first when they needed me so without this forum I don't know what I would have done. Thank you for being there when I needed a friend .

Diane

I'm so glad your making progress the broken sleep I know can be frustrating asmim having it my self, but two weeks ago I wasn't getting any sleep at all so now this is a bonus I am still taking the Zoplidem 10mg and still 2mg diazapham through the night and has definitely taken the edge off the anxiety and I've now got an

Appetite again even though I still have to watch what I eat because of the hives. So onward and upward now for us all.

Mrs VN,

Congratulations on your return to work, I know you were a little apprehensive in the begining but you have

Wonderful colleagues there to help you. You were our rock at all times always giving us your positive thinking

expertise when ever we needed it. I will really miss you. Let us all know how things are with you good luck in

Everything you do.

Christine,

I haven't spoken to you before now but I have read each and everyone of your comments your a strong

Person and you will get there. I am having to face the same decision as yourself I started on 10mg for nearly a month then my GP increased me to 20mg it's my 16th day still not feeling great, like you the evenings are

Better but ony just so I've recideded to the fact that the increase will be inevitable it's just every time they

Increase the side affects each time has been horrific but if it has to be to get well it will be all worth it. I know

Christine your older than i am, I'm 55 and it's because we are older it seems as if it's taking for ever I know

That is how I feel. I wish you all the best look after yourself we will get there. Just little steps each day.

Isabel

I'm so glad to hear you've had no side affect good luck with your journey.

Chris

I hope everything is going well with pain and you are well too look forward to hearing from you soon.

Maria xxxx

Good health to you all x