Anyone NOT had any side effects on Citalopram?

Maria!!!!!!!

Amazing to hear from you, u r making amazing steps forward, well done, be proud of your achievements, you are sounding so so so much better, keep going, ........ I have a tear in my eye because I felt your pain and can see the light shinning for you now, ...... This is such a personal journey, and we can be so impatient with ourselves sometimes , I'm the worst for that, I still have a little ways to go, but I'm so so much better (even though I dislocated my thumb! Lol) ..... U don't realise how much u use ur thumb but it will be fine as long as I keep the thumb brace on .......

Even though I've never met you, you,Diane,Anne or Mrs VN I feel that you are all personal friends ......... I owe u guys!!!!!! Xxxxx

Maria, supermarkets where a huge huge sky high hurdle for me too, I Sussed that the lights in shops and supermarkets placed with my eyes, even tho I know exactly the effect it had on my eyes it would send me into anxiety, my head knew that it was the lights, but my body reacted differently!!!! U know what I done? ....... Every time I went into a supermarket I put on a dark pair of sunglasses on , I didn't care if it's raining or snowing outside, so when I went in the lights didn't react , I would go in for say milk and bread, pay then go out, gradually I built it all up and now can do a full shop , don't get me wrong, a couple of times I felt like I was clinging onto the bread aisle but breathe breathe breathe! one step at a time my sweet, ..... I'm so excited for u xxxx

everyone, hold one, we are all here for you and understand every single step xxxxx

Hi everyone,

Having a bit of a lazy morning and still lying in bed so I thought I'd take the opportunity to say hello!

I hope everyone's doing okay today. I still can't get over how much better I feel now, I hope that helps to give people some hope and comfort when they're going through the bad times. I look back at the last 6 or 7 weeks and I can't quite believe what's happened and how bad things got for me. It's like looking back at a different person! I feel really sad for the depressed me, I almost wish I travel back and give me a great big hug and say 'they're not lying, it's not a trick, you WILL get better I promise' Although I still wouldn't have believed it, I really thought I would stay poorly forever and I'm sure some of you still feel that way at the moment.

Again, to all the people out there who have such a negative view of antidepressants, they don't stop me being me, depression stopped me being me, antidepressants helped me to find me again! In some ways I am still learning to be a slightly different me, I'm trying to learn to relax, do things for myself more and to learn to say no to things that I'm only doing because I feel I should rather than because I want to do it. Some things are actually better than they were before I was iil, I used to sit up til all hours watching tv or on the internet and then have to drag myself out of bed in the morning and feel tired all day. Now I've got into a really good sleep pattern, am in bed by 10 and am waking up naturally around 7! Not bad for someone who 6 weeks ago was only getting 45 mins sleep at a time and would get a maximum of 3-4 hours a night!

Susie, I'm sorry to hear about your thumb :-( but I'm glad to hear you coped. It's funny, when I knocked my wing mirror off my first thought was 'I handled that surprisingly well, I didn't even cry!'

Maria, you sound like things are gradually getting better for you, you even made it out in the car! That sounds so much better than things were when you first came on here! How are you getting on with sleeping and eating?

Diane, how's the acupuncture going? Did you hear back from the GP after she was going to discuss your case with the other partners in the practise?

Christine, I hope that the increase helps to make things better for you. Has anyone else noticed any improvement? I know others saw it in me before I did.

Anne, thank you for your kind words, I will certainly be continuing to log on and post when I can, it's just that as I'm not on the sofa all day every day like I was before I won't be able to reply as often as I was! Fingers crossed I'll have some good news to share soon ;-)

Carol, how are you managing with work? I know you weren't sure whether to let people know you weren't well.

Jules, keep strong, you will get there, it just takes time! I know that won't make you feel better right now, I know I just kept thinking 'but I want to feel better now' when people said it to me but as Diane says, you can embrace the inner tortoise!

Jillian, hope you find the right balance of dosage for you. If the medication isn't giving you any adverse effects then please don't put pressure on yourself to come off them. When the time is right you will be able to but don't feel you have to come off citalopram it's not a competition and there are no prizes for not taking it. Just do what you need to to keep well. I learned this the hard way!! However, if it is the right time for you and you can cope without it, that's great news too. I guess there are two ways of looking at it, if a person is anaemic and needs iron supplements to stay well then they might as well stay on them as long as necessary, but at the same time, if you don't have a headache there's no need to take paracetamol every day! Hope that makes sense!

I hope you all have a peaceful Sunday,

Xx

Isabel, that's fantastic news, I hope citalopram helps to improve things for you! Xx

Hi everyone,

I hope the day is going better for you all.

Anne- thank you for your encouragement, it really helps.

Maria - so pleased to see you back here and you are doing so well, as you say with us being older it could longer to work, I took it first time around 18 months ago but it seemed to work quicker that time and yet 12 weeks keeps sticking in my mind, so hopefully another 3 weeks, I am finding the lying awake at night the worst thing, I woke at 3 last night and just led their till 7 but I think the anxiety in the morning is getting better. I'm sure things will start to get a lot better for you soon.

My main worry at the moment is as I said previously when I saw my GP on Thursday he started to say about going up to 30mg of cit and when I questioned him about my age he changed his mind and asked how I felt about going on something different, cutting the cit down to 10mg and taking 15mg mirtazapine at night, apparently this makes you very sleepy, I wish I hadn't questioned him about my age and the cit now as I would just have gone on to 30mg, I suppose this is the down side of having the Internet and knowing things we wouldn't have known years ago, I am worrying myself silly this weekend and making myself worse on what to do for the best and at the moment haven't done either, I never ask enough questions when I go to the doctors that's my trouble.

Take care all of you.

Christine xxxxx

Ps. Susie, that's lovely of you to say, but you don't owe me anything! ;-) The only thing I would want is for other people I've supported to continue to support the new starters and then they will be paying it forward to the next lot of people just starting out in a few weeks time!

Xx

Hi everyone, Haven't been here for a while as feeling great and working full time now after staggered return to work. Looking back now at myself I cannot believe that back in November and December I couldn't sleep without Zopiclone, couldn't eat and the idea of going to work would feel me with fear. Citalopram makes me confident, relaxed and optimistic. it took me about 8 weeks to feel this but it was worth it, the side effects were horrible and lasted almost 2 months but I'm a different person now.

Trying to reduce my dose from 25 to 20 as think that's the right one for me but taking it slowly coz don't want to experience side effects again.

Keep it up everyone and believe in Citalopram

Grace

Susie

Thank you for your encouraging words it means so much, today is not so good as it's the anniversary of the

Death of my mum five years ago today even though. It seems like yesterday it still hurts so much she wasn't

Only my mum but my best friend too and it's at times like now that I need her the most just to put her arms

Around me and say everything is going to be alright. I know she's in a better place but I miss her so much.

That was one of the reasons I wrote on the forum as I usually keep myself to myself but with no parents now

It was hard as my mum had gone through what I'm going through now but she had me I have know one only on here that's why it's so hard. My daughter is a rock Susie and is around if I need her but she has children

And I feel as if I'm putting on her even though she never complains x

Christine,

It might be worth giving the mirtazapine a try, as you say, the things that are online are often the worst case scenarios, in some ways the internet can be a curse and a blessing! I know when i was really poorly i obsessively googled how long it would take me to feel better, I was hoping to find examples of a miracle cure which would instantly make me well again but instead I found horror stories! In some ways it probably set me back a little but at the same time I would never have found this forum! Even the 'official' websites have to let everyone know the worst case scenario.

Different people can have very different experiences of medications. My mum often gives the example that if she takes tramadol she's knocked out for hours and can't function the next day, whereas someone else she knows takes it in the morning and goes off and works a full day with no problems at all!

You could perhaps try it on an evening when you know you have nothing planned the next morning so if you do feel drowsy then it's not a problem. At least that way you'll know you've tried it instead of wondering.

Xxx

Morning all,

So much lovely support on here.

Anne - the chest thing is odd but doesn't last anywhere near as long and comes from nowhere but goes as quickly. Have cardiology review booked so will see what happens.

Maria - have stopped having sweats at the moment but get hot still in bed. In general my sleep is getting better (have always been an erratic sleeper) but am content that I'm managing to sleep without any night sedation, it helped initially but then didn't but at that point my body seemed to be trying to regulate itself luckily.

Susie (and Maria) - I made an interesting discovery the other day regarding shops and lighting. My friend has lupus and her consultant told her that when she has a flare up she should avoid fluorescent lit environments as they cause terrible visual/neuro disturbances. My local Sainsbury's is awful and I have been feeling yucky within a few minutes of being there but I went into 2 new build "local" shops (Sainsbury's and morrisons) and was totally fine. I looked at the lighting and noticed they both appeared to have filters over the tube lighting which could explain the difference? I am making regular trips to shops but am now aware of the lighting as the problem.

Mrs VN - it's too early to tell if the acupuncture is helping because I'm improving and can't tell if it's the cit, acupuncture or just my post viral fatigue improving with time but as my fiance says even if it's me having a chat and some pampering and me time it's worth it. Early days. Gp is waiting to see what the results of all the tests and hospital visits over the next couple of weeks are and I'm seeing her again the day after my last one to regroup. She did say I looked more energised and we just need to get results and see if my improvement sticks, having had backwards steps before.

Yesterday I did lots of housework and went to the "out-laws" in the evening and had a good day. Today I feel a bit tired and fuzzy in the head but want to do something this afternoon to keep the momentum up.

Hope everyone is having a positive and peaceful day.

:-D

Hi Mrs VN,

Yes you are right, my trouble is I can never make a decision, I think I have been like this ever since I can remember and when I do I change my mind about 10 minutes later this is how I have been all weekend , one minute I will do one thing the next the other and still haven't made up my mind.

Maria, sorry to hear this is the anniversary of your Mum's death, this is going to be a hard day for you but I am sure she is looking down on you and wishing you well. My Mum is 93 and lives with us, unfortunately I can't have a proper conversation with her now as her short term memory is bad and if I try to talk over things with her it just makes her more confused.

Christine xx

Hi all!

Maria...so good to hear from you and you are making great strides forwards. I hope the links were helpful. The course I'm using is a book and CD...The Mindful Way Through Depression by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Mark Williams and 2 other authors. It's excellent, but I am going to do a proper Mindfulness course after Easter. I don't just want to beat the depression - I want my serenity back, which I got fully after walking the Camino de Santiago in 2003, until 2010 when the menopause hit and knocked me flat. I think the mindful awareness will do that. Stay with us, Maria and don't apologise for posting on here a lot - you're not needy, you're ill, as are we, and we all need support from each other. It's good to have support from friends too, if you're lucky enough to have that, but there's NOTHING like support from people who are on exactly the same journey, as we all are. I find everyone's thoughts and comments really helpful.

Grace and Mrs VN - it's an inspiration to hear how well you are, and how ill you were.

Christine - I'd tend to ask for the 30mg of Citalopram, as you're already on this AD, so it's not like starting all over again. Then if that doesn't work, look at something else maybe. My doc told me that heart problemes only tended to come at 60mg, although he was talking about someone my age (53) rather than yours.

Good luck whatever you decide you want to do.

Hi Jules, Yes I do tend to agree with you I think I would rather go on the higher dose of cit than start something else at this stage, I don't like the sound of the mirtazipine very much as it makes you drowsy and always hungry so therefore that will be a weight gain, I don't want to lose weight but I'm happy as I am, the good thing about it is you get a good nights sleep.

Christine.

I'd push for that at the docs then. If they were going to increase the dose to 30mg, it shouldn't be difficult to swing it!

What time are you taking the Cit? I was taking it in the evening, but the pharmacist advised me to take it in the morning as although it can make you temporarily drowsy a couple of hours after you take it, it disturbs sleep, so better in the morning. I took his advice, and am sleeping a bit better now.

I have no appetite at the moment, and am struggling to keep weight on...I don't need to lose any.

I take it in the morning after breakfast. My appetite has come back OK at the moment, I hope your comes back soon.

Hello Everyone

A little quiet on here over the last couple of days - I do hope this means everyone is making progress.

Hi Anne

Just wondered if you are OK - has your tinnitus settled down yet?

My doctor is away at present so will leave an appointment till next week as I want to speak to her.

Onward and upward!

take care everyone

Chris