Approaching week 7 - please tell me it gets better!?
Posted , 6 users are following.
Hi everyone, hopefully people can help give me encouragement and positive words to get through this journey! Started Citalopram 6 weeks 5 days ago, so almost 7 weeks i've been on 20mg now. The first couple of weeks were the usual side effects, week 3&4 were great, felt amazing. From week 5 i've gone downhill with side effects and anxiety again. I rang my doctor and he said its too soon to see consistent improvements, and to ring him back in 4-6 weeks for another review. I take propranolol as and when i need them too. So the last 2-3 weeks have been anxiety every morning, the anxiety generally settles in the afternoon/evening and i'm fine then.
Side effects are bouts of nausea, diarrhoea, muscle twitching/aching, hot flushes, tiredness, brain fog etc.
I am listening to claire weekes to help me along and trying to keep myself busy with work, my son and house chores etc in this lockdown, but i still feel terrible. I'm not massively keen on increasing my dose. Any positive stories would be amazing 😃
Thank you,
x
0 likes, 12 replies
jadelou93 Guest
Edited
Hi Jade,
im am currently 19wks in on 29mg and i can promise you it doea get better, i still have some bad days but its more because i have some stressful times at the moment, but i am so much better than i was, much more myself now.
unfortunately Citalopram does increase your anxiety for awhile, but you are doing the right things in keeping yourself distracted, try not and over work yourself too much, as i found it made me feel worse.
Your doing an amazing job! Keep strong!
My inbox is always open if you ever want to PM me, i know sometimes its easier (i found it easier myself talking to someone one on one about things) i am always happy to help and answer questions if I can x
Guest jadelou93
Edited
Hey! Thank you so much for replying, I'm glad to hear it gets better. It's disheartening when I see other people fully recovered at 6 weeks and then I get anxious about feeling like this forever etc etc. Also, I seem to get a new side effect every week!! This week's new side effect is muscle aching, which is uncomfortable so I hope that goes soon! I'm so glad that you are feeling better now, hopefully will be me soon xxx
jadelou93 Guest
Posted
It took a good 4months until instarted to feel better, but im still going up 😃
You will get there soon, stay positive and stay strong!
The side effects are annoying, and inconsistent, which is more annoying. I had most of them, headaches, dizziness, brain fog, bad belly, sleepiness, aches, palpitations and lack of appetite, and the worst i had was very bad anxiety, but it soon calmed down and i am where i am now, symptoms seem to have calmed at about 10weeks for me, but everyone is different. I wish i was one of the lucky ones who healed quicker though lol. But as previously mentioned i have a lot of stress and worry at the moment as my baby is a Heart Warrior and was born with Pulmonary Artesia, so she is soon due for her 2nd OHS (Opened Heart Surgery) 😦 but got to stay positive and strong 😃
Keep strong! Never be afraid to leave a message here, we have all been through it and will help out if we can x
ian82869 Guest
Posted
I was interested to read your post, as I am back on Citalopram 10mg for the 4th time ( having slowly increased the dose on 6 December 2020). 2 months later I am getting some of the side effects you mention. I usually get them around 5 pm, face flushing, pain in the right temple. My blood pressure is normal so I guess this is the Citalopram doing its worst before getting better?
Guest ian82869
Posted
Hi Ian. 😊 So over the past 3 days my side effects have either gone or lessened completely which is great, my anxiety is also feeling better but not fully. I still have anxiety everyday and some running thoughts but it's much better. I have no doubt that I'll probably have another blip soon but I'm just going to keep plodding on because I know these tablets work. I'm on 20mg and not looking to increase really so I'm going to keep going, some people say they don't get full relief until 5-6 months. I do still have some temple pain but I've discovered that that's probably TMJ because I've been holding my jaw tight from anxiety. So currently doing daily massage to hopefully help ease that. X
Emz_13 Guest
Posted
hi Jade, im on week 8 and my side effects are still a pain 😖 I've had 5 cbt sessions now and its been amazing! I truly don't think I'd feel like I do with out cbt, im just annoyingly still struggling with some side effects of tablets 😔
Guest Emz_13
Posted
Hey! I'm week 8 today and Ive noticed some slight improvements over the past week still having anxiety daily but not as debilitating. I feel very achy still, headachy, jaw ache, general muscle aches really. I'm hoping I keep seeing improvements as time goes on but it's bloody hard to keep going. Especially in this time of corona with nothing to look forward to, same rubbish different day! I'm on the waiting list for virtual cbt with Leeds MH team. I've got another 4 weeks wait. X
amybelle88 Guest
Posted
Jade this is exactly where I'm at too and I'm on week 7.
I've had bouts of nausea after I've ate, feeling woozy again and mood dips.
I got myself in a panic with the nausea and thought it might be something underlying, but now I'm more inclined to think that it's the citalopram. I'll have a few days of nausea, then a break for a few days, then it'll come back again. It's hard because when I'm eating, I'm monitoring myself to see if I feel nauseous!
How are you doing now?
Guest amybelle88
Posted
Hey, yeah so the nausea is likely to be a combination of citalopram and anxiety if you have anxiety? Citalopram isn't kind on the stomach at all. My nausea comes and goes and some days it's worse than others. I'm week 8 now and my motivation and anxiety are getting better slowly but I'm still having some side effects which I'm presuming will just wear off eventually. I'm going to keep going with it because I know these tablets work as I've had them before but they're just taking much longer this time around! X
amybelle88 Guest
Posted
Hi Jade,
Thanks for getting back to me I really appreciate it!
I definitely have anxiety - health anxiety specifically! I've also had cancer in the past which makes me worse, and I had part of my stomach removed, half of my pancreas removed, my gall bladder removed and my bile ducts reconstructed due to this so my anatomy and digestive system is really different to how it's supposed to be. My appetite is just smaller than what it used to be, but then some days I feel like I'm never full! It's a rollercoaster! I'm relieved that you've said yours comes and goes too (although obviously it'd be better if you didn't have to deal with it!). I still have other side effects like jaw clenching, vivid dreams, night sweats and I don't think anything of them now.
I've also had a brand change which I really don't think has helped at all.
xx
Guest amybelle88
Posted
Oh my god you poor thing!!!!! That sounds horrific and your nausea issue is particularly understandable! To be fair, a few years ago I had really bad nausea for months, had all the tests under the sun, camera down, nuclear scans etc and nothing was wrong, turned out it was anxiety. So I know for me, anxiety specifically effects my stomach. I still have jaw clenching too, and it's causing me jaw and temple pain. There's a lady called Caroline foran and she wrote a book and does a podcast on Spotify that's called 'owning it' and she's the same with the stomach issues but since she got anxiety under control she's fine. I felt better listening to that because it made me feel less abnormal xx
amybelle88 Guest
Posted
Hi Jade,
Thanks so much for getting back to me! The nausea has settled again today, but it did the same last week so I'm treading carefully! I will definitely look out for Caroline I'm always after a good podcast! Anxiety definitely affects my stomach, and my stomach definitely affects my anxiety, too, so I'm in a vicious cycle!
I've one some research re: brand changes and citalopram and posted on my other post on the forum if you want to take a look - i can't remember if it was you who had an issue with a brand change? Apologies if it's not! It does make for interesting reading, though.
xx