Change from Fluoxetine to Citalopram has made me nuts! Help lol

Just to make the whole question clearer -

- basically I feel as though fluoxetine was not working as well for me after 6 months(as well as giving me heartburn)

- Doc changed me to citalopram..but it's been horrible for me! Back to how I was before meds.

- Should I ask to try changing back and live with heartburn/take gaviscon, up the citalopram, or even try a whole new med?

Thanks

It seems to me you were fine on prozac except for the heartburn personally I would have just took the gaviscon to ease it and not changed meds...I'm on 20mg citalopram and I'm ok with that so there's no way I would of changed my meds as I know the anxiety and depression is awful when it's fully on you......hope you feel better soon

Hi

Just wanted to say, I don't know how long you were on Fluoxetine, but usually what happens is you often start to feel well and continue like that for a while, and then out of the blue you start feeling ill again, making you think you're back at the start.  This is when people make the mistake of rushing to get their medicine increased or change to a different sort, but in my experience this is just a normal part of the recovery.  If you wait, carry on with the meds, go about life as normal, then you should find you'll start to feel better again.  This pattern will repeat itself many times until you feel good all the time.  Even after 6 months you can still get occasional time of feeling down, but it will disappear again.

Changing medication I would now imagine you're having side effects and these will wear off in time.  It took about 3-4 months for me to start feeling well and probably around 6 months before I felt really good.

You need so much patience on these meds, and give them time to work.  As they're working your mood will be up and down for quite a while.

The meds don't stop working, it's just a normal process and your body adjusting.

My son is 20 and started Fluoxetine last year, and it's taken him just over 6 months to start feeling well.

Indigestion may well have been something completely unrelated to the medicine, but as Ethan said, maybe Gaviscon would have helped rather than changing the meds.

But for now, I'd say you're having side effects.  You'll need to ride them out for a while, but you should feeling well after some weeks.

K x

Hi louisevictoria

There seems to be a "dip" in mood when you are on anti-d's in my opinion. Once the drugs are in your system, you begin to feel like you again and finally, you feel like you again. So life goes and and then all of a sudden feelings that you thought had long gone raise their pretty little heads (again).

I've beenn on citalopram for years (6) and I get these "dips" but my GP never changed my medication, i just rode it out and it did pass.

Go back on to flux and get something for heartburn - expect dips but just look how far you have come! Be positive about yourseld and treatment, try and not turn it into a negative if you can which is so difficult.

Xx

Ou should know that all drugs for depression, anxiety, etc  could  and do affect your appetite. If your mental condition caused you to binge eat before then changing to a different medication may not solve the problem. Have you ever sought counselling for bulimia or food disorders?

Hi everyone thank you so much for all the replies!!! 

ethan I completely agree looking back if only I had known, I guess I didn't really put the dip I was having down to it being just that - I assumed it was the medication and that's why I was willing to change. 

Kate you helped explain this loads thank you! I was on the fluoxetine best part of 6 months however during the first couple of months did actually come off it for a bit (I know that was a huge mistake) because I was somehow convinced I was 'better' and that was it! 

Macy I will speak to my doctor but overally fluoextine worked SO much better for me, I am just scared of another adjustment so soon.. I have only been on cit for about 8 weeks!! So maybe I should ride that out?

All I know is that the whole time I was on fluoxetine I was thinking and acting very positively, not being too hard on myself and all my friends and family loved how happy I was and back to myself again! Now although I am trying to be positive I am finding it draining and it sucksss haha. But I am so glad I asked on this forum because all your answers have really helped

Also Nechama the binge eating was and I guess still is a huge part of my illness - a year ago I became too anxious to eat enough and lost a lot of weight and became obsessed with exercising before eating - not for looks, but purely because I felt so anxious like i might be sick or something! Then I left my job due to the anxiety and became slightly more depressed for feeling like a failure etc, and suddenly the binging began and before I knew it I had overtaken my normal weight and was 2 stone over it! I haven't ever had counselling as believed I had it under control but maybe I don't, so this might really help. It's really not a fun way to live..and it's so annoying because we need food to survive haha, so having issues with it makes it unavoidable. 

Thanks again everyone you have helped give me the kick in the butt to sort this out and also just ride it out and keep going Louise xxx

Hi I  was first on Prozac a few years ago it worked well I was on them for a year then came off them, but ended up back on them 18months later and this time round 20mg didn't do anything and they upped me to 40mg and that did nothing so after 8months I came off them and was put on to Sertraline and they just gave me the constant runs, so now I am on 20mg Citrapram have been on them 4weeks and I still feel really low. Fluxotine is well known for just stopping working. Good luck I'm giving these another 4wks and if not any better I will ask to up them.