citalopram 8 weeks 20mg - still struggling
Posted , 3 users are following.
Hi everyone,
I have already posted here a previous time
But i'm really having a difficult time, still have a lot of symptoms (probably some due to my condition itself, some due to the medication) but I'm 8 weeks in now and I have the feeling that it's not really working for me.
The side effects aren't as worse as in the beginning but I still don't feel a lot of the actual improvement.
If I'm able to function a little bit (as in I'm having a "good day), the good day is still the same good day as before I started the medication and I actually had more of them before then now.
Since the last few days I've been feeling really of, lump in the throat feeling, uneasy, it's really hard to cope with these days that come out of the blue.
Maybe i'm too impatient, but can this drug still work for me? (I've never been on one before) I really want to start having some quality of life again...
1 like, 4 replies
ian90586 Anwar93
Edited
Hi Anwar,the medication is working,you just haven't reached the point where you will start to get the benefit. Think of your brain as an empty bucket when you were ill and the medication as a dripping tap over the bucket. When the bucket is full and overflowing that's when you feel the benefits,but with you the bucket is still around 75% full but its getting there drip by drip . So be patient and don't think nothing is happening. The same thing happens to everyone, recovery is very slow with setbacks along the way but you will get there in time . Just make sure you continue to take the medication and try to accept the horrible symptoms of anxiety and try to relax using meditation,deep breaths etc until things start improving . Take care.
thomas56261 Anwar93
Posted
Anwar i feel like i was few a few months back. I started on lexapro and onto celexa.. I wanted to quit many times. was really 3 months before i started to put good days together and weeks.. Right now i have had a few rough days out of nowhere.. i was scared and came on there and Ian and guys supported me and advised me this is normal and will get better and i believe that..
Keep doing what your doing, add exercise, pack your weekends with friends, hikes, call a friend.. small things like this can help..
Anwar93
Posted
I went to the psychiatrist this week and for some reason although my sleep still isn't good, he told me to go from half a trazodone to a quarter.
He thinks the small benefit is coming from the citalopram and the trazodone should be cut down slowly.
He told me as it is isn't really an antidepressant in such a low dose that it shouldn't cause a lot of side effects as the citalopram.
It's been now 2 days and I feel really weird, nervous,...
I'm really getting sad as I have been adjusting for months now without great benefit, so I'm not up for it.
I really feel like they are always lying to me. I'm pretty sure i'm getting the side effects of cutting down trazodone. He said in his 30 years of career he has never seen big issues when cutting down trazodone.
ian90586 Anwar93
Posted
Hi Anwar,10 weeks on Citalopram is still early days, and I personally have a real hard time between weeks 8-12. Never taken Trazodone and you don't say what dosage,but read it also increases Serotonin. I wouldn't be happy reducing anything that increases Serotonin, however small,when still having a hard time at 10 weeks. You're obviously going to get some withdrawal and lowering of mood if you decrease Serotonin when you're still not recovered. Some people are really sensitive to meds, especially people who suffer from anxiety including myself,and we can feel a lot even at low dosages. Don't think your psychiatrist is lying,they haven't been through it, and everyone is completely different. You should start to feel the benefits of the Citalopram in the next few weeks,so don't lose heart.