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Citalopram severe side effects, or another underlying cause

Posted , 4 users are following.

adrionna45708
adrionna45708

Hi everyone! I'm going to try to make this short and sweet.

About five months ago (March of 2017) I started citalopram (10mg) for depression. Along with citalopram, I was also taking hydroxyzine (20mg?) for anxiety (I never had panic attacks or anxiety, but my therapist recommended that I take it along with citalopram, so I did). I ended up taking those two meds for two weeks, then went cold turkey with no side effects at all in any part of the process (college student and ran out of money).

In July of 2017, I decided to start back on citalopram (20mg this time) because my depression was still lingering. Everything was great up until day 5. On day five, I had palpitations (resting heart rate at 125), shortness of breath, hot flashes, uncomfortabally-warm sensation in the center of my chest, and tingling sensation in my head. I went to the ER (because I thought I was dying!) and the EKG, blood tests and cat-scan were fine. On day 11, same thing occurred, I went back to the hospital, and everything was fine once again. They referred me to a cardiologist, I went, the cardiologist listened to my heart, told me I was as healthy as a horse, and now (August 4th, 2017) I'm at home experiencing shortness of breath again (a day after the appointment with the cardiologist).

Today ( August 4, 2017) makes exactly a week since I've completely stopped taking citalopram after tapering off from 20mg (after week one) to 10mg for week 2-3, then 5mg for week four. I am still experiencing shortness of breath, but no palpitations, hot flashes, chest pain, or the rest. Being that I had no symptoms the first time while taking citalopram, I am freaking out! I would like to know if anyone else has experienced what seemes to be panic attacks (heart palpitations, hot flashes, shortness of breath) only after starting citalopram, so I can gage whether my situation is due to citalopram, or if there is another underlying cause. Also, can someone tell me how long they have experienced side effects after completely stopping citalopram? Google tells that the half-life is 35 hours, so I was expecting that I wouldn't continue having side effects after a week.

Lastly, if I am experiencing panic attacks, PLEASE leave tips on natural remedies; share your experiences with me! My family has been really supportive, which has helped tremendously (alone, I think I would have lost my mind.) However, none of them have taken Citalopram, so they can't relate to what I'm feeling, and I really want to hear from others that have taken Citalopram.

Thank You!

2 likes, 21 replies

21 Replies

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  • dean64305
    dean64305 adrionna45708

    Posted

    yeh avoid the stuff if you can :-)

    Also another thing I didnt mention, when I started Cit I used to take in the morning. This would give me side effects in the day, even slept all day sometimes. I started taking mine last thing at night and this helped a lot as I slept through many side effects

    • eric28362
      eric28362 dean64305

      Posted

      Dean,

      I have been on 40 mg for about 5 months.  I was feeling great and then this past week, I have been down.  Have you experienced any of that?  I am not sure why I am feeling down because it was going great.  Any thoughts would be helpful!

    • lois95799
      lois95799 eric28362

      Posted

      It's a roller coaster ride ...with or without meds... wouldn't it be just dandy if all the human people on Earth were all up...not down..and yes the meds make u feel up and down ..but so do our natural chemistry...

    • dean64305
      dean64305 lois95799

      Posted

      Depends on levels

      Everyone ive talked too 'knows how i feel'

  • dean64305
    dean64305 adrionna45708

    Posted

    Hi

    Yep do. Some things-

    - booze which try to avoid now

    - cold/flu like viruses (and flu itself) can pull me down for a while even a few months, usually in wintertime

    -lack of exercise can sometimes do it so try to walk a lot and also got a treadmill at house to do cardio. Fitness seems important more as i age (im 42)

    - just gettin out in fresh air helps

    - challenging myself like going shoppin doing physical work like diy etc. Helps a lot and sometimes i will forget i was down.

    In habit of drinking water and exercise (however you do it) helps shake colds.

    Sounds daft but i was down from november to march odd with this s****y flu like cold and got really down. When it left i felt much better

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