Citalopram to sertraline?

thank you for replying elaine.

its mad how they just stop working isn't it?

how bad were your side effects?

hopefully you are over the worst of them now and are hopefully doing a lot better. x

that sounds like a good way to do it. my doc wants me to go down to 20mg citalopram for a week then stop and introduce the sertraline 50mg the next day.

I'm pretty worried about it I'm not gonna lie x

thank you for taking the time to reply. I really appreciate it. I'm glad to hear that you are doing a lot better now.

it's strange how it worked for you 3 times previously then not at all.

I've been told to drop down to 20mg for a week then stop and go straight on 25 of sertraline.

I'm so scared about withdrawals tbh but I've got diazipam for when it gets rough.

I'm terrified it won't work for me but I really can't bare feeling like this any longer

ive been trying to get better for 6 months now and it's really taking its toll x

straight on 50 sertraline sorry x not 25

you may not get any side effects, guess you will not know till you try, sertraline is meant to be kinder to your system, why not try 25mgs to start with then increase slowly to 50 at least that way you be able to judge how you are going to respond to the meds, good thing is with sert as opposed to cit, side effects decrease vastly after 2 weeks

that's a really good idea thank you. I'm definitely gonna do that x I done a jump from 20mg of citalopram to 40mg and my head nearly collapsed it was so horrible!

let's hope I dont get side effects! that would be amazing x

so do side effect ls from sertraline disappear quicker then?

they seem to, when I was on cit it used to take 6 to 8 weeks for things to calm down but the few side effects I had all went within 2 weeks and that seems the case for a lot of people on here, 2 weeks if you do not mess around with your dose, 4 weeks to see if you have any improvement and 12 weeks to be some where normal if the dose you are on is the correct one. there will be blips and sometimes you may think they are not working, often I thought I may have needed an increase but I adopted the 7 day rule, if I still felt bad after that I promised my self I would see the dr to increase but I never did, do not rush it, it takes time and patience, which I know you may not have after waiting so long for things to be right but you will get there just take it easy and slow

thank you that's really good advise x and I'm definitely going to do the 7 day rule because I can never tell if I'm blipping or they aren't working x so that will be really helpful.

hopefully it is only 2 weeks because that would be bliss for the side effects to be that short lived compared to what I've been through with citalopram. thank you I really appreciate it.

I start taking the sertraline on Saturday as I e just dropped my citalopram to 20mg.

don't feel any withdrawal so far but I'm dreading it when it kicks in.

your welcome, you may not have any withdrawal symptoms from the citalopram because you are still giving your brain some chemicals, you will be ok, take each day as it comes, try not to panic, if you get side effects just welcome them, think of it as the pills working their magic getting into your system, do not focus on everything you feel, tell yourself this is one step closer to getting back to you

thank you x I will do everything you have just suggested and hope it helps x fingers crossed I dont. feel a bit dizzy today and dodgy stomach but that's about it so far. haven't started the sertraline yet so hoping like you said it wont make the withdrawals too bad x

good luck for today, I am sure it will be fine, this medication has turned my life back to how it used to be and hopefully in a few weeks time it will do the same for you

thank you so much x that's really sweet of you. I havnt taken it yet x I move house tomorrow and didnt want to feel off or out of it when I move. its gonna be a crazy day. shall I just take it today or wait do you reckon I'm just not sure x

what ever you feel more comfortable with, if you can mange the house move ok as you are at the moment then start it tomorrow, 1 more day is not going to make a lot of difference and you can always look at it as new home new start

yeah I'll take it tomorrow instead. ill get everything sorted and settled then take it I think x that's right new home new start x and hopefully the sert makes me feel a lot better x thank you x

did being on sertraline work any better than citalopram for you? or is it the same? it's strange how it worked 3 times for you in the past then not the 4th time isn't it x

it works differently, sertraline, for me, did not give me 8 weeks of side effects as cit did when I took it the last 3 times, on citalopram I always had 8 weeks of being like a rabbit caught in the headlights, scared of everything and anything, then 4 weeks of being spaced out, then back to normal, with sertraline I had 2 weeks of mild side effects, then 4 weeks of feeling better but not quite right, then it just improved everyday. when I was on citalopram before it was depression mostly that I had suffered from this time it was mostly anxiety so perhaps that is why the cit did not work for me this time, it just made everything worse with a whole load of not very nice side effects thrown in for good measure! As I have said before sertraline seems kinder to the system and the one that GP's prefer to prescribe for pregnant ladies if they have to go on anti d's, so in my mind that must say something about them

I've always thought that because they were prescribed more often for pregnant ladies. just felt it would be less of a shock to the system. hopefully its not, will soon find out lol x citalopram has has worked for both for me in the past but now, like you it's making my anxiety an awful lot worse.

that's really good that sertraline worked quicker! imagine having to go through another 8 weeks of side effects again. no thanks lol.

thank you for replying you have definitely made me feel more at ease about starting them and coming off citalopram.