Depression complicated by grief for the living

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I have been cut off by 2 of my 3 adult children and it plunged me into a really dark depression. I've been taking Citalopram for 6 weeks but am still crying an awful lot and feeling anxious and miserable most of the time, to the extent that I can't go to work. I raised my dose of Citalopram from 10mg to 20 mg 5 days ago and feel worse. I know most of the comments on this site are about the meds themselves and side-effects etc. Does anyone else have experience of depression and grief combined, especially for living lived ones? How do you cope? Do the tablets help?

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5 Replies

  • Posted

    Hi Jill

    It's a no wonder your emotions are all over the place trying to deal with family issues and an increased dose of citalopram. You've only been on the new dose for five days so you are getting start up effects all over again. Sometimes this can mean an increase in anxiety too at the outset. Unfortunately this could take weeks or months even before you feel the benefit but everyone is different. I would go down to 15 personally in the hope that a lower dose would alleviate some of the side effects but I am no expert. Hope all turns out well for you.

    • Posted

      Thank you for taking the time to reply, Lina. I'm a bit nervous about messing around with the dose. It's a minefield, isn't it? My dad died too a couple of weeks ago and I feel like I'm dealing with 3 bereavements at once! I've booked an acupuncture session to see if that will help and also enrolled on a meditation course. I'm usually a positive, bubbly person but all this has hit me for six!

    • Posted

      So sorry to hear about your dad Jill, I can understand why you were so desperate to increase your dose to try to alleviate your anxiety. Your right, it is a minefield, just be aware that every time you increase or decrease your dose you will have start up/withdrawal symptoms. You seem to be very positive in view of everything and it's good that you are being pro-active . Hang in there, it will get better. Take care.

    • Posted

      Thank you for the encouragement Luna. Good luck to you too. It sounds as if you are in a better place now than when you first needed the medication. I'll keep going and try to do some of the other things that I know are good for me, like exercise.

    • Posted

      Sorry, predictive text wrote Luna instead of Lina.

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