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Dosage increase from 30-40mg need advice please.

Posted , 5 users are following.

dav.evans
dav.evans

Hi all

I have been on meds for the past 6 years as I have bouts of depression and severe social anxiety. I have been on citalopram now for roughly 5 months. I started on 20mg which didn't give a strong enough effect. That was then upped to 30mg which took away depressive synptomns and lightened my mood.

My GP wanted to up my dose to 40mg to help the anxiety further. I am on day 6 now and feel very foggy, depressed and tired all of the time. I didn't get these side effects on 20mg or 30mg, I just felt a little spaced out.

Is this normal or does it mean I have gone too high with the dosage? My mind is telling me to go back and ask to go back to 30mg because I'm worried that 40mg might be too much?

Please can anyone help advise. I don't want to get to the stage where I self harm again or get the feelings of suicide sad

Thank you in advance

1 like, 12 replies

12 Replies

  • cheryl20077
    cheryl20077 dav.evans

    Posted

    Hi ive been on 30mg for 5 years and after drinking to much alchol ive been put up to 40mg 4 weeks ago never drinking again may i add. Doc told me u will feel worse before u feel better and give the increase dose 6-8 weeks to settle again. I do feel alot better then what i did 4 weeks ago but liw mood and little bit if anxeity is still there. I should start to feel the full effect of the increase soon it just takes time xxx
    • jessica44142
      jessica44142 cheryl20077

      Posted

      What was the result of too much alcohol? Did you just have an increase in anxiety and depression. Ive seemed to have this incident too where I drink too much and then I have an anxiety/depression episode and then the doctor ups my dose. But I drank all the time in college and never had a problem. I was also on birth control at the time though and thinking that might have helped.

      So will you eventually return to your regular dose?

    • cheryl20077
      cheryl20077 jessica44142

      Posted

      Yeah drank wow to much and my anxeity and depression came back. Not sure if the doc is going to take me back to 30mg. I dont normally have a problem with having a drink but new year i was drinking fast and was mixing my drinks think thats what kicked it off for me as i was fine before new year. I usally get bit anxoius and low mood for a couple of days after ive had a drink but this time i waited at least 2 weeks see if i would calm down again but never did it was getting worse xx😢

  • cheryl20077
    cheryl20077 dav.evans

    Posted

    Also when i went up to 40mg i felt really really spaced out and weriod then it subsided at around 2 weeks
    • dav.evans
      dav.evans cheryl20077

      Posted

      Hi Cheryl

      That's very reassuring and thank you for your reply. It is something I didn't experience at the lower doses and it scared me to think the depression had returned.

      I'll persevere and try to stay occupied in the meantime. The best thing I ever done was to give up alcohol. That's when I started getting better. Hope you manage to stay away from that poison.

      Thank you again smile

    • cheryl20077
      cheryl20077 dav.evans

      Posted

      Oh yeah i will it was awful never ever drinking again i never drank much like every 6 of 7 months but new year i went well over the top i tryed to stick it out after new year for 2 weeks and i was getting worse doctor didnt look inpressed with me drinking alcohol. I think binge drinking is worse. When i started on 40mg i thought it was to much as i was really really anxoues and shaking very low mood but tnat has calmed down alot now. So id say in about 2 weeks u used start to feel abit better xx
    • dav.evans
      dav.evans cheryl20077

      Posted

      I know exactly what you mean when you mention the shakes. I drank 3-5 times per week for a year at one point as a way of self medicating. It made my anxiety worse like you said, but it also made my condition worse as time went along.

      I haven't drank now for a year. Christmas, New Year's Eve, birthdays etc were a new experience being sober, but I feel so much better without it physically and mentally.as soon as the citalopram settles (hopefully) I will be a very happy man.

      Thank you once again smile

    • cheryl20077
      cheryl20077 dav.evans

      Posted

      Thats what im doing from now on giving up the drink its poison like you said. When i went on citalopram for the first ever time 5 years ago i can honstley say it saved my life i couldnt thank the doctor enough for putting my onit took me 2 weeks to take the first tablets as i new it was gonna make me worse but i was so desprate and couldnt carry on with my life the way i was feeling these tablets saved my life. Just want to add aswell nothing bad has happened to me in my life so dong really understand why im like it.... some people just need tje brain tweerking abit i guess 😕

  • jessica44142
    jessica44142 dav.evans

    Posted

    Hi! I'm having the same issue! I think your mind will eventually acclimate. It sometimes takes up to a couple weeks or a month for the symptoms to disappear. I had vision problems at first and felt foggy brained when going up to 40 mg and the symptoms seemed to disappear after about two weeks for me

    My behavioral therapy nurse said the medication slows the thought process a little which helps with anxiety, at least in my case because you're used to thinking a million thoughts at once. So that creates the foggy brain feeling. But this goes away once your mind adapts to this new pace of your cognition.

    Make sure though to keep communication with your doctor about symptoms! If you get any alarming symptoms, I'd say a doctors visit is in order

    • dav.evans
      dav.evans jessica44142

      Posted

      It's nice to hear you're experiencing the same. My Pdoc said the same, but it's nice to hear from people who have taken the higher dose and come through it.

      I see the doctor every 2 weeks. They must be sick of the sight of me lol.

      I'm glad that your symptoms went away and thank you for responding

    • zoe62821
      zoe62821 dav.evans

      Posted

      Hi. I am on 40mg also. Been on them 2weeks after 3weeks of 30mg. Doc upped my after I said the side effects were improving. Side effects now are lack of appetite, sweating, tiredness and jittery.

      Most people are saying I have been increased to fast. I don't know, just following docs orders.

      How are you feeling now? How many days on 40mg? Or have you changed dosage?

  • joe93594
    joe93594 dav.evans

    Posted

    first of all mate im sorry to hear of your depression, horrible thing at its worst.

    the effects your getting from 40mg is the same effects i got from 20mg lol.

    everyone is different and i dont think those side effects are a bad thing it will pass in little over a months time.

    it wasn't until i began getting those side effects and they passed i started to feel my mental health get better, infact a year after those side effects i was able to quit citalopram which was 2 years ago now.

    I can't promise you wont get feelings of suicide in this month period but what i can promise is it really is a case of things get worse then alot better.

    depression is a daily battle take it a day at a time and give the medication time.

    its hard not to but the more you worry, the more you feed anxiety which then leads to the anxiety play havoc with your deppression.

    citalopram had saved my life and i hope it has the same effect on you in time to come.

    Take Care

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