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Increased to 30mg-Need Reassurance

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laura45992
laura45992

I went in to the psychiatrist in Feb to be proactive after some travel anxiety. Not out of desperation. I was prescribed Lexapro and only took it for 8 days bc I made the mistake and googled side effects and found someone killed themselves while on it. At that point, intrusive thoughts flooded my mind about suicide even though I have never been depressed or suicidal. Long story short, I went downhill fast and anxiety turned into depression. My therapist and psychiatrist thought it was necessary to try something else again and quick. So, I started Cit 20mg first of March. The first week was awful, as expected, but I improved very quickly and by week five and six, I was feeling about 75%. I knew I still had a long way to go to be recovered, but was doing really well. Hadnt had a bad day in a month. Then BAM, out of nowhere, it was like I had never been on the drug. The anxiety was back in full force, and unlike before when it would get better as the day went on, this anxiety lasted all day and the maximum dose of XANAX wasnt touching it. After five days of that, I called the dr and we agreed to up to 30mg. I have now been on 30mg 3 days. Anxiety is the same, all day, not relenting. XANAX is hardly doing anything to help. So my question is, does 30mg cause worse side effects than I had when I started 20mg or should I expect the side effects to be similar? Should i expect the side effects to last longer or about the same? Is it possible this med just isnt for me? What would be symptoms to show me 30mg is too strong for me? I want to stick with it, but am just feeling very defeated after doing so well and just ready to get back to my life. Sometimes I regret ever going in to start this process, since I wasnt desperate at the time, but here we are....

AND.....finally and a little unrelated...what causes blips? Does the severity and duration decrease the longer youve been on the meds? Do blips ever go away?

0 likes, 7 replies

7 Replies

  • marsh23433
    marsh23433 laura45992

    Posted

    Hi Laura/first the amount of 20 mgs you did not give it a chance to work as medication can take up to 10/12 minimum to work and then you went back to doctor and now you are on 30 mgs ,so let the medication work and give 30 mgs 12/14 weeks of side effects .any medicine can be ok for the person ,however you have too give it a chance to work.

    • laura45992
      laura45992 marsh23433

      Posted

      Thanks for the reply. I am regretting not giving the 20 more time, but now that I have started the 30, should I just stick with it? As opposed to going back down to 20? Im afraid if i go back down, I'll really confuse my body.

  • andrew83432
    andrew83432 laura45992

    Posted

    hi laura, iv been going through the same thing , with the intrusive thought started december , i was upped from 20mg to 30 mg citalopram n stuck at it for 16 week and was getting worse, my dr switched me to sertraline which seems to be working the anxiety as eased. Hope ya get well soon

    • laura45992
      laura45992 andrew83432

      Posted

      Hey Andrew, thanks for the reply. How long were you on 20 before they upped you to 30? At any point, did you have any improvement, or are you saying it just never worked for you?

    • andrew83432
      andrew83432 laura45992

      Posted

      hi laura i was on 20mg for a year was working fine til i had a setback in december, in hindsight wish i never upped the dose, but 30mg i think was too much for me i had anxiety allday and only got relief at nightand then was waking up at 2am not being able to go back to sleep, switching to sertralines helped me out lots, but everyones different what works for 1 does always work for another

  • Grounded
    Grounded laura45992

    Posted

    I've been on 10mg for 5 weeks, and 20mg now for 17 weeks and it has been one roller coaster of a ride. I would say it took at least 12-14 weeks on the 20mg to start having some good days, and since then I've been up and down I'll have a good 5 days to a week then a bad day or two which causes anxiety and makes you feel like it isnt working or quit working but if you let it ride and the days keep coming back more and more. I feel like even after 16 weeks or so you can still have a bad week here and there, its just riding it out until it really becomes fully effective. My doctor also wanted me to increase to 40mg but after reading everything I have on here I feel like giving it a good 6 months (providing I was having good days too) I would hang in there and let it get stable before I let my doctor change it.

    Best wishes! Hang in there and I hope you feel better soon. I know what you're going through.

    • laura45992
      laura45992 Grounded

      Posted

      Thank you. I've already increased to the 30mg for four days now. I dont think I should go back to 20mg now, right? I probably need to see this dosage through for the next several months? If I had found this forum before now, I may have tried to stick with 20mg longer, but after the dr and therapist said to increase, I went with it. Going back down at this point would probably throw my system totally out of whack. The waiting game is frustrating. I just pray this med will work and dont have to start back at square one in six months. Im hopeful that bc 20mg made me feel better to some degree already, that 30mg does have the potential to be the right fit for me long term. Good luck to you, too. I hope you get to a place where you no longer have bad weeks

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