Is there any vitamins I could take to help along with my citalopram?

thanks thats a great help I will get some today anything to help with this xxx

No problem Gillian, I've used Kalms for years at times of stress and you can take up to 6 per day. I take 2 tablets 3 times a day, not so much lately as I'm feeling ok on the Citalopram, but always have them in the cupboard lol Hope they help D x

thank you so much Denise. Take care xx

hi denise do you find kalms help? i didnt think you could take kalms with cit? my doc gave me diazepam 2mg for helping side effects when increasing but i dont really want to be taking them as they are addictive. do you feel drowsy taking the kalms and cit together? i have increased to 20mg 5 weeks ago had a couple of good weeks then a terrjble week with terrible panic and anxiety which i think was brought on by a bad cold and time of the month. any advice is appreciated. thanks leigh x

Hi, I asked my local pharmacist and she said they were fine to take with Cit. I was given Propanalol by my GP to help with the side affects, but feel better taken Kalms as they're natural. I dont feel drowsy at all and you can take up to 6 a day, they take the edge off my anxiety. I've been doing ok recently so never had to take any, I've used Kalms for years to help me through periods of stress. Hope this helps D x

hi denise thank you so much for replying i think i will go and get some from the pharmacy tomorrow as i would prefer something natural also. i had propanolol at the start but didnt really do much for my anxiety just made my blood pressure drop to much. worth a try. amazing your feeling good hopefully i will soon to. leigh xx

hi ian, i was actually thinking of messaging you for advice. i can say i can see slight improvements but i am definately not back to my normal self. thats me been 5 weeks back on the 40mg. do you think i just keep going or do you think i should call the gp to see about other medication? ive only ever had citalopram. i feel like im constantly trying to keep busy and distract myself and its so tiring at times. sometimes i feel everything will be ok then others not im so up and down still. i am still having intrusive thoughts though am coping with them slightly better. when i was well the last time they totally disappeared.

how are you doing on your meds have you stuck with them still have they helped?

Hi gillian,Sorry about that,but not too surprised the more I think about it. When you dropped drastically you would have gone into withdrawals which means your brain would have been missing the serotonin from the 40mg. Plus the alcohol which is a depressant and would have affected things. When I was younger taking antidepressants I would go out on a weekend and have a lot to drink. Would take me to the following Wednesday to get back to feeling normal and then I would to it again the next weekend!

So your brain would have gone into withdrawal,and then you reinstated the 40mg which then would have caused you to go back to start up anxiety from the Serotonin going up again similar to when you first started the medication. When I used to have a change of brand of Citalopram from the pharmacy,after couple of days I would feel a terrible return of anxiety symptoms and it would take a while to normalise again. That's just from changing brands! So all in all,from withdrawal back to start up anxiety plus the stress from it all,it could take a while. Was hoping you'd be someway better, anxiety is exhausting. I'm at 11 weeks on Fluvoxamine,for some reason I always have a hard time in the 3rd month and this is no exception. Went back to stress and worry and negative thoughts this morning, mornings as everyone knows are the worst normally. Just got to ride it out and keep going,so you're not on your own. As I said before,I wouldn't swap and continue as you are as you said you'd had slight improvement. Swapping would only bring it's own problems I think. What has always frustrated me about this condition is that there's absolutely nobody can tell you what to do for the absolute best, it's a guessing game unfortunately.

thanks ian i hope yours settles. its so hard isnt it at times. yeah sometimes i feel ky heads all over the place. hopefully in a few weeks we are both feeling much better

Just read that stopping Citalopram abruptly causes irritability,nausea,dizzyness, vomiting,nightmares,headache and skin tingling. Probably lots of other things as well. I took Venlafaxine once,an SNRI,for not much more than a week, was terrible and I stopped. Remember having flu like symptoms straight afterwards for about another week. You would have been experiencing withdrawals firstly,then going back to 40mg start up anxiety all mixed up. Awful. Hopefully you've been through the worst of it. As you say,touch wood we both improve in the coming weeks. Good luck.

thanks yeah goodness knows whats happened.I had a bad day yesterday and ended up calling gp. she is prescribing me sertraline she thinks that may help? ive to take 20mg citalopram and 25mg sertraline and then i have to call back in 2 weeks to see whats to happen next. i really hope this helps.

how have you been the last few days?

Sorry to hear you had a bad day, sometimes feels like there's no end to it. So you're tapering over to Sertraline. There are strict guidelines for tapering from one antidepressant to another. 50mg is the minimum therapeutic dose in Sertraline compared to 20mg of Citalopram,25mg used to be prescribed for anxiety but not anymore,so you should end up on 50mg. You've been taking the maximum dosage of 40mg Citalopram but Sertraline is a stronger antidepressant generally so 50mg could well be enough. At least going on Sertraline takes away the uncertainty of wether staying on Citalopram will work. Did you say you've only ever taken Citalopram?

I'm still waiting for this drug to settle down. Was on 50mg for around 13 weeks before things settled,but felt and was advised that 100mg would bring better improvement all round and it's 11 weeks today so still in the uncertainty phase,but feeling positive. Sometimes even though you're having a lot of nonsense from the medication,you can still have a positive feeling like a sixth sense about it that things are going in right direction. Hopefully you will have that with Sertraline and be positive about the swap. Keep me posted about what happens. Good luck.

yes i totally know what you mean regatding the sixth sense and the fact your feeling positive makes me think you are definately going in the right direction.

yes i have only even took citalopram so a bit nervous about sertraline but if it helps il do anything for that chance. i just really hope i dont get bad side effects but hopefully not.

yes please do keep in touch

hi Ian, how are you getting on? I will start my 50mg of sertraline tommorow and hoping it helps. having up and down days still. i have contacted a few councellers today to see about cbt so waiting to here back.

Hi,thought you were staying on 20mg and 25mg for another week.? 50mg is the lowest dosage equivalent to 20mg Citalopram but Sertraline is generally stronger. After a long time on one antidepressant,people can build up a tolerance to it and have to mess around so at least you be going to day 1 on this one. I hope this one will work out for you after everything you've been through lately,though your brain will still have to adjust to this one as it's slightly different. Having counseling will help you as well. I suspended my counseling with a charity earlier in the year so I might get in contact with them soon to start it. It's 12 weeks today on my current dosage and I'm slowly improving again,so I'm hoping by Christmas I'll be pretty good. That will be 9 months on this med by then.

im so glad you are improving. It would be great to be good for xmas. yeah if you feel you should start back up the counselling you should get in touch. i have had to contact a private counseller as the waiting list through the gp is so long.

starting today i have to take 50mg of the sertraline. im a bit worried that this is not going to be enough as 20mg citalopram done nothing for me. i wonder if i should be takibg the 20mg citalopram with i cant remember what the gp saod as i was in a state when speaking to her. i have another gp appointment on wednesday.

Hi gillian,you have done a taper from 40mg Citalopram to 50mg Sertraline,by going down to 20mg Citalopram and taking 25mg Sertraline and now stopping Citalopram and increasing Sertraline to 50mg to complete the swap. Do not take the Citalopram with 50mg Sertraline. Sertraline is stronger than Citalopram and a different drug,so don't worry that it's not strong enough. Now that you are on Sertraline you may want to ask your Dr. if they will prescribe you Hydroxyzine for anxiety. Hydroxyzine is an antihistamine that is used for anxiety,it calms the mind and causes sedation,sleepiness that you can take while adjusting to the Sertraline. I've used it at a low dosage 10mg,which was enough for me and it is non addictive. You can use it when required, or every day and stop without any adverse effects.

I had a few sessions with a private counselor 2 years ago,£40 a session! My Dr. put me in touch with mental health services in March that recommended a charity service which I had to wait months for. By the time they made an appointment,I had just upped my dosage and was having terrible heightened anxiety and hayfever season was starting,and mask wearing,had to suspend it and haven't gone back. Mental health services are atrocious in this country, and its worse now more than ever with the pandemic. Let me know how you're getting on with the Sertraline. Take care.

thanks Ian yes i will ask about the Hydroxyzine on wednesday when i speak to the gp. yes its terrible, my gp told me the waiting list is so long so i looked into private. this one im going to see is £40-£50 it says on her page. i really cant afford it but i need the help. yes my worry is that the 50mg sertraline is not going to be enough and il crash back again. il only take the sertraline though and see how i go. if you feel it would help you should go back. did the private counselling you had help? i actually dont know what to say to the counsellar my heads a mess.

Hi Gillian,you won't crash on 50mg of Sertraline. I've had counseling a few times over the years and found it helpful. I've been lucky to have good ones,but I've heard a few horror stories. The last time I had a few sessions I had to pay private and she was good,but didn't continue because of the cost. Unless you have specific issues from the past etc that bother you and want to talk about,you would probably do CBT therapy which you can do yourself with a good book I've got. I'll message it to you as I think you can't mention anything on here. £40-£50 is a lot of money and you would have to have quite a few to do CBT. Take care.

Hi Ian, could you let me have the name of the CBT book you're using please, thank you D x

thank you so much ian