New on clitrparm

Ive been on citalopram for years stick with it i did and im much better. Xxx

i've just been put on citalopram as i have been anxious about my health recently 10mg a day and since i've been on it i've not been sleeping well and am sweating a lot at night in which i found out these were the side effects of the drug. i feel i shouldn't have been put on this in the first place and these side effects are really i keep waking up in the middle of the night and not getting enough rem sleep i thought about coming off it since i've only been on them about a week but decided not to and just stick with it i feel my mood has gotten better but i just don't like these side effects of sleep loss and tiredness. i was only diagnosed with ibs and reflux but they were also affecting my health anxiety i think i should talk with my doctor again

Good morning Lydia,

How are you doing today? Any small improvements to take note of? Hope you are finding some moments of relief

you need at least 8/10 weeks for the ssri to work in your body,until then you will find that your anxiety will get more ,until the medication builds up in your body

https://patient.info/forums/discuss/success-on-citalopram--581829

Have a look at my feed. I posted it at week 12

You will improve

Trust us all 

I’m only five days in and feel horrendous and I have a child to look after. I went back To the doctor and he’s given me diazepam for five days to take the edge off as he said I should be feeling better by the second week but I know I’ll still have a way to go. The citalopram worked wonders for me last time so I’m hoping it helps me again.

I'm 3 and a half months in on clitrparm and I'm still feeling bad anxiety is still worse still feeling sick hot and dry mouth and so tearful. My doctor thinks it's not suiting me and wants me to go back on sertaline as I'm ok with that but I'm scared of withdrawal and new side effects again x

I think you may mean weeks??

That’s not enough time to feel better again

In fact you should feel worse

If it’s weeks stick with it

If it’s months book a gp apt for 2 weeks hence and go discuss it with him

Here is an article kate cloggs posted you may find helpful...

Hi everyone, here’s something I found online which you may find intersting.  Its about why you feel so rubbish when taking these meds, why your mood is up and down, why it takes so long and the process it all goes through.

Sorry its a long post.

When starting an SSRI or increasing it's dose often makes people feel really rubbish, which can cause a great deal of stress as you begin to wonder whats happening, why is their illness getting worse, are these meds working etc.

Somone recently posted a great post explaining what these meds do in our brains, and I’d like to add further to this.  So, as already posted ….. the brain is basically a big dense bundle of nerves which carry electrical signals around our brain and body.  The nerve cells don’t touch each other, leaving a small gap between each cell, called a synapse.  So how do signals get from one nerve to another?

Neurotransmitters are chemicals released by nerve cells that tell a neighbouring nerve cell to pass the signal along.  A bit like pass the parcel.  Serotonin is one such neurotransmitter.   So when an electrical signal reaches the end of a nerve cell that deals with serotonin, that cell releases serotonin into the gap (synapse), which then crosses the gap and interacts with the nearby nerve cell and tells it to pass the signal along.

Once the serotonin has done it's job, the serotonin is then reabsorbed from the gap so that no more signals are passed until the next one comes down the nerve.  SSRIs, (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) interfere with this reabsorbtion process and thus it stays in the gap longer, which equates to more serotonin and more signals.

So furthering on from there ….. why do you feel so rubbish?

So, along with the releasing of serotonin, and reabsorbing it, nerve cells also have parts that detect an increase in serotonin level and tell the nerve cell to stop producing anymore serotonin until the level drops.  These are called autoreceptors, which are the reason you feel like so rubbish.

So the SSRI will increase the amount of serotonin that’s gathered in the synapses between nerve cells, but unfortunately the autoreceptors of the nerve cell pick up on this increase and tell the nerve cell to stop producing serotonin.  The result of this is that when you first start taking an SSRI your serotonin levels drop.

How do they go up again?

Eventually with continuous use of the SSRI medication, the autoreceptors become desensitised, that is to say they've continually told the nerve cell to stop producing serotonin but yet serotonin is still there.  In short they simply give up.  They stop telling the nerve cell to stop producing serotonin and your serotonin levels start to increase.

This desensitisation takes time, it doesn't happen over night and it won't even begin to happen until the SSRI levels have stabilised.  This is why you feel so rubbish, and is why your mood drops and your anxiety increases (also fuelledd by the fear of not knowing whats going on).  Your mood will be up and down as the seronotin continues to try to stablise.

So, to summarise:

SSRIs cause your serotonin levels to drop when you first start taking them.  Your serotonin levels will not rise until the autoreceptors in your brain have stopped working (become desensitised), all of which takes lots and lots of time.  Everyone is different, so for some it can be many weeks and other months.

I hope this helps some people to understand what these meds are doing and why you don't get instant results, compared to other meds that work in different ways which is the reason they can have a more immediate effects (benzos for example).