No appetite Citalopram 20mg

Posted , 4 users are following.

Hi all

This has probably been posted a million times, so apologies!

A few weeks ago I started on 10mg Citalopram and felt these "worked" straight away (although I have read this shouldn't be the case). However, after about a week I felt like I was going backwards, so the doctor prescribed 20mg and I am now on my 9th day with these. I feel worse than I did before starting the meds! I feel more depressed, shaky and have no appetite at all - I've only managed a bowl of weetabix in 3 days - which is not good with a little one to run around after! I didn't have the lack of appetite with the 10mg and wondered if I should go back down to this dosage or stick it out with the 20mg?

Thanks all x

0 likes, 5 replies

5 Replies

  • Edited

    No appetite is very common, I had this when I started on 5mg and it really kicked in when I moved to 10mg, it did subside but I still don't feel like eating loads, probably not a bad thing after the effects of Mirtazapine!

    Everyone's different but I think 1 week on any dose isn't long enough for it to settle, having said that, the 'usual' dose is 20mg so perhaps the doctor wanted to get you there as quickly as possible.

    Was the original plan to stay on 10mg?

    • Posted

      Hi Charlie,

      My GP only gave me 2 weeks worth of 10mg, with a plan to review. It was myself who suggested upping it, but wish I had stayed on 10mg now. I really don't like how I'm feeling on 20mg. I feel really 'numb' and vacant. Thinking of just stopping altogether as I'd rather go back to feeling down than nothing at all!

    • Posted

      You could wait and see how you feel when the side effects of 20mg subside, once you're eating etc again you might feel better emotionally?

  • Posted

    Hey Amanda,

    I've been taking the 20mg dose for about a month now and found that my appetite varied from "nothing at all" to "lock up your scabby horses" and thankfully it's balanced out now.

    I had the shakes for a few days and found it helpful to add some sugar to my hot drinks - I don't know if there's any science behind it mind you. One of the common side effects in the leaflet mentions the nervous system so that could be why we both had the shakes.

    Definitely talk it through with your Doctor - it might be that you'd benefit from carrying on with the current dose until your body has time to adjust. I've just requested a repeat and at the 4 week mark feel a lot better.

    Good luck! There's always a way out of the woods 😃

    • Posted

      Hiya, I think I will give them another week or so, but I'm really not keen on the way they are making me feel. Much more alert which is good but emotionally numb!

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