Not feeling good
Posted , 3 users are following.
hi, guys i only signed up yesterday but it say 2018 i don't know why ? i have been on citalopram for seven weeks now i feel worse every morning i wake up with fear all through my body which upsets me its not nice i try to ignore it but its so strong i make a cup of tea and sit here shaking for at least half an hour i then start to get myself ready for work it comes in waves throughout the day also but not as bad as the morning. is it me or the medication ? i just don't feel like myself. i started on 20mg then the doctor put it up to 30mg after four weeks on 20mg i take it at nine o,clock then go to bed at ten, i sleep ok just wake up a couple of times but manage to go back to sleep. will this morning fear go away i cant cope with it ðŸ˜thank you for reading my message. hope all is ok with you all, paula xx
0 likes, 8 replies
sun47 paula05499
Edited
hi paula i saw your original message and was going to reply earlier but had to go out, but back home now
the problems with feeling worse in the mornings is extremely common and i know its really horrible 😦
i was wondering about, you said you started on 20mg, and then was moved up to 30mg:- my question is, when you were taking the 20mg, had you gotten over the stage (if you had the stage that is), where the meds actually made you feel worse for a while (for example, worsened anxiety)? because, if you in fact felt worse and then moved up to 30mg while not adjusted to the 20mg first, in my opinion and also my experience from taking many andidepressant meds over the last 15 years, this is not a good thing, because you need to wait for any feelings of the meds making you feel worse to ease down before increasing the medication dose.
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a sensible method when starting antidepressants is: start on a low or at most, 'regular' dose, see if any side effects occur such as feeling worse with increased anxiety etc. give it some time to see if these initial side effects ease down. if they ease down then (along with giving the meds some time to work), determine if you are stable/relieved now with your depression/anxiety on the current dose. if you are not feeling the meds are helping you, then consider increasing the dose. if increasing, after reaching a safe higher dose, and if enough time has passed, if still not feeling the meds are helping you, then a switch can be considered, or something can be added to be taken alongside your current med, as some people do better under combination therapy rather than just taking a single medication
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of course we do have the problem of how long the meds can take to work (or at least, 'start working').. for some people this is after several days, for some a few weeks, and others, a number of months.
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just to let you know one thing i experienced in the past when i was on too high a dose of escitalopram (which is a similar med to citalopram), i had increased anxiety and a really upset stomach (caused by the excess anxiety), and going to see the doctor after a couple of months of taking the too high dose, he told me that i was taking too much of the med, and was overstimulated (increased anxiety). he was totally right and when i reduced the dose back down, then the anxiety eased off and my stomach was ok again.
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please note at this point im not actually telling you to reduce your dose. all i am doing here is letting you know of one reason why you might be full of anxiety at the moment. or perhaps your level of anxiety is not much different from when you started taking the citalopram, in which case it could be that your dose is actually correct for you, but you need more time for it to work. another possibility is that citalopram is not the right med for you and you would do better on something else. and yet another option might be to add on an extra med which you can take in the morning such as propranolol, which is a beta blocker which would get those physical effects of the excess anxiety and fear down at least to a level where they are less troublesome.
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by the way if you only tend to speak to your regular GP doctor about these issues, it might be an idea to be referred to the psychiatric team if possible? as they may to be able to help you with your case better than a regular GP. there's certainly no harm in going to speak to them, if thats something you can arrange. i found it really helpful when i went in to speak to my local psychiatric team as they had more time to spend with me and look into my case than a regular doctor has time for.
paula05499 sun47
Posted
Hi, thank you for replying i felt the same on 20mg reason why the doctor put me on 30mg i keep thinking is it me or side effects it makes me cry its so horrible. the doctor did say for me to take propranolo in the mornings i will try this and hopfully it will help me with the fear feeling and shaking. Thank you for your support much needed thank you xx
sun47 paula05499
Posted
hey again the propranolol should help yes, i hope you do give it a go, my sister takes it if her anxiety gets too high and she said it works really well for her
paula05499 sun47
Posted
i will give it a try the doctor wanted to start on 40mg which i felt was maybe to high i spoke to a different doctor and he said to stay on the 30mg of citalopram and start on 10mg of propranolo i'm worried about any side effects i may have taking propranolo i'm a nightmare i know i did meantion this to him and he said not many people have bad side effects so give it a try in the mornings. i'm trying really hard to snap out of how i feel isn't easy 😪 thank you for replying back to me and helping me. hope your having a nice day the weather is lovely isn't it. paula xx
jadelou93 paula05499
Edited
Hi Paula,
I am so sorry your feeling this way, I know exactly what you mean though, my first 8 weeks were just like this, I am now 6 and a half months in and honestly, only side effect I have now is tiredness (which does get annoying lol.) I believe the fear/anxiety started to calm down (for me at least) at about 8-9weeks, it was gradual but it felt so much easier to get up, I also found that Caffeine made me feel a lot worse and made my anxiety a nightmare to handle, so I switched to Decaff tea and coffee and that's when I noticed a bigger difference! May be worth a try it you haven't already?
My inbox is always open if you want a chat, I always say this as I know some people don't like posting some things for everyone to see (I am one, lol) so please feel free to drop me a Pm if you would like.
I do really hope it starts to ease off for you now though! maybe a nice chill in the garden would help you relax a bit? I wish I could but I have 2 crazy kids running around 🤣
Jade x
paula05499 jadelou93
Edited
awwwwww thank you for replying jade the weather is lovely at the moment hope you managed to get some time to the garden. take care xx
jadelou93 paula05499
Posted
Hi Paula,
I am so sorry your feeling this way, I know exactly what you mean though, my first 8 weeks were just like this, I am now 6 and a half months in and honestly, only side effect I have now is tiredness (which does get annoying lol.) I believe the fear/anxiety started to calm down (for me at least) at about 8-9weeks, it was gradual but it felt so much easier to get up, I also found that Caffeine made me feel a lot worse and made my anxiety a nightmare to handle, so I switched to Decaff tea and coffee and that's when I noticed a bigger difference! May be worth a try it you haven't already?
My inbox is always open if you want a chat, I always say this as I know some people don't like posting some things for everyone to see (I am one, lol) so please feel free to drop me a Pm if you would like.
I do really hope it starts to ease off for you now though! maybe a nice chill in the garden would help you relax a bit? I wish I could but I have 2 crazy kids running around 🤣
Jade x
paula05499
Posted
hi, it felt like the morning fear was getting a lot better this week, but this morning it was bad again i just don't get why it's happening. my doctor is ringing me this friday to see how i'm going on the medication should i now move up to 40mg i don't know. xx