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On Citalopram for 21 weeks , need advice

Posted , 7 users are following.

june36108
june36108

Hi,

This is my 2nd time on CIT.It worked for my anxiety and depression for many years before. After 14 months off, I had to restart.

  • Started 21 weeks ago
  • 10 mg for 8 weeks
  • 15 mg for 3 weeks
  • 20 mg for 10 weeks almost

    I am better than the beginning : much less anxiety . I even made an 10 days oversea trip in this March. Problems remaining:

  • low mood/depression
  • no motivation
  • DR/DP
  • poor sleep quality
  • currently in a bad blip for couple of days (anxiety and depression)

I really need reassurances and advice . Do I need to increase to 30 mg? Or I need to wait for more time.

Thanks,

June

0 likes, 17 replies

17 Replies

  • stephen03156
    stephen03156 june36108

    Posted

    Very similar to me but i don't have depression just physical symptoms.

    I'm sticking at 20 & just hoping i gradually improve.

    • lois95799
      lois95799 stephen03156

      Posted

      you will gradually improve .its so slowwww that we hardly ever notice it.best regards

    • stephen03156
      stephen03156 lois95799

      Posted

      It sure is!

      I'm on about 18 weeks now but slowly but surely things are improving. I'm annoyed i was given poor advice about these pills by my GP's. Six weeks? Absurd!

      I'm gonna stick on them for a year if need be and tail off over 3 to 6 months

    • june36108
      june36108 stephen03156

      Posted

      Stephen, thanks for the reply.

      Question: how long have you been on 20 mg? all 18 weeks?

      Thanks again

    • june36108
      june36108 lois95799

      Posted

      Lois, I have being getting reassurances from your posts here. Great!

      Will DR/DP and low mood go away soon? I have no motivation for a long time. Just want be my old self .

      Thanks

    • lois95799
      lois95799 june36108

      Posted

      yes mam.the unusual side effects you are feeling are more than likely the celexa .and yes they will subside.mine stay with me for 8 months.every ones different .your side effects could be gone tomorrow.is hard to tell with each individual .but trust me it will subside.

    • june36108
      june36108 lois95799

      Posted

      Lois, you are wonderful. I am lucky to have your support here.

      Thanks,

    • stephen03156
      stephen03156 june36108

      Posted

      I did 3 weeks on 10 then 2 on 15.

      Terrible side effects for a month. Improved after about 8 weeks ,slumped for a bit, then better again.

      Tonight is a big one for me,i'm goingto play football after 8 months off! I don't want to but when its over i want to feel great and know i've made another step forward in my recovery.

      My feet are tingling & hands hurt but i'm determined to do it!

    • june36108
      june36108 stephen03156

      Posted

      Stephen, way to go! Sometimes we have to push and fight. I was not feeling well in March during the trip to Japan with bad dizziness. But I kept telling myself that I can do it and I am not going to die. Turned out I did a lot without any bad things happened. Now I am editing the videos taken on the trip, all good memories.

      Let's keep fighting !

    • stephen03156
      stephen03156 june36108

      Posted

      Absolutely!

      I played football and survived!

      Even played well! When i got home the feeling was euphoric, i could have cried tears of joy. I never thought i'd play again & what's weird is i woke up feeling good for the first time in months.

      This says a lot to me. I genuinely feel that i have learnt more from my experience of the illness & reading on the forums than i have with therapy, books & counsellors.

      Its within me & for me to work my way out of this with the aid of Citalopram which i know has helped.

      I've drank through every night of this & unless i've drank loads it has had no effect on me. What i've found makes a huge difference is my state of mind before i drop off.

      I felt wonderful when i went to bed last night & i have all day!

      My confidence is returning.

      Essential that we all help & advise eachother, we're our best chance of getting through.

      Good luck to everybody...

    • june36108
      june36108 stephen03156

      Posted

      Stephen, how are you doing? Hope better. It is almost 12 weeks since I started on 20 . I am still struggling with low days which are more than good days. Now I have been experiencing pain in both arms (flu like ). Have you had this also? Thanks

  • sue23850
    sue23850 june36108

    Posted

    HI I would stay on current dose and give it at least another month. I am on my 14th week on 10 mg and although have had a few improved days mostly feel very anxious and nauseous and have lost a stone in weight which I cant afford to lose. Trouble is with each increase you go through the side effects all over again. I agree difficult to get motivated when you feel so bad. These blips are absolutely awful but from what I have read on here you can experience these blips for quite a while. Absolute rubbish when we are told just a few weeks to feel better as Stephen says. Hope you are feeling a little better today.

    • june36108
      june36108 sue23850

      Posted

      Sue, thanks for the reply. I lost >15 lbs in the first couple of weeks. Now I have gained about half back. However, I still don't feel like to eat sometimes . Diarrhea still comes and goes. These should be the side effects from CT. I will stay at 20 since I have only been on this dosage for 10 weeks . Hope I will feel better soon (12 weeks?). I really need my motivation back!

  • Grounded
    Grounded june36108

    Posted

    This almost sounds exactly how I feel! I'm at 24 weeks total on celexa now I was on 10mg for 5 weeks and now I'm on 20mg for 19 weeks, and while the anxiety and panic attacks are better, other things have popped up that I've experienced in the past briefly but this time have not gone away such as:

    DP/DR

    Ocd (intrusive thoughts) it has improved some the last couple weeks but not much

    Some days very low mood

    Emotionally numb, not been able to cry or feelings towards people and things aren't there like they were.

    So it's a toss up, the anxiety and panic attacks that I had have improved greatly but these other issues I feel are almost just as bad in return.

    My doctor wanted me to increase to 40mg but I stuck with the 20mg all this time. I recently cut down the 20mg to 15mg myself as a lot of things I read from others said that might have just been too high causing this, it's been 3 days so far, I guess I will wait and see now.

    • june36108
      june36108 Grounded

      Posted

      Hi Grounded, sorry to hear that you are in the same difficult condition. I was recovered on 20 last time. So I guess my body should be able to handle 20 again. The DR/DP was less when I just increased from 15 to 20. It came back after a while. Who knows what is going on 😦. Meanwhile , being tired and dreadful (no motivation) has been with me all the time from the beginning. I wonder when people say that they has good days, meaning they feel better or totally normal?

      Hope you feel better today.

    • lois95799
      lois95799 june36108

      Posted

      both.there was times when i felt normal for one hour.and then it all vanish quickly i felt better lots of times n also felt normal some times.best regards

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