Positive reassurance?

thank you for replying I really appreciate it x

I'm so worried about increasing because increasing from 10mg to 20mg has been so difficult.

having the good moments is definitely a sign that they are working for you eventually them feelings will last permanently so don't give up hope

I haven't seen much improvements to be honest but judging how bad I've felt today there has been some improvements I think. I still feel hopeless every day x it's really tough and I just want to get better more than anything in the world.

I'm just convinced it's not going to happen for me x

how long have you been on your dose now?

Don’t prolong your treatment because you’re scared of side effects. Every time I increased my dose I never regretted it. Even though it sounds scary, I know.

I’ve been on 30mg for five weeks, and my doctor said if I’m not noticing any positive changes whatsoever there’s not much of a point going up to 40. But I said the past few days I’ve had some good moments. I only been on 40 for a day, will be taking my second dose this evening. But I have hope these will work better for me since I haven’t been this depressed in a long time. I’ll give it till January and if I feel nothing I’ll probably change my meds.

I guess when I feel this bad I don’t fear the side effects because I feel so awful anyways. But like I said, everytime I had to increase I never regretted it. I also had a much better time going to 20-30mg than 10-20mg, so just something to think about.

what did you notice when you increased 20mg-30mg out of curiosity.

I think sticking to your dose is the best bet as they have worked for you before and I'm sure they will again if given time x

how hard was your startups?

I think you will improve more because you've already seen some improvement so that really is a good sign

I think changing is a lot harder because of withdrawals and startups so would be good to weigh up all your options on citalopram first x

When I first started citalopram, I was prescribed 10mg for three weeks and it was an awfullllll three weeks, but I’m not sure if it was ever to do with the pills because my anxiety was so bad anyways. When I increased to 20mg it stayed the same till I just started getting better. Felt amazing for months, and after about 6 months kind of lost that amazing feeling, so I increased to 30mg. No side effects that I can recall. Never really felt that “amazing” feeling like when I first started the 20’s, but I stayed on these for the remainder of the year and I was good. Increased and decreased when needed.

The 30’s may have worked for me if I still waited, but my gut said to increase this time, so that’s what I done. I just listen to my gut (and of course my doctor as well). The thing is if the increase do make you feel worse you can always go back down and know you will feel better again, but you won’t know if they will help you more if you don’t try.

That amazing feeling when they start working is the best isnt it! it lasted for about 2 years for me then slowly got less and less but I was glad to not be in the pits of despair so stayed on 20mg for 5 years altogether x

a lot of people have said to follow your gut instinct when it comes to this.

have you got a good relationship with your doctor ? that always helps x my doc is lovely as i asked to see someone who was a little better informed as my old gp thought I should be better switching all the time 🙄 x

is it ok to ask how bad your anxiety was when you were struggling? strange question I know lol x Its reassuring to know what improvements people have had x

2 years? Wow, you’re lucky. I think that’s a good sign tho as I know some people are constantly switching from med to med. If you responded that well for that long, I believe they’ll surely work that great again.

Unfortunately I’ve switched doctors the past few years (due to the other one moving), but I have a good relationship with my current doctor as well. He takes my problems very seriously.

My anxiety tends to be a bit different compared to the stereotypical symptoms, I don’t hyperventilate, my heart don’t race, I don’t have depersonalization. I just feel irritated most of the time, like no matter what I can’t get comfortable. Then my panic attacks are adrenaline rushing through me, like poison flowing through all my limbs. And of course the nausea, the feeling gets too much sometimes that I feel like I need to throw up. I have to force myself to eat. I then get extremely depressed because my anxiety makes me believe this will never go away.

I'm exactly the same. I rarely have panic attacks but regularly like what you described get adrenaline rushes that make you feel horrible. like your blood turns cold and you feel it go through you like poison that's a good way to describe it.

I suffer with depression when the anxiety is really bad believing it wont go away too x it's just horrible and no one understands when you try and describe it x

headaches dizzyness and palpitations I get aswell and have that feeling like I'm going completely crazy. and paranoid it's truly horrible x

how are you feeling atm?

I dunno, I have these moments where I feel like myself again and even some brief moments of happiness, but then I sink again and feel horrible.

I’ve only took the 40mg twice now, but I’m hoping it’s a sign the 30’s are helping a little bit and now the 40’s will help me a lot within a few weeks.

My anxiety hasn’t been too bad, I just need to get rid of the depression now mostly.

The weather where I live isn’t helping either. We haven’t had no sun for 6 days, and it gets dark at 4pm. I have one of those light therapy lamps but the weather still makes my depression worse.

thanks paul.

trying m8. I felt like giving up a long time ago but the reason I'm still pushing on is because of my family.

how are you? are you recovered from this horrible illness yet?

#thanksimcured

yeah I'm gonna download it tonight if I cant find it I'll go to the library I'm sure they will have it in there x

how you feeling tamsin? you making any progress yet? have you increased to 30mg?

I'm so worried to increase because how hard starting up was x also it's a bit early to increase isnt it?? 🤔

I'm also having CBT but it's not really helping very much at the minute to be honest but I know it does take a long time to work x

hey p when i had cbt for ocd and depression the guy doing it wanted to give up on me as he thought it would never work for me, it was until the fifth session that i really felt the benefit and it now helps me all the time with this horrible withdrawal i highly recommend sticking it out even if it only gives you some coping mechanisms x

hey ❤❤

thank you x yeah I'm definitely gonna stick out the CBT as I feel like anything that could help atm I will do x I've only been to 3 sessions and it's getting drip fed to me basically so not to overload me with too much x so that's good x I've gotta do a worry diary atm and then write something positive next to my negative stuff.........not easy lol x

thanks toria x I'll be back to annoying you when I'm feeling a little better i promise 😊

glad it helped you a lot too x hopefully making it a little easier for you withdrawing x

in very up and down - some good hours but still lots of anxiety and down times and been crying loads. Sleep has gone to pot again but im hoping its just my period. talked to my partner about increasing - his instinct is that if i stay on 20 it will work but just very slowly. increasing may speed recovery but then it could make things harder but as Nina says i can always go back down. I have another appointment with the psych next tues which will be 6 weeks on 20 so we will talk about it then.

how do you feel about staying on the same dose? I know it brings some hope thinking about increasing because you kinda get like a "what if that makes me better" and it gives hope but it's hard not to fall into that trap of will that make me better and not stick to the same dose x

my partner says the same thing that she thinks I should stick to 20mg aswell it will work because it did before.

what are your moments like when you do have good moments?

honestly its helped me so much even with normal life situations, have you seen any improvement p? if not i wouldnt mess with dose lovely x

thank you toria x I'm gonna keep working at it the best I can x

no improvements yet. sometimes I feel like oooh maybe I'm improving but then it hits hard again 😭 x last night was the worst day ever and its spilling over a little to today aswell so gotta keep going I suppose x how are you?

im having a few good days here and there, but being a woman 2 weeks are awful, trying not to get frustrated is the hardest thing ever when these things take so long, but patience is key! sometimes just feel down as its taking me a year for 2mg drops grrrrrrr, thats why i always want people to give the lower doses long enough because these pills take their own sweet time x

Hi Toria why are you coming off them may i ask?

Hi sonetimes i have a few good hours wben i dont feel really anxious and depressed and feel a bit nore normal but havent had heaps of those. My appetite is better but my sleeping is still bad. i get to sleep ok but keep waking up all the time.

the waking up all night sucks doesnt it!

the eating better is a good sign though!

the fact you are having small moments of feeling better is pretty good! that's something x

how have you been today? x

because quite frankly theyve only done bad for me and was only put on them for migraine, never had anxiety until withdrawal, i feel you on the sleep i havent slept through the night for 2 years, it sucks!

sorry i mentioned another forum so the reply os now waiting to be moderated! Didnt have a great night so not feeling so good this morning. Yesterday wasnt too bad - im trying to wean off the lorazepam so have 2 x 0.5 one day and one 0.5 the next. Yesterday was just once but i went to work and just managed. im supposed to be going and doing a day thing with my mum tomorrow and im feeling nervous about it. i know what you mean about having those weird crazy thoughts that make you feel really anxious and think youre going crazy - i have those too.

Hi P how are you doing? Feeling any better?

hey tamsin x no not really tbh x been a real struggle x I did have some pretty bad news today so I think that's adding to it aswell tbh but no improvements yet x maybe had one evening where I felt a little better but it didn't last very long x what about you? x

oh no sorry about your bad news. hope youre ok. im not so good today. Had a bad night and feeling really down this morning - cant stop crying. Feel like im not getting any better either tho my husband says i am slowly. So hard isnt it when you read all these things about people being better in a month.

it's so hard to see any improvements when everything feels so terrible all the time x

it's horrible when you see people saying that they are making progress when you feel like you aren't making any at all. then if you do have a moment where you feel like things might be getting better even for a minute the anxiety comes and snatches it right away from you .

I'm about the same time frame as you and feel exactly the same so you definitely aren't alone x

I'm worrying that I'm never going to get better too. it's looking and feeling like that at the minute to be honest but we have to keep going otherwise we will never know x

how you feeling today?