Success stories of Citalopram please.

Bad day today have crashed down and stomach in knots, don't know if I can do this anymore, has anyone

Else thought they were coming right then crashed down the next day

Wendy

wendy,

do not panic. I had a day after about 2 weeks into Cit when I had one day of perfect calm and no anxiety. Then next day it was back to high anxiety and racing mind. It happens. So look forward to the good days which are ahead.

keep in touch

Grace

Thank You Grace for your support, bit better today so lets see if I stay that way

Thanks

Wendy

X

wendy its fine dont fret love we all go up and down and want to just give in to the knots and shakes but you will get there kiddo i promise you i did after the most horrid time on sertraline the citalopram are soo much better in fact my daughter in law is on one called acitalopram only one a day and she has been so much better on them than prozac hugs lorraine x

Hi Wendy,

Sending positive thoughts to you. Keep the faith!

DR

wendy21037 if you're under the first 4-6 weeks of starting (and particularly if starting at a higher dose of 10-20mg) I'd say hang in there.. I know it's hard and you will feel really bad with the anxiety, but try and stay on them and see it through if you can, as promise for many people it does get better.. you will reach a point one day when the side effects just lessen and then gradually disappear as the med begins to work like magic.. it's made into a new confident person in just over 2 months since starting. I did it gradually with a low dose of 2.5mg but went through a really rough week at 5mg where I didn't think I could stand it, the anxiety was bad I was a nervous wreck, worse than usual! But the support of Grace and the others, kept me going and I just stayed in for a bit, rode it out and very glad I did. So many times in the past I tried SSRI's and bailed out at week 2-3 due to the horrendous side effects and bad anxiety.. but I feel of all the ones I tried, this one shows the most promise for anxiety. And my anxiety is pretty chronic, now its down a manageable level, I can talk to people, make eye contact and not get nervous and I'm feeling a lot better and more confident in myself..

Hang in there, it will get better, but you may face some real tough and trying days ahead if you're still in the early weeks.. it could take a month or more realistically before you'll know if it's working.. but what's a month really in the scheme of things if anxiety and depression are ruining your life? Just treat it like you're ill and have flu, keep yourself comfortable and hopefully you'll have some understanding people around you to support you through the difficult period.

Sending you strength and best wishes,

Paul

P.S. My Dr said the other on my monthly check-up, (1 month into taking 10mg a day) that the transformation in me was nothing short of remarkable, from the anxious blushing guy who went into her office the month earlier. She also said, the side effects, are actually a GOOD sign ironically, that the med is likely to be working (i.e. the sore throat, the higher anxiety at first etc). Often on people when its not effective she said, there's less severe side effects or not effect. So bear that mind, remember your brain chemistry is resisting this adjustment.

cmc46 how much time passed between you coming off it, and re-starting? It's interesting your Dr started you on the lower dose at 5mg.. I'm guessing quite some time had passed? Did she ween you off it, or did you stop abruptly too?

As to your question... I found interesting a kind of reverse situation to yours the other week... I had been undecided whether to move beyond 10mg, as it was working remarkably well with hardly any troublesome side effects.. but I felt, some anxiety still and that maybe 20mg would be optimal dosage.

So I moved to 15mg last week (after being on 10mg for a month), and I had a couple of days return of the bad side effects (just like my early weeks on it). So, I decided to drop down to 10mg. Immediately it's as though my brain didn't like it and I fell into depressive mood state. So I went back to 15mg, the side effects stopped, and my mood lifted immediately!

Now I'm takingg 15mg daily for a week no problems at all and do it its helping even better than 10mg. So the next step will be 20mg but first I will stay on 15mg for a few weeks until the new year.

It's a strange drug that's all I can say.. everyone reacts differently to the increasing/decreasing of the dosage, some can tolerate higher doses, while for others, starting lower and dropping lower is the way, but for those already on it, increasing the dose is often needed like in my case, once I moved to 15mg, i couldn't just "go back" if that makes sense?

If you're finding the side effects really intolerable and you can't cope, my advice is to treat it as a fresh start if you've had a complete wash-out and been off it some time.. start with a very low dose 2,5mg, and gradually work up to 5mg... I found that 5mg was difficult period for me, the first 2 weeks at least, but once I got past that level, moving to 10mg was much easier.

Hi morphix,

I had actually been weaning myself off from 20mg since last April, I did one month on 15mg which was fine then 5 months on 10, the reason I stayed so long on 10 was because the second week on it was not very good but then late September I decided to go down to 5, I was on 5 for 2 months but was starting to feel that I wasn't coping with everyday life, anything a bit out of the ordinary and I would get in a state, I am now back on 10 for the last 3 weeks and the last two I have felt awful, went to see the GP again this morning and he still wants me to go up to 20, but it is good to know that you are doing well on 15, that is what I will do for a few weeks and then start on the 20.

That's good to hear, I hope you feel better again it sounds like you came off it too soon. It must be hard to judge when to come off it I imagine, as you might feel ok/over the illness, but then realise you not or relapse once you start withdrawing or stop it.

Try the 15mg as a bridge to 20mg like I'm doing, if 20mg proves too high a dose from 10mg for side effects, but you might feel ok just moving straight up to 20mg after being on 10mg for a while once the side effects subside. It's just getting past the initial icky difficult weeks isn't it.. I'm lucky as for me they have been mild due to the low dosage increment approach I took over a longer period..the worse week I had was on 5mg, I felt suicidal and very very down, which is unusual for me..but soon snapped out of it after 3 days or so. Anxiety was through the roof too but gradually both the depression and anxiety subsided and then on 10mg both almost vanished, just a little anxiety remains.

I'm tempted to try 20mg since I'm coping so well on 15mg with hardly any noticeable side effects, and only in the first few week..but I don't wanna risk ruining my Christmas and holiday, so may play it safe and stay at this dose for a few weeks before I do the next 5mg increment.

Hi all I have been prescribed 10mg citalopram for anxiety . Mainly it is health anxiety which started a few months ago when I was diagnosed with ibs I know its not exactly an illness but it is annoying as im emetophobic as havent been sick in over 10 years and the thought of eating and maybe throqing up or the other sorry if tmi . Has lead to all this anxiety ive lost 4 stone in a year just because ive been too scared to eat. Anyway someyimes when I feel sick I take an anti emetic called metoclopramide which I am now scared of as it has bad side effects if used for longer than 3 months ive used it for 6 and my dr says its ok as I only take 10mg a fay and most of the time its not every day. I had counselling but now that's stopped I had 3 great weeks where I didnt google symptoms and didnt go to the dr I usually go every week so that was a big achievement. Now I feel ive gone backwards sometimes I feel I need to slap myself into being the old me and I juat cant . I carry on every day because of my daughter as I have to . I wouldnt say im depressed but this anciety sure as hell isnt fun. So anyway basically im too scared to take the citalopram as I dont want it to make me sick arghhhhh help!

Hi all,

I am a newbie - both to this forum and in seeing a Dr about depression. Anxiety and feeling down have probably been with me for a couple of years now and it has got bad enough now to get professional help.

Lack of sleep has always been my big demon. My wife and I used to laugh that I would have two or three bad nights sleep (couple of hours) and then I would have my 'sleep' night.. Now we are not laughing anymore as I am at an all time low. My wife and two young children are the most precious things in the world to me but I feel so much like I am letting them down by being so useless.

GP presecribed 10mg of Citalopram yesterday and after 10 days to increase to 20mg. I see him again on the 31st. So today is my second day and I feel awful.... If anything I feel more depressed, mild nausea and stomach cramps. Last night I took 3.5mg of Zopiclone to help me sleep and I did get 6 hours but woke at 5AM and that was it. I then had to go back to bed all morning which is so unlike me.

This forum seems so supportive and I really hope that I have some of the success that some others have had on this and another thread. I wish I could be as posivitve as some of you! My real question though is has anyone else had sleep problems before taking Citalopram and if so did the drug eventually help with this?

Rgds

David

Yes, I had horrible problems with sleeping before taking Cit. My anxiety was so bad that I couldn't sleep at all and if I was lucky I slept for 10 mins in the night.

When the doc prescribed Zopiclone 7.5 I managed to get about 4 hrs sleep, then woke up again and managed to doze off again and woke up about 6 in the morning. But with Cit (30) my sleeping problems seem to be disappearing. got to 3.75 Zopiclone, then yesterday night took only one third of the 7.3 pill and couldn't sleep till 1 am but then fell asleep and slept till 7. But Cit in a few weeks time will help you to sleep as your mind won't be racing. I'm about 8 weeks into Cit and feel wonderful!

Grace

Thank you for your reply Grace. I'm really pleased it is working out for you. Just hope it goes as well for me!

Hi all, after many years not taking meds I went back to my GP after several months of panic attacks returning, years ago I was on cit and came off successfully, after years of not being on them I recognised the panic attacks and extreme anxiety , I desperately tried to deal with them through breathing techniques but found I was concentrating so much on breathing that I panicked........shops,ques, even driving was a challenge.....but u know guys, keep positive, I keep going into shops where anxiety is the worse, I push myself and yes even though I push myself I know I needed more help, I reason with myself by thinking if it only takes a tablet that I need to get used to over the next few weeks then I will take it because it takes me a second to take the tablet and that's far outweighs the immediate future of panic and anxiety........be proud of yourselves guys, u recognised symptoms, focus ur strength on kicking ass on the anxiety and panic.........I done it before and know I can do it again. I'm not going to let it intifere with my life any longer, otherwise I'm heathly, however be proud of yourselves for seeking help, anxiety and panic are the worse feelings in the world........hold onto the light......it will get brighter ........ I hope this gives a little comfort and courage to someone, cit does work, I was on it years ago, came off it for many years, I refer to the initial side effects as "speed bumps" ....... U have faced it, your dealing with it........

Here's a success story..

3-4 months ago, depressed, anxiety uncontrollable (difficulty opening door, speaking to neighbiurs, and avoided shops)...

Fast forward..3 months on Citalopram, 1 month @ 15mg.. took my first flight (alone) to Spain, stayed in a hotel and socialised most days over Christmas.. visited Gibraltar, ate out regularly, had a splendid time!

Yes I felt anxious at times, but not uncontrollable sheer panic anxiety like in past.. I could maintain eye contact and talk to people fine and didn't need to get drunk either to have a good laugh and chat!

I'm not pro-social and I don't find socialising easy still, but I can do it now. And that's a big step forward, and I think with time, you learn social skills and confidence grows. The main thing is getting past the wall of anxiety and fear that stops you taking the risks.

Good luck all, don't give up (I never have, and I'm 41 and had severe social anxiety since aged 19-20)

I'm finally living and travelling..going to a nightclub tonight and already planning my next holiday!

Paul