Week 7 Citalopram. Any other suggestions

Hi al

Citralopram does heighten anxiety for the first few weeks, it's quite horrendous along with all the other side effects.  Week 7 is quite early still and my personal advice would be to continue, as you're half way there.  You need to give this medicine lots of time to work and for your body to adjust to it.  It a long slow process and people often give up before they get to the other side.

I used to have dreadful anxiety and depression and thought I'd never get over it, but Citralopram helped me recover and am no longer ill.

Everyone goes through these same side effects, and everyone gets scared and disheartened as they don't work quickly enough.

Give yourself time, lots of time, remind yourself that your body is recovering whilst you wait.  I'd say 3-4 months and you'll begin to feel good.  Remember that a broken leg takes time to heal ...... and so does this illness.

Hope that helps xx

 

Hi Al

Katecogs is 100% correct, it takes time for these meds to work effectively and even then it isn't any form of instantaneous overnight transformation.  Three to four months of taking them and you'll really start to feel improvement but it will be gradual you'll hardly notice that you're feeling better and not being so anxious and unwell.  Unfortunately like lots of treatment for all sorts of illnesses, sometimes the early part of the treatment is worse than the original problem but it is worth it in the end, honestly.  I like the analogy of a broken leg.  I had a very bad accident and smashed one ankle to pieces.  The first day in hospital after they'd saved the leg and put a temporary cast on it I was quite comfortable and thought 'oh this isnt as bad as they said', then a week later when they did the surgery for the repair work, I was in hell with the pain, which was like it for weeks and weeks whilst it started to heal.  They told me the surgery was in effect a second injury almost worse than the first but without the surgery I would have had my foot amputated.  I was in no rush to lose a foot so I suffered all the pain and horrors post surgery and then after about six months, I actually had my first full night's sleep without being woken by the pain.  It was heaven and I knew I was on the road to recovery.  Now six years later I'm so glad I didnt just scream at them to 'cut the bl***y thing off!' because that's honestly what I felt like at the time.  It's really hard but do try to be patient, it will get better, as you can see from all the comments on this forum.

Hi Al, Totally agree with Kate and Loxie, im on 12, still up and down, its tough, but I feel better now than sept 8th when I started cit. You asked if anyone can recommend anything else, I would say stick with the cit 100%....all the best....Luke

Thank you everyone for the comments. It's really reassuring to have other people that are in the same position to provide some reinforcement. I am back at the doctors later and will tell him I want to stick it out. I'll let you know how it goes. Thank you.