what should i do stay with citalopram
Posted , 2 users are following.
hi ,first time on here have been reading reviews find them helpful,thanks everyone.i have been on citalopram for 6months 20mg i have been really bad with anxiety for 9months.i was having attacks in the beginning for 24 hours a day finally went on meds as i say 6 months ago i do feel a lot better but have a few attacks maybe 2-3 times a day not as bad as before subside within an hour or so ,anyway i went back to the doctors last week and he changed them to sertraline 50mg i have taken them for 3 days now but i do not feel comfortable taking them as i have read some bad reviews,so i am thinking about going back on citalopram does anyone have any advice please.thanks
0 likes, 6 replies
sun47 redfirefly
Posted
hi, it sounds like you gave citalopram a good long try and perhaps your doctors hoped it would have done more for you than it has done
sertraline is a med which scores highly in comparisons between the various ssri meds out there, and works for both anxiety and depression
i would certainly try it; do give it a month at least, to get working ok. keep in touch with your doctors. you might experience some side effects as you adjust and get used to it but these have a good chance of subsiding ok so dont give up too soon (eg. for me, regardless of which ssri meds i take, i always feel a little worse than usual for the first few weeks, but that stage passes (provided you start on the normal starting dose and dont rush up in dose too quickly))
sertraline is well tolerated and 50mg is not a high dose so don't let horror stories scare you. some people have bad reactions to all sorts of meds, including simple aspirin. sertraline could be perfect for you and it would be a shame if you did not give it a chance just because someone else was not suited to that med
you'll be fine so try not to worry ok
redfirefly sun47
Posted
sun47 redfirefly
Posted
hey again, it seems to vary between person to person; some people seem to be ok having a few drinks while taking certain meds but then you have other people who give up/avoid things like alcohol or caffeine etc
it's up to you really if you want to try. i find with myself i prefer to be on a med for a couple of months first to get used to it, and then if i want to try to see if i feel ok having alcohol i just take it slow and dont overdo it, i have taken sertraline in the past and personally found i was ok drinking alcohol while taking sertraline. i just found that the next day i was a bit more tired than usual, but not too much, and i remember feeling quite relaxed the next day, but do note i dont overdo it with alcohol. i take it easy and dont overdo it (eg. over the course of the entire night out, i will only drink 4 regular strength pints of alcohol.. that's well spread out over 6 hours).
perhaps see how you are feeling after a couple of weeks of taking sertraline? if you get used to it quickly, your mood is good and your anxiety is low, and dont have troublesome side effects from sertraline after the first couple of weeks, then perhaps you can have a few drinks on holiday and be just fine i expect
sun47
Posted
.... oops, note when i said "4 pints of alcohol" i mean something like fosters lager which is 4% alcohol content, (or, some 5% alcohol content beer/lager would be ok also)
redfirefly sun47
Posted
sun47 redfirefly
Posted
in the future dont be afraid to switch to sertraline, i have taken both citalopram and sertraline in the past at different times and found them to be quite similar, apart from perhaps some differences in the starting side effects, which usually pass after some weeks to a month or so anyway
if you have some anxiety left which wont seem to go away perhaps you could get something additional from your doctor to help with anxiety, eg. perhaps something fast acting
anyway, lots of options out there if you want to explore them. nice to hear you are doing ok