Hello,
As the title says I'm on my second day taking 20mg citalopram and I'm having some nasty side effects like nausea, shaking, dry mouth, heightened anxiety, complete lack of appetite, sore and heavy limbs and feeling very spaced out. I have a few questions:-
-Would anybody recommend taking it at night? I have been considering this as taking it in the morning is impacting my studies and as it is the last week of the university term next week, I need to finish off essays and focus on exams. I was going to talk to my lecturer before my exam because I don't think I will be able to do my best. Or should I put off taking it until the Christmas break?
-How long before the side effects lessen? I will persevere but I am quite concerned about being alone while feeling this sick and drowsy, home is on the other side of the country and I don't really have anybody I can rely on here.
-What does it feel like once the positive effects start kicking in?
My doctor was very dismissive and did not explain very much at all, he spoke to me for less than 3 minutes, prescribed me the medication and told me to go back to student services for support for my mental health. This was quite dissapointing, as it had taken me a good month or so to work up to courage to go and ask for help again. He told me I'd be on citalopram for the duration of my studies, if not longer. I'm disappointed in myself too, I always thought I'd be strong enough to get better by myself.
I'm feeling very lost at the moment and confused. If anybody could shed any light then I would be very grateful.
Take care!
Sil.
Hi Silmaril. Firstly, just to ease some of your worries, all of the side effects you're feeling are common to begin with and all will subside eventually. How long before they do and how long before you start to feel some real benefits is a variable time, different for each person. Some feel better within a week or two, with others it can take a couple of months to fully settle down. They're not very nice but it's really worth sticking with it as they will go away soon. Some people have sleep issues on cit, so for them taking them at night is not a good idea but if it's better for you that your daytime is not so affected, then taking them at night could be a good idea for you personally. Please don't put off taking them at all, otherwise you'll just have to go through the side effects all over again in the New Year when you're back at uni and it's probably better you have the Christmas break to get over the worst of them.
Unfortunately most doctors seem to be the same - I get 4 mins max with my doctor and none of them have ever fully explained the side effects or that you'll feel worse before you feel better. For some people this is very scary if they aren't expecting it and it can threaten their recovery. Very unfair of doctors not to give you warning, at least then you'd know it was all 'normal' for this medication and not you going crazy overnight. Please don't feel you are wrong for having to take cit, it's an SSRI and is for adjusting a chemical imbalance in seratonin levels, that just isn't something you can will yourself to do, it's a physiological as much as a psychological issue and whilst there are self-help techniques to assist, taking an SSRI is by far the most sensible option. Please do also talk to student services as no doubt they've got experience of others under stress - after all university is hard work and exams are the most stressful thing of all, they'll probably also have had students with bad side effects before and been able to reassure them they aren't alone. If you read the numerous threads on here, you'll see that regardless of how horrible side effects can be, most people come through them and start feeling real benefits from cit. I'm sure you will long term too. Good luck with your exams, chill out over Christmas and let everyone else take the strain, tell them you're not well and need rest and quiet, they're sure to understand. xx
Sil,
You can experiment with switching from morning to night. Just make sure if you do you give it a few days for your body to adjust. The half life of Cit is 35 hours, meaning it takes 35 hours for half the dose to leave your system. That is a decent amount of time. It does peak after 4 hours so it is relatively fast acting while staying in you system for awhile. I always take mine in the morning. It seemed like before I started it I always felt worse in the morning anyway so my thinking was just get it out of the way so my evenings could be better. Several people have success with taking it at night. Due to the long half life it shouldn't matter all that much. I think the morning issues are more to do with your body's production of Cortisol interacting with the medication.
If I had known about the side effects before I would have tried to take a little more time off of work when starting, but at the same time I wouldn't have wanted to be locked in my house with nothing to do thinking I was going insane. And you are already two days in so if you stop you will have to do the two days over again. I would recommend getting a benzodiapine like alprazolam to help with the start up effects.
For me the side effects lost their intensity around 7 days. This seems to greatly differ from person to person so don't feel bad if this doesn't happen for you. After 5 weeks I really started to feel like myself with only minor periods of feeling down.
Feeling better is hard to describe. For me the best way I can describe it is after the intense side effects wore off I had a little more room in my brain to evaluate what was causing the issues in the first place. That allowed me to make some positive changes in my life that I also think was key to feeling better. Appetite comes back with a vengeance. It a great feeling to get to discover the things you used to enjoy all over again.
Best advice I ever got from blogs is 1) you're not alone. This affects many people. 2). You will feel better. 3) it just takes a little time.
Hope you feel better soon.
Hi
Sorry to hear your doctor wasn't very supportive ...... 3 minutes? wow! I really think doctors should be more educated in giving the correct information out when prescribing this medication.
Firstly, well done for taking the first steps in going to see your doctor to ask for help. It took me 6 months :-) Secondly, please don't beat yourself up in thinking you should have been stronger in trying to deal with this by yourself - very, very few people can do this. Remember this is an illness as any other illness, and the majority of us need help and medication.
As the others said here too, you will go through some nasty side effects - seems we all go through this before things start picking up. Good idea to take the medication at night if you feel it's impacting on you during the day, but I think you'll still feel quite a few of the side effects whatever time of day you take it.
I've said to many people - don't make the mistake of trying to force recovery - it'll happen it's own time, we all experience different time scales. Also don't make the mistake of thinking you need to up your dose because you're feeling awful - it's just the side effects and these will pass. Every time you up your dose you'll feel side effects all over again. If your dose does need increasing, wait til the side effects start easing before needing to do this.
Side effects take around 3-4 weeks before starting to ease slightly. After that you'll begin to feel lighter until you feel great. It takes quite a while, but the end result is worth it all.
Im glad you're seeking help with the student services - they'll be able to support you.
Whatever you go through, please try not to worry (I know, famous last words) - you are now on the road to recovery - it just needs lots of perseverance and patience. You will get there. I recovered on this medication and know others have too.
We're all here to support you.
K xx