Citalopram help please. Feelings / Success stories / Details

Treatment and medication
1

Hello, i have been on Citalopram for almost four weeks now, i was a happy person full of energy who did not have so many questions and worries going around in his head. The last few weeks have turned into a nightmare. The first week on this drug i was anticpating some big change but it just seemed to calm me down. The second week i was ok, the third week i was a mess, only finding relief in tears. This week which will be my fourth is much the same, where i just want to cry as it passes the time and makes me feel better. Before x mas i was just a normal person, i then got something in my head which has stuck now and has become an obsession.

With this obsession is questions that cant be answered that did not cause problems before all this. I feel dead inside, sometimes i laugh and then instantly revert within a split second to being emotionless. Now i am putting alot of this down to the pills. Can someone please tell me how this drug will help me, please tell me your stories of success, did you have a moment of clarity where the thoughts stopped and you realised that stuff was going to be ok?

I cant listen to music anymore without crying, sometimes i do it to make myself cry for relief. I dont know who i am anymore. I hope that in months or weeks to come i will read this post and be able to smile and think \" well that was bad but i am better now\".

Again any stories of success or how you coped with anxiety and depression.

2

Hi,i think you should just give yourself a bit more time.Its really hard when your feeling so down and waiting for a miracle to happen with these tablets.Ive been on them for 11 months now and it took me a good few weeks before they really kicked in,i like you would spend hours and hours crying..i used to put sad music on and knew it would make me feel worse.even now if im feeling low and listen to a particular song i cry.I stop doing it,i put on a good sing song tune that makes me feel happy.it really does work.Its all about time with these tablets,but without them i would still be a complete mess.Just give them time.im so much better now.Hope you feel better soon,take care.kim..

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Hi, i,ve been on citalopram for 3 months now. Just upped my dose to 20mg. was prescribed them for anxiety. They have been a life saver for me. took about 4 or five weeks to see a difference. it didn't just happen all at once. eventually i just stopped feeling so anxious and i began to feel like my old self again. give them a bit more time. if you don't feel your making any improvement, go back to your doc, you may need your dose increased. good luck. think positive xx

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Hi Citalaman

Can I ask why you started the pills? Sorry if I've misunderstood your post, but are you saying you were happy before you took them and now you cry all the time and have obsessive thoughts?

I put off using anti-depressants on and off for years and years until finally getting fed-up of not feeling like myself and wasting my life feeling anxious and miserable. Within half and hour of starting this medication I felt better. There was the odd day where I felt very anxious. I've been taking them for about 7 weeks now and feel able to cope with stuff and enjoy myself again.

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Before x mas something got to me and i just fell apart gradually since then, people i know said it was all the excitement and stress from x mas. I am not sure what the end will be. Its almost week four and i am on 40mg, upped from 20mg. My only hope is that these work, i think they are working but i feel no happier. My worries are still there. I think things that just sap all my attention and concentration. I cant remember what or how i used to be. Just feel like going to sleep and hiding away. Sometimes i wish i could go to sleep for 2 weeks just to let these things work. I came on here for some reasurrance as my girl friend said it would do me good. I find now i am just waiting for that one reply from someone to lift me.

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Hi I was put on these drugs 4 weeks ago I had some breif relif for the 1st week but i have just returned from the doctors having my dose uped to 40mg and they have refere me for cognitive therapy. have you spoken to your GP about therapy this may help you or maybe get the doc to change your pills as the crying you outlined needs attending to. I have been using deep mussell exercises when i am feeling bad, you can get details of this from this site under self help from the home page, you do it alone and it relaxes you. Sleep is a good thing but staying in bed for 2 weeks is not going to help you. it sounds like you have a lot of support from you girlfriend and that is possitive my husband has been a massive help just beeing there so you are not alone and thats a good thing.

I hope you get on and start to feel like you old self again, it will come back in the end. but i strongly advise you go back to your GP before you get any worse and get the help you need.

Good luck i hope things get better for you

Marie

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Sorry my last message wasnt uplifting, i feeel quite bad after reading it again.

Things will improve on this drug I am getting alot better then when i first started out you will too give it time

Good luck

Marie

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Hello, first of all well done for gettin help, i've been on citalopram for 6 month now. I started feelin anxious and stressed last summer, the first dr i saw said i had a virus !! whatever! i didn't feel right i was gettin panic attacks and unable to do the usual things. When i eventually saw another dr as soon as i sat down to talk to her i started cryin. I wanted answers from her as to why i'd gone from a fun lovin person and ended up a mess. My dad was diagnosed with cancer again last year and she reckoned this was an effect of that. The first 3 weeks were a nightmare, i actually felt worse, every side effect there was i got. Then at the end of my 4th week it was like someone had turned a light on. I was smiling again and laughin at my husbands jokes ( which aren't that funny ) I really hope you get the answers you're lookin for, your girlfriend sounds like great support. Hang in there it will get better, i promise. x x

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Hi Citalaman,

Don't really know what to say - am new to these drugs myself. But I can relate to what you are saying in some aspects. We must have started about the same time and my doctor was saying similar things like \"X-mas is always a stressful time - and after it, it is always a bit of a come-down, ...\" but in the end, she did as asked. Thank God!

I am lucky, it seems. It took me about a week to get adjusted (and yes, that week wasn't really fun, abdominal pain, disturbed sleep, dehydration) - but others seem to take longer. My complaints were merely physical, no emotional reactions as you describe them. Like mlh, it was like somebody switched the light on (I used the same metaphor), only for me it was already after two weeks. It was a revelation!!! My actual situation hasn't changed, but my perception changed from being overwhelmed to do-able. Also, if the sun did shine, it did shine for me as well, and if it didn't, I could appreciate the mystical atmosphere of the foggy air (yes, a month ago I would have told you to get lost, you Pollyanna). But I seem to react rather sensitively to these drugs.

Up to that point I didn't really know that much about these drugs. I was low, I didn't know any further, I was finally willing to give them a try (after avoiding them for years!), got them, took them and they worked! Perfect!!!

I would have never visited this site, had I not soon after found out that I am pregnant (GOOD news for me, to good to believe at first) and my blissful ease with these tablets abruptly finished. I had a week of faffing around, a steep learning curve about SSRI's instead of pregnancy (yes, I am pissed off!) - so let me finally share the bits, which I think may be useful for you.

First of all - TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOURSELF, as good as you manage. You are precious and once you are through with this (maybe even now, if you can feel anything positive), you'll be glad of every kindness you got, including your own.

(A) I don't know your GP, but I came to realise that mine actually doesn't really know all that much about these drugs. They know a little about lots, but not necessarily lots about something specific. I definitely learned more on this site then I learned through her. Especially if it comes to the actual handling of these drugs. This is a bit nasty, you have to be able to rely on your GP to some extent, you are low, your judgement is not what is used to be, you need a helping hand. Maybe your girl-friend could come with you when you see him/her to make the most of it? I often found, that I did not ask all necessary questions.

(B) Try to make the best of all other help you can get. This site is good (you are here, congratulations!), your girl-friend sounds like she is good (congratulations again), get your GP to sign you up for CBT, this is the quickest therapy form available and is often good with anxiety - try everything as soon as you have a moment respite from your soul demons to do anything at all.

(C) Get a second opinion from your partner. Ultimately, only you konw how it looks inside you, but our partners often perceive more then we suspect. My partner definitely registered an upturn before I did. What does your partner say?

(D) If your partner doesn't think you are making any progress, I seriously would consider trying another SSRI or another Antidepressant altogether. Try searching this site for some reports, as said I am no expert, but my feeling was that most people get some results after a few weeks. With fluoxetine six weeks for first results seems to be normal, but every SSRI is somewhat different. If Citalopram doesn't do the trick, another one might. You have more than just this one option! though it may not feel like it to you.

(E) Try CITA (Council for Information on Tranquilizers and Antidepressants). Lines are open MON-FRI, 10am - 1 pm, tel 0151 032 0102. I found them helpful for things like 'what to expect', 'how to switch', 'how to come o

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to Citalman and all sufferers

I am taking citalopram for the second time having had huge success with them previously. However, following a spell of ill health (physical not mental ill health) I found I was becoming emotionally ill again and started taking Citalopram again about a month ago. I have just increased my dose from 5 mg to 10 mg and had forgotten how bad the side effects can be. However, from past experience I do know that they work but last time (on 20 mg to start with) it took 8 weeks before I felt a breakthrough. I decided to start on a very low dose this time and gradually increase to 10 mg which I did 2 days ago. I am weeping and obsessive and feeling very sad and experiencing all the side effects I had before.BUT they WILL work. I am having to tell myself the same as I will say to all sufferers - stick with it - they do work. It is easy to want a fast cure - thats human nature - we all want to feel our best. However, take comfort in the knowledge that others have taken them and what you are going through is normal and you will get better. Hope this helps