I have felt tired, sometimes light headed, agitated and I sweat a little bit at night.
I find it difficult to get to sleep as my mind is often with many thoughts such as \"Am I doing the right choice in going to volunteer outside of London?\"
Also I wonder if I am taking the correct medicine for anxiety.
I too have just started on the Citalopram 20mg drug. Whilst I have only been taking the drug for the past 2 days, I already have noticed a few of the mentioned side effects.
Last night, despite being tired I couldn't get to sleep as my mind was racing through all sorts of issues related to myself or generally in the world. When I did eventually manage to fall asleep it was only for a few hours, then I'd wake up and be unable to fall back again. I to have experienced the feeling of sickness, the general light headed feeling. I also had a very strange feeling of being nervous about falling asleep last night, like I might die should I do so, wierd.
If you read a lot of the posts on this forum i'm sure you will notice that a lot of people experienced very similar side effects to yours and mine, hopefully in a day or do mine will subside, althogh I admit to considering whether I should continue taking the medication.
i think u should carry on with them.about 2 weeks into starting the drug i had had enough of the side effects so i didnt take one days tablet and i wondered if id done the right thing. the advice and reasurance i was given on this site made me think and i started to take them again the next day but with hardly any of the nastier side effects that had put me off them. it does seem weird but missing that tablet seemed to work for me, still a little spaced but no sickness. i think there begining to work now. stick with them.
Getting to sleep is a problem for me, even before I took Citalopram. I am only starting, 3rd day on 10 mg still and will increase it after 7 days to 20 mg. I think it is a progressive drug that takes its full effect after a while.
To get to sleep, though, I listen to relaxation CDs such \"A good night sleep\" by John Selby, with a very soothing voice, but a strange organ accompaniment, yet it works for me.
I listen too to Philip Chave: The healer's own healing meditation, which I got from Paul Chave's website, the Haven Healing Centre. This is a gradual loosening of the muscles of the body with a final few sentences of affirmations on healing. That gets me to sleep before the end of the CD.
I would listen to one of those if I get up during the night, say at 4 a.m. and I do not want to ruminate for hours before falling asleep again. Now they work for me, because I like to listen to a soothing voice.
My wife finds it irritating. So I bought a personal CD Goodmans player which I slip underneath the pillow and stick one earphone on (as I sleep on my left side!)This system allows me to sleep while my wife gets up during the night and won't come back to bed for hours!
I have been taking 20mg for 4 weeks, and feeling great. However the first 1-2 weeks were difficult, anxiety, worrying people would die, racing mind thinking the tablets would not work. Then at about 2 weeks I stopped feeling tierd all the time, got a boost of energy, totally stopped worrying about everything, feel good about life and myself. I would totally say to keep taking the tablets and just trust that these side effects are short lived.
Hi Brighteyes, what an encouraging post. In to my second week, still feeling depressed with those 'racing thoughts'. But if I come out like you after 4 weeks; I'll scream with joy. mq7.
Two months later
I've been taking Cit for 2 months now. I started taking 20mg three days after my wife said our marriage was at an end. I've been married before and suffered from terrible anxiety after the breakdown of my first marriage. I also suffered from bouts of depression but was too macho to seek help for my problems. So I suffered for almost 2 and a half years.
I'm just 50 years old and I thought to myself there is no way I'm going to suffer for another couple of years. God only knows how long I've got left and I want to enjoy myself.
So I went to the doctors a broken man and asked for his help. He prescribed me 20mg of Citalopram taken in the evening. Let me tell you the first 2-3 weeks were truly horrible. Night time sweats, lack of sleep, dry month, lack of concentration, forgetfulness and a really strange feeling in my head. The worst was to come. Bouts of deep depression, feeling suicidal and one very worrying panic attack at work. I'd taken Ziban to stop smoking ten years earlier and these side effects were remarkably similar.
I seriously considered stopping taking these tablets because they seemed to be making me worse. Good job I looked on the internet and it seems that nearly everyone on the forums has a similar experience when they start taking these drugs.
Anyway, after a couple of weeks I started to have good days. The bad days didn't seem so bad. The side effects gradually started to go away - with one exception - yawning. More about that in a bit.
I think the doctor was worried about my state of mind so asked me to go in again after a month. We discussed the dosage and he decided to increase it to 30mg.
Day by day things have got better. I'm now at week 9 and the good days far outnumber the low spells. Most of the time I feel happy, able to get on with my new single life and make plans for the future. Don't get me wrong, the problems are still there and every day I feel some sort of pain when I think about my wife and children. However, I'm not anxious or depressed. I can sing, laugh, socialise and generally get on with my life.
Cit has been a godsend for me but it's only a crutch. I know I've got a long way to go and there will still be many ups and downs ahead. I'm also mindful that I'm very fragile at the moment but at least I'm getting through it. I guess the passage of time helps as well.
My only real negative comment is about the yawning. It seems I constantly yawn even after 9 weeks. It's embarrasing sometimes when I yawn in meetings but hey what a small price to pay for staying sane.
I've been taking cit for 5wks now when I first started them for the first couple wks had really bad sweats bad thoughts. Found it really hard to get to sleep or even wake up after only sleeping for few hours then not been able to go bk over. But they did wear of and feel much better in myself. Except the last couple ov nights after taking these for 5wks and got over the side effects. I've suddenly started waking after been sleep for few hours and finding it very hard to go bk over. Is this normal afte taking these for 5wks.
Hi, I am taking it and the first few weeks I was so depressed I started to throw it away but now I feel great !!!!!!! It has really helped me,I lost my only son the 18th of January and I was in really bad shape for about 3 months. I wanted to die but GOD wasn't ready for me yet.I am now feeling happy and couldn't ask to feel better.I owe it all to GOD and citalopram
I have been taking Celexa 20mg. since June 2012. For SEVERAL weeks I was so tired I could hardly go. So so tired and slept all the time and yawned all the time. I called my doctor and told him I needed something else. Also, I felt that I couldn't concentrate and forgot alot. My doctor told me to stay on the 20mg. I was suicidal before taking the Celexa. A year later, I am so much better. Yes, I still have bad days just like everyone else in the world, but with taking this medicine, I can function. Donot go off of this medicine without help from a doctor or a pharmacist.
I am now on day 38 of Citalopram 20 mg. Sweating like mad today which is new.
I was wondering, I have been taking it first thing in the morning around 8:00 AM. I find by the end of the work day, say around 6:00 pm I need to nap and missing out on getting together with friends or going to the gym. Has this happened to anyone else? I am wondering if I should start taking it around 5:00 pm instead and would appreciate the groups' thoughts.
I take Celexa 20mg. For about the first 2-3 months of starting Celexa, I was so tired I didn't think I could stand it. Luckily I wasn't working because I was taking a few naps a day. I asked the doctor to take me off of it and he wouldn't. I also yawned over and over. After those first few months, I started feeling better. The doctor told me that the medicine was making me tired because it was relaxing me. My body and my brain was not use to relaxing. I slept so sound for the first time in years. I have been on it since June 2012 and now wish I had started taking it sooner. I fought taking depression medicine for years until I couldn't take it anymore and my friends were worried about me. Life still has it's hard times, but I know I couldn't handle it just yet without this medicine.
About the sweating, it says in the pamplet that comes with Celexa it may help with hot flashes. I am 52 and really do have hot flashes and I think this medicine in helping with that. Re-read your pamplet and see it sweating is a side effect of this medicine. God Bless you and everyone who is suffering from depression. No one understand unless you have been there.
I've been taking this drug for 3 weeks now, almost, and only occasionally have a bad night. As I was forced to take this medication after detoxing as an involuntary inpatient at the local hospital, I do not feel that my free will was respected. I was not depressed, merely acclimatising to the novel sensation of being drug and alcohol free after almost 15 years of serious abuse. I am now 36 days sober and straight, but am quite mad, because I have only recently done some reading into the effects of COMING OFF this drug. 20mg. I WAS resolved to being on it for 6 months, but today have decided that I will not risk my sanity, long term health and the self respect I have recently gained by being and staying STRAIGHT for almost 5 weeks. I'm sure that it is a good medication if you need help to claw your way out of the depths of depression, and wish all of you luck and good health in your individual journeys.
No longer willing to be locked in,
Loxxed_in
I am taking this medicine citalopam 20 from three months , recently I feel uncomfortable , like itching on body, unusual heart beat, dizziness, continuous thoughts with related my life I am unable to stop thinking and concentration what I am doing, please suggest me what to do?
yeah ive been on these tablets for a while, the beginning of the treatment can be really horrible, but the doctor says to keep taking them for at least 2 weeks, and if the side affects don't change then the medication is probably not for you, but dont just stop taking them, without consulting your doctor, i made that mistake thought i was ok, and took a turn for the worst.. very suicidal! but im fine again now, thanks to these tablets.. good luck god bless
I started taking Cit 20mg on the 16th December 2013 and had 4 weeks off work. I felt very relaxed and spaced the first few days which I found really nice as I was taking it for stress. My sleep didn't get any better and I had similar symptoms whereby I couldn't get to sleep and would wake up in the night and then have light fitful sleep. The first week I did get some anxiety and wanted to stay home and not be out much. I've had night sweats on and off, dry mouth but only at the beginning and I've just started getting random itches on my body. The night sweats are more annoying than anything and the itching is a bit maddening. My sleep is not great but I did have two nights where I slept through. By the end of the 3rd week off work and on Citalopram, I started feeling like I could think about doing something and I started to write a list of small things I could do like book a dentist appointment. My first week back at work was terrifying and I ended up in tears in the car park and went home again on my first day. I felt very fragile and worried I would get overwhelmed but work were lovely and my friends were supportive. My mood this week has been good and I feel almost like my old self. My sleep is not good but I'm trying to establish a pattern whereby I starting winding down earlier, no caffeine after lunch and reading before bed. I wish I had asked for help earlier as October and November last year were a dark place for me. I'm glad that I started taking the tablets and hopefully I will slowly cut them down in the next few months when I feel like I can cope better with things.
I have been on 20mg Citalopram now for 2 weeks after being on 30mg Mitrapazine.
So far I have lost my appetite, losing around 6lbs, I have pain in my jaw, Stomach ache, nausea and feeling faint/tired. I am hoping things get better , as even though the main reason of my depression ( work ) is no longer an issue. I just want to get back to normal.
No depression, No Anxiety and my life back. I shall give it another few weeks but there is only so much a person can take
Hi my son was on citalopram 10mg for 2 week increased to 20mg.He is not sleeping having terrible sweats and being sick.spend all his time in his room.not interested in anything and hardly talks really worried about him.He is attending a counsillor but he wont talk about how he's feeling can anyone tell me what to do next to help him
Hi, I just wanted to say i have been on citalopram for years 30mg, and although i have a few weeks a year
that i call bad days where i experience high anxiety , i hold down a full time job and take those weeks for
what they are (after all ever everyone has bad days) dont get me wrong when you panic its dreadful, but in
the whole i have no qualms on being on this medication for the rest of my life. So many people these days need a little help, life moves so fast, but one thing i am sure of , is there is nothing to be ashamed of having to take these
tablets, i had a colleague who was not coping on 20mg, so i suggested going to the doctors to increase it,
since then she has not looked back and able to move on with her life.
The more you talk about it , the more you realise how common this is.
Everytor prescribed these to me. To be honest I.haven't.taken these, I'm to scared, but I.can't keep feeling the way I do. Sweating in the face, panicking, constant worry of losing my job, paranoid thinking Everyone is judging me. My thoughts are so Loud.