Insomnia and citalopram.

I have had insomnia since January this year really bad, I went to my GP and he prescribed zoplidem 10mg but found I had depression partly due to not sleeping not even an hour of a night, I have cancer so my energy levels are very low anyway. I was later prescribed citalopram 10mg this has made the matter worse as the sleeping tablets have no effect, I can go around the clock with no sleep, can anyone help me, I am very down and usually up beat before all this happened and feel anxious I try meditation and hypnotherepy also, please any advice.

paul

Paul,

Sorry to hear about your insomnia, that is the worst, and I've only very briefly dealt with it. I think it is strange that you were prescribed Citalopram to help with your depression/anxiety since those are effects of your sleeplessness. Granted, Citalopram seems to have a sedating effect for some people, I don't think that was the wisest prescription from your GP, in my opinion. I think you need something that will more directly help with the sleeplessness, which will in turn improve the depression/anxiety symptoms. Since messing around with my Citalopram dosage, I actually ended up having insomnia as an adverse effect, but this is different for everyone.

I unfortunately don't have the best advice, but I wouldn't think that Citalopram would have been the best choice of perscription for your paritcular situation. Potentially inquire about Trazadone, which is an old anti-depressant that is nowadays prescribed as a sleep aid in low doses for people with insomnia from depression/anxiety. But again, it seems like you need something that more directly helps with insomnia.

May I ask what you think the insomnia may have come about from? Any root cause you can think of?

 i also thought 'trazodone' when i read your situation,  i would be amazed if anyone can take that and not get a full nights worth of interrupted sleep.   ask your doctor about trazodone

Thanks for discussion guys , I will ask my GP about them, I have found when I nod off without pills I jump start myself awake and my heart pounds then I can't sleep, with having the cancer to deal with its all getting a bit much emotionally with less than four hours sleep with sleeping pills Zoplidem usually works on 10 Mg maybe citropram is counteracting as side effects.

Hi yes it came about I had a lot of worry due to cancer scans as I have lymphoma then I got really bad chest infection then another infection due to tooth extraction my sleep deterioted after that and don't know why I went a whole week in February with no sleep not even for 1 hour as my body jolted me awake every time I went to nod off. Due you have any theories? Zolpidem helps but then reacted with the antidepressant.