New to citalopram

Treatment and medication
1

Hi all....

I posted the other day to say I was nervous about starting this medication but I plucked up the courage and started them yesterday.

Not sure what to expect but I felt tired most of the day and went to bed early but then had a dreadful night...kept waking up feeling unsettled but was extremely tired. Then when the alarm went off I felt absolutely awful as if I'd had no sleep for a month! Took my second tablet....not too bad but I have had a iffy tum today and couldn't carry on after 12noon and had to have a sleep....for 2 hours! Felt alittle better for a while but now I feel quite agitated and unsettled. Would be so easy to say I'm not taking anymore but I keep going back to ready all the positive things on here and will carry on and see what each day brings.

Keeping my fingers crossed that this med works for me. Will let you know how I get on.

Lainie

2

Hi Lainie,

that all sounds pretty normal for starting out on Citalopram or most other anti depressants. Your sleep should settle down soon; citalopram is known to cause disturbances in your normal pattern of sleep but when the effects kick in properly (it takes a few weeks for the drug to build up in your system properly) you should get back in to a routine.

The tummy upset is normal too, i'm afraid, but should settle even sooner. Ginger or peppermint are supposed to be good for feeling sick so treatyourself to some nice ginger biscuits wink

The anxiety will pass as well; it's all to do with the balanceof chemicals in your brain and being new on the pills does make this pretty up and down until it builds up in your system. Don't worry about it, and make sure there's someone you can talk to if you start to feel anxious about things.

It will all settle down so stick with it.

Adam

3

hiya Lainie :cheerup:

all anti depressants have side effects :? they can also make us feel worse than better at first :shock: it can also take up to 6 weeks for them to kick in properly :? unless you have heavy duty side effects, hang on in there Lainie :ok: :mrgreen:

take care and keep posting good peep :wink:

cheers,

Ken~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ :run: :rainbow: :peace:

4

Thanks all for the advice, much appreciated and hope you can offer something on this one.....after taking my second dose of med I have experienced terrible itching all over and haven't taken another before I see my GP again this week. Also I wondered if this could be caused by taking Ranitidine (Zantac). I hadn't had a Zantac for a week but feeling that the Citalipram was affecting my stomach I decided to take the Zantac to see if that would help (my GP is aware that I take Zantac on a regular basis). It was about 2 hours after taking the Zantac and the itching started. I had taken the Citalipram early morning and the Zantac in the evening.

I have read online that these two drugs combined can cause a reaction but I can't find out what it is. However as my GP didn't mention anything to me I considered it safe to continue with all the medication I am on.

I know this may sound silly having only been on the Citalipram for a couple of days I did think I was less stressed and anxious (was I imaging that I ask myself!)

Has anyone else had itching on this medication?

Lainie

5

ive been on my tablets 10 mg 2 wks and 3 days... on tues it will be 3 wks and im seeing the doc to increase to 20 mg... i was so scared to take them at first and the side effects i read scared me. i took it tho a hour before i was ment to go to bed as advised but was so scared i couldnt go. next day i felt so spaced out but had a trip to the beauty salon and this took my mind off things abit. i am so tierd tho and its hard because i work in a gym and very much into my fitness and im finding it so hard... at first i felt ok but my doc says this wasnt the tablets and was just me as they take a few wks to get into your system..... for about a week tho ive felt very very shakey & low and all i want to do is sleep sad i have no energy for nothing. i havnt lost my appitite (except for the first few days ) butr my tummy is bad, i have been to loo 3 times today and its rumbling alot (nice lol ) and im waking early hrs in the morning and my brain is ready to get up but my body wont. im worried now about going on the 20 mg next tues..... ive loved reading all the comments as the doctors can tell u but have half of them ever taken it.....

6

i missed 2 days dose cos i wanted several drinks wiv my friend and didn't think it was a good idea to drink on top of the meds. i have woke up not feeling sick this morning and feelin that i want something to eat ( 1st time in days) and now i'm worried about taking the meds again. i'v only been taking them for a few days but they make me feel really sick and more restless than i usually are, also my face tingles and cheeks goes numb, is it worth it?

does the side effects get any easier and how long do they last?

can someone please tell me that there are good points wiv the meds eventually...

:cry:

7

Lanie and carly01, the physical symptoms your describing sound more like the depression than the Citalopram to be honest. If in doubt always go back to the doctor and talk it through though. Most SSRI anti depressants take a while to kick in, but Citalopram does seem to work quite quickly to calm anxiety in some people, myself included.

Carly01, I've taken Citalopram on and off for three years, and taken Ranitidine regularly with it with no problems. That's not to say you might not have a reaction, but it's certainly not common.

I agree with AdamM. Citalopram is an SSRI (Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitor) which basically alters your brain chemistry to help you feel less anxious and depressed. It sounds scary, but it's a tried and tested method of treating this bloody awful illness. Search for more info on Google if you need some reassurance, though not everyone thinks these drugs are a good thing.

I don't like taking any kind of medication, but if it weren't for Citalopram I would have taken my own life before now. I'm off it now, but if I ever need to go back on it I will, the alternative doesn't bear thinking about. That being said it might not be the right anti depressant for you, sometimes you have to try a few to find the one best suited for your particular needs. It's a matter of trial and error, but that's what your doctor is for, to help you through it and find the right medication for you.

8

Hey all,

Been looking at some forums over the last few days, I started my course of Citalopram a fortnight ago and have been experiencing some weird and sometimes nasty side effects so I thought I'd look at how others have been getting on and now feel compelled to add a few points...

I think it's inevitable from what I've read & how I've been feeling that the initial changes are going to include visual disturbances, nausea, vomiting, constant tiredness, flatulence/bloatedness, loss of apetite, problems sleeping, increased anxiety,paranoia and a general sensation of not feeling quite right.

We MUST remember that the reason most of us are taking this is because we don't feel quite right about how our feelings make us respond to stimulus in life, this said it is obvious that a lot of the initial effects we experience will be multiplied in severity by the fact that our brains work overtime by focusing on what's not going the way we expect.

I have had a very rough first two weeks, the first few days were the hardest as I suffered severe tiredness & slept for around 14 hours a day, my stomach was constantly bloated and although I found some relief in eating something small I was almost instantly to the toilet to relieve the pressure. I vomited twice in this time, couldn't stop yawning, had very little interest in anything and felt utterly useless, even more so than before taking the meds.

After 10 days I did some research and found that many people take their dose in the late afternoon/evening, I spoke to my doctor as I felt the most severe side effects were felt during the day and although I didn't feel like doing much I was feeling a little \"wired\" in the evenings, so would taking the evening dose help? My doc advised that I should try it if I felt it would be best for me and to review it again in two weeks. I've been doing this now for 5 days and, although I am awake tonight at 3:30am due to a certain situation in my life playing on my mind, I have felt better during the days and the tiredness I get shortly after taking my dose has helped me to get to sleep at night.

I have yet to discover the perfect time of day to take it as at the moment it seems to make it difficult to wake up & get up in the morning, I am working it back an hour a day and today took it around 6pm, yesterday was 7pm, the day before was 8pm...etc.

I am not someone who likes to take prescription drugs, yet battling severe anxiety that has kept me out of work for the best part of the year and after talking to friends, my psychotherapist & doctor I have decided to take this step towards getting better, at the end of the day that is the reason why any of us have chosen to take these drugs.

Our bodies & minds will always have difficulty adjusting to narcotics so there will be side effects that we all feel, some more so than others, yet we have all made the choice to try to get better so we must take the rough with the smooth that is coming and keep at it. It's not a quick fix and as all our doctors have said \"it may well get worse before it gets better\" and IT WILL get better!

So stick at it people, we've made the choice, taken the first step. Just as life always does it will place hurdles in our way, we just need to keep on jumping them until we get to our finish line!