Hello, been on citalopram for 13 weeks, got up to 40mg, but had to reduce to 30mg due to 5 weeks intense anxiety. Pysc suggested giving 30 a go for a few weeks, but recommended a staged dual switch to venlafaxine it it didnt work. Had a meltdown 2 weeks later with anxiety, and have been given diazepam ,by doctor, and advised to switch to ven, as per pysc recommended switch. Realised that doctor was a complete idiot, making 2 mistakes during appointment, had got switch doses wrong ie double ven dose pysc recommemded. didn't trust him, but Reduced cit to 20mg on it's own to give it one last chance, mood seemed to go lower each day. Therefore saw another doctor a week later, seemed to.know what she was doing, said cit dose obviously too low for depression, cant go higher on it due to anxiety, and to start stepped switch over suggested by pysc. Its 20mg cit plus 37gms ven, for 2 weeks, then drop cit to 10 mg keep ven at 37 days into switch for another 2 weeks. Thought continual mood lowering had stopped, but feels like its dropping again. Been on this switch for 5 days now. I cant bare thinking about dropping cit level for a further 2 weeks in a weeks time, with no ven increase. Pysc made his recommendation 4 weeks ago now, seeing him next week, for a follow up appointment. Given my mood dropping quite quickly, do you think he might revised switch process, ie poss drop cit to 10mg but increase ven?. I take ven in morning along with cit, and haven't felt much.in way of side effects, although low diazepam is probably helping. Has anyone done this switch more quickly, or with not reducing dose so much? Only just managing at moment, let alone reducing cit to 10mg for a further 2 weeks, in a weeks time, with no increase in ven. Any experience of such a switch would be appreciated. Thanks.
Are you on these tablets for depression or anxiety..??or both
Depression primarily.
Oh I see..the snris work well for depression...so your effexor should work just fine....
Hope so. Its primarily depression. I never got anywhere near as anxious on paroxeteine (seem to stop working after a very long time), as i did on cit. Since I started dropping dose of cit, depression has got worse. At first after each drop, felt slightly better, as less anxious, but mood started dropping quickly. At moment don't want to do much at all, and have feeling it's not going to get better.
Pysc says its recurrent depression.
My phychiatrist prescribes celexa mainly to anxiety sufferers.. for depression she uses snris...trust me i have gotten my money's worth of information from her...
Other than that the only clue I have about the effexor is I lasted two weeks on it..the side effects where horrendous...plus the withdrawals from that effexor was even worst..but you gotta do what the doctor says.or do more homework..
Hello Lois, would value your option please. Was on 40mg cit for 6 weeks, anxiety was so bad, reduced it to 30mg, pysc agree, with a venlafaxine switch as back up. After 3 weeks on 30mg, had a complete meltdown, prescribed diazepam, dropped to 20mg of cit, was supposed to add can at 37. I didn't, as sensed gp had got it wrong. Stayed on just 20mg of cit, but my mood plummeted almost daily. After a week on 20mg, saw usual doctor, said straightaway, to do switch, as cit was not for me. Have been taking 20mg cit and 37mg of ven for just over a week. No noticeable side effects, mood has stopped dropping. However, it's now very low. Not doing anything, apart from enough to exist. I am supposed to maintain this for another week, then drop cit to 10mg with same level of 37mg ven for a further 2 weeks. Seeing pysc on Tuesday, going to push for stopping cit altogether, and increase ven to 75mg, which is still a low dose, and normally a starting level. Do you think that sounds reasonable, and pysc will agree? Quite a lot has happend since I saw pysc 4 weeks ago, and I cannot imagine my mood getting lower. Thanks.
Dreading dropping cit further, with no increase in ven.
Correct ..I think you shouldn't drop the cit right away because you don't want to get nasty withdrawals..and when you do drop the cit.. increase your ven.
Yes and all the things your feeling are quite within the norm of decreasing one med while introducing another...
And also I have heard that the xr version of ven.. works better than the regular release version of ven.
Thanks lois. Thought that myself, ie a gradual slow release, rather than 2 dollops a day. Will raise it with pysc. Thanks.
Anytime
Hello Lois, hoping you'll help a citalopram defector. Been on cit at 20mg, and 37.5 mg of ven for 10 days. I am so low. Spend most of my time in bed, only getting up to go to work for minimum time. Saw pysc on tues, he said to drop cit to 10mg and up ven from 35.5mg to 75mg. Been doing this for 2 days. No issues of ven as far as I Can tell. 2 more weeks of this, then drop cit and up ven. From what i can gather, it's not until you get towards 150mg of ven that you experience benefits. I am so low. Do you think I'll experience any improvements while on 10mg cit and 75mg ven? When do you think I'll see some signs of improvement? Not recovery or anything like that, just some slight improvement in mood? Still taking diazepam, but sparingly. Anxiety isn't much of an issue at moment, it's the very low mood. Thanks. Nigel
Feels like whole cit period has made me worse, ie I'm worse at end of 13 weeks on it, than what I was on seroxat when that stopped working, prior to cit. Depression is my main issue, anxiety seems to be secondary. Thanks. Nigel.
From everything I have researched of ven..it should take care of the depression ..this med is more for depression thanks it is anxiety..and yes lots of folks get better on 150milligrams ...and right now what you are experiencing is withdrawal from celexa ..as far as improvements it's up in the air.s hard to tell when going from one med to the other...take your diazapam while you are doing that swap...take care
Thanks lois. Been on 75mg and 10mg cit for 5 days. That's after 20mg cit and 35.7mg ven immediately before that. Anxiety is no worse, and sleep is same as before. Still feeling really down, only a few sporadic couple of hours feeling just about okay, in last couple of weeks. When I switched to cit from seroxat in Jan, think I wasn't in as bad a situation as i am now going from cit to ven. Did immediate switch from seroxat to cit, at least then I had mood swings, now nothing but feeling down. Sorry to whinge. Doing it all.over again is so demoralizing.
I bet..is not easy...😔