Cit antibiotic reaction for UTI

Hi,

My GP put me on 10mg of Citalopram 2 weeks ago, within a few days I began to get symptoms for a UTI (stinging/cloudy urine etc) I am prone to these so just popped in, picked up my usual 7 day dose of Trimethoprim and started without a worry. I woke up regularly in the night with an already racing heart and would finally wake at dead on 7 feeling sick to the point of gagging for hours. The days that followed didn't get any easier and I've had exhaustion, palpatations, sickness and loose stools, hot and cold flushes and the shakes. I thought I was going mad so went back to the doctors and he prescribed me the antibiotic Cipro as the infection hadn't got better and he thought I had become immune to Trimethoprinm overt the years. Within hours of taking Cipro all the symptoms got a ten times worse and I had a full on panic attack and felt like I was having a break down.

2 weeks on and after 5 different antibiotics (Augmentin was the only one that I was ok on but apparently wasn't effective against the UTI I had) I still have the infection. After reading into this online I've realised that what I'm experiencing are infact Citalopram withdrawal symptoms, both tablets appear to be stopping the other from working and causing awful side effects. As someone who is prone to these infections I can't go through this every time I have one so have decided to keep myself off of both citalopram and all antibiotics for a few days until the cit is out of my system and I can get this infection sorted out once and for all.

I'm so suprised that there isn't more in these forums and online about the interaction of citalopram and antibiotics, or have I simply had bad luck here... if anyone else had had something similar please let me know, right now I feel like I'm going totally mad!

Hi

I have never heard of them interacting with antibiotics to be honest. Where did you read this information online?

Did the doctor say this was what was happening?

I currently have been taking Cit for a while now .I have also taken Trimethorprim .Both gave me the side effects you have experienced .The Trimethorprim was taken before I strted on Cit .I had a bad reaction and was told I was allergic .There are no suggestions anywhere on the web that I have read that these antibiotics do what you suggest .I am also curious where you read this please .The drug you Cipro is quite toxic and would definately suggest by your reaction you are also allergic. I hope you get better soon .Sue

Hi,

I spent some time online last night and found numerous other people that had had the same thing happen to them, I've pasted one example below.

I went back to my doctors today after the infection got worse again last night. Apparently Citalopram mixed with antibiotics can have this reaction. Although they don't necessarily cancel one another out the antibiotics can stop the citalopram working effectively causing withdrawal symptoms. Also, she said those with weaker stomachs won't be able to deal with the combination of antibiotics and antidepressants causing sickness, loose stools and various other gastric problems, alas I am not going crazy, thank god! Feel utterly awful physically... after a week of loving the citalopram (alone) initially I have now stopped taking it as I can't deal with the combination emotionally or physically, naturally dealing with my infection is more important right now.

As I said though, I am very surprised evidence of this is so sparse considering in 27 years this is has easily been one of the worst weeks of my life both emotionally and physically.

Hopefully not too many other people will experience the same thing.

Grace x














http://experience.patient.co.uk/disc...7eb04fb63ce5ed

I've taken trimethoprim for years for recurring uti's and I have never had a problem with them until now

Hi Ellie .I too took Trimethorprim previous to the last time and had no bad reaction ,apart from loose stools :blush:.I used to be allergic to penicillen when I was younger ,broke out in a bad rash etc ,but dont any more .I do know certain drugs lessen the effects of Citalopram as a Migraine capsule I take sometimes can have this effect (midrid) but it never causes me to feel like you did .(thank goodness ) Also things like antacids and Grapefruit are known to cause probs like this .The Grapefruit thing isnt widely written about either .:lac:The DRUG Metronidazole has an adverse effect too and this isnt widely talked about .Sometimes I think Drs need to know the full implications before mixing things with these drugs .But if its only rare they wont be aware until they come across it .I do hope you get the infection cleared up soon .Thanks for your reply .T/c Sue x:hugs:

Very interested in this thread after a bad experience with Trimethorprim the other day (I'm on fluoxetine). Took two tabs of the antibiotic, morning and evening, and by bedtime felt like I was going crazy, decided I hated my life and couldn't stop crying. I then woke up in the morning feeling violently nauseous. Didn't take any more of them, UTI was definitely the lesser of the evils.

I am prone to UTIs and can't imagine I've never had this before, but if I did it didn't produce this kind of reaction. My symptoms did feel like those I have experienced during AD withdrawal but find it hard to believe that would happen within about 13 hours of starting the Trimethorprim.

Very weird. Hope you find a solution Ellie. I'm back at the docs on Weds, meanwhile, just putting up with the UTI :weep:

Hi Jane,

I'm so sorry you're feeling like this. What you've described is exactly right. It felt like I could have been withdrawing from heroine I felt so low and sick both emotionally and physically, I couldn't believe it. And yes, this all happened in less than 24 hours, the morning being the worst... unfortunately because I didn't know what was going on and causing what it ended up drawing out for 2 weeks.

The doctors who kept prescribing me various antibiotics said initially they wouldn't effect the Cit but the stronger the antibiotics the worse I felt. On my last visit just over a week ago they couldn't see the infection anymore (although I still had the symptoms bad), she said either the antibiotics were clouding the results or she felt it was more likely I'd developed some kind of chemical infection/reaction from all the drugs that was making the stinging etc worse. She told me to have a clear week of no antibiotics or anything other than painkillers for the infection (I was already off of the citalopram on my previous post).

My last post was on the 6 August and the past few days I have finally come through all of this and have got all of the antibiotics and cit out of my system. I think the whole experience made me feel so awful that right now I just feel happy being me. The pain from the infection has just faded away by itself over the past week and I'm starting to feel healthier again and eating to put back the stone I lost in weight!

Overall I think I took took the wrong turn and made the wrong decisions with everything during this process which made it far worse than it should have been because I simply didn't know what was going on or what was causing what.

I've read most people take antibiotics with this drug and are fine, but from how close my symptoms are to a few others this isn't the case with all of us and sometimes the antibiotics and citalopram just stop each other being so effective/working at all, so in a way you're going 'cold turkey' and you infection isn't being treated, in the same way it wouldn't as if you were taking alcohol. So I guess that's a lot for your body to deal with, especially if you have a weaker stomach and suffer from panic attacks. Remember the doctor also said this reaction is far more likely to happen if have only recently started on citalopram because your mind and body haven't got used to the drug yet, so introducing yet another one throws it off sync.

I scanned these forums for someone who had experienced this while I was experiencing these symptoms and found nothing. I just really hope this helps people to understand earlier what's happening to them and that you are not going crazy.

I hope this helps.

x

ps. Jane, I hope you're feeling better now too x

Hi Ellie, glad you're feeling better, me too :yesyes: thanks to antibiotic no.3 (cephalexin) after also having a bad reaction to nitrofurantoin. I really am going to redouble my efforts to avoid utis after this. It's been hellish and the docs now clearly think I'm loopy. Funny how you can google a side-effect and come up with people who have had exactly the same yet the docs don't have a clue about it. It says all over the place that there's a rare chance of trimethoprim causing a "psychiatric" reaction. My doc just looked at me like I was nuts. Googling can certainly be a bad idea at times but it can also be informative and reassuring in terms of pinpointing a reason why you feel like you do.

End of rant :)