involuntary head movements!

Hi i'm new on here but have already felt a bit better about myself just by reading some other posts. I will have to keep this short as due to my mad head movements i am only typing with one hand and it takes ages!

I have suffered anxiety/ panic attacks since my first panic attack when i was 12 (I'm now 37). I got more and more anxious, dealt with this socially using alcohol, until I started getting panic attacks again when i was 26. I had weeks off work, took antidepressants and betablockers and gradually got better. I had 2 children, stopped drinking and tried natural methods to control my anxiety if i felt it coming back. I exercised, had cognitive therapy (this helped a few years back) stopped caffeine and ate very healthily. However about a year ago I noticed my head started making involuntary movements and i started finding it hard to do certain things without my head moving. (texting, typing, peeling potatoes). This has gradually got worse and I started worrying thinking I had parkinsons or Huntingdon's disease. I confided in my partner who said I must go to the doctor's.

I plucked up the courage (I felt so foolish and ashamed of myself) and tried to explain to the doctor about my head. He prescribed prop (as i have also been feeling very panicky again). The panicky feelings went away but the head movements were the same. The final straw came when I was having a meal with family and friends and I could not even see or cut my food up because of my head movements, everything was a blur. I went back to the doc's and told him and he prescribed citalopram.

The first night i took it felt like the worst panic attack ever, I just wanted it out of my body, however the doctor said it would get worse first so i carried on. i've now been on it for a week and my head movements have never been so bad. Even making a cup of tea is hard and my head jerks about when I try and stir it. When i'm out walking it keeps jerking to the left and upwards. My partner says I should stop taking the citalopram but I think i should carry on, however I have a meal on sat night with lots of new people and there is no way I can go like this!

What should I do? I have another doc's appt on friday but don't know if I can wait. Any advice would be so welcomed x

Hi Alb. The head movements you are describing sound like anxiety to me. I had them back in spring when I was anxious 24/7. I too was put on citalopram and as you said it really did get worse before it got better. Please believe me when I tell you that you are only on it 1 week and you will begin to see a vast improvement in the next few weeks. You don't say in your message what dosage you are on? I was put on 10mg initally but the doctor increased me to 20mg after 10 days as I was at my wits end and 4 days into taking the 20mg I could see the light again. And now 8 months down the line I am 3 days into withdrawal and doing fine. Please have faith that these tablets will work because only for them I truly believe I wouldn't be here posting this reply. They truly were a life saver for me, they may not be to everybodys liking but please give them a chance. At the beginning, 1 week in I was convinced nothing was ever going to work, and nobody or nothing could 'fix me' but I promise the citalopram did and I am grateful for them xxx

By the way Alb if you have any questions whatsoever about citalopram please don't hesitate to ask me as I have been on them for 8 months and feel I know them quite well by now. xxx

:)Hi Asha, i just want to say thankyou so much for your reply, it really meant alot! As soon as i read it I felt a whole lot better. You sounded just like I've been feeling, with anxiety 24/7. I really thought I was going mad or very ill with something (tumour etc). To read that you are now feeling loads better and coming off the tablets after 8 months has given me great hope. I don't know if it was relief knowing I wasn't the only one who'd suffered this or whether the tablets have actually started working but this morning I felt the movements were a little bit better (still having to hold my head a lot of the time but think it has calmed down a bit). I started on 20mgs in answer to your question, and have also been on 60mgs of prop, but didn't take any today as they weren't making my head movements stop, just stopping the panic.

I really am so pleased for you that you are feeling so much better and hope that you carry on doing so well in your withdrawal. Do you mind if I ask you more about your head movements as you're the first person I've spoken to with the same experience?

Thanks again for your advice it was so helpful at such a scarey time x

Hi Alb I'm glad that you got benefit from my message, I know what a scary time it can be when we are faced with constant anxiety but let me assure you I have been there and I am better and stronger for it. The head movements were like involuntary jerks that would happen when I would be going about my day to day normal activities. They just happened and scared me alot, also making me more and more anxious. I thought at one stage that if I didn't fight the movement that I would go into a spasm or something and have some kind of attack. While I was waiting for the medication to start working (which like you I thought never would!) I started going with the movement on the advise of a friend who had them previously. I found that when I let the movement happen and not fight it, that it just started to happen less and less. This will happen for you, believe me what is happening you is completley natural, it may not feel like it is but trust me you are not going mad, you are just going through trauma from constant anxiety that needs to be healed. This will heal and you will be on this webpage helping other sufferers, just keep the faith and remember that nothing is ever given or put upon you that you cannot deal with. x

Thanks Asha, I tried the advice about following the movement and it seems so obvious now! I have also been fighting it for months and this has obviously been making me a million times more tense. Today I've gone with it and it does seem to be helping a little. Its still happening, but going with it seems to make it easier and over quicker! Onwards and upwards!

How are you getting on? I hope you're still doing well, and thanks again for your advice, its been invaluable x

No problem Alb glad I could help. Well today is day 6 of my withdrawal and I feel great and more positive than ever. I have found that as soon as your anxiety goes while on the medication you should start preparing yourself mentally and emotionally. Learn how to relax. When you get the tiniest bit of relief from your symptoms or sudden spurts of positivity, you need to squeese the life out of the good feelings that come with it. This is training your brain to hold on to good feelings for longer. I started doing this a few months before my withdrawal and I promise it really works xxx