Just about to give up :(

[TRISTAN]

Been suffering for nine months now and tried a few different meds but nothing seems to be helping , been on cit for 4 weeks first few were 10 mg and two weeks at 20 mg , finding it hard to sit still and not really eating and lost nearly 10 pounds now :( I also take propananol and diazipram as required and jut feel very scared I'm loosing the battle , also still coming off venaflaxine which doesn't help

[Tanner40]

Hang in there, Tristan. It takes finding the right drug, along with other types of work in order for recovery to begin. The side effects can initially be hard on people taking citalopram but they will eventually go away. It generallyntakes two to three months for the drug to really begin to work in your system.
Are you doing any type of meditation or relaxation? What about therapy? I know those things all helped me.

[TRISTAN]

What sort of theropy did you have ? Think I need proper help now :(

[Tanner40]

I had personal one on one therapy with a psychologist and I also had a course in CBT. The one on one therapy helped me to identify some background issues that gave me problems and the CBT helped me to manage my thoughts surrounding events and symptoms so to lessen their impact.

[TRISTAN]

I first started on this 9 months ago and after a while had a good 3 weeks and thought I was cured , had a blip but didn't understand that it would happen so told doctor they wernt working so she changed them with out question or trying a higher dose , been on a few since but no joy so back to start again on cit so fingers crossed this time round

[teej]

Tristan,

I'm two months into my 20mg and still feeling quite up and down. The last two weeks with Christmas and the dark evenings has been so very tough. I've not even dared to go up to 30mg in case I mess everything up.

I'm finding even if I miss a single dose of my medication I end up feeling rough again. I've lost 17lbs since I started the citalopram. I'm not overly bothered - I just make sure that anything I eat has good nutritional value. Pretty much anything I eat gets covered in peanut butter.

I've found exercise has helped me greatly - I mostly run for about an hour every other day - I joined a spin class too and I managed to pluck up the courage to get my bike out for a night ride last night!

I've also been paying for counselling at a private wellbeing centre at my local gym which has helped immensely - just being able to talk to someone impartial and look into ways of managing my thoughts.

How come you're still on the venaflaxine too? Are you tapering it down?

T

[TRISTAN]

Have to come off it slowly and not sure when to stop taking it as not back at doctors till 7 th jan . Been the worst year of my life ever and so scared for the future

Think my children have picked up on it now and keep giving me cuddles and that makes me want to cry .

How did you get on with the Valium ?

[teej]

Yeah - the valium worked a treat. I tried 2mg on Christmas morning and it did absolutely zip so tried 4mg boxing day and yesterday which just seemed to nicely take the edge off and get me through the worst.

Felt okay this morning so not taken it.

How old are your kids? I've told my two that I'm just unwell - just like when I had flu. To be honest cuddles in our place are fairly common anyway and when I was drinking I was a totally useless parent anyway.

Depression and anxiety are just an illness - they take time to heal.

[TRISTAN]

What's the best thing for me to eat ? No interest in food at all

---------- Post added at 12:26 ---------- Previous post was at 12:25 ----------

Kids are 12 , 7 and 5 and all boys who just want daddy back

[teej]

I've been having rice pudding, custard, soft fruits (banana, berries), yogurt - anything that goes down without too much trouble. I find crumpets with peanut butter on quite nice too. Anything that's too dry is just impossible. Porridge is another good one to try. I just had some smoked salmon too left from Christmas which went down well. Soft cheese is another options. Cheesecake is a good one too! Cottage cheese too.

I'm also drinking lots and lots of fluids - mostly sugar free fizzy orange drink in my case.

The trick is to try and keep your blood sugar stable otherwise that'll simply add to your problems and remembering you need to be eating a balanced diet - in whatever form it comes so go easy on the refined sugar - I know it's difficult at the moment. Plain cold yoghurt was a godsend in the early days.

Are you taking any vitamin supplements?