Citalopram or lexapro which is better?

[rosegarden]

I was on 40 mg Citalopram for 6 years and the last year my ocd thoughts were getting worse and anxiety so I've switched to Sertraline which isn't helping Would lexapro be a good next choice beings Citalopram helped me for so many years? Or wouldn't it be worth it has anyone made the switch? 😊

[1cat]

hi, personally (everyone is different of course) i found that citalopram was ok but i felt sleepy in the daytimes quite often, and the same with sertraline

but with escitalopram i dont seem to feel sleepy on that one, which makes a nice change

i would recommend giving it a try, but remember quite often people will feel worse when starting up on a new ssri before feeling better, so try to keep that in mind (perhaps start on 5mg or 10mg for a few weeks, and then decide (with your doctor) from there if a higher dose might be needed)

[Debs21uk]

Hi rosegarden,

did you make the switch? I am similar having been on citalopram for many years and wondering whether to do the same thing.

[mcfly]

Hi, I've switched.... I was on Citalopram for about 2 years, 20mg. I felt great actually and was really happy on it. If I took it late or anything though I got brain zappy and I got heaps of symptoms when I first started taking it. They were pretty unpleasant. Basically I got pregnant and came off it quite quickly. Which again wasn't very pleasant. Unfortunately I had a miscarriage and slowly but surely over several months I felt myself going downhill again and crying at the drop of a hat etc and all the previous anxiety gradually and steadily returning. My doc suggested escitalopram, only 10mg. I must say I had barely any symptoms at all when I started taking it, and I haven't experienced any brain zaps. Less symptoms but a more mild effect on how I feel I think.

It must be working, I started running again last week, and I've felt unable to exercise since I was on Citalopram so... all in all feels like a more moderate version of Citalopram to me, doesn't make me feel as good but doesn't make me feel as bad either if that makes sense.

[YouRemindMeOfTheBabe]

Escitalopram, I think, is better. Though I don't knock the efforts of citalopram either. I've taken both. There is a question as to whether or not it's basically the same drug with a different atomic structure in it to make it more practical. There's a thing called "ever-greening" that drug companies do to extent patents on drugs so as not to lose out on money. Once a drugs patent runs out it becomes a generic drug, like paracetamol. So it can be produced cheaply by anyone. Some people think that's why Lundbeck created escitalopram, because the patent was running out on citalopram. Just a theory though.