Upping the dose

[willp]

Hi all,

I have been on 20mg Citalopram since November, and it worked fine until quite recently when I felt the anxiety returning.

I went to see my GP yesterday and she incresed my dose to 40mg. Today I am feeling particularly anxious and worrying about things that I know are ridiculous but I can't seem to shake them.

I was just wondering has anyone else increased their dose from 20mg and 40mg, and did anxiety get better before it got worse? I had bad side effects when starting the meds so I am sort of expecting to have them again!

Will

[Franz]

I didn't experience increased anxiety when I went up from 20mg to 40mg. It's possible that you expected increased anxiety so that's what you got, but OTOH people do react differently. If I were you I'd stick it out unless the anxiety really does get unbearable.

Best wishes,

Francis

[karenb]

Hi

I took Citalopram (10mg) for a few years before the onset of this particular time in my life just as a maintenance dose. I have now gone from 10mg to 20mg now I am on 60mg. I have heard that with citalopram the anxiety can get worse b4 it gets better.

I think (fingers crossed) that Citalopram is helping me - but I don't understand how, but as long as it works who cares!!
Karen x

[andrewc]

Hi
Yes sometimes you can feel worse b4 feeling better when you increase the dose. Stay with it as the side effects will stop just like when you first started.

Regards

Andy

[willp]

Thanks all, that's pretty much what I expected. I suppose the increased dose won't show any effect one day in anyway so I'll stick it out. Hope you all have a good weekend. Will

[hopeful]

Hi, I think 20 to 40 is a big increase in one go.My gp told me to increase to either 30 or 40 and I chose 30.This dose is suiting me.Hope the side effects settle soon for you.
julie x

[willp]

Hi Julie,

Yes I thought it was quite a jump too, but I've been taking 40mg for four days now with no side effects at all so cross fingers...

Will

[andrewc]

Hi Will

If you have passed the 4 days without side effects then you are OK with dose. I stepped from 20 to 30 for a few days and I didn't feel very different. It was only when I went up to 40 that it suited me. As we said everyone is individual and what suits one dosn't necessarily suit another. Hang in there and you will be fine.

Best regards

Andy

[willp]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for this. I don't feel any different on 40mg than I did on 20mg. No worse, but no better either. It took a couple of weeks for this initial dose to work during which time I had bad side effects. I am wondering if I need to go higher even than 40mg. Ho hum.... I'll just have to wait and see how it pans out over time.

All the best,

Will

[CliveL]

I am on 60mg