Low mood- citalopram

[TedCav]

Hello
I haven't posted before. I am getting over a terrible bout of anxiety/panic attacks - my GP has moved me from fluoxetine to citalopram (stated October 20mg), I find myself now with a very low mood I am going back to my GP this week - does anyone take a higher dose and as it helped?
Thanks :blush:

[loreen]

Hello

I read your post with interest.I too suffer from anxiety and panic,but not depression.However,after taking citalopram for 10 weeks I was in a terrible black hole of depression.Something I have never experienced before and as soon as the cit was out of my system my mood lifted.
As I had not heard of anyone else having low mood with citalopram ,I thought I was on my own!!
I am now on different meds ,and doing much better. x

[nicola1980]

I too take cit for anxiety and panics but as these phased out slowly i was left feeling low and depressed so the doc has just upped my dose to 40mg 5 days ago x x

[scotsman]

Hello
I haven't posted before. I am getting over a terrible bout of anxiety/panic attacks - my GP has moved me from fluoxetine to citalopram (stated October 20mg), I find myself now with a very low mood I am going back to my GP this week - does anyone take a higher dose and as it helped?
Thanks :blush:

Hi i have taken citaoplam for over 4 years now. I was on 10mg but just up it to 20mg to help me thought this bad time i am having in my life. I have thought about asking to go on 40mg myself but i don't know how effective it would be.

[pinkdove]

Hi Ted, i needed to have my dose increased and was as high as 60mg, which was too high for me, but settled on 40mg, now i have reduced very slowly to 20mg.

20mg is the lowest theraputic dose, so you may find that an increase will do the trick for you, tell your gp exactly how you feel, and good luck xx

[NoPoet]

At 20mg I used to feel anxiety nearly all the time for the first month or two, although this did start to abate along with most of the side effects (bad nausea, bad headaches, trembling, jaw clenching, tongue moving on its own etc). I wasn't having therapy at the time.

When I eventually changed to 30mg I was feeling better within a week although the increase did cause a blip of low mood and extra anxiety - possibly related to my fear of the dose increase. 30mg was pretty perfect, although it does drain your energy slightly.

If you feel the meds are making your mood worse, speak to a GP or pharmacist about something else. Bear in mind that the medication may be reducing your anxiety to the point where it unmasks an underlying low mood which you previously hadn't noticed. IIRC I had exactly that issue and it gradually started to resolve itself, especially with therapy. By the way, depression can be a side effect of anxiety. Feeling a sustained sense of threat will gradually lower your mood, this is perfectly normal.

If you aren't having therapy you should strongly consider calling Anxiety UK (web link and phone number in my signature). They are open weekdays during office hours, they have a highly useful helpline and offer cut-price therapy of all kinds.