Missing 2 days of Citalopram

[Zerovanity]

Hi Everyone.

I have been taking Citalopram 20mg for about 18 months now. Stupidly and for the first time I forgot to put in my prescription until I had run out. Now the Dr's surgery is saying it will take 48 hours to get my prescription sorted, so I will miss 2 days worth of doses.

Has anyone else skipped doses like this? Do the side effects for going cold turkey kick in that quickly or will I be alright?

[dogsandtea]

2 days has been totally fine for me in the past! 3 would be pushing it but I think you'll be ok!

I once went 8 days without any, (ok by the 8th day I was crying a lot!) but it wasn't noticeable until then actually.

[Zerovanity]

Cool thanks for the quick reply.

[dogsandtea]

Sometimes I feel weirdly better when I miss one or two. :shrug:

[Sparkle1984]

Aww poor you! :hugs:Maybe if you explain the situation to the doctor's surgery they will prioritise your prescription? I'm not sure if they're allowed to do that but it could be worth asking just in case.

I've never skipped a dose myself (I wouldn't dare!) so I can't say what the effects might be, but I've got a couple of tips on how you could avoid this happening again. You could set a reminder on your computer or phone - I use a program called ReminderFox for this. Or if your local pharmacy offers a repeat prescription service, you could sign up for that (I know some of the larger pharmacies like Boots do this, and they get the prescription from the doctor on your behalf so you don't have to worry about forgetting to hand in the request form).
I hope this helps.

[ally2012]

When I was cit the first time, I skipped two days by accident and it was ok.

I'm partic. bad at getting in my repeat prescriptions in on time and have nearly come a cropper (once ran out on the day I was leaving to go on holiday for a week!) -- in that case, my pharmacist saw that I had been receiving the tablets for a while and gave me some to keep going while the repeat prescription was sorted.

[little scientist]

Hi zero vanity, if you are worried, it may be possible to get an emergency prescription from a 24 hour pharmacy. I did this once when I went to my parents for a fewdays and left literally all my medication at home on my bed. Now in my case, I wasn't too concerned about missing my antidepressants, I was more worried about my asthma but I went to the chemist at 11pm at night and got emergency issues of everything I needed, including my antidepressants. For something like that they will only issue a few days worth though.

Disadvantage to this is you have to pay the cost of a private prescription I think, which can be quite a bit depending on the medication (a huge chunk of mine was a specialised inhaler) but it can be an option for ensuring continuation of medication if you are worried.

Other option is, do you have a walk in centre nearby with GPs seeing patients (not nurses)? They may also be able to assist.

[dogsandtea]

Yes, once I ran out of it before I went on holiday so I rang the NHS direct and they gave me an emergency prescription to pick up from my local A&E!

[Zerovanity]

Yeah it was my own stupid fault, I though i had another 14 in the box. I did think about going to a walk in center but I will ride it out. I normally take it in the morning so will miss Monday and Tuesday and hopefully pick up my prescription on Wednesday morning and take it straight away.

They don't do people any favours at my GP's. I think if you were on methadone they would just tell you to come back in 48 hours.

[little scientist]

waaaah its not your fault. These things happen! Many GPs are like that, mine too are 48 hours for anything too

[Sparkle1984]

Same here, my doctor's surgery takes 2 days to sort out repeat prescriptions as well. Let us know how you get on Zerovanity.

[diggory]

Do you have the torn off part of an old prescription ? If so go and see a Pharmacist explain your situation and they may give you half a dozen to get you through. This happened to me whilst down in Newquay last year and they were really understanding. A couple of days without cit' should be OK, three may be pushing it !

[fozzy is crying]

I really can not see why this is a problem. We are not in a third World country for this and there are well defined methods, rules and cover for this to be overcome. Perhaps Nicola will add it to the help section. It is not rocket science and it WORKS ALL THE TIME 24/7 even for the most awkward and rule driven surgery!!!!

1. If in surgery hours you go to your Doctor and explain to the reception the situation and stay there and wait for a Doctor to sign a new script.

2. Out of hours ring your out of hours service and they will either arrange for you to pick up a small supply from a local hospital or will send a Doctor out with some.

or

3. Ring NHS direct and they will do as in 2 above.

or

4. If you are under the care of a mental health service ring them and they will do as in 2.