40mg!!

[steveo]

My psychiatrist keeps upping my dose. I was on 10mg for a month, 20mg for a week, 30mg for 2 weeks and now he wants me to go on 40mg!!!

Another 2/3 weeks of feeling awful.

Will a higher dose really make me feel much better??

[NoPoet]

I'd stick to 30mg and see how you go. I went up to 40mg for a month and felt like my energy and motivation were being sucked out of my body into some kind of energy sump. It wasn't scary or depressing, but I wasn't in love with it.

30mg was the best balance between smothering the symptoms and allowing me to live an active life.

Note that medication alone will not win the day, you should get exercise, read up on Mindfulness and work towards building your confidence and self-esteem. Recovering from anxiety means rebuilding yourself stronger and tougher (mentally and emotionally) than before.

[Gotagetthroughthis]

Yes I would stick at 30mg aswell. Im not sure why they are trying to get you to up the dose so quickly. You need to stay on one dose for a good 2 months to let it settle down and then you could up the dose again if you aren't feeling any better.

I suppose your Psychiatrist is just trying to get a decent dose into your system so your anxiety subsides quickly once its properly gets to work but if you keep upping the dose it just makes you feel crap and keeps you in that nasty anxiety state while you get used to the higher dose.

[NoPoet]

A doctor or psychiatrist is not the one taking the meds, so when a patient freaks out because of side effects - which is entirely understandable - they believe the patient is getting worse and ups the dose. I've spoken to so many people who've had doses and medicines chopped and changed by inexperienced doctors.

My own doctor adamantly refused to change my dose from 20mg. I went through hell, but it was only when I started learning how the illness worked that I realised I needed to step up. Fortunately my doctor listened to me (for a change) and we settled on 30mg.

This is a personal opinion and is entirely subjective, but I think a lot of people on the higher doses should be on a lower dose. Yeah, you'll feel the anxiety more, but if the anxiety went away, so would your motivation to do something about it.

When I eventually went back down to 20mg I knew I would struggle, but I also knew I had to struggle in order to get better.

[steveo]

Thankyou so much. This is the best bit of advice i've had on here!!

I'm so glad I questioned the psyc and refused to go up to 40mg! I haven't let a dose settle for long enough yet!! I want to give 30mg another 2 weeks at least!

You are 100% right psychopoet! The doctors aren't the ones taking the meds! So when I was going through hell, they thought it was best to up the dose when in fact I was going through the initial side effects. I do believe things are starting to settle down ever so slightly so that's why I don't want to change any time soon! I feel 40mg is just too high!

I wish doctors all had your Citalopram Survival guide as gospel. I'm sick of being told that they MAY make you feel slightly worse for a week. Thats BS! It's 2 months of a nasty rollercoaster ride.

I will let my new GP know that I wish to stick with this dose for a while and refuse to change to 40mg. Many thanks for these really really great replies!! They make total sense to me and have made me feel a ton better! I'm much more comfortable taking medication advice off the people ON the drugs rather than those prescribing them!!

Steven

[NoPoet]

Stick with us mate, we know our shizzle.

[Pipkin]

Steven,

I can't advise specifically on citalopram as I've never taken it but I can say that it took ages for me to feel the full effects of venlafaxine - at least 3 months. I know it's a different med but I reckon it's always best to give it a good while to settle. In my experience, a higher dose isn't always better.

I completely agree with PP, meds only work when you put the effort in with all the other things like exercise, watching what you eat/drink and maybe therapy. I know you're doing some of these so keep it up. On top of this, you need to have confidence that your meds will work. They did for you before and they will again. Give it time.

I would definitely discuss it with your doctor though.

Pip