Citalopram insomnia

[Cammy]

Well I'm on day 20 of citalopram 20mg, and I'm coping well throughout the day. I only get the heart panics(strangely enough) after eating. But without fail every night before bed it strikes. I'm currently in bed very tired, but cannot sleep at all! I hope the meds help me take control soon!!

[yorkshirepudding]

Hi Cammy,

20 days is still fairly early I am afraid. :weep:

But, you will get there. From personal experience it was a good 4 weeks before I started to feel some sort of benefit. Then, as if out of the blue, I got up one morning after about 6 weeks and just felt on top of the world.

Since then I never looked back - that was 9 months ago and I am 2 weeks off citalopram and still feeling as happy as I did!

Its cruel it takes so long to kick in when you are at your worst and need it. Some people have some additional help (diazepam etc) whilst waiting so it may help speaking to your GP. Some GPs are very good with mental health and some not so much, but its your treatment, so tell them what you need.

Keep battling away, you will get there. Try lots of other things too. The usual, exercise, self help books, relaxation cd's etc. (there is a link here (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?p=1062994) to some tips for what helped for one member and some free audio files here (http://www.excelatlife.com/downloads/cognitive_self-talk/panic.htm)that I found useful). There is also the Citalopram Survival Guide (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=46980).

There is of course herbal teas and the rescue remedies to give assistance. The best policy I found was "chuck everything including the kitchen sink at it" and you will get through.

I hope you have as much good fortune as I did with it - but just remember, its not a complete cure - its just to get you back on your feet so you can help yourself. :yesyes:

Take care and good luck!

[DELIBY99]

Hello,

I suffered badly with this also. I didn't sleep for a week when I first took CIT then things settled. I had to go up to 30MG at one point and that threw my sleep completely out of wack. If I wasn't awake all night i was waking up at 3 or 4 AM and unable to get back off. Oddly enough it settled again when i went back down to 20MG. This will pass but it takes a month or so . I would say it was 6-8 weeks in before I noticed real differences. My advice would be to exercise as much as you can, cut out caffine, and try and go to bed at the same time every night. Try and drink so cammonmile tea before bed and pop some lavender on your pillow. Hang in there it's just one of the harder side effects .

[martin222]

lol, just give it time, soon you wont be able to stay awake, i was like that at the start, now i could sleep for england,

[Cammy]

Thanks for the comments guys hopefully I feel the effects soon, will stick at it!