Dosage adjustments

[Debs21uk]

Hi all,

New to the site but I'm not new to depression and anxiety, I've suffered with it for 12 years and citalopram has always helped me. I've went through fads of wanting to be drug free but the last time I tried it I went to quite a dark place and realised its something I need so I'm not coming off it. I've tried to get psychological help only to be told here's a website! I could probably tell you every possible reason for depression and anxiety but boy when you are in the depths of it all logic goes out the window.

About 5 weeks ago I felt the depression sink in again and I know it was my thinking that did it but it was upon me before I could stop it, all thanks to stress. So my doctor upped my citalopram from 20mg to 40mg. 3 weeks later I had some symptoms of having too much so my doctor told me to go down to 30mg (30mg is the highest I've ever taken). So although it was only 3 weeks at the higher dose, I am feeling the effects of the 10mg drop which she told me to drop overnight. Last week was horrendous, emotionally unstable, low mood, shaking, headache, tingling in my spine and some negative thoughts. Some of these side effects are still carrying on into this week so I know it's normal but when you're depressed already all these side effects are quite hard to cope with. Now reading up on it most places say drop doses in small amounts so I feel my doctor could have dealt with this a bit better. I just need to wait for everything to even out. Hopefully it won't take longer than a couple of weeks, has anyone else experienced this with a dropped dose? I'm guessing so since it's just like starting a withdrawal.

Thanks for reading this :)

Deborah

[DulwichHamlet]

I'm in kind of the same situation - I've been taking citalopram for about five years for OCD and anxiety, and have been on a 20mg dose for most of that time.

Similarly to you, about a month ago I had a relapse of symptoms and went to my GP, who upped my dose to 30mg.

I was on that for two and a half weeks but the side-effects were awful, I've been having trouble sleeping, neck pains, low-level constant headache and a really bad pulsing headache that came on through certain types of exertion, and while I've felt some benefit from the increased dosage it's not a massive difference, so when I saw her yesterday she took me back down to 20mg.

It's literally my first day on the old dose again today, and I've been concerned about feeling the bad side effects again (and of course I've made the mistake of googling and getting myself worried by other people's horror stories).

I'm not a doctor or any kind of health expert, just a fellow sufferer, but it seems like your jump from 20mg to 40mg is quite a big one, and then perhaps it can confuse your brain a bit going from 40mg down to 30mg, so while it doesn't really help me saying this I guess it's not that surprising to get hit with some side effects, but I'd imagine they'll probably pass as your brain adjusts to the new levels of the drug.

[Victory2016]

When you increase your dose its possible that you will get side effects until that dose settles in your body. That's most likely what is happening. You need to give a dose increase at least 4 to 6 weeks; if not longer.

[Suziewuzie]

I think dose reduction with Citalopram can happen pretty quickly, it's not quite the same obviously but I was on 10mg for a month & I didn't like it so my GP told me to just stop taking it immediately without weaning. The next 5 days were AWFUL, my anxiety was horrendous & I felt like I was losing my mind. I restarted it & felt a bit better within the week and slowly got back to normal.
I think it's probably quite normal to feel how you do after jumping to 40mg then down to 30mg x

[Debs21uk]

Thanks for your messages. It's that way I kind of know it's normal but I needed some reassurance. This week I'm feeling a bit better in spirit so maybe things are starting to even out a bit. Still a bit anxious but that may have something to do with my doctor putting me on cilest (the pill) as I have bad pmt. If it doesn't settle down I'll come off it as I'm not prepared to feel jittery all the time. Thanks again x

[Suziewuzie]

I'm on the same pill as you & was always anxiety free before I started on it - so it's something to keep an eye on, I'm not saying it causes anxiety but I noticed my problems began a couple of months after starting cileste x

[Debs21uk]

Hi Suziewuzie,

After two days I've come off it, I was so anxious I was physically shaking and crying. It wasn't worth it plus today is the first day after stopping and I've felt anxiety radiating from the inside of my body. Again I've been in tears but by the time it's come to late evening I feel so much calmer. I think I'll leave any hormone problems for another time!

[Victory2016]

Hi Suziewuzie,

After two days I've come off it, I was so anxious I was physically shaking and crying. It wasn't worth it plus today is the first day after stopping and I've felt anxiety radiating from the inside of my body. Again I've been in tears but by the time it's come to late evening I feel so much calmer. I think I'll leave any hormone problems for another time!

I was diagnosed with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder. I tried all kinds of birth control pills and they just made me worse, but I see you already stopped taking it. Not sure how your diet is, but you may want to try eliminating some foods from your diet as it has helped me. I would start with dairy first as it is loaded with hormones. My diet is gluten, yeast, dairy, egg, soy, corn and peanut free. Its a lot to change and it took me a while, but it does help.

One other thing you can try if you are not aware of is that you can increase your Cit dosage 7-10 before your cycle starts. So lets say you are on 20mg you would increase it to 30mg 7-10 before your cycle starts and then go back down to the 20mg once your cycle starts. This did not work for me, but I have heard it had worked for others.

[Suziewuzie]

Yeah I have actually heard of people who are only prescribed Citalopram to take when they're on their period for PMT. Seems a bit weird to me given the start up & withdrawal effects but I suppose if they don't have anxiety it might not be so bad.
Anyway yeah, I was on a different birth control pill for years and had anxiety on & off when I was at uni. When I came off it I was off it for about 18 months and never really had a bad time at all. I started cileste about 8 months ago now and my anxiety got bad around 6 months ago so I'm considering stopping it to see if it makes any difference.

[Debs21uk]

Thanks Victory I haven't heard of doing that around the time of your period, that's good to know. I saw my doctor today and told her about the two days on the pill, she was quite understanding saying I was just trying to do anything to make myself feel better and I would be a bit off now until my hormones level out. I've decided to stay off it just now and am taking vit b, d and omega 3 then my dr said in the future progesterone only might be better for me since my moods swing. I find Suziewuzie that it doesn't matter if I'm on citalopram I still get irritable and teary at my period, the joys of being a woman eh?