Bad experience - day one

[nasinclair]

Hi,
Went to doctors today after having a couple of mild panic attacks and generally feeling on edge since then.
She put me on 20mg Citalopram and 10mg Propanolol. Took them at half 10/11 , was fine and actually felt good until I got home at 2pm, started watching TV, got sweaty, ice cold arms, agitates legs, actually rung 999 which I've never ever done before as I thought I was dying. This was like last week's panic multiplied by 6000% and it's kept on coming in waves since .....I really don't want to take a Citalopram tommorow and feel o could keep on top of the anxiety with the Propranolol, am o safe to come off it straight away after one tablet, probably a daft question but want to ask it.

---------- Post added at 19:53 ---------- Previous post was at 19:52 ----------

When I got to hospital they took my BP and heart rate which were fine and told me I was having a panic attack and didn't need to be there

[nasinclair]

Any advice would be appreciated, it's now the Saturday since I took one 20mg on the Wednesday and I keep burping, feeling dizzy and sick? Is this normal after one tablet?

[Losing it]

Hi when starting citalopram it often makes you feel worse before it starts to help you feel better it generally takes 3/4 weeks before you notice it working so if your panic episodes are impacting on your day to day life I would say stick with it however it would also be helpful to do some cbt or mindfulness as well to help you through the attacks ... there is a good online cbt course you can do for free called cbt4panic on here try that as it puts things into perspective and explains why we feel the way we do I found it very helpful just remember as nasty as it feels and as scarlet as it is it cannot harm u it is simply your body misinterpreting fear signals and going into flight or fight pumping u full of adrenaline which causes the nasty symptoms u are feeling ...you end up in a vicious cycle as the more u panic the more adrenaline your body releases causing symptoms that make u panic more etc etc try telling yourself it's ok it's just adrenaline it cannot hurt u and it will pass ....good luck x

---------- Post added at 21:31 ---------- Previous post was at 21:30 ----------

Everything you are describing are normal anxiety symptoms x

[epitaxial]

Any advice would be appreciated, it's now the Saturday since I took one 20mg on the Wednesday and I keep burping, feeling dizzy and sick? Is this normal after one tablet?

Yes it is possible those are the few side effects you'll have until it's out of your system

Citalopram has a half life of 36 hours which is the time it takes for half the dose to leave your body. After the 1st 36 hours, 10mg will be in your body. After another 36 hours, 5 mg, and so on..which will take ~ a week or less.