Citalopram Psychosis?

[UW]

My partner has been taking Citalopram for about 5 years, 20MG a day. We recently went to her doctor and told he we didn't believe they were working anymore and could anything be done, her meds were upped to 30MG a day.

Last night she had a bit of an incident that I can only assume were related to the increased medication. She was very quiet for several hours, almost in a trance like state, she then "awoke" and was acting in a very irrational and paranoid manner.

She was claiming that I had told her I wished her dead, trying to kill her by making her take an OD, had poisoned a glass of water I was trying to get her to drink (suspecting dehydration), claiming that I had replaced her toy bear (comfort blanket) with another one to try and jupe her. She also became a little violent towards me and lunged at me with a knife (I have no idea as to her intentions and disarmed her).

I managed to get her to lay down, she flinched from my every contact and moved away for a few moments. She then "awoke" a short while later claiming to have no memory of what had just happened and thinking she has been asleep.

The only other times I have ever encountered a situation like this is after she had tried to overdose on Citalopram so I am wondering if it could be due to the larger doses.

She is quite scared about bringing this up with her doctor because she is worried she might get sectioned and she is also worried she is loosing the plot. Any advice would be welcome.

[Jimbo]

UW,:hugs:

Does sound like something that you should be talking to the professionals about. I seriously doubt they would think about sectioning for this, but it's something they should be aware of if it happens again.

It must have been frightening for both of you. I imagine it could have something to do with the increase in meds and perhaps her vulnerability at the moment if you are thinking increased meds are needed?

I'm not an expert but could perhaps have been a 'sleepwalking' type incident, perhaps she had fallen asleep and was having some sort of night terror type thing. AD's can have side effects that effect your sleep.

I think have a chat with the doc and see what happens, perhaps it was just a one of incident.

Jim:hugs:

[joannap]

hi there. i am in agreement with jimbo. was your partner showing signs of this sort of behaviour before upping the dose? i am presuming she was getting some anxiety/depression symptoms for you to go back to your doctor to say the citalopram wasn't working anymore? does she have a history of agression/paranoia/mood swings etc?

it does sound like medication psychosis or some sort of sleep terror but i think your gp should know - if you had not have been there to calm her down things could have been very different. hope you are both feeling better! x

[UW]

Hi Jim, sleepwalking isn't something I had considered and I think it is a very good point. I am just wondering if the physical shock she had when i tried to stop her with a knifemight have woken her up?

Joanna, she had never had an incident like this before. There have been times that she has had small incidents of waking and not remembering who she is or where she is. Again this is associated with the night terrors she has had.

Before we went to the quacks to ask for some help she had had a few weeks where she would not and could not get out of bed, had lots of suicidal thoughts and an increase in self harming....

Thank you both for you replies. I would still be interested in hearing from anyone who disagrees with the above.

Cheers

UW

[louwilliams]

i'm on 10mg citalopram for 4/5 years now but a few months ago my GP upped the dose to 20mg.

I took the first 20mg at about 4pm, went to bed feeling no different but woke up at 2am with the worst panic attack i have ever had.

i tried to get a hold of it for a few hours but by this point i was completely convinced i was going to die (hyperventilating, lost the use of my bodily functions and ability to speak properly) so rang an ambulance (barely as i could hardly breath to tell them where i lived)

i was rushed in with a suspected heart attack-cutting a long story short i went to see my Gp on the monday after (this happened on a saturday morning) and he said it was a reaction to the higher dose of the citalopram and to stay on 10mg which annoyed me because he assured me i would be fine and it wouldn't affect my system too much.

[Oceanblue]

Hi,

Ok, I don't want to worry you, but I wanted to write to say that I really do think you and your partner should go and discuss things with the doctor and explain everything that has been happening and to be honest about it.

Some anti-d's can be dangerous for some, and if she is experiencing adverse affects something needs to be done.

Her behaviour maybe due to the increase of anti-d's or a change of illness itself, whatever the case it sounds like she needs some extra help. The irrational behaviour you have described are classic signs of other disorders.

I feel that she really needs to be seen. I have been hospitalised twice before, I understand it can be scary, but the doc's and nurses are there to help.

Good luck with everything and I really do hope she starts to feel better soon. xx

[Quiet-Lift]

Hi UW...

I agree with Katie. Talk to your Doctor again and mention what has happened. Write down what you want to say if you have to.

It's up to you which aspects of these alarming incidents you choose to mention but there is no reason why your partner should be sectioned because of what she may have tried to do.

It could well be that she is acting out some paranoid thoughts which are focused upon you, rather than talking to you about them and getting them out into the open in a much more healthier way. It sounds as though something is affecting her deeply hence the increase in depressive symptoms you've described.

This must be a very distressing event for both of you and I do hope you can manage to get more help. Doctor's are there to help us and if you are becoming increasingly concerned about what is happening, try not to be too worried or hesitant about making another approach.

I hope this helps in some small way.

All the best