prescribed citalopram 10mg today - scared !

[Shone]

i had an appointment today at the doctors for my anxiety/panic disorder, just felt like i couldnt quite cope anymore.
Anyway, doctor was really nice, told me i will need to take these for 6 months, will take 3-4 weeks to kick in and wants to see me back again in 2 weeks to see how im going. Are these really going to help with my anxiety ?
am i going to feel alot worse before they make me feel better (not sure i can deal with that) and will i be able to come off them in 6 months, what will have changed by then to stop the anxiety ? would welcome any advice from anyone
Thanks

Shone x

[milly jones]

hi hun

there may be side effects in the first couple of weeks, but the benefits outweight the difficulties, for me anyway

dont be scared hun

milly xxx

[eternally optimistic]

Hi

I've been on citalopram, 10mg, for a year - dont be put off by that though.

When I look back at all the things that were originally bothering me, believe
me the list was long, I can safely say that they have made a huge difference to me.

During the time I have been on them I was constantly thinking what the continued use would do. It has given me the breathing space I needed and see things in much different light.

Like you, I was prescribed these and didnt take them initially because of the stated side effects which I was already suffering. Should have done it before, if only I knew what was wrong.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

J



Have no regrets at all now in taking them. Just need to take the time now to be strong to come off of them.

[tracy1972]

i am on 30 mg and they do have side effects but mine didnt last long i have been on them off and on for 8yrs now and i have tried loads of others with no luck so stick at it they are good :yesyes:

[jg]

Hi Shone, Like you, I was prescribed Citalopram last week for depression and what I now realise is anxiety and she also l told me I would probably on them for about 6 months. I started off on 10mg for 6 days and have now upped to 20mg for the last couple of days. So far, other than feeling a bit more tired than usual, I haven’t experienced any of the side effects I have read about on this website. I even posted a message a couple of days ago to ask if this was normal as most people I read about seemed to have horrible side effects straight away. However what I will say is that I feel far calmer than before. All the issues are still there but they don’t seem to matter so much. I don’t know if this is the med taking effect (they do say that it takes 3-4 weeks to take effect) or whether I feel better just for recognising I was depressed and doing something about it. Whatever the reason, stay with it. I’m sure they will help as yours seems to be a temporary blip like mine.

[Shone]

thanks everyone for all your replies, i have decided to take the medication as i had a really big panic attack last night, at first i thought maybe the anxiety was a side effect and that psychologically i was blaming the meds but realised that it could not have been a side affect of the medication yet, as it would be too soon to be in my system and so i do need them to help me.

wishing everyone luck who is on them, just need to beat this now. x