Citalopram

[Sooz]

I started taking this over a week and a bit ago and ended up having to stop it last Saturday as I reacted badly to it.
Severe anxiety, agitation, restlessness.... It has been relentless ever since to the point I have now been prescribed Diazepam.
Just wondered if anyone else had experienced any difficulties going on and coming off this drug.

Am new to this forum so will take a while to get used to it.

Hello to everyone.

[CJH86]

Hi, yeah i had a horrific reaction to citalopram i took it for under a week....my vision went all odd, i got severely agitated, agressive, my moods got so extreme i was swinging rapidly from erratically happy to curled up in a ball crying....i was admitted to hospital and at that point i had been awake for 5 nights, no kidding!! it was very traumatic and took me a while to recover :scared15:

Shame, its a good med and most people tolerate it well...they sometimes prescribe it with diazepam nowadays to mask side effects (as it tends to make symptoms initially worse) whilst the body gets used to the drug x

[Sooz]

I dont know what to do to make myself better..... It is horrendous. Such extreme anxiety and crying... agitated. I dont know how much longer I can tolerate this.

[joy]

I had a bad reaction to Citalopram too I either was severely anxious or drugged . I wouldnt have been surprised to have ended up in hospital I was that bad.
Annoyingly all the medics said it was the illness but it wasnt

Joy

[CJH86]

Hopefully things will get better soon, citalopram has a 'half life' of 35 hours which means after 35 hours half the drug is still left in your body, after 70 hours 25% is left and so on.......this means it can take well over a week to clear all the drug out of your system. It may take a little longer for some people as these things vary.

I dont know what to suggest other than waiting it out, i remember it took me about two weeks to recover and i was crying constantly.....and needed a whacking dose of diazepam to keep me calm for a while too x

[Sooz]

Thank you so much for replying.... I am in some ways reassurred that it is early days to feel normal again...

[Natalie2009]

I found it took about 5 weeks untill it started working and in that time i took diazepam to calm me down .. how are you getting on now? x

[PoppyC]

Hi
Re: Ciralopram - I was told by my gp that it is far better to start at a very low dose 5mg or 10mg and gradually increase over the following weeks. He said that reduces the side effects that some people get. He said that most people when they go straight onto high amounts that is when the side effects can be nasty. So far I am doing really well on 5mg albeit really tired and yawn all the time! I would love to know off anyone who is taking this medication if the tiredness does eventually disapear or not?

[Natalie2009]

so far it hasnt wore off for me yet??

[athanasy]

I've been talking citalopram for about 6 months now. At first I had severe dizziness, extremely vivd and disturbing dreams and nausea... but it did die down after a few weeks and now I have no problems with the drug. And it has helped me. I'd advise going to talk to your doctor again if you are suffering but if it is possible to stay with it, perhaps it is worth a shot. And of course, the more you worry about the symptoms the more general anxiety you will get which is going to compound things.

[SUZY Q]

Hi, I started taking citalopram last tues. It effected me so badly that by the following monday my Doctor took me off them and im now on betablockers. I was on citalopram a couple of years ago and it didnt effect me this bad. Luckily the betablockers seem to be working. Having good days and bad days at the moment but at least i can get out of the house now which i couldnt do last weekend.:)

[mtbc]

I have been on this for 12 days I was doing okay but today I thought i was going to fall down with the dizziness and was left feeling sick does this mean they are not working?

[PoppyC]

I am taking these tablets. When I get nausea I eat mints or boiled sweets and it really helps relieve the nausea. Dont ask me why - maybe it has something to do with blood sugar levels. It works for me even if my teeth will end up falling out! :(