View Full Version : Scared to up the dosage to 20mg!!
Hello i have been on 10mg of citalopram for 4 weeks now to be honest they havnt made much difference. I had horrid horrid side effects in the first week of taking these. No appetite feeling shakey not sleeping etc After a trip to the docs today she has told me to take 20mg every day im soooo scared as dont want to feel like i did when i first started taking these. She said i should be ok because i should have citalopram in system. Any advice. Thankyou xx
Hi
I felt the same as you did, 7 months ago and have gone from 10 mg to now 40mg and as of next week 60mg based on my gp recommending it.
I hated taking any medication and never did until I went onto Citalopram. I used to really panic about taking tablets.
20mg is still a very low dose but you may find that the dose is the right one for you.
The first few weeks on Citalopram for most people taking them are pretty tough, but they are in my experience anyway worth sticking with because eventually you do feel the benefits and the side effects begin to fade.
I found that after the initial side effects when I first started taking them, which lasted up to 8 weeks for me, that I started improving. Each time I up the dose I don't have any side effects, except tiredness. I had stomach aches on lower doses but on 40mg they seem to have gone, as well as the headaches. I think the longer Citalopram is in your system, the more used to it your body gets. It does take time. Don't expect them to work exactly at 4-6 weeks as a lot of gps say. It takes different times for individuals it seems.
Hopefully you will soon start to feel the improvements.
i would stop using medication
gp have very limited knowledge on anxiety and thats what they do to eryone just shove them on tablets ,its quite annoying .
My doctors very good medication is not a long term solution for me after 4 visits to the doc she reluctantly put me on these, i am a single parent with a 3 year old and until i am seen by the mental health team which takes forever i will be on these.
I'm not a great fan of upping dose. I think too many doctors do this - but if you've felt some improvement then I would think of increasing, because 10mg is low and not really classed as a therapeutic dose for citalopram. I wouldn't say you'd get all the side effects you got in the beginning but you never know - everyone reacts differently. If you did get bad SEs you could always go back to 10 for a while longer or move on to another med... X
Hi ya
I started on 20mg back in the summer and I was in bed for 2 weeks solid, I lost nearly 2 stone in weight and I was just about to chuck it all in. My friends promised me that things would get better and to stick with it, so I did I am now on 30mg, back to work and have put back on a stone in weight. I'm getting married in 4 months time, now I'm nearly back to my normal self. You will feel better, but it took me longer than the leaflet/GP said it would. Hang on in their, for me it really was worth it all in the end. Take care and hope you feel better soon xxxx:)
i was taking 10mg for 2 weeks was prescribed 20 but couldnt tolerate the side effects, once the side effects had died down i started taking 20 i can honestly say i didnt notice any more side effects with the extra 10mg, i think once they are in your system you dont get any side effects
hi Tina i was on 10mg citalopram for one week only then i upped to 20 mg with no extra effects at all like your gp says the meds are in your system now so the uppage of dose is unlikely to have any effect at all, carry on with the meds tho , they have massively changed my life for the better xxxx
Hello everyone just an update taken my first 20mgs this morning, feeling a little more anxious and sick than normal i am hoping this is all in my head, as doc has told me i allready have 10mgs citalopram in my system so shouldnt get side affects. Have only just started feeling funny and took the pill this morning x
Hi Tina,
I was on 20mg and then went to 30mg and then to 40mg within two weeks uping the dosage shouldn't cause any more side affects. The feeling extra sick is probably the anxiety and worry increased by thinking about uping the dosage. It's really strange but when your going through the really black stage everything you take becomes more of a worry than is actually true. I'm on 40mg and after 8 weeks I felt back to my old self. I have other issues such as BDD which is what I'm having to tackle with now that I'm getting better but hold on take the medication and it will slowly build up in your system until you start feeling like doing some of things you used to do. It will be small steps though!
Hi Tina,
You may feel anxious because of the thought of increasing.
Between Citalopram and CBT I feel that I'm back to who I was before if not better. I had always been anti-medication until I just couldn't cope anymore. Sorry johnno but I disagree with your comment regarding docs. Many try alternatives before prescribing medication.
Hang in there and if it gets unbearable go back to doc
Hello everyone thanks for your messages. I have been as huge huge wimp and have gone to the docs to get more 10mgs of citalopram and cutt them half so can take 15mgs for a week then move to 20mgs. So will do it mega slow. I cant wait to feel myself again even though i know pills arnt the only answer , i cant remember a day in the past few years where i havnt had anxiety. Thanks again everyone. Martina x
Hello everyone thanks for your messages. I have been as huge huge wimp and have gone to the docs to get more 10mgs of citalopram and cutt them half so can take 15mgs for a week then move to 20mgs. So will do it mega slow. I cant wait to feel myself again even though i know pills arnt the only answer , i cant remember a day in the past few years where i havnt had anxiety. Thanks again everyone. Martina x
I don't think that makes you a wimp - I did exactly that, even though my GP wanted me to go straight to 20mg. I spent 5 weeks on 10mg, 3 weeks on 15mg, and have just gone to 20mg this week.
I'm glad I did - the 15mg didn't cause any more side effects, but the 20mg has made me really sleepy this week.
There's no rush - take 15mg for as long as you feel you need to. Probably best to wait until you've had a stable few days and then move up a dose.
Good luck!:)
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