Citalopram dosage

[zerocookie]

Hiya,

I started taking 10mg per day Citalopram 1 week ago for anxiety. My daily anxiety symptoms are dizzyness, lightheadedness, numb face, shakes, derealization, there is no long an element of panic as I've been going through this for around 4 years now, so I don't get wound up about it, these episodes just hit everyday at random times.

First few days I noticed symptoms worsening but I'm feeling totally optimistic about it and will of course persevere!

My understand is that this is pretty much the lowest dose you will be put on. My question is, at what point should this doseage be upped? When the side effects subside or after a certain amount of time? I'm a 25 yr old male, 6ft 13stone, so I'm pretty sure being on the lowest dose of anything isn't realistic.

When my doc prescribed the meds to me (I asked for something different, 2 years on diazepam and tried CBT with no marked improvement), I asked her "do I take these much like the diazepam? As and when I need?" She responded "yes, its fine". This of course is not the case!!

I have a followup appointment on Monday so just wondering how I should approach this with regard to doseage etc.

Any feedback appreciated. ^.^

[newbie76]

Hi Zero,

As you have pointed out, Citalopram does not work like Diazepam at all, and cannot be taken as and when! It has to be taken every day, possibly at the same time and the results can be seen after at least 2 weeks, possibly after 6-8 weeks.

10mg is the lowest dose, I agree with you. but you should increase the dosage slowly to minimise the side effects (especially the increased anxiety!) so I would stay on 10mg for the first 2 weeks and then go up to 20mg. Some sufferers on here are on higher dosages, up to 60mg, but this gets upped by the doctor normally after a very long time being on Citalopram. I believe 20mg a day is normally very effective and the recommended dosage for a treatment naive like you.

Best of luck and keep us updated!

Marco.

PS: I should point out that I am not a doctor, just a fellow sufferer and therefore mine is only an advice which should be discussed with your physician!

[zerocookie]

Thanks Marco, much appreciated.

I'll have a word with my doc on Monday and take it from there.

Strange how this stuff affects you, I felt terrible this morning, great 1 hour later, now I just feel nackered