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trooper
08-08-10, 14:10
I am on day two of week three adjusting to 20mg of Citalopram. I am taking them first thing in the morning with breakfast.

This is the third time since I was in my teens I have resorted to medication to deal with primarily anxiety and associated depression. Previous times I have taken SSRI's they were the early ones which I did not get on with at all. Given the severe anxiety I was dealing with and the assurance from my therapist and doctor that things had moved on a lot in the last 6 years I thought I would give them a shot.

Without medication I was waking up in the night with extreme levels of anxiety in my body, constant worry, fear and loathing. Paranoid, causing arguments and hostility all over the place due to the stress I was constantly under. And the usual shakes, tiredness, stomach issues, then depression, sadness and crying for no reason to boot, so I guess I am fairly used to 'side effects'.

My side effects to Citalopram have been mild to say the least. The first few days I didn't sleep so well. I felt a little sick and foggy on the first few days, but no worse than a hang over. I have had a few afternoons where I feel very tired, yawn a lot. I am actually sleeping from when I go to sleep to about 30 mins before my alarm goes off. Despite sleeping more, I feel very tired and several people have mentioned I look exhausted. My appetite has changed, I often don't feel hungry at lunch time and I normally want to eat all the time. I strangely want sweet stuff more than savoury, which is the exact opp of usual. I have just forced myself to eat anyway.

After about day 10 I did have about three days of very, very intesnse anxiety, it woke me up at 3am. And went on for about 48 hours. It wasn't very pleasant. But to be fair I do have a very stressful work life, which doesn't help.

I don't really see any of this as an issue, its still a mild improvement on the symptoms I get from extreme anxiety.

Even after a week and a half I would say the level of anxiety I was lower, I know it generally takes 4 - 6 weeks, but I feel more centered for sure.

My main concerns are the following.

1) I would like a sex life and already my interest in sex has decreased a bit.

2) I live in a world where socially and professionally EVERYBODY drinks and its really difficult to get out of. I have yet to try alchohol and see what happens but I often loose it on booze just when I am anxious so I pretty much positive it won't be good on these.

I know most people come on here with problems, but I guess this is another threat to show that everyone is different and it might not be awful.

Vanilla Sky
08-08-10, 14:15
Mine were no bad either , about a week of feeling a bit of , but nothing worse than the anxiety i had previously had . So no its not all bad not everyone gets bad side effects and to me the benefits out way the rest . I feel much better on them anyway .
Welcome to NMP :welcome:
Paige x

trooper
16-08-10, 20:46
Thanks Paige.

I have put on weight very quickly, I've got a nice litle tyre around my waist, its noticable and several of my suits are now tight to put on :( its only 3.5 weeks. What am I gonna be like in a few months!?

I have been getting some very weird tired attacks, Sunday I just passed out for about an hour. And I've had a few yawning sessions during the day too.

My mood though is more centred with a few pangs of anxiety here and there.

So far so good.

YvonneBelle
16-08-10, 23:55
I had a couple of sips of alcohol the other week and felt really tipsy! I decided to lay off it. You could always blame antibiotics or driving!

Sex drive - yeah - it's still below par but has improved slightly after two months of taking cit. (a.k.a I still have my moments!).

I have actually lost a bit of weight but not as much as I should have lost considering how hard I've been working and regular trips to the gym. I'm sure I'm not eating as much or as often but yes, more of a sweet tooth lately. I think it's harder to lose weight on cit. I reckon I would have lost at least half a stone during the past month but instead I've only lost 3 or 4lb at most, but not complaining 'cos at least the scales are going in the right direction!

Exercise exercise exercise... it's great for mood, keeping weight down and energy levels.

I still get tired and have fits of constant yawning but in general my energy levels are up long enough for me to get quite a lot of stuff done each day.

All the best and keep going!!

My own experience is that cit has been totally worth it so far. :)

keta
17-08-10, 11:40
Hi All

I did bit of an experiment in regards to the citalopram after being on 20 mg for month (and before then 2 months on 10mg) because of the side effects on my sex life(i had mentioned this before in one of my threads) i just suddenly cut down to 10mg over the weekend and that weekend i manage to get my "o"'s back 3 times sorry if TMI. But now my body adjusted i'm back to square one - no interest in sex at all plus my mood swings are back so will probably go back to 20mg.
I wish that they would not have this side effect :weep:


Keta

GlasgowGuy
17-08-10, 11:52
Have the similar effect with sex drive. In an ideal world it wouldn't be an issue. I know its a pain and a side effect but I'll have my mental health over a sex drive any day of the week. I do understand your frustrations.

On the drink side I stopped drinking as an experiment before I went to Doctor about my mental health problems. I didn't want the finger wagging from the Doc of 'well you need to cut back on drink thats a depressant' convo. Is seven years now this October I've been t-total. I appreciate what yer saying about alcohol you feel like the odd one out when on a night out. I enjoyed a drink and kinda removed me socially as I couldn't be bothered being stone cold sober while everyone tipsy. Is a tricky situation only you can decide on.

Hope this post isn't too negative just sharing my experiences.

Dragonsblonde
17-08-10, 14:06
Personally I gave up drinking completely when I started the meds have been out with my friends and a few work do's since and have still had a good time with people. They all look a bid odd and have had a few comments about the orange juice and lemonade, but have simply said I am on a health kick and money saving year.

Also with the other issue, I again haven't had much change for the negative at all to be honest. I know it can effect, but with all the side effects I have tried to just not worry about it and carry on. Some of what effects us will be our own worry about it and our own mental attitude to things

GlasgowGuy
17-08-10, 14:44
Personally I gave up drinking completely when I started the meds have been out with my friends and a few work do's since and have still had a good time with people. They all look a bid odd and have had a few comments about the orange juice and lemonade, but have simply said I am on a health kick and money saving year.

Also with the other issue, I again haven't had much change for the negative at all to be honest. I know it can effect, but with all the side effects I have tried to just not worry about it and carry on. Some of what effects us will be our own worry about it and our own mental attitude to things

Good outlook and positive :)

trooper
18-08-10, 10:20
Being single, the Irony of geting better emotionally is you're more likely to attract someone but less able to enjoy that relationship :) Without putting too finer put on it, I can still reach an orgasm although its harder, and slightly less enjoyable. And my general interest is lower. As a man, that maybe a good thing seems we're suppose to think about it every 2 or 3 seconds. :)

I actually looked out my window last night and felt grateful about my life just a little, and realised that I wasn't fighting the nagging physical sensations of anxiety to quite the degree I do normally, so I think they have taken efferct pretty qucikly, I have two days left to complete my first four weeks.

trooper
21-08-10, 14:30
I saw the doctors yesterday and have now completed 4 weeks.

It really has done a good job making my emotional swings more centered but I'm still feeling pretty down, not in any extreme way. I just dont' really want to leave the house or speak to anyone.

Doctor and I have quite a good relationship and she has given me permission to experiement with dosage.

I'm on 20mg, she suggested trying 40mg for a week and seeing if it is better or worse. I think I might wait another weeks seems 5-6 weeks is about the time for SSRI's to properly kick.

Does that sound wise or should I just dive in know?