Alternatives to CIT?

[trooper]

Hi All,

When my doctor originally gave me CIT, she said if they don't work or you dont' get on with the side effects there are various 'newer' SSRI's on the market that we could try.

Anyone know what they are?

I have read several people on this forum mention that changing from CIT to mirtazapine worked for them better. Especially on the sleep deprivation stakes.

Its 04.38, I woke up 38 mins ago after a terrible time getting to sleep. Same as every night this week, I'm soooo tired.

I'm considering changing.

Looking at Wiki, mirtazapine was developed in 1990, which is a year later on than CIT, so they seem like the same generation. So not sure if that is one of the more modern ones she referred too.

Nick

[suzy-sue]

I read somewhere Desvenlafaxine is the newest ,its similar to Venlafaxine .There are lots of different types and one will suit you .It can take several attempts sometimes to find one that the side effects are bearable .Have you tried taking your Cit at a different time ? I changed from morning to evening and it made a lot of difference . sue

[trooper]

Hi Sue,

I take mine first thing in the morning. I'll try taking it at night and see what happens. Thank you for that.

I have been waking up at 4am every night like clockwork..

[KevsHoping]

I take mine at night time (around 8PM). Occasionally I wake up in the middle of the night but mainly sleep right through. I have recently increased to 30mg and that did increase the "wake-ups" for a while. Overall taking it at night worked SO much better for me than in the morning which I did to start with.

[steveo1980]

Hi Sue,

I take mine first thing in the morning. I'll try taking it at night and see what happens. Thank you for that.

I have been waking up at 4am every night like clockwork..

How long for Trooper - I had this but it eventually passed and i was sleeping as normal again.

Good luck!!

[ladybird64]

Hi Trooper

I believe this is quite a common side effect with Cit, I also had some problems with disturbed sleep.
I see that you were taking some other medication with it before to help you get some kip so I guess you could look on this as a "pure Cit" period!

I seem to remember there were a whole bunch of us that did the 4-5am wake up every morning..it is soul destroying.

I also think that it may be a good idea to change the time of day you take it, I started off in the morning but was advised to change to the evening. I shuffled it around a bit and have found that anytime between half eight and nine PM is best for me..I can usually get to sleep before midnight and dont wake until a decent hour!

Maybe try changing the time rather than changing the med.

Good luck :flowers:

[trooper]

I've been on them for about 2 months now, I am on 40mg.

I took it at night (last) and I did actually feel sleepy. I did get to sleep easier and I think I slept better, I normally wake up all the time and have fitfull weird dreams, but I didn't get that as much.

I did still wake up at 4am and didn't get back to sleep but I don't feel as exhuasted as usual, so it would seem taking it in the evening is better.

THanks,

[NoPoet]

Waking up at 4am is the curse of the citalopram gang, at least for the first week or two. I found it was actually anxiety that was waking me up at that time and the cit simply made the anxiety worse in the early days. I sleep like a baby these days - in fact it's getting up that's the problem! That's due to late nights rather than the meds though. After a few months on the right dose you'll find yourself tolerating it really well.

As far as I know SSRIs are the current generation of antidepressants, so any medication of the SSRI class is technically the best med to start with. The main difference between SSRIs is the side effects. Citalopram and especially escitalopram (a rarefied version of cit given in liquid form) are considered to have less severe side effects than all other antidepressants.

The trade-off is that cit can take quite a while to build up in your system before it is strong enough to put up a fight against anxiety and depression.

Doctors usually only prescribe non-SSRI drugs if you've had a bad reaction, or if they are used to doling out prozac or some other older type of med.

There are newer meds coming, ones that look at altering melatonin balance rather than serotonin for example, but at present SSRIs have proven safe and effective. The real breakthroughs are still a few years away; once scientists find a way to replicate the antidepressant effects of ketamine without ketamine's potentially sanity-damaging side effects, then SSRIs will become obsolete overnight.

[happycamper]

Interesting reading!
I find cit makes waking up in the morning more difficult that I ever remember, my biggest bug bear with it, I guess it'll be tougher now it's getting darker too. Other than that though it appears to have really helped me over the last 3+ months. X

[trooper]

Thanks PsychoPoet (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/member.php?u=19778)

I wondered if there were any more modern SSRI's on the market, but I would guess that they give out CIT because its the best.

I have been taking it at night since the weekend and actually, I have slept better. I still work up at 4 am, but actually able to sleep again, I had to take the day off today and have slept most of it. Reminds me of being a teenager, I used to love spending Saturdays in bed :)

I'm on 40mg, I think I started at the start of August, or possibly last week of July.

I would have thought that I should have enough time for my body to adjust.

[NoPoet]

There are new SSRIs going through medical trials and I think one or two may have been released since cit. I think the best bet for someone trialling meds is to stick with the best known SSRI first.

There is a new melatonin-targeting med called agomelatine which I researched last year and it was claimed that it helped people with anxiety etc to sleep better and had few to no side effects. However it has taken a new approach to fighting dep/anx so who knows how effective it will be in the long run?

[trooper]

Good point, well made.

I'm actually doing quite well with it now, since swapping to the evening I have been sleeping better. I've woken up a few times and had some weird dreams but its good to actually get some sleep.

As most of you have mentioned, I'm still very tired in the morning, currently working from home I have had a few naps in the day to make up for it.

Its really quite incredible what a difference changing the time has had.

So thanks for the advice guys. :)

[ladybird64]

I'm glad to hear this has worked out for you :)

As for those dreams..yup, a common occurence for the Cit users! I had some amazing dreams, not scary just plain weird! It's all stopped now though, I don't know whether to be happy or not because some of them were quite fun :D

[JT69]

Waking up at 4am is the curse of the citalopram gang, at least for the first week or two. I found it was actually anxiety that was waking me up at that time and the cit simply made the anxiety worse in the early days. I sleep like a baby these days - in fact it's getting up that's the problem! That's due to late nights rather than the meds though. After a few months on the right dose you'll find yourself tolerating it really well.

As far as I know SSRIs are the current generation of antidepressants, so any medication of the SSRI class is technically the best med to start with. The main difference between SSRIs is the side effects. Citalopram and especially escitalopram (a rarefied version of cit given in liquid form) are considered to have less severe side effects than all other antidepressants.

The trade-off is that cit can take quite a while to build up in your system before it is strong enough to put up a fight against anxiety and depression.

Doctors usually only prescribe non-SSRI drugs if you've had a bad reaction, or if they are used to doling out prozac or some other older type of med.

There are newer meds coming, ones that look at altering melatonin balance rather than serotonin for example, but at present SSRIs have proven safe and effective. The real breakthroughs are still a few years away; once scientists find a way to replicate the antidepressant effects of ketamine without ketamine's potentially sanity-damaging side effects, then SSRIs will become obsolete overnight.

Very interesting reading...and fills me with hope for the future!!!

Jo.xx