View Full Version : 7 wks on Citalopram - was doing great but now really suffering
Hello, I've been a long time lurker here but this is my first post. I've got late diagnosed PND - my children are 3.5 and 13 months. 2010 has been completely dominated by my crippling health anxiety. I finally accepted in October that everything I was experiencing was down to anxiety and depression and started on 20mg Citalopram. The first 2 weeks, like for many, were very hard while I adjusted. Then I gradually got my old self back and the terrible anxiety symptoms - aches, chronic lightheadedness, pins and needles, palpatations etc... faded. I felt like I had been given a second chance in life. In the last week, however, the anxiety has crept back, my appetite is shot and I'm not sleeping, I feel very dangerously back to square one. Is this just a blip or do I need to look at upping my dosage? Am intending to speak to my GP tomorrow but would welcome the benefit of your experience. Thanks in advance.
it sound like this could just be a blip but you should speak to your doc as you may also need to up the dose x
Thanks Carla. I guess because this is all new to me I'm concerned I can't tell the difference between a blip and the start of something that needs to be nipped in the bud with a higher dose. |Ho long is too long for a blip?
It could well be a blip. I always worry if I find myself feeling worse and think "do I need to up meds" but then realise that everyone, regardless of whether they have anxiety or not, has ups and downs. You said it's been a week - maybe give it another week and then go to the docs. I know things like hormones and being tired affect me, is there anything like that that could be affetcing you at the moment? x
Dragonsblonde
05-12-10, 21:30
Just as an aside, there isn't a real guideline on how long a blip lasts to be honest. The length it lasts depends on so many things, outside stresses or situations that are currently worrying you, the weather etc.
Also I found in my recent blip, the fact that I could apply some CBT techniques and the meditation that I have learn't really helped me to relax into it. The harder you fight it the harder it gets and the longer it lasts.
Try to just accept that it is a temporary situation and then get on with the rest of life as the more things you do that aren't about anxiety the more good memories and feelings you build up. That I have found really helps, hope you feel better soon x
Thanks Carla. I guess because this is all new to me I'm concerned I can't tell the difference between a blip and the start of something that needs to be nipped in the bud with a higher dose. |Ho long is too long for a blip?
im the same im on my 6th week of cits and i went threw 2 weeks of being on the up and then bang it all it hit back i 2 thought it wos the meds and needing to up but after a week i wos feeling alot better, we will always have good and bad days just ride it threw and keep in mind that it will go and does get better over time. pm me anytime im always on line x
Sarah Louise
05-12-10, 22:40
Hi Turquoise,
Reading your post is like reading about myself PND brought at the worst Health anxiety in me too. I am on Citalopram and just like you after 7 weeks i started getting anxious and because i had been free of it for 7 weeks it seemed worse.
I gave myself a week like it and crumbled on week 9 i went to the doctors and they upped me to 40mg, got to say the side effects were not as bad as when i first started them. The doctor advise 40mg is the best dose to handle anxiety so dont be scared if you can't cope to go back and ask for an increase.
I am on 60mg now and hope this will be enough to keep me stable i have had a million things happen this year which is why i think i am now on the strongest dose x
If you ever need a chat PM
Thank you everyone - I'm drawing hope from the fact I was getting relief from 20mg so Cit does work for me - maybe it now just needs tweaking - do you think that's right? Having a terrible morning today - feel sick to my stomach, awful palpitations, adrenalin rushes, god, frightened of how to get through the day
Thank you everyone - I'm drawing hope from the fact I was getting relief from 20mg so Cit does work for me - maybe it now just needs tweaking - do you think that's right? Having a terrible morning today - feel sick to my stomach, awful palpitations, adrenalin rushes, god, frightened of how to get through the day
I am on week 5, horrible first 2 weeks with heightened anxiety, then a decent fortnight. The past 3-4 days, little blips here and there of depression, made me think I might need uppage of the dose, but reading things on here, its probably only a blip, I can't expect to feel good every day. I had the black cloud first thing this morning, then as soon as I got into work, it disappeared. I need to accept that I will get blips, and a blip does not necessarily mean I need to up my dosage. But we all need to keep an eye on how we are feeling and to keep in touch with our GP. Hope you start to feel better soon. xx
Well, spoken to the GP and she's upped my dose from 20 - 40mg. A bit worried this is a big jump but pleased to be doing something pro-active.
Well done for going back to the doctor. A few weeks ago my dose was increased to 40mg and seems to be working, im starting to feel a little more positive. Really hope you start to feel better soon.:)
HarrogateChris
06-12-10, 17:12
I'm on week five also, definitely been wobbly the last few days. Can't decide whether that's external things getting to me or the Cit being less effective at stopping me being oversensitive. Really hard call.
Chris
beaniepudblue
06-12-10, 18:00
hi everyone
reading this post sounds very much like me. Ive been on cit 8 weeks now and just recently ive had some spells of health anxiety coming back again :( :( ive got pnd and severe health anxiety so was put on 20mg of cit, have been doing great but just recent noticed it creeping up on me again
im due to see doctor on friday for review so im going to ask about upping to 40mg
take care all hope your all ok xxxxx
aaah Beanie - it sounds like we have a lot in common. Take heart in this - Citalopram has made us feel better, now it's just a case of finding the right dose for us. I figure if it wasn't going to help long term we would not have got any relief in the first 2 months. I keep reading that it is perfectly common for an AD to appear to tail-off after an initially positive start because it has not yet reached the therapeutic level in your system. I'm also encouarged by reading that an optimum dose for anxiety is 40mg. I'll keep posting to you let you know how I'm getting on with the increase - to be honest, none of the side effects have been any worse then the anxiety itself - I still can figure out where one stops and the other starts. Good luck with your review at the doctors.
To all those others posting - thanks for taking interest in this thread and all the best.
words of encoragement pls - day 2 on increased dose from 20 - 40 mg and absolutely losing it. Feel like I'm existing minute to minute, it's all going so wrong
Hi guys
I have recently started on cipramil which is the same ad.
I have been doing a bit if research and to you that have been diagnosed with
pnd, I would recommend reading this book I have nearly finished
called "dying for a cure" by Rebekah beddoe. It is her account of her life after having
her baby and suffering pnd. It's made me very wary of these "blips" you guys have mentioned and to make sure it's not the drugs you have been prescribed.
This book presents facts that doctors can sometimes
misdiagnose patients symptoms for the need for an increase when in fact it could be unsuitable medication for you overall. The thing that really surprised me was that it seems Rebekah (the author) may of been made worse after being prescribed ad's in the first place - shortly after she started the course of ADs she began cutting and thinking suicidal thoughts - after looking online this seems to be a relatively common phenomena. So far, my personal account I have been feeling more stable on 10mgs of cipramil a day.
There was a time a couple of weekends ago my biyf and I fought and I felt the normal rage I used to have prior come back. I increased my dose to 20mg which made me absolulety exhusted. Not cool so I have gone back down to half.
I just want to highlight that the reason why I increased it was because I was so scared of that anger and the rage & depression coming back that this was what I thought I should do. However I know now, I was simply angry with my boyf - he was not giving mecthe support I felt I needed and he was tired of how I had been over the last while and said he needed a bit of space to recharge. Fair enough - this is curcumstantial. I was scared of losing the last three weeks of us not fighting and of feeling good so I opted for the "easy" option by increasing my dose.
The bottom line is, research your drugs. Read books other true life stories as you can't always rely on what you think you should be feeling, doing or a
acting. If you are feeling or have been told by others your behaviour us out of the ordinary or having suicidal, negative thoughts then you have to be prepared to acknowlege the dangers of these drugs and side effects that we don't get told about.
For me, so far the cipramil has halted the suicidal thoughts, self harm, soothed the anger a bit and allowed me to get control over my life that was so desperatly spinning out of my grips. I couldn't imagine what it would be like fir someone w
ho never felt this way to have a course of pills and go Dow
hill. I'll write again in a few weeks and let u know how it's going if it will be any help. Any questions u have I will do my best to answer ( about the book or whatever)
you are not alone in this and knowlege will help u to feel empowered again ! Xxx
Thanks Pennylane, my trouble - if you can call it that - is that I can completely see that I have nothing to be anxious about. I have masses of support from all my family, my husband is wonderful and my children are the lights of my life - this has to be all about a chemical imbalance - and a reaction to the meds. In my calm moments I can rationalise it as well as any doctor but still the waves of panic come. Oh God, I'm worried I have tried to take an easy option by accepting increase and now I'm going to pay for it with even greater anxiety.
Turquoise, don't beat yourself up about "easy options" and things. You are simply trying to get well :hugs:. My husband takes 40mg cit and any time he tries to drop down it loses its effect. Finding the right dose for the individual can be a real hassle, though. If you are really struggling with 40, I'd give 30 a go for a while. I really hope you feel better soon x
I've come to the conclusion that I'm really tolerant to anti-depressants, as they don't generally give me much trouble at all. Generally, I feel a bit twitchy for the first couple of days, then it eases off and as long as I remember to take them with food, I'm fine. I've never had that much trouble withdrawing from them either, as long as I've done it the recommended way - I guess I must just be lucky.
The only one I've ever taken which I had a bad reaction to was Prozac - that made me feel really nutty. They gave me blinding headaches and made me feel as though I was invincible. Needless to say, my GP got me off them quickly!
Just spoken with gp again and he said an increase was absolutely the right thing to do - a sensible next step. I've got a proper appt with him tomorrow but he said in meantime try and draw strength from fact that I had been feeling better. He said he may take some weeks to feel effects of this doseage increase though.
Just an update - 6 days into my increased dose (20 - 40mg) and doing much better - hardly any anxiety this morning. Still afflicted with these damn adrenalin rushes, palpatations and light-headedness though. Have stopped taking the propranolol as it didn't seem to have any impact at all.
beaniepudblue
12-12-10, 08:23
hi hun
i went back to my GP on friday and he said he was gonna keep me on 20 mg for now and see how i go!!! i even told him that the anxiety was creeping up again on me! :( :(
ive been doing fine until recently. Ive also been getting really awful dreams nearly everynight, not just nightmares but really vivid strange ones, ive just posted about it
how are you today hun
hope you feel better soon xxxxxxxx
Jannie2948
12-12-10, 09:18
Morning Turquoise
I too started on 20mg citalopram and like you had a bad couple of weeks then gradually felt better up until about 3 months then all the old feelings came back, anxious, panic etc. My dr increased my cit from 20mg to 40mg and almosst 1 year later I feel sooooo much better! I still occasionally have a blip every now and then, but as others have said on here, that is quite 'normal' :-) I used to take Propranolol but they did not agree with me and made me feel quite ill so stopped those after a few weeks. I still very occasionally have to take a 2mg of diazepam but other than that I seem to manage ok. I work full time, and enjoy my life again (ooh I hate saying that out loud in case I'm tempting fate!!!) But seriously, my Dr said that 40mg was the correct dosage for anxiety and panic, so hopefully they will work for you.
I wish you all the very best.
Jannie x x
Just an update - 6 days into my increased dose (20 - 40mg) and doing much better - hardly any anxiety this morning. Still afflicted with these damn adrenalin rushes, palpatations and light-headedness though. Have stopped taking the propranolol as it didn't seem to have any impact at all.
How are you doing hun? I have been on 20mg for 6 weeks, no anxiety at all for the past 3 weeks, which is great, but still get low moods occasionally. I am going to stick with 20mg and see how I go, seeing my doc on Tuesday, will fill her in but if I need to up the dosage in the near future, then I will do. We need to look after ourselves. xx
Hello all. Today is day 7 of increased dose and I'm having another good morning - looking back over the week I have steadily improved day by day. In fact, I almost feel 100% back to normal. I even had a glass of wine last night.
Does anyone find the fear of feeling anxious / down again can be as debilitating as the depression itself? Everytime I think about how bad I've felt I get a rush of panic: 'what if it comes back again?' - needless to say I'm trying not to dwell on this. I feel like if I can just put some distance between myself and that last bad episode it will be harder for me to remember it and I can move forward completely.
Anyway, a definite improvement, I hope it's lasting this time. Hope you are all doing well too.
Hey
Great news you are feeling great, tonight will be my 4th tab on 40mg.... feeling very relaxed today, have you noticed you feeling very tired, im really tired since upping it?
xxx
yes - very tired - but I think that's lifting a bit too - we're doing great aren't we Jen x
Does anyone find the fear of feeling anxious / down again can be as debilitating as the depression itself? Everytime I think about how bad I've felt I get a rush of panic: 'what if it comes back again?' - needless to say I'm trying not to dwell on this. I feel like if I can just put some distance between myself and that last bad episode it will be harder for me to remember it and I can move forward completely.
I know exactly what you mean, I need to get some days behind me so I can try and look forward. Luckily its been almost 3 weeks since I had bad anxiety (I have been on Cit for 6 weeks), so I feel less worried now. Glad you are feeling better. xx
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