Can't decide if I should increase the dose now!-thoughts?

I've been on Escitalopram now since the end of May; starting at 5 mg and slowly working my way up to 10 mg. I've been on 10 mg now for exactly 4 weeks.

Prior to this, I had been on 40 mg of Citalopram for 5 years. After the horrendous start up period, it worked great for me! Then, this past April, it seemed to quit working, and hence why I eventually switched to Escitalopram.

Since 20 mg of Escitalopram is the equivalent of 40 mg Citalopram, I'm now wondering if I should bump right up to the 20 mg. I'm really fed up with it all, and the thought of waiting another 4 weeks to see if the 10 mg will work, and then having to go to 15 mg and wait 8 weeks to see if THAT will work, just makes my anxiety and low mood so much worse.

I'm also wondering if I should switch to a different SSRI altogether? Escitalopram and Citalopram are so close chemically, I wonder if the Escitalopram won't work for me, since the Cit no longer did?

Any thoughts or opinions on what I should do?

I would def up the dose for sure.

Kel,
If you’re not suffering from side-effects, then what have you got to lose? My only worry is if you jump from 10-20, you’ll go through the nausea/insomnia thing again.

I understand your impatience, but I’ve found that I’ve had to wait for several weeks to find out what each dose can deliver, but at least if you jump to 20, you’ll know sooner rather than later if the esc. is going to work for you. If it’s too much you can drop down. But be prepared for a bumpy ride when you jump up!

You have my sympathy. Good luck x

Thanks for the replies :-).

I've just started my 6th week on 10 mg now. I really can't tell yet if it's doing anything or not. I probably should give it a few more weeks before bumping up, and see what happens.

I think I'll bump up to 15 mg instead of 20mg, when I do go up; and stay at that dose for a week or two. That should at least help with the side effects :-).

I think you should go up to 20mg, that dose worked best for me. It just seems to stabilise me and help me focus better on dealing with the deep rooted issues.