Questions about starting citalopram for a 2nd time
From August last year up until the end of January, I was on 10mg citalopram. With my doctor's support, I weaned off them over a 5 week period as I felt that my anxiety was no longer affecting my day to day life and I had learnt lots of coping techniques.
As some of the regular members on here may be aware, in the last few weeks (well, since Easter pretty much) I've had a relapse. This is in spite of me continuing with my coping techniques. I've got an appointment with my doctor on Thursday and I'm thinking I may go back on the meds again, as they helped me a lot last time.
I just have a few questions:
Will the side effects be as bad the second time round? As it's only been 9 weeks since I came off them, will it be quicker for them to get back into my system? The first time round, I did feel worse before I got better, but I was over the worst of the side effects in less than a week. I'm going on holiday in 5 weeks' time, so I'm hoping I'll feel better by then.
Will I ever be able to make a full recovery from anxiety? In some ways I do feel that I've made progress since last year, as some of my symptoms aren't quite as severe. However, it's been very disheartening for me to have this relapse, because a couple of months ago I really felt like I'd conquered it for good and that it would never come back again! Sometimes I feel very low and I wonder if it will ever go away completely, or whether I'll always need medication.
How many times can you go on citalopram before the doctor says you have to stay on it for life? I'm wondering because I saw someone else post on here a while back that as it was their 2nd or 3rd time, they were told they'd need to stay on it forever.
Is there anything else I need to be aware of if going back on cit for a second time?
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