Unexpected side effects on Citalopram, I'm worried

[Shad]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum. I've been on Paxil and Effexor before, and now on Citalopram 20mg since two weeks. On day 2 I got tinnitus, a beep in my left ear, that gets really loud at night. To this day I still have it. Now I hear it in my right ear too. Also on day 2 of the medication I started seeing blurry. To this day I still see blurry. After a week I told my GP about this and he told me to keep on taking the drug cause most side effects will wear off as time goes on.

However, I am worried that these side effects may cause irreparable harm to my body.

Has anyone else experienced these particular side effects? If so, how long did they last? Did they go away altogether? Should I get off Citalopram?

Thanks.

[Marty_67]

Hi Shad, we cannot give you medical advice but when I started taking Cit, like a lot of people on here I really suffered with some fairly extreme SEs.

These subsided with time to a point now where I feel ok.

Hope you feel better soon.

[eve22]

i have been on cit for 2 weeks, i must say sooo many SE's... my eye sight even changed.. just hang in there! Stay on it! In the past 5 months i have been on 4 diff anti's cause my doc kept changing because of the side effects that i kept complaining about, i regret letting my doc change them, i wish i would have toughed it out!

[Shad]

Thanks, Marty and Eve.

I'm still taking Cit, hoping for these effects to wear off. Thing is I don't have any other side effects at all, quite remarkable. With Paroxetine and Effexor my intestines weren't very happy all the time, I started shaking sometimes, felt dizzy - none of this on Citalopram, so that is a good thing. However, when your senses (hearing plus eyes) get affected that actually scares me more than all the other stuff.

My eyesight is now as bad as when I needed glasses and at night in bed the tinnitus is driving me crazy.

Hope you guys are doing fine.

[Shad]

I quit taking Citalopram. The tinnitus (ringing in my ears) got worse and worse and worse and my eye sight is still very blurry. I went from 20 mg to 10 mg, stayed on that for a week and then stopped taking it altogether. No withdrawal effects whatsoever. The bad news is the tinnitus is still here in full force and so is the blurry vision. I hope these things improve and that no permanent damage has been done :( In the meantime I'm not taking any other drugs.

[Marty_67]

Sorry to hear that Shad and hope you feel better soon.

[Bigal1974]

After 12 months on them, my brain has escaped me and I now find it very hard to do anything. Before this I managed 400 people. Now I struggle to look after myself from day to day. I hope there is a better drug out there for me. Going to docs today after weekend roming street barefoot not knowing where I was. End up in emergency. I got help but the fuzzy head and slowness is ruing my life.

[Shad]

Update: The blurry vision has improved, it is almost gone. Bad news is the tinnitus is still there after almost two months. I keep my hopes up this will disappear as well. Will keep this thread updated as it may be useful for others in the future.

[portiexc]

Update: The blurry vision has improved, it is almost gone. Bad news is the tinnitus is still there after almost two months. I keep my hopes up this will disappear as well. Will keep this thread updated as it may be useful for others in the future.

hi Shad,

i ve tinnitus too, it started when im on sertraline. god dmn horrible drugs ruins too many lives. but i didnt give up and i almost beat Tinnitus...
if you want to read my success story, u can download it from google play."Tinnitus xp eng"