Hard to Keep Going - Week 6

[AI]

I've now been on Cit for just over 6 weeks, 3 on 20mg and 3 tapering up. I'm still waking up early every morning with sky high anxiety which lasts until early evening. I've had one decent afternoon (Friday) when I felt relatively normal but apart from that its very hard. I'm also having talking therapy. I'm determined to keep going as I'm sure they will help me in the long run just getting very frustrated with constantly feeling like this. Anyone else round about my stage (or any stage) in this journey want to keep me company I have great support at home but no one really understands how I'm feeling.

Sarah xx

[mark84]

Sarah,
it's still early days yet, but that decent afternoon is probably the sign of things to come over the next week or two

[LexiconDevil]

Hey Sarah, I know exactly how it feels to wake up with that sky high anxiety. Such a horrible feeling to wake up instantly feeling anxious. This is my 2nd time on Cit and I just started right back at my max dose to kinda skip the tapering up completely. Not recommended by most but I'm kinda a veteran with SSRI's at this point and felt like I could handle it.

I'm 4 weeks in and have had a few good days here and there. I suspect that you tapering up is still causing some increased anxiety as the med is still settling in your system at the current dose. Good luck, and feel free to dm me any time if you need to talk. We're in a very similar boat at the moment.

[AI]

Thanks for the replies, the worst part for me is waking up in a complete panic. It has been getting better as the day goes on so I'm hoping a few more weeks and It will really start kicking in. Sarah x

[raindeer]

Thanks for the replies, the worst part for me is waking up in a complete panic. It has been getting better as the day goes on so I'm hoping a few more weeks and It will really start kicking in. Sarah x

I stopped taking citalopram and i have the waking up in panic at night, but it has subsided by a lot. Hang in there! I also had anxiety during the morning and towards the evening, but that has slowly started going away too! It gets better, but slowly

[ratz]

Hi, Sarah! I am at my 7 week mark as of Sunday. Having patience is so important with this medication! I believe alot of the morning panic for you is the increase in dose. You haven't hit your "cruising altitude" yet. may ask, what time of day/evening are you taking your medication? For 5 out the 7 weeks I was waking up in shear panic and it was making everything worse. I was absolutely miserable. I started paying attention to what I was doing each day. I had been taking my medication at around noon when I ate lunch. I thought maybe if I switched to evening, I would wake up with no anxiety because it would be in my system upon waking. But citalopram gives me horrible nightmares. So that didn't work out. I thought for sure taking it in the morning wouldn't do any good, but it did! Now I am completely calm when I wake up. So maybe try switching up the time you take. Another thing that helped is the minute I wake up (I don't have to do it so much now) i start deep breathing exercises! Here is what I did that helped me : Upon waking, stay in bed and lay on my back. I inhale for 6 seconds, imagining I am breathing in "blue air" and visualizing my body fill up with the calming blue color. Then I would breathe out for 6 seconds imaging I am exhaling red. The red to me represented all the anxiety, depression, sadness, anger,etc. I would visualize all the red misery leaving my body. I dod this every morning or whenever I felt I needed it for however long I needed it. It helped me so much!

One last thing that I noticed kept my anxiety raised throughout the day is Caffeine. I never imagined or believed that it caused ,or heightened, anxiety. But it sure did for me! Once I cut it out of my diet I noticed a huge difference.

These are just a few easy things that I did to help me while waiting for the meds to kick in. Keep busy and try not to think about the side effects and how you are feeling. I know, easier said than done!
I am certain that in a few more weeks you will begin to get rid of the morning anxiety!

-Keri