Citalopram day 17 and not doing so great

[Shazamataz]

Hi All, this is my first post and I wasn't sure where to put it as I have a number of things going on!

However, I am on day 17 of citalopram (did 7 days at 10 mg and now on 20 mg) and really struggling with the anxiety and feeling awful.

Briefly I had my anxiety start up really bad in October, triggered by stress/family loss etc. I was then on escitalopram and GP doubled my dose. This made me extremely ill with a degree of Seretonin Syndrome and I decided (with the GP) that perhaps it wasn't the right medication for me and we agreed I would taper off. I have been on citalopram before and have managed relatively well with the occasional need for diazepam when things are tough (like when my father was dying) and zopiclone for sleep in these periods.

Four weeks after finishing the escitalopram I went back to work and started having panic attacks again. Horrible. So, GP insisted I needed to try something else and I started sertraline. This made me so ill (nausea/vomitting) I ended up in hospital on a drip for a day. Ultimately I have now gone back to citalopram which worked okay for me in the past.

BUT am feeling very discouraged at still feeling the usual start up anxiety at this stage. I'm still off work but due to go back soon and if things don't improve I'm going to have to leave my job, which of course is making me feel anxious!

Currently I am also on minimum dose of olanzapine at night (GP gave me this as I hadn't slept in two weeks and was having panic attacks in the night), zopiclone to get me off to sleep and PRN diazepam (which isn;t really working now but I need to keep taking it and reduce it slowly as have been on it 2.5 months).

I'm a mess really. Scared to leave the house today and feeling very isolated.

I'm Sharon, by the way, from New Zealand.

[emmalami]

Hi All, this is my first post and I wasn't sure where to put it as I have a number of things going on!

However, I am on day 17 of citalopram (did 7 days at 10 mg and now on 20 mg) and really struggling with the anxiety and feeling awful.

Briefly I had my anxiety start up really bad in October, triggered by stress/family loss etc. I was then on escitalopram and GP doubled my dose. This made me extremely ill with a degree of Seretonin Syndrome and I decided (with the GP) that perhaps it wasn't the right medication for me and we agreed I would taper off. I have been on citalopram before and have managed relatively well with the occasional need for diazepam when things are tough (like when my father was dying) and zopiclone for sleep in these periods.

Four weeks after finishing the escitalopram I went back to work and started having panic attacks again. Horrible. So, GP insisted I needed to try something else and I started sertraline. This made me so ill (nausea/vomitting) I ended up in hospital on a drip for a day. Ultimately I have now gone back to citalopram which worked okay for me in the past.

BUT am feeling very discouraged at still feeling the usual start up anxiety at this stage. I'm still off work but due to go back soon and if things don't improve I'm going to have to leave my job, which of course is making me feel anxious!

Currently I am also on minimum dose of olanzapine at night (GP gave me this as I hadn't slept in two weeks and was having panic attacks in the night), zopiclone to get me off to sleep and PRN diazepam (which isn;t really working now but I need to keep taking it and reduce it slowly as have been on it 2.5 months).

I'm a mess really. Scared to leave the house today and feeling very isolated.

I'm Sharon, by the way, from New Zealand.

Hello

I think it can take up to 8 weeks to settle and it increases anxiety loads at first. Do you remember this from last time?

[Lan69]

I had been in citalopram in the past (3x over an 11 year period ) so when my anxiety returned earlier last year me and my GP thought it best to restart citalopram
As it had worked well in the past I struggled through the start up keep expecting it to kick in soon like it had in the past. I had 10 weeks of hell, housebound, really high anxiety, no appetite and just sleeping 3 hours a night. It ended up with me in hospital and taken off the citalopram. No one seems to know why it didn't work this time like it had previously.
I would give any AD 4-6 weeks and if there is no improvement go back to GP

[Shazamataz]

I had been in citalopram in the past (3x over an 11 year period ) so when my anxiety returned earlier last year me and my GP thought it best to restart citalopram
As it had worked well in the past I struggled through the start up keep expecting it to kick in soon like it had in the past. I had 10 weeks of hell, housebound, really high anxiety, no appetite and just sleeping 3 hours a night. It ended up with me in hospital and taken off the citalopram. No one seems to know why it didn't work this time like it had previously.
I would give any AD 4-6 weeks and if there is no improvement go back to GP

I don't like the sound of that! I'm really hoping it will settle soon. I don't remember having this much bother in the past but I've been more unwell this time and have had a lot to deal with so it's difficult to tell what's what.

Certainly stopping the escitalopram in the first place wasn't a good idea :(

---------- Post added at 18:42 ---------- Previous post was at 18:41 ----------

Hello

I think it can take up to 8 weeks to settle and it increases anxiety loads at first. Do you remember this from last time?

Oh dear, I hope it's not that long! My understanding is the side effects take up to 3-4 weeks to settle? I'm pretty sure that's what a lot of my anxiety is as I was having panic attacks but not this all consuming 24/7 nastiness :(

[MyNameIsTerry]

I could be wrong but I think you will know pretty quickly if it is going to antagonise you more than help you.

I can appreciate how hard it is with a harder relapse though, I've been through that myself and my GP tried a new med that I found, after talking to others on here, made me worse than before but I was naïve back then and trusted my GP who just blagged it as my anxiety. But please don't compare this to your situation because my GP is hopeless with these meds.

For me it was hard to understand what was what. However, what I found was my side effects went on far longer than the 4-6 weeks, I had OCD (a lot of subtypes) pop up out of nowhere and mood swings plus other symptoms that were new. These never left me and we not there 2 days before I started on my med. My med is a SNRI and I only had this once moving onto the dose that starts to increase adrenaline and I could pinpoint a lot of it back to that time.

So, if you find yourself in that situation, ask yourself whether it all started at the time of the med and was it new? Then the question is whether it is because of the increased anxiety the med brought and that should settle within 4-6 weeks so any longer should be something to think about. It's not an exact science with these meds though so again it's hard to work out anyway but looking back with what I know now, that's how I would be approaching it.

If you have a good GP, they will be a good person to voice any concerns like that too. If they have experience, the may have come across it and know what to do anyway and make the decision for you.

[Shazamataz]

Thanks for your articulate response, Terry.

I'm really getting to the end of my rope as Day 20 now and feeling worse for the past 3 days. Both physically ill and constantly anxious to the point I can't decide what is what. Back to not really sleeping (up at 4 this morning), haven't been able to eat much which I know adds to the anxiety.

I've had to come and have a friend come and stay (as I did a couple weeks back) as not coping at all and feeling so damned unwell. It all seems so hopeless. I tried to get myself admitted to hospital a couple weeks back but they determined I was not in crisis and referred me back to my GP. The mental health team have also refused to give her any advise/support with me as I'm not bad enough as far as they are concerned :(

Just taking things an hour at a time for now...