First Citalopram 20mg

[sl1nky]

Yesterday at 8:30pm I took my first tablet, in about an hour I started to feel a "brain buzz" around 12am I got really hyper and started acting strangely,I had to remove all the tablets from my room because I kept having visualizations of taking them all. Over all the experience was quite scary, I laid down trying to sleep for 11 hours, mid way through the night at 5am I had a panic attack. I got in contact with the NHS 111 service and they said I should stop taking the medication.

I'm wondering how long the medication will stay in the body? and since i've only taken one, will i have any withdrawal effects? Does anyone know.

[debs71]

This doesn't sound like a typical response to meds. One tablet should not create effects like that within an hour.

I am wondering how much of that was the drug (which it really should not be. The med takes time to get into your system before you start to feel side-effects) and how much was your anxiety about starting meds, and this was a panic attack?

The major side effects of SSRI meds, in my experience, are a rise in anxiety, nausea, lack of appetite and drowsiness, not hyperactivity. These reduce and you should feel much better within a couple of weeks or so.

Whilst I sort of get why you were advised to stop taking them by 111, as in their heads they would be acting on the side of caution here about a possible anaphylactic reaction to the med, i don't think this has been very helpful, as now you will have a fear of taking meds, and this may well have been a big panic attack, as starting meds is daunting.

I would discuss this with your doctor, rather than people like 111.They have a check list of questions that they ask, and simply follow a 'well this is what we should advise' thing off a computer screen.

A good GP will know better, IMO.

[sl1nky]

This doesn't sound like a typical response to meds. One tablet should not create effects like that within an hour.

I am wondering how much of that was the drug (which it really should not be. The med takes time to get into your system before you start to feel side-effects) and how much was your anxiety about starting meds, and this was a panic attack?

The major side effects of SSRI meds, in my experience, are a rise in anxiety, nausea, lack of appetite and drowsiness, not hyperactivity. These reduce and you should feel much better within a couple of weeks or so.

Whilst I sort of get why you were advised to stop taking them by 111, as in their heads they would be acting on the side of caution here about a possible anaphylactic reaction to the med, i don't think this has been very helpful, as now you will have a fear of taking meds, and this may well have been a big panic attack, as starting meds is daunting.

I would discuss this with your doctor, rather than people like 111.They have a check list of questions that they ask, and simply follow a 'well this is what we should advise' thing off a computer screen.

A good GP will know better, IMO.

I was rather giddy and acting strange, i couldn't explain it but i could definitely feel some effect, unless I was consumed with anxiety about having taken the meds but im not sure. Both my girlfriend and mother could witness the behaviour, and yes the panic attack was pretty bad, I've had a panic attack every day for the past 3 days. My body is seriously taking the hit from them.

I had a discussion with a nurse who had a prescriber license over the phone who 111 got me into contact with, I explained the symptoms etc and the experiences, she seemed to know quite a bit about anxiety disorders, she even agreed that i should of been started on 10mg rather than 20mg, she suggested that i stop taking these and start taking beta blockers again.

[debs71]

Hmm. I don't personally agree that beta blockers are helpful for anxiety. My poor Dad took Propranalol for decades when he all the time had serious anxiety and panic disorder. They did nothing for him. It was only when he saw another doctor who prescibed Citalopram that his life entirely changed for the better. Beta-blockers are designed just to calm the physical response to anxiety, not tackle the underlying reasons and mental response to the anxiety itself.

I must say that it did cross my mind that maybe your dose was too high to start with. From a personal point of view, when I started Escitalopram (Citalopram's sister drug) years ago, I was started on 10mg, as my doc wanted to start at the lowest, and see how I got on. Maybe 20mg was a bit too ambitious a dose to commence with for you?

[sl1nky]

Hmm. I don't personally agree that beta blockers are helpful for anxiety. My poor Dad took Propranalol for decades when he all the time had serious anxiety and panic disorder. They did nothing for him. It was only when he saw another doctor who prescibed Citalopram that his life entirely changed for the better. Beta-blockers are designed just to calm the physical response to anxiety, not tackle the underlying reasons and mental response to the anxiety itself.

I must say that it did cross my mind that maybe your dose was too high to start with. From a personal point of view, when I started Escitalopram (Citalopram's sister drug) years ago, I was started on 10mg, as my doc wanted to start at the lowest, and see how I got on. Maybe 20mg was a bit too ambitious a dose to commence with for you?

I've had Propranalol before and it suppressed the symptoms but didn't stop the worry, however most of my worry is because i have symptoms :(
More than likely 20mg was too much, I don't have much weight on me so drugs tend to process fairly quickly. I'll consult my GP on Monday if possible, however for now im not touching another tablet lol I don't want to lose any more sleep, for 3 days i've had maybe 2 hours and i still feel kinda on edge.

[lior]

No wonder you're on edge with hardly any sleep. Any threat or expectation of side effects is going to send you into a whizz.

I've been on citalopram twice - I've been on them now for over a year, and had to keep adjusting the dose. I'm incredibly glad to be on them, they've helped me so much. There were side effects at first but it's so worth it, to not be paralysed/distracted with extreme depression and anxiety every day.

I started on 10mg and incrementally rose to 30mg. I was always hyper aware of any possible side effects. It did make me more anxious at first to be taking them. But they do start to have a positive effect after 6 weeks. I know this sounds like a really long time, but anxiety can take years to properly sort out - for a lot of people, it's worth getting on them so that you can be calm enough to confront your issues that are the roots of your anxieties.

Hope you have a good discussion with your doctor on Monday

[sl1nky]

No wonder you're on edge with hardly any sleep. Any threat or expectation of side effects is going to send you into a whizz.

I've been on citalopram twice - I've been on them now for over a year, and had to keep adjusting the dose. I'm incredibly glad to be on them, they've helped me so much. There were side effects at first but it's so worth it, to not be paralysed/distracted with extreme depression and anxiety every day.

I started on 10mg and incrementally rose to 30mg. I was always hyper aware of any possible side effects. It did make me more anxious at first to be taking them. But they do start to have a positive effect after 6 weeks. I know this sounds like a really long time, but anxiety can take years to properly sort out - for a lot of people, it's worth getting on them so that you can be calm enough to confront your issues that are the roots of your anxieties.

Hope you have a good discussion with your doctor on Monday

Thank you, and yes I'm very tired but something is keeping me from falling to sleep at night 3 days with little sleep now, it's starting to make me think i'm going to go into cardiac arrest D:

[MyNameIsTerry]

It takes about 4 hours for this med to reach it's 80% peak. Typically you get hit with the nausea and dizziness because it will hit the gut Serotonin receptors much quicker and it has been shown to cause nausea due to one specific one hence why they say take it with food which avoids this.

If you were going to have an allergic reaction, that would hit very very quickly. However, that's not what you are saying by the sounds of it.

I'm with Debs, I doubt it would hit you with such impact within an hour. Besides, if the impact was that high at 1 hour, you would be even worse as it peaked by the 4th hour. I suspect this might be a panic thing. You can get hypomania (less than mania) and mania although mania is in the Uncommon category at 0.1-1%. So, it is possible but it could also be tied up in reacting to it as well.

Contacting someone for help seems the right thing to do with these symptoms just in case. Maybe going in at 10mg will ease you in? I went in at 20mg and I was under the Crisis Team 48 hours later. Many GP's are catching on to how tapering upwards is a safer way to do this nowadays.

You won't get any withdrawal, you have to have been on it long enough first. Withdrawal is about becoming tolerant to effects of the med and that takes time in more than one way with SSRI's but I won't explain this since it's only been one dose as it's just not relevant to you. It will take a bit of time for the drug to be eliminated but again don't worry because you won't see any side effects of that but just stay hydrated to help elimination. This med has a half life of 35 hours and total elimination using the standard pharmacokinetic model would be 7x that. However, at the first half life (35 hours) it will be down to 50%, 25% at the 2nd, 12.5% at the 3rd, etc so you can see there will very soon only be very small levels in your blood plasma and anything under 5% is not considered clinically significant.

[Shazamataz]

This really sounds like a panic attack reaction to me as there should be no way the citalopram would even be in your system much after an hour.

I had such an experience when I first took quetiapine. 20 mins afterwards I felt really unwell, called emergency psych and they insisted I was panicking as it would take at least another hour for the drug to be in my system. The lady on the phone managed to calm me down and when the drug actually kicked in I fell asleep. But I never took it again.

If you are sensitive and starting on a new med they should always start you slowly on a smaller dose. 20mg is too high for that. Hope you get some sleep soon!

[sl1nky]

Thank you for your replies, I've only slept maybe 4 hours in the past 3 nights since having taken that single tablet. I know it doesn't cause insomnia but I'm guessing my panic about having taken it was so severe that it's caused this, im just hoping it don't last, I feel very exhausted, almost sickly like, bit of a fever and sore eyes. I've had success with beta blockers before, I will talk to my GP about going back on them.