Increased anxiety still, after 26 days on 20mg. Help?

[LiveAboveIt]

The first week was really rough, I was having extreme anxiety, feeling out of it and lethargic with dizziness and diarrhea. A lot of this has passed, and I really started feeling better during my second week, but I feel like everything has taken a turn for the worst about 5 or 6 days ago.. My anxiety has severely increased, sometimes I feel like I have a lot of control over not being afraid and I feel like Im on my way to recovery.. and then boom, it just gets overwhelming.

I woke up with anxiety this morning but was able to convince myself that I was fine and it lessened. I took my Citalopram around noon and noticed by around 1:30 my anxiety had just spiked out of nowhere, with severe feelings of fight or flight and I panicked that something else was wrong with me, causing me to feel this way..

Until my girlfriend reminded me that there is a pattern everyday that I either dont notice or forget/dont think about.. seems like everyday an hour after taking my pill, my anxiety severely increases..

But why is this still happening after having been on 20mg for over 3 weeks now? Is this normal?

[Jaysmd]

Hi if you read through the other threads you will see a few of us have been discussing our start up effects.
For me the first 2 weeks were terrible as expected. Got a little better after that but week 4-5 were like being back at square one. I'm now in week 7 and my extreme low mood and extreme anxiety has started to lift in the past week. I still have anxiety but it seems to be more in the background now. Maybe 8 weeks really is the right time frame.
Good luck to you

[Jem21]

Totally agree with jaysmd 3 and a half weeks is still really early days. I'm just starting week 6 and I've been all over the place, anx went into the background a couple of days ago and my mind feels calmer. I'm still having a really bad tired spell between about half 11 to 3 and hoping this is going to shift soon. My doc says 8 weeks for side effects before looking at increasing or making a decision. Stick with it.

Jemma :-)

[Jaysmd]

I just want to mention guys... I take my medication at 9pm, during the day I'm feeling pretty normal now but come 6pm I get the tiredness, blurred vision, yawning and buzzing of anxiety through my body. Same time every day without fail

[Jem21]

That's really strange as i take mine about half 9 at night but i get all the tiredness, yawning and buzzing between half 11 and 3, i've been toying with taking it earlier to see if it helps.

[LiveAboveIt]

Thank you for the responses, I felt like I was going mental. I feel so incredibly overwhelmed by my low mood and anxiety.. Im trying to hang in there, but god this has been tough. The idea of having a calmer mind and anxiety falling into the background sounds like paradise.. it seems like the anxiety is all i can think about, because its so high, as hard as i try to focus on other things.. Is that normal?

The pills do generally work for everyone, right? Im worried about going through all of this for nothing. : (

[Jaysmd]

My anxiety and how I'm feeling is what I obsess about every minute of the day. As the weeks go on and the medication starts to take affect everything seems more in perspective, you start to feel less low and the thoughts you have although obsessive seem to be less damaging as they were at the beginning

[LiveAboveIt]

How do you manage to cope with your anxiety, Jay? I cant seem to get rid of this feeling of intense fear, even when Im not specifically worried about anything. Not sure if its the meds or if thats just normal anxiety.

[Jaysmd]

I find the med related anxiety is a lot different than the natural anxiety felt with an anxiety disorder. This anxiety sticks around almost all day and there is no particular reason for it, it's definitely a side effect. As your mood lifts in the coming weeks, the constant anxiety sits more in the background. My doc wants me to increase to 30mg next week, he thinks now that I'm out of the bad state I was in the next step is tackling the anxiety and finding the right dosage to do that. I have had ativan on hand but haven't needed it for a week now. Yay!

[Jem21]

They can cause increased anxiety for the first few weeks. As the anxiety lessens and your mind calms it's a lot easier to go past the scary thoughts, and when they are not bringing the intense fear you learn to dismiss them.