Citalopram to escitalopram

[Debs21uk]

Hi,

I've been on citalopram for many years but lately it seems to have lost its effectiveness. My dr pretty much is happy to switch me to whatever I'd prefer and mentioned Effexor. I've been doing research and not sure whether I'd be happy to go for this option. I was wondering if citalopram did so well for me if escitalopram would be a good option since its closely related, plus can you directly switch without having to do a slow taper?

Thanks in advance x

[Shazamataz]

Hi Debs, yes you can go straight from citalopram to escitalopram. I did it a few years back with no issues.

[Debs21uk]

My dr isn't for doing a straight swap which I don't understand. Am I right in thinking 5mg of escitalopram is the same as 10mg citalopram?

[mrose]

Yep you can do a straight swap. I went from 40mg citalopram to 20mg escitalopram. So in your scenario 10mg citalopram is equal to 5mg escitalopram. Just stop cit and start ecit the next day. For me, 4 days in the swap. Ecit seems to be much more effective.

[Victory2016]

You can to a straight swap I did it and had no problems.

[Debs21uk]

Spoke to my dr who is happy to prescribe me escitalopram however it's only my family dr and not psychiatrist so she's wary of doing a straight switch. I can't wait to see the psych in September so I'll need to do it under my doctors supervision instead. I hope it works for me!