Hi everyone,

I'm new here (this is my first post) but was wondering whether anyone could give me some advice on side effects with doubling dosage of Cipralex.

I have been taking 10mg for just over 2 yrs and it turned my life around. I suffered awfully from irritable bowel which caused a lot of anxiety and I was basically house bound as I was so scared to go out because of the pain.

Lately I have been feeling very nauseous and have been having, what I now know are, panic attacks. I control them by focusing on my breathing when I am on the toilet, but they have become so scary.

I went to the doctor yesterday and, to cut a very long story short involving a useless nurse and a saviour of a doctor, my dose has been doubled to 20mg.

Last night at about 2am I was in bed watching TV and felt very sick. I sat up and I don't know what was happening but I started shaking. I controlled it by focusing on my breathing until it passed but had to take 2mg of diazepam to make sure I didn't have a panic attack with it. The doctor yesterday gave me 6 2mg tablets to use when I feel I am about to have a panic attack to stop it happening.

Is shaking a side effect of upping the dose? I've never had it before, not even as a side effect when I started taking 10mg.

My side effects lasted 2 weeks when I started taking 10mg and after after 5-6 weeks, I felt so much better, but it took that long.

With 20mg....the doctor said it may take 1-2 weeks to feel better. Do the side effects only last a few days?

Thanks for any help you can give me - just need a bit of reassurance I guess!

xox