Re: Please help - Citalopram and some frightening symptoms
hey friend - i hope you rest well tonight. starting meds is tough and scary, and sometimes even if you've been through it before - there's nothing quite like taking meds while being in the midst of a major bout of anxiety. it seems doing ANYTHING while being in the midst of a period of crazy anxiety makes you doubt, fear, and freak out.
i think what must have happened to you that first night was more of a panic attack rather than the meds having kicked in. it really would have taken longer than that for them to really filter through your system and enter your bloodstream. but i know from experience - even taking like cold medicine can sometimes send me into a spiral because i start thinking about drug interactions, how it will affect me, etc.
that said, the first few weeks can be pretty bad as the drug starts to accumulate and work. as you know from others and from this forum. using SSRI's for anxiety can be good because their overall effects can lessen the perserverance of anxiety. however - not only does it take ages for them to work, but it can be a hit and miss with dosage, drug type etc. This can all wreak havoc on your system while you sort it out and especially with anxiety - ugh!!
so sometimes docs will prescribe xanax (or some other type of immediate acting anxiety med) to take in conjunction with starting an anti-depressant to get you through it in the begining and to just take as needed. it's not good for long term treatment because .. well.. it just doesn't work that way. it's like spot treating a pimple rather treating the underlying problem. i have an 'as needed' perscription for xanax and i find myself taking it later in the day, when my anxiety is at its peak. some weeks i take it every day, sometimes i take it once, sometimes weeks go by and i don't need it. most often i find just KNOWING i have it in my drawer prevents me from going into full on panic mode when laying down. if you find it tough getting through the initial days/weeks - perhaps speak to your doc about getting a fast acting drug to take the edge off while your body adjusts. either way - just try to push through. i think you'll find it will end up helping and working out. don't forget to add some lifestyle tweaks with it because it sounds like you respond well (like me) to distractions and lifestyle changes - which is lucky and a good thing to take advantage of! huuuuuuuuuuuuugs.
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I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea, and at last wake up in Naples, and there beside me is the Stern Fact, the Sad Self, unrelenting, identical, that I fled from. -Ralph Waldo Emerson