Citalopram survival guide

[NoPoet]

Thanks everyone, I hope that my guide has contributed to your recovery in some way. As I say repeatedly in the survival guide anxiety and depression are beatable, even if it doesn't always seem that way. I have faith that everyone who has replied in this thread can get better.

[excoelis]

I've been on Citalopram for 5yrs now, will be for the rest of my life according to my doctor. the magic dose for me is 40mg. I do have "blips" particularly after being sick with flu etc. Not sure why. they dissappear fairly quickly. For me drinking alcohol does reduce the effectiveness of the drug. so does caffeine. I cannot drink more than 2 cups of regular coffee a week. my 2 cents

[katalyst85]

found this really helpful. very funny too thanks just came across this, finally sum sound advice. Im on Citalopram 20mg after finally doing something after years of feeling not like myself. thank god i went and did something about it already I feel better for talking about it and that was just a week ago. struggled alone for so long why didnt I do this earlier?!! I would say to anyone go speak up about what your going through, you will fell so better for it and hopefully these meds will make me even better

[NoPoet]

Crikey, 100 hits a day on this thread. Probably the link from Wikipedia is bringing in new business.

Hi Exocelis and Katalyst, I'm glad that the Guide has been of some benefit to you. Thanks for taking the time to offer your feedback.

Exocelis - I want to explore the links between physical illness and blips, since I and many other members of NMP seem to find that feeling sick or tired or headachey etc increases or triggers our anxiety/depression. An update to the Guide will probably happen in the near future.

Katalyst - I couldn't agree more, no-one has to suffer alone. Lack of communication is what is really wrong with our world. I wonder how many wars could have been averted if people actually got to know one another. There is no weakness in seeking help -- the only weakness is being afraid to ask for help. People need to overcome that fear. Mental health issues will only lose their stigma when nobody is afraid to step forward and say, "Yeah, I'm going through it too." Nobody is as alone as their anxiety or depression makes them feel. Other people are only a "hello" away.

[NoPoet]

* Added information about weight changes in the side effects section.

* Added a rerefence to Anxiety UK in the side effects section.

* Re-worded and edited some sections and corrected a prominent spelling mistake. The Guide is now much too big for me to go through the whole thing in one go so minor edits and revisions to the second half of the Guide will come at a later date.

* Links to the Guide appear on Wikipedia's citalopram page and several mini-Wikis related to citalopram and SSRIs.

* Guide now appears to be getting 100-200 views per day; please mention this guide on any support sites you visit and spread the word!

[dazzammm]

hi, just find the site and the guide. great stuff.
been on citalopram for 2.5 yrs on 20mg. All ok EXCEPT I get anxious at weekends (for no really reason other than it happened last weekend so im anxious about it happening again. After doing this for 3 years its quite a vicious circle to break).
Anyway, if im ok most of the time and only anxious at certain, regular times, so do you suggest I ask my GP to increase my dose.
(I understand if you dont want to give an answer)

[sybs02]

Hi PsychoPoet, I have been on Citalopram for about 11 years (with a couple of breaks of about 3 months or so). I was worried that my meds had suddenly stopped working as I've had a relapse (not a blip) but your article about relapses and blips has really helped me more than you will ever realise. I was feeling so low a few days ago and overwhelmed by existential angst, but feel more like my old self again today. Your article is so well researched and well written that I will use it as a reference whenever I need to. Thank you so much.

[sybs02]

I've been on Citalopram for 5yrs now, will be for the rest of my life according to my doctor. the magic dose for me is 40mg. I do have "blips" particularly after being sick with flu etc. Not sure why. they dissappear fairly quickly. For me drinking alcohol does reduce the effectiveness of the drug. so does caffeine. I cannot drink more than 2 cups of regular coffee a week. my 2 cents

Hi Excoelis,
I have been very anxious and depressed lately which seems to have coincided with several cold/flu viruses I've come down with. I've never been quite sure if the depression/angst triggers the colds because of being run down or if it's vice versa. Do you suffer more with depression or anxiety? I am on 30mg mainly for anxiety (although I get depression with it sometimes) but have heard that the optimum dose for anxiety is 30mg. I would be interested to know if 40mg is your magic dose because it has eradicated anxiety. Cheers, Sybs.

[NoPoet]

Hi Dazza and Sybs, thank you for the feedback.

What I found is that originally I was more anxious at the thought of the mornings and weekends, since these were the times where I was free to do whatever I want, which in those days meant sit around feeling upset.

As I started feeling better my weekend anxiety gradually lessened. Now I look forward to the weekend as a stress-free time when I am not expected to do anything except have fun. I tend to find myself more anxious during the week, mainly because the rest of the world is at work, and I'm stuck at home without much company or variety of things to do.

If I keep busy, work on my writing, play the computer, go for a drive, spend time with family, hang around with friends, all of these activities reduce my stress and tension levels to almost nothing. I do a lot of all of these things. When I first became ill I didn't do any of it; I withdrew into my own little world of horrors.

So therefore, for me at least, feeling better meant I was able to keep myself occupied and spend time with other people, which in turn made me feel even better. You sort of "spool up" - your motivations continues to improve and you become more a part of the world.

Now after 13 months, I don't really find any one time of day more anxiety-causing than the other.

Recovery is a part of life, and life is a journey. You are never standing still, even when you're having a lazy day doing nowt. Recovery does not, and will never, happen overnight. You can make baby steps, you can make large strides; in the end it is all a part of your journey through life, and it is all cumulative. It happens over days, weeks, months, years; it happens over your lifetime.

Every experience, good or bad, counts for something in the long run, because every individual event - every choice you make - is another stitch in your personal Bayeux tapestry.

The more I work through my problems; the more issues I resolve; the better I begin to feel; it all becomes more obvious to me. I've started calling it the Lifestream, partly cos life flows like a river, but partly cos it reminds me of Final Fantasy 7.

Depression. Anxiety. Illness. Trauma. Bad feelings. Suicidality. These are not roadblocks; they don't slow anything down; they are things that we carry with us for some of our journey. It is appointed to us to resolve them. They're our tasks. We can give in to them, or we can work through them as we march to our destination. We'll arrive at our life destination in the end, all of us do.

The question is whether you will still be carrying that baggage, or whether you will be free.

And I choose freedom.

Join me!

[NoPoet]

Just noticed there have been about 1,000 views in the space of a week! Yaay!

* Amended the Citalopram Side Effects section to talk about weight gain/loss, and added a more positive and more appropriate quote to that section, replacing the pointless Neitzche quote.