Citalopram survival guide

[flamenco]

This is very helpful, very well researched and reassuring on a lot of counts. My big fear is not being able to sleep and getting fat and the time it would then take to come of these. I am on amitripline and looking for something to both lift my despression, and help me sleep. In the article it mentions escitalopram having less side effects I would love to know more about these and any ideas of any non drug natural alternatives ?

[Paul-]

Fantastic guide!

Thankyou


Paul

[maxine]

Thank you for such an informative well balanced ( and randomly funny) post!!

I'm due to start taking Citalopram tomorrow (for Anxiety and Agoraphobia) and I was a bit worried about all the scare stories but after reading your post I'm feeling loads more positive.

Thank you again for taking the time to write it.

[cybersteve]

Just stumbled on this by chance when I did a Google search for Citalopram. Started reading it and suddenly felt better, both for the helpful information and the humor. I agree with another post here that mentioned that they see a book here, one laying bare the trials and tribulations of this journey through fear and depression to hope.

Merci!

[NoPoet]

Hi everyone, thank you for the feedback. The second half of the Guide still needs a massive overhaul and there is so much work involved that it puts me off - it takes about a minute to save the guide after editing it, and I've got a quad core processor and 10mbps broadband, so as you can imagine it can be frustrating to work on the guide at times!

[NoPoet]

Ok, made a few edits to the second half of the guide:

* Made the structure of the guide more consistent.

* Changed all "withdrawal" references to "discontinuation". You do not suffer withdrawal effects from citalopram, it is discontinuation syndrome, which is similar but different. All medical literature now refers to discontinuation, so the guide is now factually correct in this regard.

* Minor re-wording and editing to bring the guide up to date with current research and experience.

[sheephead]

Thank you so much for writing this guide - it's been a real help. I am recently back on citalopram (9 days). Feeling ill and a bit scared and this has given me the encouragement / kick up the backside I needed.
If I can offer an addition to your excellent information on therapies etc; I have found meditation to be enormously helpful in the past. It really helps you to accept symptoms of your illness rather than making yourself worse by battling against them.
But we're all different and I'm sure it won't work for everyone. Everything is worth a try though. For example, I'm pleased you got so much from hynotherapy, but I found that it didn't really help me (although I do wonder if the stress of how much the hypnotherapist was charging me outweighed any potential benefits.

Anyhow, this has single-handedly encouraged me to join NMP. Keep up the good work.

[NoPoet]

I've been told that someone wrote an epic response to this thread, but the person who wrote it seems to have deleted it before I could read it.

Sheephead, it's excellent news that you joined NMP because of this guide. It's good to know that the survival guide is still helping people more than a year after I first started writing it, and it's good for NMP that it seems to be attracting people to join.

I might take people up on their suggestions and turn by battle with anxiety and depression into a book of some kind. After all, there may be a million good books on the subject already out there, but let's face it they are either written by some doctor who's never experienced them or they're as depressing as all hell. ("Veronica Decides to Die" - oh yeah, I know, I'm really depressed so I'll read about someone trying to commit suicide.)

Seems like people enjoy the humour of the Guide. I actually toned it down a bit but I might spruce it up and make the subject more lively. After all, the battle to recover from depression and anxiety should not be a melancholy series of hard facts -- that's precisely the mindset that allows these conditions to take charge and stay there.

Laughter dispels fear. That's why we do it!

[moomintroll]

i have just started a 10mg dose of this today, i got prescribed it after taking a bad reaction to paroxetine, i have anxiety, so going to see how i get on with this and see if it helps

your guide was quite helpful

part of me is worried about the weight side effect but my doctor explained its not the tablet as such but in some people it increases your appetite so you end up eating more, so will be watching out for that one

[chugga]

thank you so much..... i'm approaching it being time to take my second tablet..... and have felt panicked, touchy, sick and sort of "trippy" all day - now i know its totally normal and is the first step to being well again.

Thank you for a wonderful reference point,,, i'm sure i'll be back to re-read it very soon