Anyone switched from Prozac to Citalopram?

[siobhanc]

Hi there,

I had suffered from moderate to severe deppression for 10 years from the age of 13 but didnt do anything about it. Then had no deppresion for 3 years, which was great and i assumed i had just grown out of it.
I was really happy and then out of the blue i got hit with anxiety, i dont even know why really, i was feeling great before that, but maybe it was my past problems catching up.

Anyway i suffered with general anxiety for nine months, going through bad periods of felling sick all the time and scared of absolutely everything,
and some better periods of not feeling anxious constantly and being able to do day to day tasks, but still an overall general anxiety and fear in the bigger picture.

My doctor asked me if i wanted to try prozac, and i said yes, even though i was reluctant in past, i felt really good about it and really thought it would work. Dont know why i was so sure, i guess because i wasnt too deppressed anymore i thought it might just lift my mood and help with anxiety.

The strange thing is i have been taking it for two months now and i dont feel any different, good or bad. My only side affects are a bit of muscle twitching and stranger sleep patterns but other than that i feel no different. I Have only started to get those side affects recently, i found it really weird that in the first month i felt nothing. Does anyone think that if it is going to work for you then it should have some negative side effects too? Has any one found prozac to not affect them then changed to Citalopram?

I dont know if i should carry on for now or switch to Citalopram. Im not too worried about the side affects mentioned, iv had an easy run so far but i know im bound to have some affects from a different medication.

Thanks for your time

Siobhan

[NoPoet]

You don't have to get negative side effects to prove the effectiveness of the medication. The side effects will happen (or not happen) regardless of the medicine's effectiveness. Side effects are related to the ingredients and their effect on your body chemistry.

It is weird you got delayed side effects. Did you change your dose? On the other hand lots of people report delayed side effects and delayed withdrawal effects on citalopram so it is probably normal, or maybe a physical symptom of anxiety.

Can you try increasing your prozac dose? Are you undertaking any other forms of therapy? Medication is more effective when combined with other treatments.

[NoPoet]

By the way, do you mind if I call you Chev for short

[siobhanc]

Hi, yes you can call me that if you like, lol.

no my dosage has never gone up, its always been 20mg. and the side affects ive got now are so minor it barely affects me.

do you think increasing would be benificial? if i feel no different now maybe it just doesnt work on me.

I go back to the doc in a month, maybe i should just ask about changing medication.

and im not getting counciling or anything, but i have been reading about it on line and ways to deal with anxiety. although obviously id much rather get rid of it than just cope with it.

it seems in Glasgow you cant get free counciling unless your suicidal or so bad you cant leave the house.

[suzy-sue]

Before you try switching ,id definately try upping your dose to 30mg and if no success40mg ,before you give up on it .2omg is still a relatively low dose and higher doses are needed for anxiety .If you cant get therapy ,try an online CBT course or maybe a private therapist ,you can get them from around £45 ,even reading books will help you . All the best Sue xx

[bencooper1977]

I stuck to citalopram after trying to change to prozac. I only gave it 12 days but felt more comfortable with citalopram after using it for years