Citalopram help please...first day!!

[jacko296]

Hi Evereyone..........been a while since ive been on here cos i felt so low and awful...but...anyway to cut a long story short...decided to bite the bullet and start cit today at 20 mg...after staring at them for over a month...

Well initially (first hour)...fine...2 hours in,,,bam...trembling..breathless...dryyyyy mouth...full blown panic...Horrendous!!. I then convinced myself i had serotonin syndrome which made matters aworse and escalated the fear!!...Phoned a friend who managed to calm me down a bit...even so...werent expecting that.

I know we have to sometimes have to get worse to get better...but why?
Dont we suffer enough?...anyway..4 hours in and despite headache and tense neck...ive seem to have calmed down.

I know there is plenty on here..but was just wondering if anyone can remember such a strong reaction so quickly?
...because i am considering lowering to 10mg...to start with...cant cope with this everyday..

Anyway...hope youre all well..(well within reason!)...

Jack.

[agnes]

Well done, Jack, for biting the bullet. I too had some reactions to citalopram when I started it but I did begin on 10mg for the first week, then upped to 20mg.

Just a thought, though, do you think it might have been your anxiety about taking cit that created your reaction today?

Glad you're feeling a little easier now xx

[jacko296]

Hi Agnes......thanks...yeh you may be right...but maybe it was a combination of subconsciously 'creating' the anxiety and the dosage being too high...just taking it 1hour at a tome at the mo...

Thanks again.

jack.

[heavenly]

Hi there, I remember when I first took a Diazapam a month ago, put off taking that first tablet for ages, then the second I took it, I convinced myself I was having side effects immediately! But it was fine. Our own worst enemies sometimes. What are we like, eh?

[LiquidSky]

Hi Jack,
I am on 10mg citalopram, was supposed to be on 20mg, but I had a similar experience to you, I took the 20mg and within a couple of hours my anxiety felt worse, had a big panic attack dry mouth and breathless, I spoke to a nurse and felt pretty rubbish the rest of the day, I lowered my dose to 10mg the next day and had slight anxiety for the first few weeks and still get it a little mainly just a touch of nervousness. Try lowering the dose tomorrow and see how you go, everybody's reactions and tolerances to drugs is different, some people don't need a higher dose than 10mg, but you'll get to know what you will be comfortable with.
Stay strong, there's lots of us out there

[clairebear10]

It actually takes around a month for the cit to kick in before you get full advantage of it, hang on in their. I had the same problem with half inderalla when i first started, I stupidly read the instructions and dwelled on the fact that it slows your heart rate down and i kept getting panic attacks from their. Was horrible.

Just hold on in their, it will get better

[Heaven_Scent]

Im back on 10mg of cit and so far so good (i think) Only side effect ive had so far is a really dry mouth and a head ache. Dr also prescribed 2mg of diaz, only had to take it once but just having it there if i need it helps. Hang in there.Xx

[JT69]

Hi,

10mg is a very low dose of citalopram and should minimise side effects...everyone is different, you may settle down quickly...try not to dwell too much on it. I took it on and off for a number of years always started out on 10mg before upping to 20mg (thereputic dose for me).

Good luck with it.

Jo.xx

[olderfella]

Hi Jack i was on citalopram for 12months and after the first 2weeks it helped me loads,started at 20mg finished up on 60mg but regarding my mental state it improved in leaps and bounds good luck mate hope it serves you well