Here goes - Citalopram the sequel

[oldtime]

Day 27 - [20mg Cit, 25mg Dosulepin]
Coming up to 4 weeks now, will stop taking the Dosulepin soon perhaps I will feel less dopey then. I've had some periods of complete calm over the past couple of days, wow that's a novel feeling. Had the 'liver dream' OMG I am nuts, see my dream thread: Liver Dream
Did yoga last night and some relaxation meditation at the end, yoga is the best thing you can do for anxiety.
This weekend I'm driving to Kent to visit my dad and sister, quite a long trip it's my dad's 81st birthday.

[oldtime]

Day 28 - [40mg Cit]
4 weeks and a cock up, I've taken 2 tablets this morning as I got mixed up and had one with my cup of tea and one with my breakfast. Not really feeling any difference, maybe a bit light headed and headachey. Will stop the Dosulepin today as this seems a good time over the weekend especially as I've over dosed the cit.

Been noticing a kind of silence in my mind when on my own, like a quieting down of all the racing thoughts that I've been having.

Driving to Kent now, back on monday, have a nice weekend.

[oldtime]

Day 31 - [20mg Cit]
Had a good weekend, although I did have about 3 hours of chest pain and high anxiety on Sat afternoon. This was about 24 hours after taking the double dose of cit accidentally. Also felt even more tired, I need to get one of those pill things with the 7 compartments and days written on them. I visited my sister over the weekend she has stopped taking Cit and has been prescribed Dosulepin to take as and when needed up to 3 times a day. This seems a bit weird to me I don't think you are meant to take dosulepin like that, also she is starting to get panic attacks again.

I read the CBT4PANIC thread this morning, it looks good, I might give it a try. I think that CBT is probably the only long term solution to anxiety that is effective and I need to put in more effort to make it work.

Bought 2 cozy microwave animals for the kids as presents. They are very cute, you warm them up in the microwave and they're a bit like hot water bottles but filled with wheat. They also pong of lavender, my wife who is allergic to just about everything complained that they made her sneeze. Anyway they both went to bed very happy last night cuddling their cozies.

[NoPoet]

Hi everyone, this is a nice, uplifting thread and it's good to see people motivating one another like this.

I was previously on 30mg of cit and STUPIDLY came off cold turkey two months ago. Now it's my third day back on cit at 10mg. I'm having a horrible time, not with the meds but with the depression and anxiety - I've proper gone back a year and realise that I should have stuck with my therapy instead of relying on the medication to do all the work.

What I'd say to everyone is, when you feel well enough, start looking for therapy that will help you in the long term. I reckon a lot of people feel bad when they come off cit because they haven't developed coping mechanisms, they simply relied on the meds. Maybe I'm wrong, but it happened to me

Mohc - nice to see things are going well for you, and it's also reassuring that you aren't trumpeting this as an immediate victory - you're being realistic and taking it one step at a time. Well done. The same goes to everyone else. Give yourselves pats on the back.

Good luck everyone.

[oldtime]

Thanks PsychoPoet for the feedback. I've also been watching your withdrawal thread, you were brave to go cold turkey from 30mg. I just cannot see a cure for anxiety without changing the way we think and react to situations. My brain is like a computer that has developed some learned misguided anxiety behaviour. I hope the CBT will slowly retrain my brain to react in a more normal way to stress and anxiety. There is no overnight fix as it takes time for the brain to unlearn the unhelpful thoughts and replace them with more positive helpful thoughts.

[happycamper]

developed some learned misguided anxiety behaviour

Great description mohc. Me too!

it takes time for the brain to unlearn the unhelpful thoughts and replace them with more positive helpful thoughts.

Absolutely....Just baffles me why some people develop these misguided behaviours when other don't. I'm sure a great deal of it is from upbringing, my mother catastrophises terribly and I guess I've just learned that behaviour. At least if you can see where your 'issues' are, you stand a much better chance at resolving them. I know where I go wrong, but it hasn't stopped the unhelpful thoughts rearing their ugly head, however I'm trying hard to alter my responses to them to consequently keep the anxiety at bay. It's not easy, but doable.

The citalopram keeps things in check while you're busy learning these changes in behaviour, otherwise you wouldn't be able to see the wood for the trees.

Well, that's how I comprehend it all anyway!

You seem to be doing brilliantly mohc. X x

[heavenly]

I just cannot see a cure for anxiety without changing the way we think and react to situations. My brain is like a computer that has developed some learned misguided anxiety behaviour. I hope the CBT will slowly retrain my brain to react in a more normal way to stress and anxiety. There is no overnight fix as it takes time for the brain to unlearn the unhelpful thoughts and replace them with more positive helpful thoughts.

Spot on!! I am 7 months in with anxiety, depression (though no depression since the new year thankfully), Cit, counselling. And I am learning every day and when I am having a blip, I look back at how far I have come and know that the blip will pass. You are doing so well, keep up the good work!! xx

[oldtime]

Day 33 - [20mg Cit, 15mg Dosulepin]
Thank's for all the encouragement, I love it, it cheers me up. Added some colour to my post today!

I started taking a small amount of the Dosulepin again as I've been getting bad tension headaches and insomnia since stopping. Will reduce it more slowly down to zero. When you break this tablet up into pieces it exposes the uncoated tablet and this really numbs your tongue. Dosulepin in pretty nasty stuff (sorry for anyone still taking it) but it is quite toxic and I'm glad to be getting rid of it.

I'm going to switch taking my Cit from morning to evening it makes me so tired during the day, definitely feel more alert this morning.

I have signed up for the CBT4PANIC online course, downloaded the pack last night. I will report my progress on here, does anyone else want to try it? - we can compare notes.

Big day tomorrow, business trip to Coventry to meet a new client. I run a medical IT company and it has been a struggle to keep my business going at the same time as dealing with my anxiety.

[Linzi77]

Hi everyone, this is a nice, uplifting thread and it's good to see people motivating one another like this.

I was previously on 30mg of cit and STUPIDLY came off cold turkey two months ago. Now it's my third day back on cit at 10mg. I'm having a horrible time, not with the meds but with the depression and anxiety - I've proper gone back a year and realise that I should have stuck with my therapy instead of relying on the medication to do all the work.

What I'd say to everyone is, when you feel well enough, start looking for therapy that will help you in the long term. I reckon a lot of people feel bad when they come off cit because they haven't developed coping mechanisms, they simply relied on the meds. Maybe I'm wrong, but it happened to me

Mohc - nice to see things are going well for you, and it's also reassuring that you aren't trumpeting this as an immediate victory - you're being realistic and taking it one step at a time. Well done. The same goes to everyone else. Give yourselves pats on the back.

Good luck everyone.

I want to thank you for this Survival Guide, where you refer to the 'blips'... OMG I had a massive blip last night, it's awful, felt like I was actually going mad, I told my husband that I was losing the plot and I was mentally ill, breathing was rapid as this was followed by a huge anxiety attack. These are all sympotms I did not suffer before taking these tablets.

I got given these tablets after a bout of stress related downess (if thats a word)? I went to my gp tearful and he game me Cit, 20MG. Took them for 14 days, felt like I had lock jaw, completely off my barnett, headache, diszziness, nausea etc, stopped taking them 6 days ago now and wow are the withdrawals horrendous. I really don't think I was actually depressed after reading other threads on here and cannot wait for this stuff to get out of my system. I jsut want to ask, will all these withdrawals fade and will I become somewhat normal again, well, normal as I know it or have I done lasting damage taking these??

Thank you
Linz

[oldtime]

Linz,
My first experience of Cit about a year ago lasted 14 days and I had just about the same side effects as you + almost total insomnia. Cit does magnify your anxiety during the first 14 days, then you start to think that the drug is evil and stop taking it. The truth is it is more the psychology and fear of taking the drug that is causing this avalanche of side effects. My state of mind a year ago was dire, I didn't understand what was happening to me.

I now know a lot more about anxiety and was in the right state of mind to give citalopram another go. This time around the side effects were tolerable and did subside after the first 14 days. I've had the additional problem of withdrawal from Dosulepin, not such a benign drug.

When anxiety is severe it does make you feel like you are mentally ill, I had nightmares about being forcibly taken to a mental hospital. You are not mentally ill anxiety is a normal fight flight reaction, it is just being triggered at the wrong time for the wrong reason when there is no real danger to you.

You will not be getting any withdrawal after stopping cit if you have only been taking it 14 days, the drug certainly will not cause any harm to you it is very safe to take.