First time taking any meds Citalopram

[Jellybeann24]

Hey!

I posted yesterday about my anxiety that I've been experiencing over the last month. I've suffered for years and years with anxiety but just recently it's effected every aspect of my life. It runs strongly in my family and I do believe it's mostly hereditary. I also see a therapist regularly.

Anyway I've been prescribed Citalopram and I would really like to take them but I'm slightly nervous about the not being able to stop suddenly whenever you like. The side effects don't worry me too much I understand they are part of the process. How did you find the first few days? I realize everyone is different and not everyone experiences the same thing but I'd really like to know to know what to expect.



Having somewhere like this to voice my fears is wonderful and I would like to thank you for reading this.

[Suziewuzie]

Whilst I wouldn't recommend it, I stopped taking them suddenly and experienced absolutely zero side effects. I'd been on them for around a year and was just in such a good place I just forgot all about them.
I think the first few days/weeks is individual to everyone and also depends on how severely you're struggling at the time. I was in a pretty dark place when I started on them & therefore really paid A LOT of attention to every single side effect, obsessively googled them & basically let it take over my life. I struggled to sleep on them at first but felt drowsy all the time, I also experienced a dry mouth & some headaches - nothing I couldn't handle now but when I was already hyper anxious it felt pretty tough. They definitely did increase my anxiety in the first week but again, I was hyper anxious and so sensitive to every sensation I felt that a lot of what I felt was likely just my anxiety rather than the medication. I was prescribed sleeping tablets after the first week because I really was getting zero sleep. Citalopram gave me crazy vivid dreams, and I actually do miss that!

[wcs2222]

Hello.
Citalopram cannot help you if you do not start taking it. Having said that, there should not be any problem stopping within the first month or so. I have been on cit on/off for ~20 years and it has worked for me. The recommended practice is to wean off slowly if you have been taking cit for years, but that varies person by person.

For me, the first few days were not bad until cit reached the steady-state plasma concentration in ~1 week. After that, heightened anxiety, daytime drowsiness and nighttime sleeplessness were the worst side-effects for me, which subsided after 10-12 weeks. My doctor always prescribed clonazepam (for anxiety) and zoplicone (for sleep) that I took sparingly and only as needed during the initial period.

Good luck!

[sollythegolly]

Took 20mg for just over a year. They took about 12 weeks to be effective, and I just about had every side effect listed on the leaflet that accompanies the medication packet.

I stuck with them, though, and they helped me to get back on track. I could look at my perceived problems and issues much more clearly. Tried a bit of CBT too, but to be quite honest, it didn’t do anything much for me.

I decided to stop taking the Citalopram due to another medical issue that I have, where the Citalopram side effects could have been exacerbating the problem.

I consulted my primary care physician (GP) in order to put a plan in place to wean myself off them. I was offered two choices - alternate doses for a couple of weeks; reduced dose for a further week (or two) and then stop. Second option was to stop cold turkey. I queried the cold turkey option, but the GP said that 20mg was a relatively low dose and, although I might have some issues, these should be manageable.

Given that the first option requires planning and thought and discipline, I chose the cold turkey option, because the first option fell into my “far too difficult “ bracket.

Here is a complete list of all the side effects that I suffered going the cold turkey route:

1. Nothing
2. Zilch
3. Nil
4. Nada

Hope that helps. Best of luck to you.