Newbie- Citalopram side effects are awful!!

[Rooey 1966]

Hi
new to the forum
On 5mg daily of Citalopram for stress/anxiety (doc prescribed 10mg but decided to start low) for 7 days now.
never taken SSRI's before apart from amitriptylene 14 yrs ago but for a differnt problem (paraesthesia)
OK for the first few days but side effects are now horrible, did you a little alcohol over the easter weekend though

Here are my side effects, is this normal and how long does it last? Any remedies to take the edge of it all?, considering ditching them and going down the natural route, I gather from what ive seen on forums that it does get better:

Difficulty sleeping (less than 4hrs last nite)
headache/tension headache/pain in temples
paresthesia/nerve surges across body especially legs
generally feeling awful
yawning all the time!
nausea and whistling head (tinitus)
try to read but nothing goes in
frequent urination and bowel movement
agitation/restlessness - relieved by moving around
feel worse when just lying down doing nothing
increased anxiety/nerves

maybe at 5mg all i am getting is side effects and should up the dose?

thanks

[bambi87]

Hi Rooey !

I started citalopram 3 weeks ago and started on 20mg by my doctor. All your side effects are normal , i had every single one of them and i think most ppl do to be honest. I also find that i am worse when im sitting around doing nothing (like all day at my desk at work). I also have dilated pupils most of the time. I had a terrible headache for the first 4 days , but it passes. Good luck.

[Jonofthenorth]

I've literally just started taking 'cit' too and have all those symptoms... but also complete and utter confusion! I can't really follow anything that's going on around me! I suppose it comes down to quite a simple question, and I'm just thinking aloud here, can you survive without them?

As for me, I'm not sure what the answer is to that question. But then there are so many horror stories from cit on this site...

Argh.

What are your thoughts?

Jon

[Rooey 1966]

Hi Jon

I'm new to all this but i guess ultimately one has to plan to survive without them, cit is not the answer to make it all go away but from what ive seen can make a real difference for people that are suffering (that is once you get over the initial side effects) , my intention is to use cit as a tool for recovery and to use this time to take a close look at what I'm doing in my life and make the necessary adjustments to break the cycle.

I'm on a very low dose (5mg) and not sure if thats the right thing, all I know is that I have other health problems and am sensitive to meds so am taking things very cautiously.

On the plus side Im only on day 10 but the side effects have diminished a bit but still feel a little odd, but am sleeping again, two days ago things were awful and I nearly kicked the cit into touch. I learnt the hard way not to combine with supplements as for me taking a chelated magnesium supplement at the same time made everything far worse.

I would stay stick with it , sure you will get horror stories on sites like this I guess the positive stuff doesnt get reported as much as people just go back to living their lives

Hope this helps
Hang on in there.
would also recommend some counselling/CBT