My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you have medical concerns, please seek medical attention.

Mental health

Seen the doctor and have been put on 20 mg of citalopram to treat my anxiety

25 replies

healthanxiety · 19/09/2007 13:03

I am terrifed to take the as I hear they can make you worse before you get better.

I am almost as terrifed not to tae them as can't go on the way I have been.

OP posts:
Report
jeangenie · 19/09/2007 13:20

take them!
have a look on here and you'll see there are plenty of people on them and doing better
I've been on 10mg for over a week and although I felt a bit spacey (GP had said I might feel distant) there was nothing else untoward...am feeling better already. I was also really concerned before starting (how could you not be reading the list of possible side effects?) but am glad I did now.
if you are unlucky enough to get bad side effects you can go back to GP and change/stop.

Report
allgonebellyup · 19/09/2007 15:06

i have been on them for a week, didnt feel spacey at all, but got terrible insomnia and felt slightly sick, but not too bad. did feel quite up and down but this settled after 5days and i now feel fine!

please take them!

Report
bluejelly · 19/09/2007 15:18

They are miracle workers. take them...

Report
lucyellensmum · 19/09/2007 15:21

i felt exactly the same way, waited a week after docs suggestion, had a health related melt down, went back asked for them, the prescription stayed on my shelf for another week, had another melt down - took 20mg, which i believe to be the average starting dose, especially for anxiety. I felt a bit sick and rushy for the first few days, but nothing like i expected, i had one god awful panic attack but in my mind i knew it was the pills so i just sat it out and it was ok. My DP said it was like having the old me back, they have really made such a difference to me. I imagine we are stressing over similar things looking at your name. I can tell you that they dont take the worries away, you kind of have to face those down by getting it checked out or saying, nup, i aint having that! They just make it so they dont take over your life and affect everything else, and everyone else around you.

I have now gone onto 40mg following a particularly stressy week and i just felt there was room for improvement, i have severe depression also so its a bit pants just now. I am only three days into this higher dose and i do feel a bit weird but i expect that will pass as my brain accomodates the lovely new happy feeling well i wouldnt go that far, but i no longer feel stuck at the bottom of a dark pit.

You have read the side effects, you know what to expect and look for regarding feeling worse, that way you can rationalise it. IME i felt better very quickly and i think most people on here have reported the same. Some people it takes about a month to really start working so you have to give it time. BUt really, i thought i was going to be a complete space cadet but i wasn't, well no more than normal really.

Report
healthanxiety · 19/09/2007 15:32

thanks for all your comments, I will take them.

the doctor suggested just before bed as they may make me feel a little dosey.

Yep name says it all really, cant seem to get my head round the fact that there is nothing wrong with me apart from anxiety and headaches aren't tumours, numbness isn't ms etc etc etc.

OP posts:
Report
lucyellensmum · 19/09/2007 15:39

ok ive picked up on something here. You mention numbness - i had this, terrible tingling in my hands and face, went to the doctor thinking the same as you did, after giving dp a week of hell, it turned out to be stress and a very common symptom of it, calmed myself down over it, guess what, it went. I feel for you, it is like hypochondria in the extreme, i've lost count the times ive been in tears over non existant health problems. My last melt down was because i thought my tonsils were tumours, i mean WTF was i doing checking myself out in front of the mirror every day - i was hysterical and the practise nurse who i descended on insisting i needed to be seen straight away, lest i fall down dead there and then, gave me a stern talking to, was very kind but made me promise to see the doctor, i did, im starting to feel better.

Report
lucyellensmum · 19/09/2007 15:41

oh, just to say, i take mine in the morning as one of the side effects is isomnia so thought it best to take them then, only sleepless night was last night after my dose increased, very strange, quite happily sat there putting the world to rights in my head, of course im knackered today

Report
healthanxiety · 19/09/2007 15:51

thanks lucyellensmum .

I must admit before I had my son, I never suffered any kind of health anxiety.

I hope it goes and I can be a good mum again, not that I think I am a bad one, just know I can be more chilled and better.

OP posts:
Report
lucyellensmum · 19/09/2007 15:54

snap!

Report
jeangenie · 19/09/2007 17:50

good god - I've had that tingling too, in my hands and feet. I was mega stressed it has to be said - I never knew that was a symptom of stress...
I take my tabs last thing at night too. did suffer a bit of not being able to go back to sleep after waking in the night and it may have been a side effect or it may have been a result of me feeling anxious about potential side effects, who knows. Am sleeping like a babe now.

One thing - I don't think booze and these things mix brilliantly so just be careful if you like a drink

Report
healthanxiety · 19/09/2007 18:39

jeangenie

I was suprised what symptoms stress and anxiety causes, I came across a list of plenty which suprised me.

I took my pill about 20 mins ago as the thought of taking it was making me even more anxious. So did it to get it out the way.

OP posts:
Report
jeangenie · 19/09/2007 23:33

hope they help

Report
healthanxiety · 20/09/2007 05:10

tok them just after 6, got to sleep easily about 10, but woke up at 4 am wide awake, tried to go back to sleep, but have given up and got up.

Feel slightly sick this morning, but thats about it.

OP posts:
Report
lucyellensmum · 20/09/2007 08:27

hi there, that will settle down - they do say the first two weeks are the time for side effects. If you have any more problems with the sleeping maybe take them AM, thats when i take mine. I do struggle to get back to sleep if i wake up, but i always have, just now - i don't care!

Hope you feel better soon

Report
healthanxiety · 20/09/2007 09:00

lol as i took my first one evening, I will take this one at lunchtime and then tomorrow in the morning, i prefer taking them in the morning as if I forget to take them, I have the rest of the day to remember.

OP posts:
Report
Quootiepie · 20/09/2007 09:07

AM a bit spaced out to read the whole thread, but please don't be dubious about taking them - I went 10 to 20 now 40mg a day and they really are great. I am awful for taking them though, and remembering to get them, and now being off them for 2 weeks I am sliding downhill pretty fast, but it shows how good they really are! I didn't get worse, or get side effects with them but then I feel pretty rough anyway so may not have noticed. You do notice if you miss one though (well I do) so really keep it up, even if you see no difference yet. x

Report
healthanxiety · 20/09/2007 17:49

taken the 2nd one and all I really feel is slightly light headed, but feel very sick.

OP posts:
Report
healthanxiety · 22/09/2007 07:59

the sickness has pretty much gone, I just have really bad tiredness, yawning all the time and don't have much energy to do anything, how did everyone else find the tiredness.

OP posts:
Report
lucyellensmum · 22/09/2007 09:25

keep it up ha, i didn't really notice a change in my tiredness, but that is because i have felt pretty much exhausted for the past two years. The side effects are supposed to take two weeks to subside and the benefits up to a month to really set in, after about six weeks i had to up my dose as i said. Ive started to experience side effects that i didnt before but i guess they will go, if not i may reduce the dose. I guess i will have to check with the doctor first though.

How do you feel in yourself though? Are you feeling calmer? I find i still get niggly worries but i can shut them out before they escalate into a full scale panic attack now and they don't sit and fester and ruin my whole day (and anyone else unfortunate enough to get in my way!).

Report
Wilkie · 22/09/2007 09:29

HA - god you sound just like me!!! After years of healthy anxiety (worrying the headaches were tumours, crushing feeling in my chest was heart attack, numbness was some terrible disease, constant upset tummy was something serious) the dr gave me ADs (first Fluoxetine, now Citalopram) and they have changed my life!!!!!

I have been on Citalopram now for about 5/6 months and I do still get days where I don't feel so great but on the whole I feel really 'level' IYSWIM without the highs and the lows.

Hope it is going a bit better for you! How old is your LO?

Report
healthanxiety · 22/09/2007 14:33

my son is 8

I do feel alittle bit better, i just feel so tired and yawning my head off constantly. Despite the fact that after the first bad night I have been sleeping well, 11-7, so having my 8 hours.

OP posts:
Report
healthanxiety · 04/10/2007 19:16

I have had 2 weeks feeling a little bit better, now I seem to be going downhill again. I have got over the sickness of taking the pills and thought I was starting to climb out the pit, only to now find myself slipping back down.

Is it normal to feela boost and then slip back before getting better again, I mean its been just over 2 weeks, would they be working properly by now.

Any advice appreciated

OP posts:
Report

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

healthanxiety · 05/10/2007 12:12

anyone

OP posts:
Report
MrsCarrot · 05/10/2007 12:21

I don't know about that, Healthanxiety, as I didn't take medication in the end. I managed to get throught it with herbal calming things like St Johns wort and velarian combined with CBT.

I just wanted to ask if your doctor had offered you that at all? I expect you could do it alongside your medication. I had anxiety problems exatly as you describe and it was the CBT that broke the cycle though the herbs helped reduce the anxiety IFSWIM. It's good for addressing the cause and now when I begin to lapse I can go back to methods used before and stop the thoughts before they get too much.

It's worth asking about anyway. My nurse said it was being offered in lots more areas as a therapy now. Hope you feel better soon

Report
healthanxiety · 06/10/2007 08:22

she did mention that she would see how i went with the pills and then put me on the waiting list.

OP posts:
Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.