Starting Back On Citalopram, Support Needed

Hi :)

I took 20 mg. of citalopram from 2006 until this past fall of 2014, for lingering postpartum/anxiety/insomnia. The drug worked wonders for me and I was afraid to come off of it until last year. Insomnia is something I'm terrified of, due to my experience with it.

We had a difficult winter, I am a single mom, who does not love her work (I work part time cleaning houses in order to keep a flexible schedule for my daughter) but it has it's pros and I don't know what else interests me for work at the moment. Then I had a month of very stressful circumstances, one after another, which resulted in some anxiety/adrenalin/chest pain (ekg ruled out any problems). My doctor suggested I go back on citalopram and asked if I had a problem with it. I'd been feeling down as well so I was prepared to try it again. We thought we would try 10mg to begin with (starting at 5mg initially).

I started with 5mg the first dose which resulted in extreme heightened anxiety. I cut it further to 2.5 with my doctor's consent and remained at that dose for another week. The heightened anxiety dissipated. I had other symptoms as expected-- drowsiness, a little trouble sleeping (on and off), waves of mild anxiety or depression, feeling drugged. The usual. I increased it back to 5mg for four days. This went fairly well. I had a few waves of calmness, peacefulness, and lessened depression. Was managing fine, so I increased my dose to 10mg two days ago, now that I've had it in my system for 1.5 weeks. I was very tired after the first dose, although it's already slightly better today. But today I am feeling extreme depression. Not suicidal, but about as low as you can go otherwise. I know this is the medication playing tricks while I adjust. I am just looking for support. I also have read that sometimes a drug which once worked for you may not work a second time. This adds to my feeling depressed (when depressed) because of the whole wait-and-see approach with these types of meds (not that it can be avoided).

I miss the person I normally am. I am feeling like I'm not being a good parent, no enthusiasm for my life, and that what's-the-point attitude that has creeped in. It is especially difficult for someone like me, a single parent-- I have no partner to fall back on if I am not able to feel I can deal with dinner, etc., and working for myself I can't just "call in sick" and still get paid. I have to work to make ends meet.

Words of encouragement much needed and greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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Hello, Kristen! How are you doing? Are things any better, yet?

I understand what you're going through. These types of issues are very common, but in most cases, if a medication is causing you anxiety and some depression as a side effect, upon starting it, that means that it's going to work for you. This is not a guarantee, because it has not always held true, but in most cases, it does apply.

I take Prozac for perimenopause symptoms and had very similar issues for the first 3 weeks, anytime we raised my dosage. Once the peak of annoyance hits, I always know that I will be turning the corner and feeling better soon.

Other side effects to Citalopram, as listed by the FDA, may possibly include dizziness, dry mouth and weight changes.

How is your daughter doing? Kudos for working so hard to take good care of her, that shows me that you're a great mom!

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Hi Verwon, thanks for the reply! It's been awful actually. I spent Saturday through Monday just in bed, and half of Tuesday. This was due to insomnia. I'm now taking Benadryl to get more rest. But things follow a definite pattern of a terrible morning where I can't function followed by an alleviation of those depressed feelings from about mid day slowly onward. At the end of the day, dinnertime, I feel the least depressed or not at all, although my head still feels quite spacey and drugged. But I get some motivation back and am able to do things around here.

My daughter's been staying with a friend and my mother is coming from out of state to help for a week. I'm just sticking with 10mg until these side effects go away. At this point I am at 3 weeks total on the meds, with 10 days on 10mg. I should expect the side effects to alleviate soon I'd think but ??

I have a doctor's appointment in one week at which time it will have been one month. If I am still feeling this way I plan to tell them I do not think these meds are working and cannot do my job like this or parent my child.

I also have a call in to a therapist, who was on the phone with me at length getting information and was told it shouldn't be 'too long' before they can see me. A week, a month, not sure but not longer than that according to their estimates. I will feel better when a therapist is handling my meds.

I'm still not sure I needed them entirely based on what I'd been experiencing but I've gotten this far. I hope you are right about side effects pointing to effectiveness of the drug. That would be nice.

Thanks again for replying. It is reassuring.

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I'm sorry that you're so miserable! I know you have some cessation in the evenings, but it's still terrible to feel that way most of the day.

I've usually found the side effects to hit a peak around day 21, then slowly start to improve.

Have you had any change, yet?

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Actually yes, things are better at this time. I'm at about the 5 week mark (tomorrow). Most of the side effects have disappeared including the huge depression and all the spacey/drugged feeling. Mostly now the insomnia is still causing problems, but it's slightly better. I've gone from sleeping only a couple hours for a few nights (and spent 4 days in bed just trying to sleep), to, at this point sleeping between 4 - 6 hours. I'm using Benadryl, and clonazepam, alternating with some nights taking nothing, to try to aid my sleep some. I'm not having any problems falling asleep at this point, it's waking between 2 and 4 am and sometimes not getting back to sleep. I think with time it will sort itself out, but meanwhile I just take each day at a time. I'm able to work getting this amount of sleep even if I feel muzzy headed and horrid from lack of sleep on the leaner days. I seem to have a couple bad nights, followed by a better night. In general it's slowly stretching longer.

My motivation is coming back too and I'm exercising most days which I hope helps the sleep issue.

Thank you for checking in on me!

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Your very welcome!

I forgot to tell you about that, actually.

These medications can cause REM onset latency, which means you don't enter the REM sleep stage as soon and aren't in it as long as usual. That means you wake up easily and falling back to sleep can be difficult.

However, the good news is that this too shall pass! LOL I go through any time we adjust my Prozac dose, but it always gets better.

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You are not a bad mother!!! I raised 3 children when I had no medication in me. You will pull through. As I said I was on Celexa for over 20 years. Did you try to go up on your dosage? Ask your dr. I had to increase my dose 3 times in the 20 years. Hope this helps. Don;t give up!!!!!

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