Citalopram

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Yesterday I was prescribed this by my doctor to treat anxiety and I hadn't heard of it before.

Has anyone else here ever been prescribed this drug?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citalopram

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Did nothing except give me the most intense dreams and make me lose interest in my interests: I just sat around involved with nothing, and not bothered by it too much either.

I was given it for anxiety and I took it for about a month and a half and it made me feel very physically sick, it did not stop my anxiety but I felt much better when i stopped as i was no longer sick so it did help in making me grateful to not be sick lol.

when you stop taking it cut your dose down slowly, have one tablet for a few days then half for a few days then a quarter for a few days, that way you wont get with drawl symptoms.

I was also prescribed for anxiety. It didn't work for me. I felt slight nausea all the time, and quite severe nausea an hour after I took it. And also the vivid dreams made my sleeping even worse than it already was (if that is even possible). I too didn't realize how bad it was making me feel until I stopped taking it.

Remember though that everyone is different and also that it can only take a slight change in type of med to find one that may work. Haha, that's what I'm trying to remind myself at the moment because I am having no luck at all.

Similar story here. It was prescribed for, or rather against, depression and anxiety.

It didn't make me feel outright sick, but sort of slightly nauseous, gave me loss of appetite and made me pretty hyper.

I also had trouble sleeping and on citalopram this got A LOT worse. (edit: insomnia, rather than the vivid dreams others are describing)

In short, this drug made me feel worse than the two conditions it was originally prescribed for.

I went back to the doctor and got prescribed a more "old fashioned" antidepressant that I take a couple of hours before bedtime and it promotes sleep (or at least doesn't hinder it) and has really helped me (active ingredient: dosulepin hydrochloride.)

I tried it for about 9 months and it didn't really help. I didn't really have anyone to talk to at the time about whether it should have been helping more so I didn't try something else for a long time after that.

Yes, and I'm starting to even bore myself by repeating this so much around here but it is an evil drug:

Nausea, lethargy, drowsiness, vivid dreams, sexual dysfunction, laughing and crying uncontrollably, increased aggression, dizziness and "brain zaps".

Probably did even more bad things I haven't thought of like cause world poverty.

I'm so sorry you were prescribed citalopram.

Oh God yes, the "brain zaps". How could I forget those?
Like a flashgun going off inside your head and you'd swear your brain physically twitched...

I also didn't have a good time on the stuff. I'm actually quite surprised how often people bring it up on here. It's not often discussed in a positive light either.

I was prescribed it three or four years ago. It didn't do anything bad to me, but it also didn't do _anything_ to me (like relieving my depression (what it was prescribed for) OR anxiety.

I went back to my old reliable Zoloft/Pamelor combination. It's not perfect, but the best I've tried. And Zoloft is an SSRI.

For my panic attacks I get Xanax (generic name alprazolam or something like that: Xanax is easier for me to remember.) Works well, as long as they're infrequent (It's supposed to be addictive: hasn't hooked me yet)

You might get bad withdrawals if you stop.

No doctor worth his salt should allow you to just stop: it's essential the dose is slowly tapered off - and even then there are sometimes effects.

I've been on it for 9 months. It has messed my stomach up, made me sleep for only 3 hours at a time and it has given me the worst dreams. I went on it for a year a while back and it had the same effect. This time I've had to increase the dose to 40mg. It has done the job wrt depression, though. As bad as it is, I have severe depression, so the side-effects are worth it for me. I'm going to get switched the mirtazapine in a couple of months, though.

I've been on it for about two months. No problems with it, not sure it's any better than Zoloft for the depression.

~Kate

Yes, I got off it and went on meditation instead.

It made me stop caring about stuff. It gave me a kind of blunted experience, like all the corners of my experience (good and bad) had been completely squared off, and all the soul had been sucked from the world.

Interesting, but certainly not wonderful.

Oh yeah, I also had sexual dysfunction, I don't want to go into details here, but perhaps plan on doubling any time usually needed for sexual activities.