Citalopram

Hi
I've been on citalopram for 9 months, firstly taking in the evening which caused me to wake around 2am and not able to go back to sleep. GP advised I take in morning which has proved OK but am still having sleeping problems. eg. i wake 2 to 3 times in the early hours of the morning.
Have discussed with GP who states this is not due to drug !
However, Arrows (the manufacturer) Data sheet actually states if you start suffering from insomnia refer to your GP.
I've only started this problem since taking the drug.
Anyone else have same or similar ?
Appreciate your feedback
Cheers
PG

Hi Peegee,

I was on Citalopram for two years, like you I first took it at night which caused me to wake up a lot, and was then switched to taking it in the morning. Fact remains that antidperessants do mess around witch the chemicals in your brain. I had difficulty staying asleep, but GP said that was more likely to be a symptom of my depression than that it was caused by antidepressants. I found it hard to tell the difference, and couldn't really argue with this point, since i couldnt just go off my meds and see if he was right or i was right. Only way to know if it is caused by your meds is to go off it and see if you still have problems sleeping, but this is inadvisable. Sometimes you just have to take the negative side effects of the drug along with the positive ones. If you're finding the inability to stay asleep very bothersome, I'd suggest talking to your GP about switching meds. If you find you can still function alright, stay with this one.

Hope this helps

Aradhna

I had problems when I took it at night too and now take it in the morning. It still makes me 'fuzzy' headed and Im still putting on weight. I feel constantly tired and have started having heart palpitations again. GP says to keep on taking it ..... but Im not happy - there are days when Im soooo down I feel worse than I did before I went on the tablets.
Oh and yeah I have problems staying asleep at night too, I wake two to three times a night which would probably explain why Im always tired!

Hey there i hav been on these for a while, I take it when i get up with breakfast, and found while on them all i want to do is sleep and find it hard to wake in the mornings. I hav found i hav lost my appetite since being on them.

Gosh, ( and other unprintable words ) I wish I had lost my appetite.. !! Lol

do you find you yawn a lot.. ? I take itin the morning and find I yawn a lot during the day, especially at work. its not so noticeable on the weekends, but then I do get up later and soemtimes I forget to take it wehn I'm not in my usual routine. which leads me to my next question... if you cant remember whether you took it should you take one to be sure?

Wow, here is the Official answer to your Question about missed meds. It is a direct quote from the Medsafe Consumer info sheet on citalopram. Here is the Link - the 'bugger, I forgot to take it' bit is near the bottom of that page

http://www.medsafe.govt.nz/Consumers/cmi/a/arrow-citalopram.htm

"If you forget to take ARROW - CITALOPRAM
If it is almost time for your next dose, skip the dose you missed and take your next dose when you are meant to.

Otherwise, take the missed dose as soon as you remember (if less than 12 hours to the next dose), and then go back to taking your tablets as you would normally.

Do not take a double dose to make up for the dose you missed.

If you are not sure what to do, ask your doctor or pharmacist."

Paddy.

P.S. I call them Prozac Yawns and they come visiting most days, around 4.30pmish. If it were an Olympic Sport, I'd be on the Podium getting a Medal for my yawns.

Ah hah! ... thanks..

prozac yawns indeed... I have been yawning all day.. I'm sure the people at work think I'm rude. I just want to go home and sleeeeep.
so looking forward to the weekend.

i thought that was just me lmao good to no its not just me i find i start yawning after lunch and dont stop drives me nuts

Peegee wrote:Hi
I've been on citalopram for 9 months, firstly taking in the evening which caused me to wake around 2am and not able to go back to sleep. GP advised I take in morning which has proved OK but am still having sleeping problems. eg. i wake 2 to 3 times in the early hours of the morning.
Have discussed with GP who states this is not due to drug !
However, Arrows (the manufacturer) Data sheet actually states if you start suffering from insomnia refer to your GP.
I've only started this problem since taking the drug.
Anyone else have same or similar ?
Appreciate your feedback
Cheers
PG

i had the same thing, i suffered from insomnia too, i took my citalopram in the morning and when i told my dr about it he ended up putting me out quetepel aswell i take a tablet of that at night and it sees me right til morning, its not a sleeping tablet. just another type of anti depressant

I gave myself permission to have a nap on the couch when I got home last night after workk.. it was bliss...

Ive been taking citilapram for 1yr now for OCD, and i find it great.Was tired alot in the first month.I take it at night, and i just have the best full night sleeps ever, infact i take it to make myself go to bed.Never had such a solid nights sleep as on these.I have not taken the pills for upto 1wk at a time before, and the dreams are just soo bad and vivid i wake up really shaken at how disturbing they are

i picked up my script yesterday for my next three months. then completely forgot to take any before bed!.. have taken it this morning instead..

I had a dream last night that i was at a school and there were a bunch of kids that had to be kept amused.. no one had briefed me that I would be responsible for them and i was a bit taken back.. but then i just told the people in charge that I would look after the kids and i made up some game or other.. details of the solution were pretty sketchy..for them to play...

There were men in the dream that I did not know but I was comfortable with them and their conversations were really vivid. but I slept really well and woke up easily in the morning.. thats all I remember.. isn't it strange what happens when you sleep.

now I have my script I just thave to remember to keep taking them!!...

I've been taking the pills from this new packet but I have started to want to not take them because I feel like one of those dogs with the wobbly heads! this happens quite often but on the odd day that I dont take it I dont get that feeling.

is it worth telling the pharmacy that this is happening? no point telling the doctor. he cant do anything can he?

Hah... I posted this and then went looking for puictures of wobbly headed dogs...and found the Weebles..

"weebles wobble but they dont fall down.."..

thats Me!!

I haven't posted in a rather long time, so it doesn't really matter if nobody reads this as it is a bit later than all the other posts in here. I have been taking Citalopram for a while now, I take mine at night just before I go to sleep but I find that I am so tired all the time. Sometimes when I get home from work I just have to go and have a sleep. I am not sure if it is the depression or the pills anymore. I have been back to my doctor and he has sent me for blood tests and maybe review my medication but it sure is hard work and I still have lots of times when I feel so down it's not funny.

oh... dont worry all the posts are read...
I started taking mine at night too.. mainly because i was forgetting to take it in the morning. I think the nighttime thing is better, I am waking more easily at the moment, and thats my big challenge.

I'm sure these things affect everyone differently. Some people on her have tried numerous options before they hit on one that works for them. I was very lucky the first thing I tried worked well.

Good luck with the blood tests etc.

Donna

Thanks Donna,

I appreciate your comments. Yeah I seem to think that taking them at night worked better for me. I don't know what it is though of late my dreams have been really bizaare and I haven't changed my meds or anything. I had a nightmare and woke up the other morning/night (?) and was too scared to go back to sleep.

I often has rather weird, unsual vivid dreams but happily for me they are very thought provoking rather than scary. I would love to know what they all mean as they are so very intense but whatever the message is, it stays just out of reach.

Well I picked up my next script so that must mean I'm going to keep taking them. :-)

i find the dreams reflect things that are happening in my life most often, but oaccasionally i take a message from them... like when I dreamt I was handed a very large pair of togs to wear... in real life I had seen a photo of me at 14 yrs old in a bikini. I dont ever remember wearing one. I got from that that I really have put on too much weight and sh/could do something about it!.

Have also had vivid dreams about children... most recently about being with my daughter... (I have two grown sons) I have always wanted a daughter. I'm hanging out for a grandaughter some time in the next ten years. Then on Saturday I met a 3 year old child that looked just like photos of me at that age. I so wanted to take her home. :-)

ok so none of this is about citaolpram but its been rattling round in my head. Maybe now it will be quiet in there.

Well my dreams have either been quite disturbing or very vivid. And sometimes I can connect them with something that I have watched on telly. It's all rather weird at times.

Hi I take my anti d's at about 5pm so I am not too sedated in the am as they take a while to kick in.

Still doing they yawning thing though, but apparently that goes while we learn to tolerate the drugs.

(about 6 months)

Hi everyone I am new here this is my first post.I have been taking citilopram now for over 10 years.I have had a couple of periods where I have been off it but I will probably be on it for good now.I take mine at night and fortunately dont get any problems probably because my other med knocks me out I tried a lot of different meds before it and it was the only one that helped.Even then I still go through rough periods every now and then but the depression and life in general is more tolerable.I dont dream very much or at least I dont remember them but if I do they always have this sense of clarity thats strange.When i first started taking them though there were nightmares I remember my mother waking me telling me I was screaming and asking if I was okay.But now I hardly ever dream I kind of miss that but yes if I do they are really vivid and clear

Hi it's the best med I have ever been on, I have always been a light sleeper so used to little sleep.

What does happen now and again, about once a month, I wake up in the morning or during the early hours with dread, a horrible feeling, I feel like like I'm drowning in it, the only way I can handle this is to try and snap myself out of it by talking out loud. Does anyone else suffer from this.

Hi everyone, this is my first post .
I started taking citalopram a month ago, and since I had anxiety problems coupled with depression, I found that I was less sad, but the anxiety remained. I've always been a good sleeper, the anxiety happening during the day, but I found citalopram made it worse. I did lose my appetite though, which is good for me I suppose. However, I've changed to Loxamine for the anxiety. I haven't noticed my dreams changing; they've always been vivid and weird.

Christine - I know exactly what you mean, except in the form of panic, and it's almost impossible to calm myself.

Hi - dread and anxiety, yes both of these for me. I have ben on citalopram for a year now and for me it is working well.

That feeling of dread was part of my depression and I woke up with it most mornings with things getting gradually worse until I just did not get out of bed. Once on the tablets the feeling has gradually diminished and I cope now by having rearranged my day so I start work at 9 instead of 8, so that the rest of the family are around, and if it particularly bad I just concentrate on one thing at a time - get up, shower, breakfast etc trying not to think ahead or it will all overwhelm me.

I think this is the first time I have heard anybody else mention this feeling . . .

The panic attacks were a surprise for me, appearing once i had started on the citalopram but I think they were always there underneath and by removing the overlying depression they have become more apparent. It always the mornings again and now that I recognize the feeling I just try to accept it and get on with things anyway - I look upon the panicky feeling as "stage fright" before I go out and meet life and this seems to help me, but then my attacks are mild I think because I am not totally paralyzed by them . . .

peter

Overwhelming dread sounds like an anxiety attack to me. I don't think 'anxiety attack' is an official term, but it's like that feeling you get before a full blown panic attack, accept it lasts for ages.

Panic attacks leave me shattered, luckily I know what triggers them so can avoid that.