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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

SSRI's (specifically citalopram)

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riptaz

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Apr 30, 2011
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Hi,

My doctor recently gave me a script for citalopram for anxiety and mild depression. I've now been taking it for 9 weeks and feel no difference at all. Has anyone else had little to no benefit from this drug? Does anybody know what else I could ask my doctor for as I intend to speak to him tomorrow. Tramadol is the only thing that seems to reduce the anxiety but that is obviously for pain releif so he won't prescribe me that for depression and anxiety. Are there any other forms of anti depresants other than SSRI's?

Thanks
 
There are SNRIs (Selective Serotonin Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors) as well as NDRIs (Norepinepinephrine Dopamine Reuptake Inhibitors) that are prescribed as antidepressants. Your doctor is likley to be willing to prescribe you a drug in one of these classes to treat your anxiety and depression. Best of luck to you; I feel your pain.
 
riptaz said:
Hi,

My doctor recently gave me a script for citalopram for anxiety and mild depression. I've now been taking it for 9 weeks and feel no difference at all. Has anyone else had little to no benefit from this drug? Does anybody know what else I could ask my doctor for as I intend to speak to him tomorrow. Tramadol is the only thing that seems to reduce the anxiety but that is obviously for pain releif so he won't prescribe me that for depression and anxiety. Are there any other forms of anti depresants other than SSRI's?

Thanks
Click to expand...
My doctor prescribed me 20mg Citalopram per day which didnt help at all so after 5/6 weeks she changed the script to Sertraline 100mg per day (another SSRI) because she said it was meabt to be particulary good for anxiety, ive now been on this for around 5/6 weeks.

But in my stupidity for the majority of that (probably 4-5 weeks) ive been heavily using benzos on a daily basis so my doc is unsure which is helping the anxiety, i have a strong feeling the Sertraline is not working because i still have severe anxiety issues even with the heavy daily benzo use. :|

As for anti-depressants there are literally hundreds, SSRI'S, SNRI'S, TCA'S, TECA'S, MAOI'S and many more.

Here you go - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_antidepressants

Good luck ;)
 
Remember Antidepressants are less than .5 percent effective. You need to make lifestyle changes or you aren't going to get any better. Not only will you feel disappointed, you will also realize they only MIGHT soften the blow of your depression so you can deal with it. The other side is they will make you even worse than before.
 
I took citalopram for a while, and other than making me kinda manic at times and totally unable to drink alcohol (used to be able to drink a lot for my size especially and all of a sudden two beers and I spent a day throwing up, every time) but I noticed it helped a bit. The sexual side effects have never subsided after a year of not taking it (few months of nothing, lamotrigene (lamictal) for a while but now just lorazepam.) The doctor might try an SNRI next...these drugs are more serious than the general public lead to believe, but they can still do their jobs, and I feel like on drug boards people are quick to shit on non-recreational brain chemistry altering drugs, and that's not always the case.

Just remember, make sure you and your doctor understand that any benefits definitely outweigh the risks, I've switched meds of various kinds for lack of that reason.
 
Overall, I think that's some great advice, jay but do you have any sources to back up that figure?
 
I couldnt even take Citalopram.

I thought it took on average 21 days for it to start kicking in?

I had to stop at 14 days so i wouldnt know, Terrible side effects, even 1 brief 4 minute body dissassociation experience (scary kind not like anything else before)
 
ok thanks for all your advise guys im seening the doc today at 5:20 so ill let you all know what he says.

Tramadol is the only thing that seems to take away the negitive feelings but he obviously wont prescribe pain meds for anxiety lol.
 
Tramadol has some antidepressant activity too, it's a SNRI which is the same class as venlafaxine (the one I am on).

Antidepressants have their place. I need them to enable me to make the lifestyle changes etc needed to pull myself out of depression. Have stopped and started enough times to prove to myself that this is true. They are certainly not a magic pill, however.
 
i find it hard to believe serotonin is the main chemical involved in depression and anxiety. you should look into norepinephrine and epinephrine inhibitors (clonidine)
 
I currently take codeine (60 - 100mgs a day), dihydrocodeine (90 - 300 mgs a day), tramadol (400mgs a day) and diazepam ( 15 - 20mgs a day).

All this just to feel normal. Do you think I am do my body any serious harm by doing all these meds? been doing it for about a year now.
 
I went ahead and added "citalopram" to the title of your thread, OP, for easier searching in the future. If you have any questions about that, feel free to shoot me a PM.
 
^^ not really but i wouldn't stop them abruptly. I'd love to be on that combo of meds. I'm not far off, i take valium and codeine daily. I wish i could get prescribed tramadol for depression/anxiety, although extra norepinephrine in my body wouldn't help with my anxiety.

AFAIK, citolopram and escitilopram start to work in less time than other SSRI's, after 7-10 days IIRC. I felt a difference after 14 days but it made me feel kind of manic and weird, and couldn't drink/trip without feeling strange and worried, that and the sexual side effects made me quit (didn't help anxiety either which was why i was taking it). My dr recommended that I take citolopram along with welbutrin to avoid the sexual side effects, knowing fully well that I have serious anxiety rather than depression. The welbutrin would increase my anxiety. I'm not sure why he thinks high doses of both would be effective, sometimes i want to punch him.

Personally i'd prefer just to use low dose benzos and codeine/kratom, although dependency sucks, so does SSRI dependency. I never understood why Drs think it's fine to be stuck on SSRI's for life rather than opiates/benzos, at least with opiates and benzos my quality of life would be better and i know benzo/opiate therapy might not be sustainable, but there's a lack of solid evidence either way and SSRIs just don't work for many people. My doctor wanted to start me on citolopram again, add in welbutrin later and zoloft if things still weren't working, how is that any better (health wise) than taking 10mg of valium/day along with codeine/kratom for depression? /rant
 
Citolpram - made me suicidal and caused hallucinations, really not a pretty , the physical nausea paled into insignificance compared to the rest of the side effects.

Lofepramine – really bad dreams and I'm not normally bothered by such things, that and circulation problems, very cold feet and hands as well as making me really apathetic,
Chlorpromazine - Added whilst on Lofepramine -= made me non functional zombie

Prozac - Just made me throw up violently on first use

Sertraline - Seemed OK for a few weeks albeit made me feel very emotionally compressed then I had some internal bleeding which required a hospital visit so it was ceased.
-
Mirtazapine - Made my derealisation much worse, ended up having a car accident.

Just started on Venlafaxine – so far so good as far as side effects go, a bit of nausea and headache – but the does is just starting to be ramped up so we will see


There are so many ADs out there, the doctors keep telling me I just have to find the right one, I’ve tried not taking any but and am getting CBT but at the moment I’m going for the double sided attack !
 
This tells me that you probably have stable serotonin , your problem with depression is nothing to do with serotonin ^
 
Yeah I'd kind of agree although its difficult to say as it was the side effects of the drugs, I was'nt on and SSRI long enough to really make that judgment and I've not seen any medical evidence that suggests that side effects from SSRIs mean you have enough serotonin and therefore suffer the side effects....be interested if you have .

With the Citilopram the sode effects wrere severe within 2-3 days.

It was a bit of a disappointment because I estimate I've done over 500 doses of MDMA in my life so by many theories should have a serotonin issue.

The Venlafaxine also acts on Norepinephrine (hence it being an SNRI) and to be fair to the meds the Lofepramine is a tri-clyclic, I'm just a bit of a medical curiosity at the moment;) in fact have been for many years, it took them 10 years to work out how to treat a skin condition i had !
 
Psychedelic Jay said:
Remember Antidepressants are less than .5 percent effective. You need to make lifestyle changes or you aren't going to get any better. Not only will you feel disappointed, you will also realize they only MIGHT soften the blow of your depression so you can deal with it. The other side is they will make you even worse than before.
Click to expand...


^^^^^^^^^^^^

100% correct. Dont rely on crappy SSRI's, imo, they are junk but for some reason (money) the pharm companies push them.
 
I personally find Mirtazapine and Trazodone intriguing because they seem to have really high success rates and, for me personally, a side effects profile that I find more acceptable than that of SSRIs, SNRIs, etc. May just want to look into them, you kinda know right away if they're right for you or not from reading up quickly. If you're having trouble with energy and getting out of bed, these aren't for you, but if you more just want to feel relaxed and happier, then they may be up your alley.
 
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