Citalopram increaced, anxiety worse

[Dankeenan]

So I've just increased my citalopram from 20mg, one week on 30mg and now day 2 on 40mg and my anxiety is through the roof! Is this normal? I have diazipam but too afraid to take it as somone told me it would make my depression worse

[Hidden]

Gees I'm on 40 mg. doesn't do that to me..I'd call your Dr. you shouldn't be feeling this way. I wish you all the best. Let me know how you make out?

Dump trucks of love, peace, light, joy & hugs!!!

[Dankeenan in reply to Hidden]

Thank you x ill ring them now x I heard it can make anxiety worse but wasn't too sure.

[Hidden in reply to Dankeenan]

It helps mine yet everyone reacts differently..good you're calling!

Dump truck sof love, peace, light, joy & hugs!!!

[Dankeenan in reply to Hidden]

Thank you x

[Hidden in reply to Dankeenan]

It's my pleasure...May you have a beautiful day....and you feel peace soon! Let me know how you make out..if you want! Dump trucks of love, ,light, joy & hugs!!!

[Dankeenan in reply to Hidden]

Thank you so much I really appreciate it! That's really sweet of you x hope you have a wonderful day too ❤️❤️

[Hidden in reply to Dankeenan]

Here's some joy...run with it!

Dump trucks of love , peace, light & hugs!!!

[Dankeenan in reply to Hidden]

I'll be honest x your happiness and how upbeat you are made me smile for the first time in weeks so thank you so much ❤️❤️

[Hidden in reply to Dankeenan]

When growing up my mom taught me a wonderful lesson..positive breeds positive as negative breeds negative...30 years ago 3 hours before she passed the last words I heard her say...I'm going to beat this thing..the way I look at it...she did!

Aw that makes me so happy you had a smile....keep thinking of happy things. I'd love to get to know you better!

May rays of sunshine follow you throughout your day!

Dump trucks of love, peace, light, joy & hugs!!!

[Dankeenan in reply to Hidden]

That is so sweet bless her! That's a really good way to look at the world x it's hard to be positive at the minute with my mental health bit if and when I come out the over side of this I think I'm going to practice what your mom taught you x thank you so much! X

[Hidden in reply to Dankeenan]

Once again my pleasure..remember how powerful your brain is...feed it as much positive as possible. The battle is so worth it..there's only one you..makes you very special! Best to you!

Dump trucks of love,peace, light, joy & hugs!

[Dankeenan in reply to Hidden]

❤️❤️❤️

[Sober2007]

Hi Dankeenan: Sorry to hear your anxiety is up. I used to take Citalopram and didn't notice an increase in anxiety, but I only took 20mg. I have experienced an increase in anxiety when going through other medication changes though. I would suggest talking to your doctor about it if it continues. Wishing you the best.

[Dankeenan in reply to Sober2007]

Thank you for replying. It's strange because a year ago when I upped my citalopram to 30mg I didn't have any side effects then the doc dropped me back down to 20mg and it seemed to stop being effective but this time round my anxiety is through the roof. X

[Sober2007 in reply to Dankeenan]

I hope you feel better very soon!

[Dankeenan in reply to Sober2007]

Thank you x me too!

[Jeff1943]

Dankeenan, don't quite understand your post. Citalopram takes 4 to 6 weeks to become effective. States this clearly on the notes that accompany each prescription.

You've increased the dose from 20mg to 30mg for one week and from 30mg for 2 days and you say your anxiety is bad and is that normal? You have to wait another 5 weeks for the 30mg dose to fully benefit you and almost 6 weeks before the 40mg dose benefits you according to the notes

.

Presumably your anxiety has been increasing - that's why you increased the dose. And that's why your anxiety is still rising, it's another 5 weeks before you get any relief from your increased anxiety.

Diazepam on the other hand gives instant relief from anxiety and consequently the depression that comes out of anxiety. I took Diazepam daily for over a year and it continued to be effective during that time and completely free from side effects.

Sure, when I decided to come off it I had to taper down the dosage over several weeks - exactly as you do with most psycho-active drugs. I don't understand what all the demonisation and fuss about valium is for.

[Dankeenan in reply to Jeff1943]

Thank you for replying I really appreciate it. I take citalopram for anxiety and depression. The doc wanted to increase my dose up to 40mg so suggested I increase to 30mg for one week then up to 40mg. The past 2 days since upping my dose of citalopram to 40mg my anxiety has gone through the roof. I just wasn't sure that if increasing the dose would have made my anxiety worse because a lot of people said it shouldn't. Thank you for replying. I was going to ask to get some diazipam to take the edge off but somone told me online not too as it would make me feel more depressed. So I was worried about taking it. Also my doc just rang me and said I should go back down to 30mg if my anxiety is bad so I'm not sure what to do now!

[Jeff1943 in reply to Dankeenan]

To recap, I think you were expecting the increased dosage from 20mg to 40mg to benefit you too soon. As mentioned it takes up to 4 to 6 weeks to get the benefit of Citalopram so we have to presume it takes the same amount of time to benefit from the increase from 20mg to 30mg.

I think your anxiety is going up because it was going up anyway not because you increased the dosage of Citalopram. So I would do exactly as your doctor says and wait for the extra dosage to become effective.

I have never heard of diazepam/ valium causing depression. A lot of depression is caused because we become depressed about our anxiety disorder - or the reasons that are causing our anxiety disorder. By temporarily relieving the anxiety diazepam also relieves the depression: that is my experience anyway. I think diazepam has been unfairly demonised as 'addictive'. But any medication that is highly effective is 'addictive', a victim of its own success. Nobody talks about becoming addictive to statins or blood pressure tablets, it's only poor old diazepam that gets singled out. So I think your idea of asking your doctor for a small prescription of diazepam to tide you over is a good idea. Ask for 5mg diazepam and break them in half, that should be sufficient.

Have you thought about investigating self help methods for dealing with anxiety? The one I'm always going on about is the Acceptance method devised by Doctor Claire Weekes many years ago in her first book titled 'Self help for your nerves' in the u.k. and 'Hope and help for your nerves' in the u.s., both available new or used from Amazon. Made a huge difference to my life and thousands of others over the years.

[Dankeenan in reply to Jeff1943]

Thank you so much for replying again. I have been looking at some self help for my anxiety so I'll definitely have a look at what you suggested. I think I'm just worried that the increase in my citalopram won't work because was doing great on 20mg for about 4 years with no problems then it just seemed to stop working. So I really hope increasing the dose will help. Well I'm definitely going to try some diazipam to help take the edge off for a while untill my tablets settle in. Thank you for helping me out I really appreciate it!

[soupybp in reply to Dankeenan]

You should do what your doctor recommended.

Some people cannot tolerate increasing that quickly. Staying at the 30mg for a longer period to allow your system to adjust is reasonable. It is also possible that after that increasing to 35mg for a period and then later to 40mg may be good. It is possible that 30mg might be a dandy dose for you. My daughter is of this type - she must increase meds VERY slowly and often needs a lower than "typical" dose.

Yes, indeed, for some mental health conditions diazepam (and other benzodiazepines) can worsen depression and should be used sparingly, if at all. This is not the case for everyone, but it is for some. My husband definitely falls into this category. He now avoids benzodiazepines unless he is having an extreme situation that isn't responding to other medications and uses hydroxyzine as his regular day-to-day medication.

[Dankeenan in reply to soupybp]

Thank you for replying x I appreciate the support x well I did up them to 30mg about 6 months ago on doctors orders as I seemed to have a bit of a setback and they worked fine for about 6 months and then seemed to poop out so instead of going up to 40mg the (different doctor) said to introduce mirtazipine. And go back down to 20mg of citalopram so I was on 30mg of mirtazapine for about 8 weeks and felt horrific so had to wean myself off and then try upping the citalopram again...... Pain in the ass lol. I really hope 40mg works! Thanks for the advise on the diazipam too. I wonder why it can make depression worse?