Good days & bad days

[Alice61]

Can anyone tell me if they feel really good one day and think you are finally on the mend, then the next day you feel worse than ever again. I'm on my 3rd week of taking Citalopram and felt sure it should be effective by now. Also does anyone find your anxiety to be worse in the morning. Any replies would be appreciated.

[Roma26]

Yes, just recently had 3 pretty good days thought I was on the mend........then yesterday was a day from hell.  I can even have that swing all I n one day.  Haven't had much luck with meds and cannot stand the weird feeling with Xanax.

[Alice61 in reply to Roma26]

Does it affect your sleeping pattern too, and do you find you improve as the day goes on?

[Roma26 in reply to Alice61]

Does not bother my sleep....asually so exhausted that I crash.  Yes, it seems like I feel more normal later in the day to evening.

[ComposingFear]

I feel you on this, I really do. Many times in the past, I've had a day when everything has magically been 'normal' again, and I feel as though the burden of worry has been lifted - on those days, I seem to float around, get everything done without stress or strain, and fully live again. Until the NEXT day rolls around, and all of the sudden I'm waking up with an already-pounding heart and feeling like the weight of the world is on my shoulders again before I've even had breakfast. 

Chronic, learned anxiety disorders are ever-evolving. Anxiety tries to find everything it possible can take from you, make you doubt, make you afraid of, and like a parasite that knows just where to hurt you most, it latches on there. Those of us who deal with this need to find whatever ways we can to defuse it by realizing the awful, difficult truth - it is really us who is doing it. There is, in reality, no 'other' to anxiety - anxiety disorders are just that - disorders that live in us, because of a multitude of factors, most of which aren't scientifically proven in any way yet (such as the 'chemical imbalance' theory, which is in reality still just that, a theory that has never been proven).

The only thing that HAS been proven about anxiety disorders is the behavioral part - the fact that, due to factors that usually have to do with either how we were raised by our families of origin OR by traumas and/or various types of relationships that formed how we see ourselves and the world, we have unfortunately developed coping skills that aren't healthy to living in a social world. Our fight-or-flight senses are hypersensitive, and our pre-determination of everything that COULD worry us is off the charts, so much so that WE are literally making ourselves sick.

So what to do? If I had the perfect answer, I wouldn't be on boards like this, I wouldn't be in therapy myself, and I wouldn't have a severe anxiety disorder. But believe me, I know what you're going through, and you're not alone. 

[Blorengia]

My experience of taking Citalopram: First week (on 20mg) awful, felt even worse than before I started it. Second week, still rough. Weeks 3 and 4 I felt I'd got back to the level where I was when I started taking it. Weeks 5 and 6, I began to think that maybe it was starting to have a positive effect. Week 7 onwards I was seeing a definite improvement. I think it was at this point that the doc said that she could also tell it was working for me and suggested that I could increase the dose to 30mg. Which I did, going up first to 25 for a couple of weeks then to 30. 

It has worked really well for me but I'm so glad I had read this article (link below) which stresses that you really have to stick with Citalopram for at least a couple of months and, ideally, 6 months to appreciate the full effects of it. The way I felt during those first 3 weeks I was so tempted just to throw them in the bin as I was thinking, "These are awful, they can't be right for me, I feel even worse."

I've now come back down to 20mg/day and all goes well.

Good luck, I hope it helps you.

nomorepanic.co.uk/showthrea...

[Blorengia]

Also... 

Yes, I always found my anxiety was worse through the morning, coming on soon after I woke up, then gradually improving through the afternoon and I felt relatively like my 'normal' self after our evening meal, 7pm onwards.

You might like to try this as your new to taking Citalopram: Keep a sheet of paper and rate your anxiety level every couple of hours throughout the day. I used 1 to 8, where 1 was me being relaxed and feeling OK and 8 was me feeling very very anxious and unable to do much other than sit quietly with a cup of tea, trying to keep the feelings of worry at bay and waiting for it to ease off. 

By doing this I was eventually able to see the numbers gradually getting lower over the weeks.

[rome1977]

Hi Alice I'm Colin when I started having anxiety last year I was always worse in morning sometimes it would pass after few hours or it could last all day I've been on setraline 100mg since last October gradually felt better not had bad attack since just a blip occasionally but I'm never complacent it did take about a month to kick in I was on citalopram various doses had terrible side effects everyone different please don't give up if they don't work get them changed keep the faith xx

[Alice61 in reply to rome1977]

Thank for replying Rome, I have been on Citalopram several years ago so I can cope with them. Had a really bad day yesterday and was not great when I woke this morning, but things are feeling a little better now.....so hopefully I'm on the right road .

[Alice61]

Thanx everyone for your replies...its just reassuring to know that other people experience similar symptoms and comforting to know that you are not alone with this horrible anxiety situation.😳😳

[Roma26]

Yes, it is worse in the morning for me.......might want to check with your doctor.......some meds can have a reverse effect or they don't seem to help.