Anyone find that citalopram increases headache?

[GlasgowNeil]

Hi I have been on citalopram for years for chronic tension headaches. My dosage was doubled to 40mg about 2 years ago. Has anyone found that it makes headaches worse?

[Paulacg]

No - I'm on a combination of 20mg citalopram and nortryptilline (was 60mg but been down to 5 for a long time) for similar (chronic migraine syndrome) and have found them very good. But 40mg is a big dose and I find that the nortryptilline takes the edge off the whizziness mine causes.

[Emma1024]

Yes. I was on 20 mg for depression for about a year and then had to stop before moving on to new medication. My headaches got a lot better in the weeks after I came off it. It's hard to say, though, if this was a lasting effect. All medications that alter brain chemistry, and esp those to do with serotonin, seem to be implicated in headaches. But the impacts are also very individual so it is a lot of trial and error. I'm now on 900 mg gabapentin which initially have me massive headaches, but they seem to have settled and I now have milder ones than before medication.

[popit]

I've been on 40mgs Citalopram for a few years for depression and it's never made any difference to my migraines xXx

[waanstaan]

Yes I had to stop taking citalopram because of the effect it had on frequency of migraines.

[GlasgowNeil]

Thanks for replies. Need to talk to my GP, again!