citalopram

[jollyjune]

My daughter has just been prescribed Citalopram for depression. Can anyone tell me if they are good or bad for RLS.

[SueJohnson]

It can make RLS worse for many. Safe antidepressants are wellbutrin and trazodone.

[jollyjune in reply to SueJohnson]

Hi Sue Johnson. I pass this on to you in case it could help anyone else. I have suffered RLS for many years and in desperation I visited the GP in a suicidal state. I was prescribed co-codamol 4 a day. it was magic but after about a month i began to have pain in my lower bowel which wakes me up every 2 hours, after a hurried visit to the loo and10minutes of walking the room this dissapates then i get another two hours of sleep. So long as I take the cocodamol I dont have the RLS, but miss a couple of tabs and it is back as bad as ever. I am so grateful not to get RLS and am going to have a camera inserted in the bowel sometime in the future to see if there is a problem. I hope you can see some sense in this.

[SueJohnson in reply to jollyjune]

That's certainly no fun! I hope you can find the cause and get it fixed. Have you had your ferritin tested? Improving your ferritin to 100 or more helps 60% of people with RLS and in some cases completely eliminates their symptoms. When you see your doctor ask for a full iron panel. Stop taking any iron supplements including multivitamins that have iron in them 48 hours before the test, fast after midnight and have your test in the morning. When you get the results, ask for your ferritin and transferrin saturation (TSAT) numbers. You want your transferrin saturation to be over 20% but less than 45% and your ferritin to be at least 100. If they are not, post them here and we can give you some advice.

[Munroist]

Co-codamol contains codeine, which is well known to cause constipation, especially if taken for a long period of time. On Wikipedia, the side effects of Co-Codamol include constipation, and less commonly abdominal pain. If you reduce the Co-Codamol, does the pain decrease?

[jollyjune in reply to Munroist]

No the pain does not decrease with less co-codomol and the pain is not in the abdomin it is in the lower back. The co-codomol does nothing for the pain it takes away the RLS, thank goodness.

[PoorRichard]

I used Citalopram for over 15 years. I had periodic bouts with RLS before I knew the connection between SSRI's (typical anti-depressants) and RLS. If the Citalopram is needed, as it was for me, my opinion is that it is worth trying. Anti-depressants usually take a few weeks to be effective. All the SSRI and SNRI meds exacerbate RLS to some degree. At one point I was on both Citalopram and Wellbutrin (for S.A.D.). After coming off Citalopram and later trying Wellbutrin by itself I couldn't tolerate it - too jittery. My RLS went through the roof with low dose Cymbalta. I'm on nothing now. Good luck!