MY CITALOPRAM EXPERIENCE
This is my personal experience and my personal opinion and as with all Tourette’s Sufferers my conditions although similar to others are unique to me.
It was decided I would start citalopram to try and stop myself harming.
I started on 20 mg and for the first 3 weeks I had bouts of yawning throughout the day and as I yawned my legs went very weak. I also had confusion and lack of motivation.
My tics were very low also
After the six week period these side effects wore off and I had a noticeable change to my OCD and found I wasn’t as argumentative.
My tics returned to their normal level.
I still had a high sex drive but my ability had been affected, I had trouble maintaining a strong erection and found climaxing harder than before starting the medication and climaxing had less feeling and strength.
No change to self-harm
My self-harming I worked out was not really what the specialists thought
And this is maybe why the citalopram did not work on reducing it.
My self-harming was something else. See link below
tourettes-action.healthunlo...
After 3month I moved up to 30mg the effect on my OCD seemed to be much the same and still no change to self-harm
My ability to get an erection was severely affected and I could not climax at all.
This caused much frustration and had an effect on my relationship.
Self-harming had become worsened as I was going through a bad time with my ex employer.
1 month after starting 30 mg I decided the side effects of citalopram for me outweighed the benefits.
And the fact it did not help self-harming the main reason for starting the meds made up my mind to stop taking them
I spoke to my GP and told her I was stopping citalopram and I was stopping straight away and not weaning
The side effects of stopping were instant
I suffered dizziness and mild brain shocks; these were eased with anti-sickness tablets
My energy levels returned to what seemed better than before.
My copro and tics are a little worse but they were getting progressively worse any how
My sexual function improved in 24hours erections very strong and climax was very easy and enjoyable.
After 2 weeks my OCD back to full strength.
Personally I prefer me without meds to me with meds.
Once again this is my personal experience and my personal opinion.