Citalopram (Celexa) nightmare

I started my citalopram prescription at 8:00 last night and was very hopeful that I'd be a "Celexa success story" like so many others I've read about. Well, that's clearly not to be. I was hoping for no side effects and expecting perhaps mild ones. But they've been terrible!

The jaw clenching and muscle pains started about an hour after I took the pill. Then came the nausea and vomiting. I tried to sleep and started getting non-stop waves of tingling in my chest, and to a lesser extent my legs, which is something I was previously grateful not to have experienced for years. That made me hellaciously dizzy, so not only could I not sleep, I couldn't get out of bed either. Finally dragged my spinny head to the bathroom this morning for an emergency pee, and have since been able to collect a few items to while the day away in bed.

Also thirsty but can't get much water down. I didn't sleep at all! Was on the phone twice with a consulting nurse. First one said to take Benadryl to counteract the citalopram. Second one gave me clearance to take promethegan as an anti-emetic. I slapped a scopolamine patch on my neck all on my own (and they confirmed that was OK too), so I'm basically loaded up now.

The half life of this stuff is 37 hours, and they said it can take FIVE DAYS to leave my system. Really not looking forward to waiting it out. I don't plan to let any more of these pills pass my lips. I know side effects can take a couple of weeks to subside, but this is unusually miserable and no way can I do this for two weeks.

Med fail.

Huh, really? Guess I'm special.

(This is NOT the way in which I'd like to be special....)

Unfortunately this isn't the first medication I've reacted badly to -- even a 1-dose yeast infection pill knocked me for a loop and got me dizzy off and on for weeks. I'm 100% sure my reaction was to this pill, unusual though it may be. When I tried fluoxetine many years ago the side effects were both much, MUCH milder and took longer to come on. It didn't end up being effective anyway.

I'll follow up with my doc during the week. Really glad for the consulting nurse service!

Hi

Sorry to hear you are having side effects of the Citalopram unfortunately that is the down side of AD and you really need to make a personal decision on weather to keep taking them, I would advice that you go back and speak with your doctor about this and see what they say.

Have you ever done any talking therapies such as CBT? It's great for helping you manage your anxiety better and is worth looking into I know a lot of members who have had success with it check out www.moodgym.com. Also look into mindfulness you will find a lot of info on the web and if you type in the search engine top right you will find a post I did on it.

Hibee