Bad reaction to meds
A week ago Tuesday my GP put me on Citalopram (generic version of Celexa). I immediately started feeling nauseous and anxious. On Thursday I called the nurse because it was so bad. She told me to try to ride it out that those were normal side affects and they would go away within a week or two. Thursday night I felt better so decided to keep taking it. Friday morning the bad feelings all returned. I talked to a pharmacist to see if there was anything I could do for the nausea because I could barely eat. She said I could try taking Dramamine. It helped for the first night but then did not seem to make any difference. Sun I could not handle it anymore and talked to another pharmacist to make sure it was ok to stop taking it and to see how long afterwards that I would continue to feel bad. He said I would be fine going off it since I had only been on it for a few days and that I should feel better by the next day. He said I should call my doctor on Tuesday and let her know what was going on. I called my doctor and they gave me some medicine for the nausea and xanax for the anxiety. Sadly the effects just seem ot get worse instead of better. I still cannot eat much and neither medication seems to be doing what it is supposed to. I am a mess. I am so anxious I am afraid to be alone and I am constantly sick to my stomach. This mornign I took a xanax before work but still broke down and cried. My therapist is afraid that there might be something physically wrong and has suggested that if the effects are not gone by monday that I make an appt wit hmy GP to be thouroughly checked out. I feel so very scared and so very alone.
Replies
Somtimes, it does take awhile to physically adjust to meds like Citalopram. However, I experienced much the same thing awhile back with Lexapro, and simply couldn\'t take it anymore. I backed myself down from the dosage, and quit taking it. Voila - physical symptoms gone. I asked my doc to try something else, and he did, with much better results (both for the depression and physical symptoms).
The bottom line is, I don\'t think any health care provider should be asking you to stick with a medication if it\'s causing you physical distress after a reasonable adjustment period (perhaps a week or two at most). If you had no physical symptoms before going on the meds, I\'m not sure why your therapist would suggest that there\'s something physically wrong without backing you off the meds first.
Zadatz,
Sorry if it sounds like that. Actually even though they suggested I try to stay on it for the week, when I said I could not handle it they were very supportive in getting me help to handle the effects and my therapist recommended another type of med but suggested that I wait until I was sure that the effects of the last one were gone. It was after I went off the meds and was still feeling so bad that my thereapist was concerned that there might be more to it then just a reaction to the citalopram.
I think sometimes when we wait so long to get help we are really down on the rock bottom and then when we take meds it adds to all our anxiety symptoms. I know for me I fought taking them in the first place lol, then I started feeling weirder and more anxious and pretty soon I wasnt sure what were side effects and what was anxiety!!! But it all eventually passed once I was 3 weeks into meds...I just rode it out. I also took an ativan here and there to take the edge off.