Citalopram Experience - Any Advice?

[WorriedPartner]

To anyone reading this and experiencing severe shaking - my GP said it's not a normal side effect of Citalopram.
If you are taking any other medications such as antihistamines for allergy or for sleep, they could be the ones causing it.
When my partner stopped taking the antihistamines he's been prescribed, his twitches and shaking stopped!
Talk to your GP to try to understand the situation better.

 

[lil_fighter]

I first went on Citalopram five years ago, I can't remember the side effects from back then when I started, apart from a sudden alert feeling instead of the groggy depressing feeling I was living with. I came off the Citalopram two and a half months ago after five years on it because I felt better and my life was on track. Then suddenly things fell apart one by one, all out of my control and totally unexpected. I coped for a while but then that nasty depressive feeling from years ago came back again.

I have just started Citalopram (20mg) again for the second time. Today is the third day and the side effects were really weird at first. I couldn't sleep at all and felt really anxious and alert. I kept shaking. I felt like my eyes were popping out of my head :wideeyed: and I was super hyper. It was so weird because lately with the depression, I have felt so low and numb. This was a total turn around and it was a bit scary at first. After about 12 hours, I could feel myself calming down ever so slightly and I was finally able to sleep (for two hours) but when I did wake up, I woke up shaking.. The second day, I felt alert but not as much, the shaking was still happening but not as intense. Today, it seems to have settled which is a relief because it was quite overwhelming. I am looking forward to sleeping tonight as I didn't sleep at all last night. It seems that the Citalopram hit me suddenly on the first day and it was like being swept up by a tornado, then as the days have gone by it has gradually settled.

Something else that is different this time though, the nausea. I have been feeling sick all day today and yesterday. Has the shaking stopped now and are you feeling any better?

 

[ladee]

I have been on citalopram for over six years. Don't remember any side effects. Take 60mg daily. Max dose. The only thing I notice is an 'echoing feeling' in my head if I forget to take it. Only way I can describe it.
I have been very lucky. Finding the right meds can be so hard.
Hope you hang in there to see if it works.

 

[garden]

I started with Citalopram and got up to 20mg. It was helpful for depression but I felt strange and not like myself all the time, like I was someone else with that drug, but when I had to switch to another doctor she seemed to think I was still too down and not social enough and said she wanted to switch me to Lexapro at 20mg. This made me very anxious. I didn't feel like myself even worse than when I was on Citalopram and I trembled a lot and needed to take Ativan for the anxiety. I started cutting my pills and gradually weaning myself off all meds. They were helpful for depression, but caused other problems. I don't feel depressed anymore, not in a life threatening way at least. I gained 14lbs while on meds and my food intake and activity levels were no different from before medication. The weight melted off in the weeks after being completely medication free. I did feel tremors and some pins and needles would sometimes sweep through my limbs outward away from my body, and that was unsettling. Muscle pain has always been normal for me since childhood, but while on the Citalopram and Ativan I experienced a slight reduction in muscle pain. I hope that you find your medication and dose soon, and when you do, you end up getting some inner work done. I just couldn't continue to feel like someone else, it is very unsettling, and confusing at times, but I did learn good things from getting on meds for a time.