[Z.]

Originally Posted by Amatus

Good luck on the Citalopram JZ. It worked wonders for my mother.

Originally Posted by Appear

JZ, I've been on Citalopram on just over a year, and I've found it really helpful for anxiety. They say it can take up to 4-6 weeks before you start to feel the benefits though - as was the case with me - so if you can, try to ride it out until then. Hope it's helpful to you.

Thanks It's good to have this support on here. Good to know that Citalopram has worked well.

Originally Posted by Mrs I Love My Cats

I don't want this to sound patronising, but when I was off sick and having to stand in queues to pick up my meds and speak to professionals who knew my diagnosis, I was utterly ashamed of myself. However, I have worked for a bit in Mental Health Services and have come to realise that having anxiety and depression is far more common than anyone realises - I think someone quoted a statistic at me that between 1 in 3 and 1 in 4 appointments with a GP involve mental health, which is quite staggering. If its any comfort, you'll probably be one of dozens of people that they will see on that day with a similar diagnosis.

I've heard that statistic as well and it's quite surprising how often GP's are faced with mental health problems, but it shouldn't be surprising I guess seen as though how prevalent mental health problems are. Thanks for the support.

Originally Posted by Muggins

Hi JzMunch
Just spotted this post I wanted to mention that Citalopram was one of the few anti depressants I've tried (out of a long list!) that managed to lift me out of a major depressive episode some years back. The first few weeks were difficult because of certain side effects but once these wore off and the beneficial effects took over I suddenly realised how distorted and negative my peception of everything around me had become. Anxiety wise the effects were much more subtle (unfortunately there is no quick fix ) but the fact that I felt more motivated meant that I was able to confront the SA head on. At the time I had a very young child and had to interact with lots of people and enter situations I would normally have avoided like the plague. After 7 years the Citalopram stopped helping the Depression and I had to recently switch to something different but Id definitely tell anyone to give it a go if they have reached the point where they feel they have noting to lose.
It's sad that your GP didn't seem to have much of an understanding when it comes to mental health issues. With the much greater awareness of SA and particularly OCD I assumed that most people realised that OCD wasn't only about fearing germs and relentless hand washing. Hopefully you will be able to transfer to a GP who has a better knowledge when it comes to Mental Health. I had to see a GP yesterday about physical issues and she barely spent 2 minutes with me, just scribbled out a prescription and said she would be referring me to someone else. I guess in all fields of medicine you get the great GP's and the ones that show little understanding or warmth :smash

Good to know that you had a good experience with Citalopram. Hope you found a good substitute when the effects started to fade. It doesn't bother me that much that he wasn't that understanding now that I think about it, because I know lots of people have gone through this and easily found a GP that was understanding and got help from that point. I know this first step towards improvement could have been better, but at least he's got me off to a start as well. The fact that he sent me for a blood test might indicate that he sort of had doubts in his own opinion as well perhaps. Thanks for the support Muggins