Hi folks have any of you take Citalopram to alleviate menopausal symptoms ? If so when did you find best time to take them eg. Morning evening?
Cheers
Magda
Hi Magda.
I am taking 10 mg to help with severe hot flushes. I wasn’t too keen at first but it is working well now. (8 weeks on) The hot flushes have been replaced with a weird prickly sensation. I’m feeling much less tired now I am sleeping properly. I always take mine in the morning with the tamox so I don’t forget. I’m not sure if it makes a difference when you take them. I will be interested to know what others think. 
x
I’ve been taking 10mg for hot flushes since last summer. I take it in the morning. It seemed to work really well for several months, but the hot flushes have started to creep back in. However I will finish my five years of tamoxifen this October so hopefully the citalopram will keep me sane till then.
Citalopram has a long life in the body so once youv’e been on it for a week or so you reach “steady state” and although there will be slight fluctuations in theory it won’t matter when you take them as those fluctuations will still always be above the effective level (assuming the dose you are on is effective for you).
Some people report benefits due to switching the time of dose, but these are probably placebo effects as you take control of your situation (I’m not knocking it - placebo is a wonderful thing, anything that helps us feel good is great in my book).
So chose a time you remember is brilliant advice from Janipi
Have realised this sounds a very formal answer - that’s the pharmacist in me!
Best wishes
Sue
Hi all,
I didn’t realise that citalopram was useful for side effects of menopausal symptoms - do you find it really helps?
I entered into the abrupt world of premature menpause in 2005, and have really struggled with what i guess, are menopausal symptoms. Hot flushes appear to have settled, but i feel so awfully anxious and edgy practically all the time, which I have put down to symptoms of menopuase(and lack of oestrogen), and not sought help for this thinking that there was nothing available (as most things seem to mimick/replace the oestrogen I am so deperately trying to eliminate!!
I might speak to GP then and ask about whether this would be beneficial. Does anyone else have this horrible feeling of feeling anxious and edgy too, and if so, did you find citalopram useful?
XXX
There are lots of small scale studies on various antidepressents and hot flushes - some specifically on breast cancer patients - but I don’t think any of them have been good enough quality to get any of the drugs in question licensed (formally approved) for hot flushes. Some of the studies showed no benefit too.
It may be that the benefit is largely in treating the anxiety and/or depression that comes along with the menopause and/or cancer and that helps us deal with the hot flushes better, rather than actually reduce them.
Sue
My last post disappeared into the ether! I am happy enough to try for 3 months and that should indicate whether they are working or not. Fingers xd
Thanks for all of the advice here goes perhaps I will get a decent nights sleep… Zzzzzzzzzz
Thanks all - let me know how you all get on with it and whether you find it helpful.
i am due to see GP tomorrow so will ask whether they think it would be beneficial - do feel pretty low with everything to be honest, and I’m not very good at asking for help - hence struggling on for so long. good luck to you all XXXXX
I found that it worked really well in reducing the frequency and intensity of flushes. I started on 20mg and that was great but it didn’t do enough for the depression so I increased gradually to 40mg daily and that seems to be doing the trick (apart from me forgetting to re-order my prescription, so I’ll be off them for a couple of days while I wait).
Funny enough, I’m having a break from Tamoxifen and the hot flushes have returned, despite still being on Citalopram - no idea what that’s all about!
I really don’t understand how citalopram could have any effect on hot flushes, unless maybe it reduces the stress that can exacerbate the flushes.
Whether or not we understand it, there is evidence that it does work. I don’t think it has anything to do with reducing stress, and I didn’t actually find that flushes were brought on by stress - I could be completely relaxed and they’d still happen.
Citalopram’s not the only anti-d that has a similar effect. Perhaps it’s to do with seratonin levels as that is the effect that many anti-d’s have. Who knows. (A pharmacist, maybe?)
Hiya!
Have just seen this thread. I went through horrible hot flushes as part of normal menopause about 3 yrs ago. I couldn’t take conventional remedies cos although my first breast cancer hadnt been er positive, they still wouldnt let me take anything with oestrogen in it, “just in case”.
Instead, I was given complementary medicine from my local cancer charity centre. Firstly, they gave me snake venom tablets (yes really!). They helped a bit in reducing my symptoms, but then they they gave me sulphur tablets, which really worked for me. You can also buy sulphur tablets from Boots Chemists, but there are two strengths, and I can’t remember which strength I bought, so may be a good idea to have a chat with the pharmacist there.
Don’t forget ladies - plant oestrogens are in a lot of the over the counter remedies, n plant oestrogens arent counted as “safe” for us, just like the other forms of oestrogen.
Also, Choccie, have you still got the container your tablets came in - if so, the pharmacist should be able to give you an emergency supply, to tide you over until you can fill yr prescription. I think they’re allowed to give up to two days as emergency supply. When you get your script, they give you the script amount of tablets, minus what they “loaned” you.
Love to all,
Shelley xxx