AboutDr. Ravindra Bhaskar Ghooi Expertise I can provide information on drugs and medicines, their actions, uses, interactions and adverse effects. To avoid confusion, generic names of
medicines may please be provided. I am a pharmacologist, having worked
on animal and human pharmacology, and presently I am the Dean of Bilcare Research Academy, where we teach courses on clinical research. We dont work on saturdays and sundays, hence questions reachng me on these days will be replied on Monday, please bear with me.
Question Hi, I have been diagnosed with panic disorder and my GP put me on 40mg of ciprager, I had never taken sedatives before.I was just wondering what are the possible side-effects of going straight up to that amount as I need to go back on them and Im a bit anxious about going straight up to that dosage again.
Thanks for reading this,
Sarah.
Answer Hi Sarah,
You got me worried too! Citalopram is sold as Ciprager in Ireland and is used for panic disorders and depression. Usually we begin with 10 mg and then after a week increase it to 20 mg, rarely we need to use 40 mg of the drug. I would not use this dose unless there was some very specific need to do so, which does not become clear from your letter. (We use lower than recommended doses since Indians have generally a lower body weight than westerners).
In your place I would talk to the doctor and ask if the doctor really meant 40 mg to start with. Let me quote what the manufacturers say about the drug:
"Celexa (citalopram HBr) should be administered at an initial dose of 20 mg once daily, generally with an increase to a dose of 40 mg/day. Dose increases should usually occur in increments of 20 mg at intervals of no less than one week. Although certain patients may require a dose of 60 mg/day, the only study pertinent to dose response for effectiveness did not demonstrate an advantage for the 60 mg/day dose over the 40 mg/day dose; doses above 40 mg are therefore not ordinarily recommended."
The most important side effects are:
Sedation,
Weight changes
Changes in libido
These are the most important side effects to watch out for.
Best wishes
Ravi
