SSRIs in winter

Hi Scarlett, I take SSRI's only in winter for SAD. I am only on a low dose, but I broke the tablets into quarters and took a bit each day and gradually increased the dose over a couple of weeks. This made the horrible side effects bearable. I did the same in reverse when coming off them. It made it easier and the side effects were milder.

I too only take Citalopram in the winter. A week and I start improving. I gradually increase the dose until January, then start to decrease as the weather improves and there is more light.

I take my medication all year round but with a lower dose in the Summer.

Did you start using the lightbox daily from end of August/start of September?

Good luck with the new dosing regime. Glad you're feeling better already and find relief with it.

If you haven't tried them already there's a few alternatives too such as 5-HTP, tryptophan, l-theanine, l-tyrosine, taurine, rhodiola rosea, vitamins (e.g. Vitamin D, Magnesium) etc. They don't work for all of course though, it kind of depends what the body needs help with, as the SSRIs and Alternatives work in different ways. I wouldn't reccomend bothering messing with alternatives this year though considering how far in we are and as they may not work well with an SSRI (especially ones that boost serotonin). But just thought I'd throw it out there incase you were unaware of them.

Take care.

Hi, sorry to hear 5-HTP was a bad experience, some find Tryptophan easier to digest than 5-HTP or vice versa. But also I should say they work to boost serotonin levels whilst SSRIs work to regulate and support the pickup of serotonin. Therefore sometimes SSRIs work better for some instead since we all need different things.

The "takes a few weeks" I think is more of a reccomendation so that people don't give up too soon on an SSRI. Some find they need a settling in period (due to initial side effects or just to get the cogs working again). But I wouldn't be surprised if others will respond much faster. Plus you've been on an SSRI before right? So perhaps the medicine isn't so much of a foreign substance.

You're best off asking your doctor though if you're unsure or worried. They will have experience of responce times to SSRIs and be able to tell you professionally if some respond much quicker than others. Definitely don't just stop the SSRI suddenly or reduce dosage without consulting the doctor first of course.

At the end of the day, it's great you're feeling so much better!

Glad the tryptophan was helpful.

Yeah I always try to remember to point out that too. Because they boost the levels of serotonin and SSRIs boost the uptake of serotonin. Mixing them means you'll have a whole load of serotonin to uptake = way too much serotonin. Also its usually not a good idea to mix 2 together e.g. 5-HTP & Tryptophan. As raising serotonin too high isn't a good idea.

hi there
I was on citalopram for a while before coming off, and then having to go back on due to SAD.

My experience of going on it - both times - has been that I feel better pretty quickly apart from one or two days where there's a slight overspill of anxiety. The main thing for me was the second time, I fully understood what would happen so was ready for it. I would say there was a marked improvement within 2 weeks even though they don't work fully for a while.

in terms of coming off - only really done it once, but had some stomach issues and some insomnia about 5 weeks after the drug had left my system, but this may be a red herring as I get bouts of insomnia.

I am now facing the same thing - Nov/Dec are my worst months so I could really look at coming off in March and I don't like the idea of having to go back to the doc every winter. So I have already booked the first 2 weeks of Dec for a sunny break this year, and I will probably go away somewhere for a week at the start of Nov. I am hoping this will help but to be honest, if it doesn't, I will have to go back to taking tablets.

I still feel that something about this winter has been exceptionally awful, so I do wonder if I will muddle through next time.

I personally found 5HTP awful but some people love it, and you could try SJW too.