Severe ME/CFS fatigue and crashes, improved on citalopram then relapsed after stopping
- Condition
- ME/CFS
- At worst
- Not stated
- Ill before improving or writing
- Not stated
- Last post
- Jul 2024
In their words
- Condition: ME/CFS
my PEM sends me into suicidal frenzy
In context ↗ - Now: Relapsed
Then I stopped taking it, and all symptoms and severe fatigue came back.
In context ↗
Read from 7 of their posts and comments; links to the 5 this page draws on
Summary
A woman in r/cfs who links her illness to a past mono with reactive EBV, covid shots and covid, describes severe fatigue and post-exertional crashes that leave her in a suicidal frenzy. Low-dose citalopram, taken earlier, lifted her symptoms and made her feel alive, but she stopped it and all symptoms and severe fatigue returned; she was thinking of restarting. Ativan gave her a false sense of wellbeing followed by a severe crash.
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What they tried
What they credit
Also tried
Their words about each treatment
- citalopram · Helped a lot
I seriously thought I was cured! I was social, had energy to keep going, my period wouldn't wipe me out for weeks, and I just felt alive!
In context ↗ - Ativan · Worse
It backfires. It's a false sense of well-being that day and then horrible crash the following day.
In context ↗
Approaches: SSRIs
Their path
They say too little about how ill they were at each step to draw it on the severity scale, so the steps are listed as they describe them. Dates are when they posted.
| When | What happened | Where they were | After |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | Illness began after a past mono with reactive EBV, covid shots and covidat some point, I had a mono as I had reactive EBV. Then covid shots, then covid.In context ↗ | Not stated | |
| — | Low-dose citalopram lifted symptoms; felt alive and socialI seriously thought I was cured! I was social, had energy to keep going, my period wouldn't wipe me out for weeks, and I just felt alive!In context ↗ | Near normal | Citalopram (Celexa) |
| — | Stopped citalopram and all symptoms and severe fatigue returnedThen I stopped taking it, and all symptoms and severe fatigue came back.In context ↗ | Not stated | |
| 2024-07-07 | Still ill and exhausted, weighing going back on citalopram; ativan gives a good day then a severe fatigue crashI just feel good on ativan and then very sleepy, followed by severe fatigue the next day.In context ↗ | Not stated |
Adverse events
- Citalopram (Celexa)“the only shitty part about it is that it completely killed my libido/ability to climax” In context ↗ Side effects
- Lorazepam (Ativan)“It backfires. It's a false sense of well-being that day and then horrible crash the following day. ... I just feel good on ativan and then very sleepy, followed by severe fatigue the next day.” Made symptoms worse
Symptoms mentioned
Their words about their symptoms
- Post-exertional malaise
my PEM sends me into suicidal frenzy, usually happens worse by the end of my period
In context ↗ - Anxiety & low mood
it was great way to deal with depression and especially anxiety
In context ↗
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