Citalopram and rosacea?

[faust405245]

Hi. I went to my GP a few days ago (nothing to do with my skin for once) and long story short, she put me on 20 mgrams of Citalopram. It's mainly to help with my anxiety but also my depression as well. The thing is though, my anxiety is so related to, I guess, body dysmorphic issues, that I'm a little worried. See first off, the pills are stopping me sleeping - not good for my skin. Secondly (and sorry for the info) they are giving me sexual problems (i wont go into details ). And that too ,Im sure, keeps me stressed - again, bad for my skin.

Basically I guess what I'm asking is, apart from these sides, which hopefully will get better, has anyone ever heard of citalopram making rosacea worse? I'm really quite paranoid about that. Which, of course, doesn't help with the anxiety.

[Mistica]

Hi,

Well, firstly I have to ask, are you able to make a judgement as to whether you really suffer from body dysmorphic issues or not?
Yes, I realise that will be a difficult question to answer if you do. The reason I ask though is that some doctors are quick to trivialise rosacea and would rather diagnose a mental disorder instead.

I have never taken psychiatric drugs, so I am probably not the best person to be replying to your post, but I have to say, based on watching others take such drugs, I am wary of SSRI's in particular. Perhaps you could consider something different? Such as remeron? Quite a few rosaceans take this and find it helpful.
Hopefully they post advice.

Remember, all drugs have the potential to worsen rosacea and if you are finding Citalopram is worsening yours, you should consider a change.

Good luck!

[kiwisamchi]

SSRIs, as a class (meaning all members of this group of meds will pose similar risks) can cause photosensitivity, rash, itching, dermatitis, acne, dry skin and flushing. But the frequency of these symptoms are classified as "infrequent" (for citalopram) which means "occurred in less than 1/100 patients or less than 1%). So odds are you will be able to tolerate it well. I would recommend judicious use of sunblocks that contain zinc or titanium dioxide whille taking this med.

The sexual side effects occur more often (quoted at 2% for decreased libido, 6% for ejaculation disorder and 3% for impotence specifically for citalopram). You mentioned prior knowledge of the sexual side effects... just wanted you to note that sexual dysfunction can often be part of depression and other psychiatric disorders.

The decision you have to make is whether you would be better or worse off without the medication. Sometimes it is a trade off to have to suffer through a few manageable side effects in order to make it through the day without the debilitating anxiety and depression. All mood enhancing drugs come attached with risks of side effects which can include weight gain or loss, drowsiness/sedation, insomnia, GI effects (nausea, vomitting, dyspepsia, abdominal pain), sexual dysfunction and skin issues. Some are better than others with relation to each side effect and you won't find the perfect drug. When you switch meds, you will be trading one side effect for another. You need to decide which side effects you are comfortable with the possibility of experiencing. We all react differently to these medications. Often, it comes down to trial and error to see which ones you will tolerate and work for you. The only guarantee of differences b/w these agents is the price and dosing times...

Try taking the citalopram in the morning if it is disturbing your sleep since it is a once-daily dosing type of med. You will probably be advised by your doctor to give it a month before judging if it isn't going to work for you.

I just started taking mirtazapine (Remeron) which is a NaSSA (noradrenaline specific serotonin antagonist) and it is unique in that due to the receptors that it blocks (H1, 5HT2, 5HT3), it can be useful to treat anxiety, depression and agitation with the relative low risk of causing insomnia (mainly causes drowsiness and sedation) and sexual side effects. However, it has a very high risk of weight gain (quoted at 54% vs. the negligible effect of citalopram on weight gain) which in itself, may be a major deterrant if you already have issues with self-image. I am only on Day 5 of taking this medication and I already feel that my body's metabolism has slowed to a crawl. It is giving me the biggest sugar/carb cravings too so that hasn't helped with my attempts to control my appetite. I also have noticed it hasn't helped my insomnia (hey, there's the "no guarantee" clause). But the most important thing that I have noticed is that my daily cyclical flushings (3am and 3pm) have stopped. It is way too early for me to say for sure if it is due to the mirtazapine so I can keep you posted in case you decide you want to try this med. The daily flushing was becoming intolerable so I decided weight gain was the lesser of the two evils.

If you decide to come off the citalopram due to aggravation of your Rosacea symptoms, you may want to consider venlafaxine. It is classed as SNRI (serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor) and have been used to help with "hot flushes" in menopausal women. It has similar sexual dysfunction side effects to the SSRIs but has the tendency to cause more weight loss than gain. Just keep in mind that it has varying effects depending on the dosage (which of the receptors blocked are dose dependent). Your doctor can further discuss this with you at the time.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that you'lll probably be ok with taking citalopram and not aggravating your Rosacea symptoms. However, if it does...there are other options you can try but be ready for a whole different slew of side effects.

Cheers,
Sam

[faust405245]

Well honestly I do have definite issues regarding my appearance, whether it's full blown body dysmorphia? Who knows? Maybe my psych will be able to tell me next month. Certainly my GP has never mentioned BD to me. It was actually me who asked to be put on some kind of anti anxiety med and she said it would be a good idea.

Im not sure if the citalopram is affecting my rosacea. Overall I think not. I was just making sure. See, if I thought it was, then it definitely would, if that makes sense, a kind of self fulfilling prophecy type of thing.

[NotPissedJustFlushed]

Taken it, at 40mg's for a while.

It did not affect my flush at all, in fact it made it better because I didnt care about my flush as much (its semi anxiolytic).

The sleeping issues go away for the most part within a week, the sexual side effects do as well but you'll be over both entirely by about a month in.

Good stuff.

[allibear]

I was on citalopram for anxiety for a short while last year, my face went bright red and burnt about an hour after taking it. I was very ill physically at the time also and it also made my stomach pain worse, but I was taking it under rare circumstances and it probably would effect everyone differently depending what else they have going on. I stopped it of my own accord after 6 weeks due to the side effects.

I had a bit of a breakdown a few months back and I am now on a low dose, (5 mg), at night of olanzapine (zyprexa), for anxiety. I have not had any bother with side effects on this one and it does just make me feel a bit more chilled out about things. I think weight gain is the most common side effect and I have gained a bit of weight over the past few months but I think that is mainly due to the fact that I have allowed carbs back into my life and I am eating better now as I had a bad time eating after having my gallbladder out. I lost a lot of weight and fell drastically underweight doing a low carb diet to try and help my Rosacea and I still need to gain a little bit more.

Olanzapine is a bit sedating, which is why you take it at night but once I got used to it it doesn't make me feel sleepy anymore except when I have a couple of glasses of wine and then it would knock me out mind you it only takes a couple of glasses of wine to knock me out anyway.

My skin is generally quite calm these days, although as usual there will be a bad day when it is a bit redder than usual and I would have a wee odd papule appear but nothing too drastic.

[RatherBeSkating]

Originally Posted by faust405245

Hi. I went to my GP a few days ago (nothing to do with my skin for once) and long story short, she put me on 20 mgrams of Citalopram. It's mainly to help with my anxiety but also my depression as well. The thing is though, my anxiety is so related to, I guess, body dysmorphic issues, that I'm a little worried. See first off, the pills are stopping me sleeping - not good for my skin. Secondly (and sorry for the info) they are giving me sexual problems (i wont go into details ). And that too ,Im sure, keeps me stressed - again, bad for my skin.

Basically I guess what I'm asking is, apart from these sides, which hopefully will get better, has anyone ever heard of citalopram making rosacea worse? I'm really quite paranoid about that. Which, of course, doesn't help with the anxiety.

I was actually put on citalopram BECAUSE of rosacea - I only flush when anxious really so my doc tried this - didn't really work, and I ended up coming off them for the exact reasons you listed.
Didn't make any difference to my skin whatsoever

[RedFaced]

Originally Posted by NotPissedJustFlushed

Taken it, at 40mg's for a while.

It did not affect my flush at all, in fact it made it better because I didnt care about my flush as much (its semi anxiolytic).

The sleeping issues go away for the most part within a week, the sexual side effects do as well but you'll be over both entirely by about a month in.

Good stuff.

Hey, are you male or female? I have thought about going on Prozac at a low dose as this and Citalopram are best for anxiety (so I have been told and read) but the thought of sexual side effects worries me as it is high among these medications...?

[faust405245]

Well it's nearing two weeks of taking citalopram 20 mgs daily. I've concluded that they don't seem to be affecting my skin, and anyway I definitely think I'm starting to care less, My sleeping issues are gradually getting better.

I've got a doc appointment in a day or so, hopefully I'll be given another prescription. Maybe its just a placebo affect but I definitely think they're helping.

[kiwisamchi]

That's great news! Sounds like your spirits are lifting too.... which always helps.

Same for me. I've been taking mirtazapine for 2&1/2 weeks now and have DEFINITELY noticed major improvements. My skin is not sensitive to touch anymore (used to flush all night from my skin rubbing on my pillows... can sleep on my side again) and I have stopped using the metronidazole cream and sea buckthorn oil serum (both seemed to dry my skin even more and caused very large pores).

So I suppose that the general idea is.... in terms of helping with Rosacea: which specific agent used may not matter so much as long as it is helping the person feel better, get more sleep and feel less anxious. I am convinced that my flushing and P&P's were related to my high level of anxiety before I started taking the antidepressants.

I have also been tracking my menstrual cycle to see if my flushing is related to my level of hormones and I am currently mid-cycle (when all hormone levels are highest) and still... so far so good since I've been on the antidepressants.

Hope this thread helps more people make a more informed decision about whether or not to start "mood-enhancing" pills or antidepressants.