Took Citalopram for OCD from June 2019 to Nov 2022 , main dose: 10 mg. Patient describes having visual issues after starting Citalopram. He explains:
“So I noticed subtle vision changes within months of taking them – but they were subtle and easy to ignore. Over the years it became more and more noticeable until it ended up extremely blurry, eye pressure and pain, extreme light sensitivity, gritty/dry eyes. It was just time that caused it to get worse that’s it”
Due to the visual issues, he quit the drug cold turkey. He claims he suffered a bit of withdrawal issues for some time, and then a lot of new symptoms started appearing.
Since February 2023, he suffers from the following symptoms:
Convergence insufficiency – affects abilities for eyes to focus on nearby objects, makes reading and writing almost impossible
Visual snow syndrome – see ‘static’ like hallucinations in the sky and bright backgrounds
Photobia – extreme light sensitivity caused my eyes to hurt and strain when in bright environments like bright lit supermarkets
Eye pressure/griitiness – ‘pulsating pain’ in back of eyes and forehead.
Severe bladder issues/bladder hypersensitivity- frequent urine to urinate, extremely sensitivitie bladder can cause me to need to urinate 20+ times a day
Gut dysfunction – new food intolerances, incomplete emptying of bowels
Chronic fatigue
Akathsia
Anhedonia – no emotions no ups or downs just vegetable zombie state, can’t feel substances like I used to
Extreme premature education – nerves are hypersensitive I feel myself about to ejaculate far too soon to enjoy
Pleasureless/muted orgasms ‘anorgasmia’ – orgasms produce no euphoria in brain, no whole body feeling, don’t notice them
Brain fog – can’t think clearly, can’t focus on important tasks so study or work is impossible
Memory loss – short term memory issues