Palpitations and Citalopram: is there a link?

Question

Hello, I started a treatment of Citalopram (20mg) on Saturday, my last dose was yesterday at 6pm. When I went to bed, I noticed that my heart was beating quite fast. I hardly slept all night and I could feel my heart in my chest a lot. I woke up pretty confused with quite a bit of dissociation as well. I don't know what to do, at the moment I'm slowly getting better, but I had a really bad day with frequent palpitations. I have no history of heart problems. I also take Marvelon, as well as Ventolin Blue when needed and Alvesco 200mg Sometimes my pumps give me palpitations but they usually don't last more than 10-15 minutes

Wissam El-Chayeb · Accepted Answer

Hello, palpitations are a possible side effect of Citalopram. Ideally, we would start with a lower dose (10mg) to test tolerance and then increase the dose to 20mg. You can do the test yourself by cutting the pill in 2. However, the side effect is always possible even at a lower dose. In this case, you will have to change the whole treatment.