Good afternoon everyone. I suppose as my mums main carer I’m looking for a bit of reassurance or light at the end of the tunnel. My mum had been experiencing anxiety and low mood for a month or so before the stroke hit. We’d actually thought that stroke had been ‘working’ on her & that explained the downward spiral in her emotions. A week post stroke she was great! No complaints & thankfully physically able and much improved mood wise. But it all went downhill from there. I’ve never seen her so low & feeling so worthless! She’s been on citalopram for 7weeks now but with no affect.. & I’ve tried to explain that everything reading on the subject appears to suggest that this ‘process’ is common amongst stroke sufferers. She feels very alone in this & can’t think of anyone being as bad or worse than her. Would be nice to get some feedback from others.
I really struggled after my stroke. I think we all have those “why did this have to happen to me?” Moments. I was offered neuropsychology where I was diagnosed with severe depression and PTSD. It really was a struggle but the therapy was so helpful and gave me some great tactics to deal with the horrible thoughts. I’d never suffered with my mental health before and I don’t know if that made it worse in a way as I was so unprepared for those dark thoughts. However, 17 months on, I’m so much happier so it can improve. I hope people give you lots of help here.
Hello @Shazza17 - this is to welcome you to the community as you seek help for your Mum’s depression post-stroke.
I myself am a carer and don’t have first-hand experience of this but wanted to assure you that there is light at the end of the tunnel and I believe there always is. The question is how long is the tunnel and that is something that is not easy to answer.
I am sure you are going to get plenty of feedback on this as there are many members with knowledge and/or experience of depression post stroke.
This forum has many posts on sorts of subjects and you can search by keyword etc. using the magnifying glass at near your username in the banner at the top of the page.
As an example, I searched using “depression citalopram” as two words from your post and got the posts shown below. At the bottom of the page there isa more … button that takes you to the next page etc.
One thing I notice is you mention your Mum has been on citalopram for 7 weeks now with no effect.
We have been discussing citalopram on this forum quite recently and you may wish to read some of the comments. Link is below.
This may help you decide what you might want to do next.
I am sure there will be more better experienced and knowledgeable members adding their comments.
I wish you and your Mum all the best.
Namaste|
@Shazza17 hi & welcome to the community.
It does seem that depression / low mood is quite common after a stroke & at this stage yourcmum will be trying to come to terms with what has happened. As you will be too.
I know little about anti depressants but they do take a while to kick in & sometimes make you worse before you see an improvement. Your mum may be at that stage. However, if they aren’t helping then a visit to the GP to get them changed or dosage alteted may be required.
If you haven’t already come across it below is a link to a Stroke Association leaflet about emotional changes that will be worth a look.
https://www.stroke.org.uk/stroke/effects/emotional
Best wishes
Ann
Maybe your mum might not feel so alone if she communicated with this website herself. She could talk directly to people who have gone through a similar experience. Also, we have some fun–games and cartoons, etc. Just an idea. 
Jeanne
Hi @Shazza17
Welcome to the community. I’m sorry to hear about your mums stroke and the difficulties she’s facing with low mood.
This is relatively common after a stroke as it can take a while to come to terms with. I can see you’ve already had some great suggestions to help with this and I hope you’ll continue to find this community useful.
If you need anything whilst you’re using the Online Community, please don’t hesitate to tag me using the @ symbol and my username.
Anna