Interactions
Medicines that interact with citalopram may reduce its effect, shorten its duration of action, increase side effects, or have no effect when combined. An interaction between two medications does not always necessitate the discontinuation of one of them; however, it can. Consult your doctor about how to handle drug interactions.
Citalopram may interact with the following medications:
- anticoagulants (blood thinners), such as warfarin, or other drugs that have blood-thinning effects such as aspirin or NSAIDs
- anticonvulsants, such as phenytoin, phenobarbital, or primidone
- antipsychotics (such as butyrophenones, phenothiazines, or thioxanthenes) and atypical antipsychotics (eg, olanzapine, quetiapine, ziprasidone)
- any medication that may cause drowsiness, such as benzodiazepines (eg, diazepam, lorazepam), first-generation antihistamines (such as doxylamine or promethazine), metoclopramide, or opioids (such as codeine, morphine)
- bupropion
- duloxetine
- herbs with bleeding as a side effect, such as anise, alfalfa, or bilberry
- hydroxychloroquine
- lithium
- medications that may affect the heartbeat by prolonging the QT interval, such as amiodarone, encainide, or flecainide
- pimozide
- other antidepressants, such as tricyclic antidepressants (eg, amitriptyline), monoamine oxidase inhibitors (eg, isocarboxazid, phenelzine, and tranylcypromine), and SSRIs (eg, paroxetine, sertraline)
- other medications that affect serotonin, such as amphetamines, fentanyl, lithium, tramadol, triptans (eg, almotriptan, eletriptan, or sumatriptan), or St. John's Wort
- other medications that are metabolized by the same enzymes (CYP2C19 or CYP3A4)
- others, such as HIV medications (fosamprenavir, ritonavir)
- voriconazole.
It should be noted that this list is not exhaustive and only includes common medications that may interact with citalopram. For a complete list of interactions, consult the citalopram prescribing information.
