Starting Celexa, Your Experiences?

[Adrian2016]

After a strange reaction to Paxil my doctor has started me at a very low dose of Celexa (10 mg) daily. I trust my doctor and she knows my sensitivity to drugs now. However, the fact it is still an ssri class drug worries me. Anyone wish to share their experiences with Celexa? What should I look for or expect? Has it yielded postive results for any of you? Thanks for sharing!!

 

[gypsysoul]

Anyone wish to share their experiences with Celexa?

The only side effect I noticed with Celexa when I was on, was excessive yawning... Like the craziest amount of yawning, I was tired of yawning lol. It's a weird but rare side effect, so probably won't be the case for you. Other than that, my experience was good with it. I've known a few others that have preferred Celexa over other anti-depressants.

 

[Philosopher108]

I hate to say it (because it may work out to be very beneficial to you) but citalopram completely killed my libido. Also it was making me go up and down, up and down, instead of simply alleviating my depression. The former effect is quite common. The latter effect is somewhat rare. In any case, as my nurse practitioner says, "This is a marathon, not a sprint"... Try to be patient. Citalopram may work for you, it may not. You can't really know till you try.

I can tell you that the medicine had horrible side effects but most went away after 5 days. So don't give up until you've invested at least a week (unless something extraordinary happens, of course).

I hope this helps.

 

[JEKBreatheandBelieve]

Seemed to be headed in a positive direction for me when I took Celexa. Then, I had a strange reaction/side effect that the psychiatrists could only find one other case of it happening. Hope it works for you.

 

[hodge]

I have been taking Celexa for a few years now and I think it helps. I've been on just every single one of the newer anti-depressants. One thing I've learned is that every med works differently for everyone, so I agree to give it a week or a couple and see how it affects you.

@Philosopher108, I always thought it was the Celexa (and other anti-depressants) that killed my libido, but when I got off Ativan a couple months ago (after being on it for about 6-7 years), my libido came back. I was really surprised.

 

[EveHarrington]

I'm glad you've decided to give meds another try.

If SSRIs don't help, there are other types of antidepressants which may help you more.

 

[joeylittle]

I got extremely confused on celexa - to this day, it remains the strangest med experience I've had. By around the end of the second week I couldn't remember how to dial my phone. Seriously. And I'm not even med-sensitive.

For many people, it's a good drug. I was just one of those people who reacted badly. It's the only SSRI I've ever tried, and the whole reason we did it was to see if I could shift off an SNRI that was much more expensive, and my insurance was having none of it. Stayed with Celexa long enough to say we tried, and never looked at another SSRI again.

 

[Adrian2016]

Wow! I want to thank everyone for posting and sharing your experiences I'm very grateful for all of you.

 

[Chem Lady]

I, too, did poorly on Pacil and got changed to Celexa. I was in a "little, old lady" dosage and struggle with awful muscle tremors and dizziness and, when I finally had a blackout moment, I started the long, tedious process of weaning myself off of it. It took me 4 months and I had withdrawal symptoms for a year afterward. So, my experience was a bad one, but I've heard other people do well with it.

 

[hodge]

I, too, did poorly on Pacil and got changed to Celexa. I was in a "little, old lady" dosage and strug...

Omg! How awful!! I have weaned off of so many meds but never for 4 months and never had withdrawal symptoms for that long. I am so sorry you've been through that! Eeks!

 

[hodge]

Sorry for the temporary derailing of your thread, Adrian, but I just found what Chem Lady wrote to be horrible.