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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by chachi100 on March 20, 2006, at 13:22:23
I started 20 mg of celexa about 3 years ago for mild anxiety (mostly social) and mild depression. It helped a lot with the anxiety. About 1 1/2 yrs later I went up to 30 mg because many of my anxiety symptoms came back. Since then I went back down to 20 mg, then to 10 mg which is where I'm at now because I just don't feel like it was doing much for me anymore. I still get some anxiety and I feel depressed sometimes. I also am lethargic and want to sleep a lot. I have no motivation to do much (except shopping). But I have this feeling that this may be from the med. I've been thinking of going off completely and trying to cope with just therapy. But I'm scared, mostly of the withdrawl symptoms. Just going down to 10 mg has caused nightmares and sweating at night. I also worry that my symptoms will come back with a vengeance. What do you think?
Posted by Meri-Tuuli on March 20, 2006, at 13:53:35
In reply to Time to get off Celexa or try something new?, posted by chachi100 on March 20, 2006, at 13:22:23
Hey there!!
> I also am lethargic and want to sleep a lot. I have no motivation to do much (except shopping). But I have this feeling that this may be from the med.
You would be right - its the med alright. I took celexa for about a year, and with hindsight, it was awful, but I sort of didn't realise it at the time, I thought it was me!! I could sleep for 16 hours a day, I didn't have any motivation (well I still don't really!) and bizarrely I shopped alot too (although I thought until now, that that was just me!!)
Anyhow, I would recommend getting off the drug. When I was off it, I was amazed that I could make it past 9pm at night without being asleep.
To taper off, I got down to 10mg, then I got my penknife out and started cutting the pills up. First in two (to get to 5mg) for a few days, then I would cut that half again to get to 2.5mg, then increasingly smaller and smaller 'cuts' of the pill.
The withdrawal wasn't nice - sweats, palpitations, generally feeling unwell, spacey etc.
But it was worth it in the end because now at least I don't need to sleep all the time.
Kind regards
Meri
Posted by med_empowered on March 20, 2006, at 20:11:10
In reply to Re: Time to get off Celexa or try something new?, posted by Meri-Tuuli on March 20, 2006, at 13:53:35
yup. celexa withdrawal sucks. Try to do it gradually. I dont know if you can do this with celexa, but with Effexor towards the end you can switch over to super low-dose Prozac...since prozac has a 5-week half life, it kind of tapers itself, if the dose is low enough..but the SSRI action is enough to prevent really bad withdrawal during the brief switch.
Also..as-needed use of sleeping pills might help during withdrawal. Ambien or Restoril or something could make the transition a **good** bit easier.
Posted by linkadge on March 21, 2006, at 8:49:10
In reply to celexa withdrawal, posted by med_empowered on March 20, 2006, at 20:11:10
Disolve a whole pill in water, and then pour out a measured ammount each day.
Linkadge
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