i have just begun a once daily regimen of 20 mgs of Celexa, aka Citalopram, which just happens to be the generic version of Celexa that i am taking. i am experiencing a great amount of trepidation along with taking this drug- not only have i never taken an anti-depressant before, but i’ve heard so many horror stories from people on the wrong antidepressant, that i can’t help but feel scared.
i try not to jump into anything only half educated, so i asked around about this drug before i took my first pill. the general consensus was that the first few days of side effects really suck, but once your body adapts it works fairly well. for those with deeper depression problems, it is a good first step to lead into the more powerful anti-depressants.
at 5:30 pm, i took my first pill. within about 30 minutes i felt like i had drank a strong cup of coffee… slightly wired, but not in a bad way. kind of dizzy, almost like being nearly-drunk. that could also just have been lack of food (i was hesitant to eat before i figured out how my stomach reacted with it) or just plain nerves. either way, it wasn’t severe enough to be concerned about.
around 10:30, i was ready for bed. constant yawning, exhaustion… classic signs that i experience every night anyways, since that’s my bedtime. my sleep that night was weird… my throat dried out, and i found myself swallowing a lot. i had really weird dreams, but can’t remember much of them. i woke up at 6, and couldn’t go back to sleep. when i finally got up, i felt the same way i did when i was in college, and had taken Tylenol PM to help myself sleep. i was awake, but really groggy. i’m still a little keyed up physically, and groggy mentally at 12:30 in the afternoon, but it’s nothing that is getting in the way of my daily activities.
i feel no better or worse off emotionally than i did yesterday.
this morning, i got an e-mail from a friend who has a lot of experience with drugs such as this one.
it scared the shit out of me.
to make a long e-mail short, she told me that it was a terrible drug with godawful side effects, and completely ineffective. she posted on her FB that “If you’re feeling a little depressed, and your doctor prescribes Celexa, you’d probably be better off just cutting yourself than taking that stuff.” which is followed by someone agreeing, and someone saying that it didn’t do anything for them at all. oooookay… cue paranoid freak out. i spoke with my husband, and we did some more in-depth research into the drug, scouring message boards and news articles.
the general idea i got was that taking any kind of antidepressant is taking a risk. there are more possible side effects than there are actually words in the dictionary, and there is no way to predict which ones you’re going to experience until you actually take the drug. everybody is different. i read many success stories (some of which i know IRL) and i also read many scathing reviews that would just as soon as banish the drug from existence. i read reviews in which the person didn’t feel anything at all…no side effects, and no mood improvements. they might as well have taken a sugar pill for all the good OR bad it did. i read a review in which it worked amazingly well, but stopped working 6 months to a year into the dosing, so they had to be switched to something else. i also read reviews in which the side effects were so intolerable, they couldn’t take enough of the drug to find out if it really did start working or not. i read reviews that even said it cleared up acne, improved their mood, but made them horribly fat.
how will i react to it? ultimately, there’s no way to tell until i actually take it.
now, based on my friend’s e-mail i should chuck the bottle, go back to the doctor, and tell him to shove his meds up his ass and go find a psychiatrist… but in the end, i just don’t want to go through all that mess before i even know if the meds he gave me will work for me or not.
from what i can tell, there are 3 major groupings of reactions.
1- nothing at all.
2- mild side effects in the beginning, but over all improvements making the drug worth it
3- severe negative reactions, either emotional of physical.
i have a 1/3 chance of this drug working. my husband and i have discussed this at length, and have decided to continue with the dosing. my doctor has already scheduled my 2 week follow up (a requirement with someone taking antidepressants) so i will take the drug until then. i will see how my body reacts, and if in two weeks there aren’t improvements, or i have a negative reaction to it, i will wean off of it.
i’ll let you know how it goes.
7/16- i certainly didn’t expect to be posting my results from this medication so early. on day one, i went to bed that night and woke up with the “frog in my throat” feeling. i drank lots of water, and continued. i started the meds on Tuesday night, and by Friday morning that feeling still hadn’t gone. i don’t have difficulty swallowing, but it does make it very uncomfortable to swallow. when looked up, it says that’s one of the reactions i should call my doctor about, so i did. he is switching me over to Paxil. thus ends my experience with Celexa.
put me in the “allergic reaction” category. i’ll keep you updated on the Paxil once i begin it.
again, if you have any experience with THIS med, lemme know. 
i’d love to hear about it.
Continue reading My Celexa Experience
oh! i know. there are some beautiful Tropical Hibiscus braided trees at the grocery store… they would make a beautiful addition to brighten the house up in winter. oh… HE ALREADY GOT ME ONE OF THOSE TOO! yeah, i’m a lucky girl.
