[ljcsov]

Hello,

I have been on Celexa for about 6 months now. About 6 months ago i began to experience extreme anxiety when living alone over the summer at my college. I missed my friends and family but I still enjoyed living on my own. I would feel really anxious and extremely uncomfortable and sleep was difficult.

My doctor prescribed me Celexa with Ativan as an emergency med. At the beginning of taking it i felt extremely tired and thirsty. I constantly had dry mouth and i slept all the time. I could barely go for more than a few hours without needing to sleep.

I went through a bad break up at the beginning of the semester. I found myself taking Ativan to calm myself. I started to act in ways i normally wouldnt and my mood was all over the place. Afraid of what the medication was doing to me immediately threw it away and just stuck with the celexa.

About 3 months later (now), i have noticed that I am still not my normal self prior to Celexa. I am constantly tired. I feel like i can sleep at anytime and any sleep i do get isn't restful. It has become extremely difficult to focus and my school work has been a struggle. Making it through a day of classes has become a chore and I simply cant comprehend how the rest of my friends are able to make it through a day without being completely drained as I am. Whenever i experience depression I feel it is a lot more intense physically. I feel sick and sometimes it is so painful that it is almost unbearable. It has made me feel like I am a zombie.

My pills ran out and I was busy studying for exams so I didnt have a chance to refill. I noticed something really amazing after a few days. I felt my energy coming back and I found it much easier to do my work and enjoy things that I had before Celexa. I have been heart broken from my break up and it has been really rough. I still feel upset about it but the pain now isn't as extreme as it was before. My fraternity brothers even noticed that I seem to be a lot happier and a lot more energetic, back to my state at last semester.

The Celexa really began to scare me. It became difficult to understand what "normal" is and what "normal" people should feel as far as emotion. I was very stubborn about going to the doctor initially because i did not want to deal with this type of problem.

I have started to experience some withdrawal symptoms. My eyes are very jittery. When i am focusing in well lit rooms they tend to jump around a lot and feel strained, but still i feel like i am focusing better than i did while on celexa. At times i feel nausea and i have had an instance where i started to get sick in the bathroom. I am not afraid to go through a week or so of this in order to get over this dependancy. I have not been on it very long (6 months), so i feel the sooner i get off it the better and the better my life will be. I put a lot of the blame when referring to my emotional issues over the past few months on my medication because it hasnt become an issue before. If i start to have anxiety again - although it is rare - i feel i can combat it with other more natural ways (exercise, meditation, doing things i like, etc.).

If anyone has any input on this it would be awesome. Thanks.

[Phoebe_Twayblade]

I identify with you so much! Thank goodness I read what you wrote because I thought I was going insane. I have taken Prozac on and off for years. I tapered off Prozac with no problems. I lost my job in August. It was a very stressful job and I wasn't happy there. Still, it was painful to be fired. I aked my shrink if I could try Cymbalta. He stared me on 20 mg. per day. I felt great and the dark cloud lifted. My doctor recently boosted me up to 60 mg. Cynbalta per day, and then all hell broke loose.

Last week I had an huge anxiety attack and have felt horrible ever since - headaches, GI distress, depression etc. At first I thought it was the Xanax doing it to me because I have heard so many horror stories about this drug. (I take 0.25 mg. as needed for panick attacks - not more than 1mg per day.)

I come to find out that some people can have strange reactions to Cymbalta and get anxiety attacks from it! I'm seeing my doctor on Thursday. All I can do now is wait for the Cymbalta to clear my body. I have no idea how long it will take, but I'll discuss it with my doctor.

I am fortunate to have a great husband who keeps telling me that this is temporary, it's a glitch, I'll get better and not to worry. In the mean while I find that exercise is helpful. I know this isn't answering your question, but I'm kind of in the same place you are now.

[Aeroman]

you both need to look under Lexapro withdrawal. It probably has the most posts on this forum...you need to taper off those drugs slowly and expect some withdrawal. Maybe you'll be the lucky ones not to get with the symptoms but many times, after we get off these meds, we think our old symptoms has returned - no, they're from getting off the medication which has chemically induced depression, anxiety, etc.

[Phoebe_Twayblade]

I'll check out the thread on Lexapro withdrawal. I got off Prozac, Valium and other meds under a doctor's supervision. My fear of discomort was worse than the actual withdrawals themselves.

[erinkj]

Absolutely go to the "Lexapro Withdrawl" board. Celexa is the parent drug to lexapro. They are made by the same company and have an almost identicle chemicle composition. I have been back and forth between the 2 for several years and am working on quiting SSRI med's. I am currently on celexa as well. The same taper scheduals apply to ALL SSRI med's. So, do post to the other forum, you will get many answers...Good Luck and ...Peace...Erin