Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with antidepressants and celexa

antidepressant side effects help

lilnublet — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 11:24:01 -0800

Unbearable side effects of starting Citalopram. Should I stick this out or take a chance with an alternative? I've struggled with depression and anxiety off and on for my whole life, and after the birth of my baby things have been steadily declining again. Although I started therapy again a couple months ago, I've been having problems with participation and lack of focus and follow through. After talking it over with my therapist and doctor I have decided to go back on medication as least in the short term.

I have been on wellbutrin in the past and found the side effects terrible, although it was probably 10 years ago and I can't "remember" exactly; I do remember describing it to people as feeling as though my skeleton was trying to escape the confines of my body. I was on lexapro for a while after that and remember that I tolerated it much better than the wellbutrin, but again, I don't remember specifics.

I told my doctor that the lexapro worked well for me last time (same prescribing physician), and she said that citalopram was chemically very similar and much less expensive, so suggested I try that. I started 5mg on monday, and she said to increase to 10mg after a few days.

I have not been able to increase the dose all week for fear of worsening side effects. I actually did not take the pill this morning, as I can't bear the feeling any more. I have already made the decision to call my doctor tomorrow morning and let her know what's happening, but I'm worried now that the side effects will be the same on another medication and I don't know if I want to do this again, and I can't trust myself to carefully weigh the benefits of medication.

Side effects include:
* jittery anxious writhing feeling through my whole body; uncontrollable muscle twitches (expected this short term, but not this intensity, nor for this long on a half dose)
* loss of appetite (expected)
* nausea (expected)
* poor concentration (expected, but not to this degree, I will get lost in the middle of doing something, lose my train of thought in mid sentence. This has been awful to deal with at work)
* insomnia

weirder side effects:
* visual disturbance (black streaks that fly across my field of view, glistening lights, constantly seeing movement in my periphery)
* loss of my social filter (told a woman at work i "didn't fucking care" about whatever thing she was telling me, didn't even realize this was inappropriate until hours later)
* problems modulating the volume of my voice
* i can't taste anything; food tastes like dust in my mouth

Re-reading this it doesn't sounds that bad or unusual I guess but I literally feel like I am going crazy, which is much worse than being disengaged and crying all the time.

I guess my questions are these (yes not my doctor, etc; I'm looking for personal experiences):
How typical is this?
Am I not giving it enough time to even out?
What are the chances that another drug is going to have the same effect?
Am I misremembering my experiences with lexapro? maybe it was this bad and I don't remember?
Should I take my 5mg dose today? I am loathe to do this; right now I'm jittery and spacey still but no hallucinations and can actually eat.

Also I don't know if this is a question but I'm terrified to try another drug as I don't know if I can afford to "lose" another week the way this one went. But I also realize I can't assess the benefits of medication realistically right now I don't think... so I guess... "help"?

Just tell me what to eat so I don't have to think about it.

Felicity Rilke — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:03:28 -0800

What's the best/easiest way to increase my protein intake when eating is difficult for various complicated reasons? I am starting chemotherapy in two weeks for my second ovarian cancer recurrence in less than two years. To manage the associated anxiety, I am taking Wellbutrin, Celexa and Oxazepam daily. The combo (particularly the Celexa) has killed my appetite and made me pretty food-averse. Switching to something else is not an option. I've lost about 14 pounds in the four weeks since I started Celexa but I need to slow down/halt the weight loss before I start chemo. I also need to increase my protein intake to 90-110g a day (ideally the higher end of that) while undergoing chemo.

That seems like an unobtainable goal right now and it's just going to get harder once I start treatment. Meat and eggs are mostly intolerable. I can't eat a lot of soy. I can't have whey or casein protein powder. I can only eat a small amount of legumes a day (1/2 a cup, maybe a full cup depending on the preparation).

Adding protein seems pretty daunting since I don't want or can't have most high protein things that I can think of.

Typical food for a day is a piece of toast with goat cheese and tomato, an apple, and a bowl of something for dinner (last couple of days it's been about a cup and a half of whole grain pasta with a kale+walnut pesto and roasted vegetables). I'm eating the same thing every day with occasional variation in dinner.

What are the most protein-dense foods I can add? Simpler is better. I'm interested in snacks/small things. I don't mind having to prepare something, as long as it is something I can prepare and snack on for days, so recipes are welcome. I'm not worried about gaining weight at this point, just stopping the weight loss.

Your experiences with Celexa/Lexapro

not that girl — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 09:30:08 -0800

You're taken both Celexa and Lexapro. In your experience, is there a difference? Did you have fewer side effects with Lexapro? The question is pretty well right there in the short version, but for folks who enjoy the hand-wringy details:

A few years ago, a doctor put me on Celexa for some severe anxiety I was having related to a scary life situation. It really helped with the anxiety, but over the next 18+ months it pretty much ruined my life in other ways: I experienced debilitating fatigue (which nobody I consulted about it told me could be a Celexa side effect...I figured it out from somebody else's AskMetafilter question last fall), I lost my appetite, yet I gained 40+ pounds in under a year despite not being able to eat.

I tapered off the Celexa last fall, and the withdrawal was also hellish. Because of the fatigue, I lost a lot of my fitness and I've had trouble getting it back; my appetite has not returned. I feel like it broke me in a way I don't know whether I'll be able to fix.

So, fast-forward to now: I'm having a lot of anxiety, and just recently, some depression. This seems to be related to some underlying hormonal weirdness that is making my mid-40s a hellish time, and I'm working with an ob to try to deal with that aspect of things. But in the meantime, the hormones are driving this anxiety and depression and I wonder if I need meds again.

I saw my doctor yesterday, and she wants me to try Lexapro. She says that in her experience, it's much "cleaner" than Celexa and people tolerate it better, with fewer side effects.

A friend of mind who is a PA says that medical types she knows are divided on Lexapro. Some think it's pretty much Celexa changed just enough to get a new patent and wring out some profits; others think it really is dramatically different. Clearly my doctor is in the latter group.

She rejected Wellbutrin because it can rev people up and be bad for people with anxiety, and offered Seroquel as an alternative, but she says it's so sedating when people are first on it they call her up and complain that she put them in a coma; after 18 months of not being able to stay awake for a whole day, the idea of being heavily sedated, even temporarily, freaks me out.

So: I took my first Lexapro last night (1/2 of a 10 mg tablet), and woke in the middle of the night with a screaming headache, nausea, and electric-shock sensations like I had when I was tapering off the Celexa. Now I'm freaked out. I don't know whether to stick with it or ask for something else or give up on it.

I don't want to give up on something because of temporary effects that will pass in a few weeks, but I don't want a clusterfuck like I had with Celexa, either. I would prefer to stay off psych meds altogether for awhile but I may well need them at least until we deal with my hormonal bs. I've been visiting some of the mental health forums, but don't have the patience to wade through a lot of threads about Celexa/Lexapro that wander off-topic or never answer the original question.

So here I am. Tell me what you know.

Tell me about your experience on Citalopram (Celexa / Cipramil).

SebastianKnight — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:58:53 -0800

I'm about to start a course of Citalopram (Celexa / Cipramil). What should I know in advance? Despite some serious misgivings I've decided to try antidepressant medication for some ongoing depression/anxiety issues. I've been prescribed 20mg of Citalopram to be taken every morning and will be seeing my GP (in the UK) for supervision at regular intervals. I'm hoping that after a few weeks my sleep pattern will be back under control and my judgement less impaired by low mood, anxiety, and exhaustion. If that works out then I'll be in a better position to tackle any underlying issues and generally stop making so many dumb decisions. Here's hoping, anyway.

If you have any experience on Citalopram (Celexa) or similar SSRIs, is there anything you wish you'd known before starting? I'm aware of the potential side-effects and withdrawal symptoms and at this point I'm prepared to take my chances. I'm most interested in your thoughts on the first 8 weeks or so of being medicated. If you'd like to add a comment anonymously, send me a mefimail and I'll paste it in below.

I'll take the first dose this Saturday after asking a GP friend for a second opinion. Can you think of anything I should ask that hasn't been covered above?

(I'm not seeing a therapist, but I am going to start working through Feeling Good as soon as I can. Previously I've used online CBT but found it overwhelming. If you want to talk about therapy, could we do that by mefimail instead? My diet and exercise regime are okay and pretty crappy, respectively. My family/social support network is good.)

On antidepressants. Need to lose weight. How to get started?

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:28:00 -0800

I'm taking SSRIs. I've experienced significant weight gain while on them and am now trying to work it off. How to get started? I need assistance with physical fitness and getting back into optimal shape while on Celexa/SSRIs.

I'm male, 28, 6'3 and currently 255 lbs. I started taking Celexa in June 2007 (started on Lexapro, switched over to Celexa over cost issues) to help treat severe anxiety and regular panic attacks.

On the mental front, the combination of SSRIs and therapy have worked wonders. I feel like a new person. But before I started taking Celexa, I weighed 220 lbs. That means I gained 35 lbs. in a little over six months.

The problem is that, once I started taking SSRIs, I lost interest in working out. While before I'd go running on 3 mile runs at least 4x a week and go to the gym 3x weekly, I simply stopped working out for six months or so. In addition, Celexa really f'd with my head in regard to hunger. I could eat a huge meal - a footlong sub, a few slices of pizza, a Chipotle burrito and be hungry two hours later.
Combine the lack of exercise, the overeating and the metabolic changes that came with going on SSRIs and, bam, I gained a ton of weight.

Now I want to work on losing it and getting back to where I was before (and, hopefully, lose even more weight and build more muscle). I'm consciously eating healthily and forcing myself to work out daily. Accepting my current weight isn't an option; I looked damn good before and don't want to resign myself to looking like a premature John Goodman.

But the big question... has anyone been in this situation and managed to do it successfully? Or if you haven't, if advice can be offered?

Antideppressants & fatal heart arrhythmia??

mintchip — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 21:28:55 -0800

Link between antideppressants & fatal heart arrhythmia?? I have been taking a very small dose of Celexa for years. Every time I go off of it I start to feel depressed and very anxious.

I've also had some near-fainting spells where my pulse becomes irregular (usually it's extremely faint) and feel extremely weak and sometimes clammy.

I've had a stress test and a neurological exam and no cause could be traced. My doc has theorized that it could be vaso vagal syncope (a harmless condition that can cause fainting).

New reports say that Anna Nicole Smith's son died from an apparent arrythmia brought on by a combination of antidepressants, including Lexapro (a cousin to Celexa). This has really got me concerned because I've always worried in the back of my mind that what I've been experiencing is an arrhythmia. It's very scary to have these spells because I feel like I'm going to pass out. Young (>30) healthy people shouldn't be passing out regularly, should they?

I don't expect medical advice on here, but please, if any of you have had similar issues and/or you know about the risk of arrhythmia from celexa, and how dangerous it is likely to be, please let me know. I also sometime drink to excess when I'm taking this medication. I know I shouldn't, but I do.