hi all,

i am new to this board and to celexa (2 days!). i suffer from panic attacks and was given 10 mg dose to start (then up to 20 mg in two weeks). does anyone have any side effects to report? did it make you less anxious? My doc said i shoudl take it iin the morning so as not to interfere with my sleep and i must say that i slept just fine last nite! does it interfere with your libido or cause nausea (i felt a bit nauseated today but don't know if the meds work that fast in your system).

thanks!

Hi jacolis! Each individual responds differently to meds. For me 20mg, and even 30mg of Celexa were horrible. Here's an excerpt from one of my previous reply posts:

quote:

I have been on Celexa for about 7 weeks now. Paxil 30mg wasn't working at all for me, so I demanded that my doc give me something else. He gave me several sample packs of Celexa 20mg to start taking after I had weaned myself off of Paxil.
Well, after 2.5 weeks of Celexa at 20mg I was in pretty bad shape. I called my doc and he suggested that I work my way up to 40mg. I have now been taking 40mg of Celexa for about three weeks and am doing SO much better.

Two weeks ago I started seeing a therapist, and she suggested that, given the two page list of symptoms and difficulties that I gave her, I was grossly undermedicated. She suggested that I contact my doc and get a prescription of .5mg of Klonopin.

After having been on Klonopin for almost two weeks, I am feeling even better. My sypmtoms haven't totally gone away, but they are greatly diminished from the level they were at 7 weeks ago. I almost feel somewhat normal now.

It typically takes 14-20 days for your body to become accustomed to new meds. During this accustomization period you will no doubt experience side effects. They should subside by, at least, day 20. If they don't, talk to your doc about the symptoms and maybe getting a different med.



Now 33 years old.

Hi Jacolis,

Welcome to the forum and the journey!

All of us with anxiety-panic-depression start out bewildered, confused and frightened by a variety of symptoms. Most of us begin down this path with a visit to the emergency room seeking help for physical symptoms. The malpractice starts there with the wonderful news all vital signs are OK! Go home! Nothing�s wrong! Some doctors think they�re being helpful by discounting feelings in this way. Most times that simple person in the white coat knows it�s anxiety-panic-depression, but lacks the skill or guts to say anything because they're always concerned about a bigger "what-if": a lawsuit. In all fairness, I must admit I�ve seen plenty of folks with the perfectionist trait who feel insulted at even the suggestion they may be experiencing anxiety-panic-depression. But then, a true professional would know how to present their thoughts in a way that would least result in a defensive patient.

OK, so most everyone after years of emergency room visits then comes to realize these symptoms for what they are and aren�t. Turning to the Psych area of the �medical community� for help, they�re quickly introduced to drugs by �therapists� who are lazy and think it�s easier to drug a patient than meet their need for more frequent phone calls and office visits. In addition, I experienced first hand how cheap insurers would rather drug people than pay for the benefits of counseling. Many spend years of their lives hooked on these drugs without knowing they are weakening the very coping skills that would serve them well. Popping pills and running away from anxiety-panic-depression becomes the game plan.

Many have written here in a way that suggests there is something wrong with them self for not being able to find relief in an �anti-depressant� drug. The truth is, it�s not about what�s wrong with you: It�s about what�s wrong with the drugs that are being pushed by licensed drug dealers that know it's cheaper and easier to drug a patient than to treat them more frequently with therapy.

The Life Extension Foundation reports: "Pills are not the panaceas we've been led to believe they are. Studies have shown that drugs are of no value in treating about 33% of depression cases. In another 33% of cases, the drugs were only a little more effective than placebos (sugar pills.)"

The good news is: Mostly all of us sooner or later may find the Midwest Center Program, and others like it, offers more hope for feeling better nowadays than mistreatment at the hands of licensed drug-pushers. It is the stated objective for lesson eleven of The Midwest Center Program, �to honestly look at your use of alcohol or other substances that mask reality,� which includes �anti-anxiety� medication and �anti-depressants.� Lesson eleven further states �medication will not change your perfectionist, negative, overly-sensitive personality; your way of thinking and behaving is what causes the problem.�

If a pill was truly the answer to any of this, don�t you think we�d all be taking it?

There are lots of websites devoted entirely to sharing personal experiences with various drugs. As only one example, you may start doing a specific search for experiences with the drugs you've mentioned by clicking on the following link while online: Search Dr. Bob�s Website

In the meantime, click on the following link to a thread on the forum that expresses some more of my own experience with all of this: A Search For Meaning at the Core of Panic Anxiety Depression

By the way, click on the following link to a thread on the forum that contains some of the most helpful information I�ve found about using and more fully enjoying this forum. Look What I Found on the Forum

Again, welcome to the journey!