Posted by Debbie Lambert on May 30, 2000, at 15:23:24
In reply to Re: Celexa after 6mos. off Zoloft, posted by Tom on May 27, 1999, at 21:34:25
>I have been on 20 mg of Prozac for over 5 years. My doctor recently switched me to Celexa, 20 mg a day. I was on it for about 2 and a half weeks when I started noticing waves of heat with flushing to the face. A few days ago, I was so dizzy and flushed, when I turned my head around to look at something while standing, I nearly fainted. I was taken to the ER at the local hospital. The doc said it was probably the new medication that I was on. Either that or the beginnings of menopause. (I'm 38.) I have been taking Prozac and Trazadone at bedtime to counteract the insomnia I've experienced from Prozac. I did feel the Celexa helped me feel more relaxed and almost sleepy which was a welcome relief from the jitteriness and low level anxiety that the Prozac seemed to have caused. My primary diagnosis is panic disorder with anxiety, although I've had bouts of moderate depression. For the most part, the Prozac helped these symptoms. My psychiatrist said that Celexa is better for treating people with anxiety and panic disorder than Prozac. That is the main reason he switched me to Celexa. I am upset that I experienced these strange side effects. My psychiatrist said that I might be allergic to the ingredients in Celexa, rather than the drug itself causing the flushing and dizziness. I've been back on Prozac for 3 days and feel jittery and anxious though no dizziness or flushing. Any feedback anyone can share with me on my experiences would be most appreciated. Thanks and good luck to you all.
I am struck by the variety of responses and side effects of these medications. I went on zoloft five years ago and after a few months stabilized at 37.5 mg/day. It really helped me first with a depressing time in my life (major business project failure). I definitely began to feel better although the detached sense of unreality that may of us are familiar with was there. I had some anxiety with it but that passed after a few months. Tried to stop a couple of times and after a few days would get this anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach over something, and think "Oh, hello. I can do without THIS feeling, thank you. I'll stick with the zoloft." So you might say I went on for the anti-depressant effect and stayed on for the anxiety reduction--a sort of armoring from the vicissitudes of day to day emotional life. In four years, I note in retrospect, such armoring also allowed my natural defenses to atrophy. During that time I got into a great relationship, got married to a wonderful woman, and was happy, although increasingly bothered by missing the "top 10" (but not the "bottom 20%") that zoloft seemed to "clip" off of experience. I went to an Indian music concert and felt almost nothing (odd for me). On my first wedding anniversary I stopped zoloft. I felt fine at first, was a little more uptight at times, but basically OK until I ran up against a serious personality/territorial conflict with a neighbor and former (and perhaps future) friend. It flipped me back into serious depression and extreme anxiety. I tried going back on zoloft (I had stopped without consulting my shrink, which I DO NOT recommend) but couldn't deal with the anxiety it caused this time. Go figure. SO I switched to celexa in January, worked my way up to 30 mg by March. I have one serious side-effect which is different from most I have seen here: great anxiety and insomnia. Too much energy and often nowhere to go with it! I take 1 to 2.5 xanax a day (.25 mg) and benadryl and ambien on alternate nights to sleep. When I tried to go back on the zoloft I didn't try tranquilizers to offset it, and I'm considering switching back to Z. As I say, I went on originally for depression--which is real--but stayed on for the "armoring." I feel more with celexa, don't get that "clipping," which is important to me as I am an architect and paid to feel and interpret, in effect. Yet the side effects of celexa are for me--the anxiety--not receding, perhaps actually increasing, as is the (albeit small) dose of xanax I need creeping up. Weight gain--other than gaining back what I lost when I didn't have any appetite while depressed--hasn't been a problem, nor libido. But feeling like I'm in a horror movie and the monster is perpetually about to jump out from behind the door isn't fun. The xanax dumbs me down a bit, but generally is a relief. The yawning--YES--that does happen to me, although I usually chalk it up to not breathing. I guess I’d say in conclusion that I've always been a nervous, perhaps fearful person, and zoloft helped me to get to where that wasn't an issue. I was more assertive without being obnoxious, more confident, and, frankly, emotionally stable enough to commit to a marriage. On celexa thus far (do have a lot of gas and--uncharacteristically for me--stomach unease) I feel a lot of the old anxiety,. I am considering going back to zoloft. Anyone out there have any experiences similar to mine, thoughts on this long posting, etc? They would be most appreciated.
poster:Debbie Lambert
thread:3323
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000526/msgs/35260.html