At this point, I wanted to put another post into the virtual world. To find out more about how Celexa affects someone. I've been withdrawing for a good week now. I've stopped taking the drug for good, a few days ago. Apparently it'll leave my system 6-8 days after the last pill is taken.
So my symptoms on day 5, are an overwhelming sense that I can't actually move. I have gone from having energy to having none. I'm looking at the dishes in the sink and they seem to only mock me. Damn those laughing dishes.
I swear, I hate the fact that my blog is now documenting my poverty and Celexa withdrawal. Normally, because of the way I update my blog. I write it a full one or two weeks in advance of the posts actual publication. I don't ever have to worry about not having fun stuff to upload. Now both my Celexa withdrawal and my poverty are tied. I'm starting to want to take out a contract on the guy (or girl) that actually invented Celexa, the scary thing is, that it's supposed to be more mellow then other SSRI. (any hit men out there please contact Forest Labs)
At this point I think I've experienced all the withdrawal symptoms, from suicidal thoughts to brain shock (I created static shock effectively downing the battery of my iPod) now I can't move from my bed to the couch. Yes I can't move, it's taking all my energy to simply lift my arm, let alone type this post. At least now that I have my arms positioned in a comfy spot. My fingers can glide across the keyboard, yet I'm very conscious of it. It's like I'm in a dream watching my body move.
It's strange this haze, which is now my life. I often forget how quickly life changes and how quickly life moves forward. I know this too will pass. I think the biggest thing for me to understand is that not all things will happen on my time, yet when things must happen. It's truly a odd thought.
I want my life back.
If you have your own experience with getting off of an anti-depressants or SSRI's please include a comment down below, I'd love to know what your experience was.
UPDATE: It’s been about a year since I’ve gotten off this drug, much has changed and it does get better, I’ve included a short story and some poems, about my withdrawal in a poetry book that will be coming out, called Side Step Me. I hope you take the time to check it out and truly do take away the fact, that there’s life after SSRIs.
Sorry, let me fill you in on some more details. I was on 40mg for 3 years, dropped to 30 for 6 months or so. Then to 20mg for around 2 months, then to 10mg for a week and stopped. At this point the symptoms were so sever I went back on 10mg for 2 weeks. Then 5mg for a week. Then 5mg every other day for another week. So I think this tapering was slow enough. Thanks.
Symptoms are more tolerable but still very uncomfortable.
Posted by: maxwell | June 17, 2008 at 10:36 AM
Maxwell,
Perhaps your shrink would be open to trying cyproheptadine and or Inderal for a while for the anxiety and brain zaps. I swear it works and you won't have to worry about weaning off Prozac. Both of these meds are safe. Most doctors don't think of them as a treatment, but, when they are mentioned they realize that it makes sense that they might work.
We had a rough day Monday. Stress and overscheduling set us back for days. We are also slowly seeing improvement.
Hang in there Maxwell.
Christina
Posted by: Christina | June 19, 2008 at 12:12 PM
Wow, really wish I had found this site when I researching Celexa before going on it. I was on 10mg for about two and half months and was told I could go off it anytime. So I did, then I started feeling really freakin sick which prompted me to do more research when I started finding out how many people have had similar horror stories and how everyone says DON'T QUIT COLD TURKEY. Oh well, I aint going back on it now that is for sure and NEVER AGAIN! celexa made me happier and better able to deal with life's BS but I completely lost my sex drive (very high sex drive so that was weird) and gained about 10 pounds! There is no drug that is wroth that if you ask me. What pisses me off is that I was so clear to the DR that I wold not take anything that would make me gain any weight or would kill my sex drive and he promised me there was very little chance of that happening. I hate this DRUG and will tell everyone I can in the hopes people will stay away from it. It's just not worth it
Posted by: Rebecca Loveky | June 20, 2008 at 07:05 PM
Hello I am writing to share my story and hopefully offer hope. To everybody who has posted on here and to everybody who like me is desperate for answers and found themselves here (this is the best place I have found dealing with the celexa withdrawal), to everybody: you are real and not alone and what you are experiencing is completely normal. it is not you, it is not even your depression. it is *only* withdrawal symptoms from a really nasty drug. I have come off of plenty of drugs in my time and antidepressants are the worst. I was having seizures a year after I came off effexor. Please hold out hope and hang on. It does get better, it gets much better. You will even possibly get worse, have rebound depression much worse than before, and suicidal thoughts. Please seperate yourself from your symptoms, from your illness. Please seperate your depresson from your rebound depression and these withdrawal effects. Please know that you are a human being and not a cruel medical experiment. I am supposed to be a "genius" and how in the hell did I let myself get so addicted to so many things! I had a bad experience, a cheating spouse with all my friends -- a virtual country song in the making. Of course you will be sad! I needed a therapist and I got pills. The pills caused problems and I got more pills to deal with the problems. I was addicted to so much stuff. I am still going through withdrawal. Last night I thought I was having a heart attack. I had all the symptoms but I was actually having a garlic pizza + celexa withdrawal attack. I vomited so hard. I have had the seizures, the brain zaps, the dizziness, I had all that from effexor withdrawal. Celexa was to treat the effexor withdrawal, I feel violated! I am not depressed. I am addicted to drugs pumped into me by my soon to be ex primary care physician. I will find a doctor who is not a whore to the drug lobby. You are not crazy. You are just a trick, a hooker sold into prostitution by your doctor, who possibly isn't even aware that he/she is a prostitute of a deceitful drug lobby. It's 4 bucks at wal mart for most of the stuff I am on. 50 bucks a month to be a worse drug addict than if I were on crack + heroin + crystal meth + cocaine, and legally with the approval of my doctor!
These symptoms go away.
God sent an angel into my life, in the form of a rock and roll chick with flame tattoos down her arms, the manager of a Whole Foods vitamin department. She showed me what she gave her husband to deal with this.
There is something called Holy Basil. There was a "stress" formula. All natural. I take expensive all natural vitamins. (Of course, insurance doesn't cover this stuff -- rule of thumb, if insurance says no to it, then it is healthy for you.) What also helps me tremendously is something called GABA gamma aminobutyric acid. It's natural at the Whole Foods. I can take 10 xanax and 10 vicodin and 10 ambien and not sleep. I can take a melatonin under my tongue, valerian root, and a GABA pill and not have panic attacks, and get sleepy, and sleep.
Sleep is one of the most precious and important things you can have. Nutrition also. To get through this, if you can even stand up, try to walk or do anything, whatever it takes to make you more exhausted than you are now. Anything no matter how small that makes you sweat. Put your mind to exercise and to knowing deeply in your very soul that you were put on Satan's poison pill without your informed consent. All good people have to do to let evil prevail is to do nothing. Or to take a pill. It is better to struggle with *real* depression than with *fake* depression from this celexa garbage.
I am a brilliant writer, and I am incoherent here. I want my life back. I got it back briefly once from effexor. Then I immediately lost it again to rebound depression, and shut off all healing with celexa.
I have had hallucinations, I had a psychotic break, I have been off it a month. The first 2 weeks I was wonderful and it was magical that I got off this without symptoms. Then 2 weeks in, it hit me like a train. How could it take so long for withdrawal to start! I have phone records and credit card receipts and perfectly lucid emails that prove I have eaten and been alive the past month. There are incidents I remember with no problem. And I have an excellent memory. There are incidents that I will remember if you tell me about them. There are incidents I will not remember doing, but I will remember seeing myself doing. There were several very scary things I did that I have no memory of. I see where I did them, where I sent a hateful email to somebody, but I have no memory of it.
I have hallucinated. This has never happened before, not even on illegal drugs!
Last night I thought I was having a heart attack. Then I vomited so hard. I have been flu like and could not even get up. It was like I weighed a ton, or God turned up the gravity knob to 11. I fall because of the dizziness. Like I said, brain zaps and seizures and blackouts and impaired memory.
Eventually this goes away. It has before on a much worse drug, effexor. It is already going away slowly. So slowly, but surely.
What helps are the vitamins and supplements. The angel at Whole Foods. GABA. Melatonin. Valerian. Holy Basil. Marigold! Lots and Lots of water and real food, not processed stuff. Stuff that God or mother nature created/evolved. Not stuff that is made in some meth lab, um, I mean, pharmaceutical company lab. Is there a difference?
Go slow. Taper slow if you can, but be warned, and be prepared. Get your support system, get a support system. Give them warning. People who have been through this same hell may be all broken, but they know what it's like better than any M.D. who speaks to you, referring to you in the third person as he hands you another sample. As for having no insurance, the insurance lobby is as corrupt as the drug lobby. And we think Iraq, Wal Mart, and oil money is evil? They are merely a means to avert your attention from the real monsters. If you have no insurance, that's AOK because what will help you won't be covered by the insurance. Eat ramen noodles and go to Whole Foods and get GABA.
Therapy, which your insurance company limits to 30 or 45 visits a year, that helps. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a miracle. For those who can't aford therapy, then go to the bookstore and look up these two books: "Feeling Good" and "Reinventing Your Life". They saved my life.
It is proven that we can change our brain chemistry, our own biology from doing bad drugs, and also from exercising and eating healthy. What can be harmed can also be healed. I read an article where Buddhist Monks were brain scanned, and they literally changed their brains, their biology. They rewired their brains through meditation. Whatever your belief system, I am a devout Christian. No, not a right wing family values focus on the family "christianist", which is just another religious terrorist cell. I am a homosexual drug addict Christ believing christian. I don't believe in fundamentalism, I believe in fundamentals. Sorry, Mr. Alabama Racist Judge, the 10 commandments were not the foundation of this country, nor even the bible. The foundation of the Bible is this: Christ said, love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. The whole "law and prophets" rests on this.
So as this judge and as focus on the family decimate america and families and send good people to hell, the absolute, the truth is this: Love. Love is all that saves you. Not drug companies. Holy = Whole. Holy is not piety. Holy and godly is eating an organic green salad and being a human and not an automaton. Holy is having a soul that gets hurt, and holy is crying. Holy is getting off this satanic celexa.
So there, if you believe in god or not, celexa is evil and you are not. Get off it or die trying. Die a human before you live a dead zombie automaton robot, whored against your will and knowledge to corporations.
"Just say NO" to celexa.
You are valid, whatever symptom whose cause you are trying to finger because your doctor says it's all in your head: It's not in your head. It's in your body and it's real. But you are more real, and you are correct, and you are right. If you got here, you know the Truth and your doctor does not.
Get off this stuff. It gets better. You will heal. Do it slow. Treat yourself like a human because you are. If you can say "I am" then that is all the proof and reason and validation and justification you need. If you breathe and are reading this then that's all the proof you need. We aren't created/designed/evolved to exist in this hell we created for ourselves.
So yes, your suspicions are correct. No, you are not crazy. Well, what if you are crazy? That is not important. What is important is, you are right, you are correct, and you are human.
This will go away. My two psychiatrists, they are both new, and the reason I like them is, they said I am on too many drugs, I needed to come off these, they hate to prescribe pills, they are of the most committed and firm belief that the only thing in the world I need is not more pills, but consistent sleep. They said if I can sleep, my depression will dry up. And it did! And then they are working me off this crap. It is hell. It is HELL. You are going through hell. If you aren't, then be warned, you will. Hang on, that is all you can do. What happens to you is not your fault, it is not you. It is not even your depression. It is simply and only you suffering from drug withdrawal. Get through this and tell others. Find boards online of other people who are feeling the same as you, and tell them that they are right. You may not believe or feel it, but from the other side of this, I can promise you as a human being who has been there, the truth helps more than anything else. Don't let go of the truth. You will get better, and it will take a very long time. Your brain will do its best to get back. It will be better to live the rest of your life in agony from not being on anything, than to live in agony of being on this.
I actually had an erection. I actually did not get offended and pissed off when this cute guy flirted with me. I flirted back. My body is slowly coming back on line. Pardon the pun, but coming is the right word. I had more orgasms from masturbating yesterday than I have had in the past six years. Go diddle yourself! You're supposed to!
Treat yourself like a human, because you are. Don't buy into the lie of corporate america, the Whore Of Babylon in Revelation. Don't let her drink your blood and suck your soul. Die free if you have to. There are things worse than death. Being an undead zombie on celexa and 8 or 9 other drugs is one of them.
Come out of your slavery, people. If you are reading this, your suspicions are right on the money. No amount of drugs or crazy or depression can blunt your suspicions and they are correct. It will go away. It may be a week. It may be 2 months. A year from now you will still get dizzy. Get used to making sure you know where the handrail is before you take a step, for the next year or two.
This is probably all incoherent. You are probably incoherent. So go write it down. Coherence does not matter. Humanity and real matters. So get through this, it will happen! Hold on and do NOT let go! It will get better. Probably in 2 months tops. The symptoms fade away, but they will be there for a long time. Just more bearable. It gets more bearable, if you just give yourself time and take care of yourself and do not believe any lie.
I hope this helps. I've been there before, I was there last month, and I'm still there. I've gotten off this before. I will do it again. This is common, and what you are going through is absolutely the correct response of your body to its being violated. Your body is vomiting out this shit that has been destroying your soul. So hold on and get through it -- no getting over it, only through it. You can only do it one inch at a time.
Then when you do, go save others from this very literal and real hell.
Posted by: xerxes | July 08, 2008 at 04:25 PM
I was on 20mg celexa for about four years. I started weaning myself off over a month ago...from 10mg for a couple weeks to 5mg for maybe a week or so then nothing...well is been over two weeks now and i am still feeling dizzy at times...also very bitchy, getting tired more and less energy when i go for my jog etc...hope this crap is over soon...never again!!!!
Posted by: steph | August 24, 2008 at 08:31 PM
Hi, I have been off of Celexa for 6 days. I was on 20 mg for 7 years. My doc switched me to Wellbutrin, the Wellbutrin is NOT helping with any of the withdrawal symptoms from Celexa, because it is not an SSRI. I wanted to switch because of weight gain over the years. I wish I would have known how bad the withdrawals were before even getting on that crappy med. I am a stay at home mother of 3 and am really struggling. I have nausea, electric like shocks throughout my body, fatigue, a feeling of passing out just from going up my stairs, extreme bouts of crying, anxiety, the list goes on and on. I am scheduled to see a Naturopath, who will hopefully help me figure out a natural way to replace the Celexa. I have heard that St. Johns Wort works good for Serotonin. I am thinking she will instruct me to get off the Wellbutrin and go about it in a %100 natural way. I will let you all know how it goes. By the way, is anyone interested in starting a petition to bring forth a class action lawsuit for Celexa related problems?
Posted by: Lindsey | August 26, 2008 at 12:15 AM
I have been on Celexa for about 3-years. I am having numerous of the withdrawal symptoms mentioned. It is unbeleivable. Who made this crap as a solution for depression. The drug and food companies are killing us under the guise of helping. Listen to Alex Jones www.infowars.com That wont cheer you up, but will help you understand what is going on.
Posted by: Alan | August 31, 2008 at 05:30 PM
I have been slowly tapering from Celexa for months now. I originally tried tapering at a faster rate with disastrous results. I went from a whole pill to a half which was generally well tolerated. Then I went from a half to a quarter. Then I tried to quit and I thought I was going crazy. I had attacks of extreme rage followed by crying uncontrollably. I was anxious and extremely irritable. I went back on at the dose I left off at and have slowly tapered by disolving a half a pill in a cup of water and taking out tablespoons at a time. I am down to less than a 16th of a pill now. My withdrawal is not as bad as it initially was but I still have the rage attacks, insomnia, anxiety, crying fits, fatigue, etc. I basically still feel crazy, and I don't remember feeling like this before I took the medication, but I was on it for so long that it's difficult to remember. I'm not sure if I'm just really like this or if it's the drugs. And I do feel like there's not enough information out there.
Posted by: Kristin | October 01, 2008 at 05:01 PM
I am going through the withdrawels and it is driving me crazy. I weaned myself over a 1 month period and have been completly off of Celexa for 5 days. I have alot of dizziness, nausea, severe fatigue. This is awful!!!
Posted by: Amy | October 02, 2008 at 02:14 PM
I've been on and off of Celexa for about 10 years. I only stayed on it because I felt like sh*t when I went off of it. It's funny because I guarantee you that these types of drugs will be obsolete in a decade. They're total crap. But, in a pinch when you're feeling like you want to wack someone, you don't have many alternatives.
I've been off for what I hope to be the last time. I weaned over the course of months (six?) and I still, after only taking .25 mg for the last couple, I feel like seared balls. I am foggy, tired, burning muscle pain, all sorts of irritable at times, then sometimes fine. It's a hootenany and I hope/believe that it will get better, because anything is better than that stuff.
Posted by: Ella | October 05, 2008 at 03:20 PM
I need help getting off of Celexa. I am finally at 5mg every five days but it is not getting better from here. I hate the mind zaps the hung over stupid feeling..i can't afford to go to the doctor..I have no insurance anymore. I need to know that this will end. Soon, my pills will be gone and I don't know if I will be able to survive like this. HELP?!
Posted by: mia | October 19, 2008 at 09:19 PM
I was on Celexa for about 3 weeks and I would have to say, this medication and all other anti-depressants need to go to Hell. The withdrawals are horrible. How much longer can I take them. I stopped the med about a week ago and all I feel like doing is vomitting. I don't function during the day and I know its driving my boyfriend and family crazy. Help, what can I do to stop the withdrawal symptoms?
Posted by: Pilar | October 30, 2008 at 04:52 AM
I'm glad I found this site. Two years ago, or actually, within the last 6 years, I have lost 3 family members including my son. The final straw was getting fired unfairly from a job I had for 5 years by a person who took over the department. She wanted her own "people" and I wasn't one of them. My depression and especially anxiety was unbearable. I couldn't talk to anyone. I've always been strong so I thought I could handle it and that it would pass. It didn't. My doc put me on Prozac, which made me feel better, but the digestive symptoms were horrible. He then put me on Celexa which made me feel a whole lot better. I also take Ativan, mostly at night. I have tried withdrawl from Celexa a couple of times. The first week, I'm great, feel on top of the world, and my mind is clear and I just feel good. Then, I start getting angry at the world, picking fights for no reason. I usually hold back as I'm not the kind of person who wants to make others feel bad. My personality is quite assertive, but I have been feeling aggressive. After a week, I hit rock bottom again, and friends and family have said, "so what if you have to take this drug the rest of your life. Big deal, if it makes you feel better." I only take .25 or at the most, .05 mg a day. I won't take more and that seems to be enough.
This is perplexing me as I really hate taking drugs like this and "think" I can get off with little or no harm, that I am cured. I just cannot figure out why I go back to the same depression and anxiety--for no reason--everything is fine in my life. Good job, family happy, lots of celebration, etc. Has anyone experienced this or worse? From reading the blogs I say yes, but if there is positive withdrawl, I'd like to hear that.
Thank you for being here.
Nancy
Posted by: Nancy Morgan | November 09, 2008 at 12:41 PM
I got on Celexa 2 1/2 yrs. ago and I believe it saved my life. I had recently quit smoking, which put me in the first suicidal depression I'd ever experienced. (I was 51, and my father had died at 51.) I was already on Ritalin (10-15 mg/day) for ADHD.
I'm getting off both Celexa and Ritalin because I quit my job and no longer have health insurance (Kaiser- all they really do is prescribe and dispense these days.) Actually, I kind of enjoy the brain zaps (mild-I had some intense ones getting off Paxil once) and my sex drive is back with a vengeance! I'm walking 2 1/2 miles most days and yoga sounds like a great idea. I believe I'll get thru this OK. Fortunately, I have some other crazy people in my life who understand,support, and reality check me. That's ESSENTIAL; If you don't have any crazy friends, GET SOME! If you can't find any, a shrink will do in a pinch.
Posted by: Jonathan | November 26, 2008 at 09:50 AM
PS for Nancy Morgan: (and others); I've been there. Suggestions; walk or run or swim at least 2 mi. per day or whatever exercise you can manage for 30-60 min. at least 5x per wk. Take 200-800 mg/day of SAMe. You can order it online (nutralife.com or samesource.com) for a fraction of the health food store price. Take St John's wort, too; it can't hurt. It helps sleep and immunity, too.
Talk to your Creator or your ancestors or the Universe or GUS (the Guy Up Stairs) or whoever'll listen. I go to NA-I've been clean and sober for 24 years but there are "NA Nazis" who'll deny that because I've taken Celexa & Ritalin, so I don't talk about that in meetings where I don't know everyone. It's a powerful source of strength & support, though, and you'll find people to confide in at Starbuck's after the meeting who've probably been where you're at. I have the misfortune of being straight (I say that because guys find me far more attractive than women do, and my best friends are either women or gay guys) but I know there's support for mental/emotional issues in the gay community. If, like I finally did, you can accept yourself as being mentally ill and know that it doesn't make you any less good or smart or functional or desirable than anyone else, especially all the other mentally ill folks in denial who surround us, you will be more than half-way to a better life. And by the way, just in case nobody else told you this today, I love you! JD
Posted by: Jonathan | November 26, 2008 at 10:28 AM
I took celexa for four years. I tapered down for about 2 weeks. I stopped taking celexa about 2 weeks ago. This celexa Is some nasty stuff. I have the electric zaps in my head. I have had some scary dreams. Agitated.
Absolutely zero energy and zero motivation. My left thigh hurts so much, that is is difficult to stand up from a sitting position. There is also some numbness there. I've had a sore throat for at least 12 days. My ears ring loud constantly. I will never put chemicals in my body again. It is just not worth the price.
Jim
Posted by: jim | December 05, 2008 at 12:15 AM
I have severe anxiety and have been on clnazepan for 8 months. I have been having these panic attacks for a year and a half. The first time I took myself off of clonazepan I didnt have an attack for 8 months, and then they came back 10 ties worse.
I figure that I can do this on my own, so I sought out a therapist and some books on coping methods.
Recently my phyciatrist told me to go on celexa until the behavioral groups start up. I decided that it was worth a try considering the severness of my anxiety attacks daily.
Well, f**k this drug. In a matter of two weeks I have been having horribe headachs that feel like rusting metal in my head. My jaw clenches, my body tenses up as if Im going into a seizure, my memory is fairly gone and I am a damn zombie with no energy, along with no sex drive.
Mind you still! I have to take more clonazepan just to stay sane with the celexa.
I just took myself off of it, and mind you my body has always taken fast to meds.
Its my second day and I am just completely lethargic.
PLEASE!!!
ANYONE WHO TAKES CELEXA FOR ANXIETY;DON'T!
Seek a therapist, read books, do meditation and don't give up! this too shall pass, and medication is not the answer for mild to severe panic attacks.
If you want some really helpful books that are helping me, email me at internal_outlet@live.com
there is another way.
Infact, Iv'e
Posted by: kayla | January 16, 2009 at 12:31 AM
I've been on 20mg of celexa for the past 5 years. After this long I feel like my body has gotten used to this substance and my anxiety and panic attacks have learned to over ride it's effects. Since I didn't feel it was working anymore I decided to get off. I know eventually everyone will have to stop at some point. I have decided to try and deal with the actual issue rather than cover them up with a pill. Honestly, the celexa did help me a bunch when I first started taking it and I had no side effects. However, now that I'm trying to get off, the withdrawal is awful. I have gone from 20mg daily for 5 years to 10mg daily for 2 weeks, and now 10mg every other day. I feel extremely off balance when I move my head or eyes, jittery, disoriented and confusion, my limbs feel funny, my tongue feels like rubber, I'm having a hard time talking and find myself starting over and stuttering all the time, feeling paranoid, and having trouble concentrating and doing normal tasks. Just cant think clearly. I'm determined to get off this stuff and only can hope this won't last very long.
Posted by: Kelly | January 22, 2009 at 05:04 PM
This blog is a Godsend. I was on Celexa for 13 years. I went off this drug almost a month ago, and I thought I was losing my sanity until I found this website. I also HATE THIS frickin drug. These psychiatrists prescribe these drugs with no real thought about side effects. I had heart surgery three years ago, and this Celexa has cuased the horrible palpitations I have had for over three years. Damn this drug. Thank you to everyone who has written, now I know I am not crazy, just the victim of this crapping drug,
Posted by: Rose | April 18, 2009 at 05:44 PM
I wanted to thank you too for posting this, especially the update. I took 10mg of Celexa for almost a year, and I became a shell of myself. I could have kept going like that and been fine, but I decided I wanted my passion back and I wanted to start caring again.
Almost two weeks ago, my doc said, "Stop whenever you want, it's only 10mg." So I did. Almost overnight my sex drive was back, I was enthusiastic, and ALIVE!
But, it was like I was on speed. And I also had the dizziness, and aches in my legs, annoyingly vivid dreams, and trouble sleeping. Now, I also have tingling in my hands (which almost always comes with tingling in my brain), and I get sooooo incredibly frustrated/intense/overwhelmed, I'm induced to crying. No particular reason, just need to release from this intensity! Crying helps temporarily. And it feels good. My friends and family get so worried about me when I cry, but I try to tell them really, it's OK. It's like jumping up and down or hitting a pillow. It's a way to release the tension that's constantly building up.
I had gained quite a bit of weight on Celexa, and I was sleeping all the time. I can already feel that weight starting to shed, and I'm sleeping normal hours again, except waking up several times a night from aches and vivid dreams.
Now that I see from others' stories that this might last a while, I'm going to try taking Tylenol Simply Sleep, which is an effective, and non-addictive, sleep aid for me. I've also stopped drinking wine, and find that staying hydrated helps with the aches and other physical symptoms.
One of the weirdest side effects I'm getting is that I feel like I'm having every emotion at the same time. Happy, sad, mad, calm, attentive, bored, enthusiastic, frustrated. It's like a flood gate was opened, and all of the things I wasn't feeling on Celexa are coming in at one time.
In a way, it's a time for me to learn, so when all of this withdrawal is over, I can remember that so much of emotion is physical and chemical. Since none of my emotions are being caused by anything but chemicals, I can't blame it on anything. I really hope I can remember this when I'm no longer beholden by the chemistry in my brain, and see my emotions not as my enemy (like I did before I took Celexa), but as a physical symptom.
Or maybe, this is all the withdrawal symptoms talking :)
One thing that you mentioned on your blog is a renewed energy for writing. I'm feeling that too! I am a writer, and this year on Celexa stalled that to almost nothing. I would write things, but I didn't really care about them. There was no passion. My muse was taking a vacation.
Now, writing (and exercising) have come back. Maybe it's the feeling that I'm on speed that's causing this, but man, I'm so glad to have my creativity back.
I'm trying to focus on what's good, and to keep reminding myself that these withdrawal symptoms will eventually go away. Crying, exercising, writing, and sharing my story with others will get me through. Your story encourages me that it won't last forever. Thank you.
Posted by: TammyT | May 14, 2009 at 07:48 PM
I GOT OFF CELEXA COLD TURKEY AFTER ABOUT 6 MOS TAKING 20MG/DAY. THE LIGHT-HEADEDNESS AND QUICK TEMPER IS THE WORST OF IT. I AM GOING TO TRY FASTING AND DOING A LIVER CLEANSE. I READ ABOUT AN ALL NATURAL PRODUCT CALLED DEPREX FOR DEPRESSION. I HAVE NOT TRIED IT; THEY SAY THERE ARE NO SIDE EFFECTS
Posted by: RON | May 16, 2009 at 11:03 AM
I'm 50 yrs old and have been on Celexa for 8 yrs, after reading these posts, I'm not sure if my CFS is caused by the celexa or something else. I would recommend a very slow decrease in the celexa for withdrawl if at all possible.
Posted by: Kim | June 04, 2009 at 12:23 AM
My fiancée and I want to have a baby. My dr told me I did not need to go off celexa while pregnant. I decided that I should, because I could only imagine my baby having withdrawals. About a year ago I tried quitting cold turkey, but after a few days of being so ill I could hardly function, I went back on the celexa. I have been taking 40 mg for over 4 years. I started the withdrawal process by cutting my pills in half. I took have a pill everyday for two weeks like my dr had suggested. It has now been six days without any drugs. The first few days off I was nauteous and dizzy. But the last two days have been worse. I feel like I have a horrible case of car sickness. I am determined to continue through this weaning process. While I am nervous of what is to come, I'm sure I can make it. The worst part is not knowing if it is going to last another week or another month or two. So far I have been able to control my rage and irritability at work, but it has been hard.
Posted by: Heather | June 16, 2009 at 09:16 PM
Ok, so I thought I'd post again and say how I'm doing. This is day 10 without taking celexa. I'm doing much better today. Not 100% yet, but it's definately tolerable. On day 7 I was ready to go back ok celexa, but I pushed through. And I'm so glad I did.
Posted by: heather | June 20, 2009 at 11:38 AM
I have been on Celexa for 1 1/2 years due to anxiety attacks and despair from an 18 year marriage breakup. It worked quite well when I was single and not caring about sex drive, relationships, etc. I have been off it (cold turkey) for 10 days now and I am in HELL!!!! I am losing my mind, my girlfriend, my friends and my family due to the anger, confusion, anxiety and insane thoughts of suicide and homicide. I was not told of the withdrawal effects by my doctor even when I asked 6 months ago about getting off the drug. He just said to wait until next summer when there is more light in the day and things are more cheerful. I could not wait. I am so f**cking dizzy and angry that I have driven the woman I love away. I cannot keep a thought in my head for more than a second. The violent nightmares are ungodly scary and last well into the day. When I move my eyes too fast I feel as though I may fall down or my brain is dislodged from my skull.
This blog has helped tremendously and want to show my girlfriend the comments to possibly convince her that I am not the a-hole I have been for the last 2 weeks. I thought I was going full blown crazy. I kept asking my kids if they thought I was behaving oddly and they said "a little" which means YES!!!
Thank you for this outlet for myself and people trying to get off the demon drug. I have some renewed hope and feel so much better about the fact it will get better soon.
Posted by: Alan Bluth | August 06, 2009 at 02:15 AM