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Discussion Topic: Celexa side effects
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 llewella |
04-29-2004 @ 5:00 AM |
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Member
Joined: Feb. 2004
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I was told not to drink any alcohol while taking Celexa. I kinda miss it. It's been 2 months since I had any. I got non-alcoholic beer and it tastes pretty good.
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| chuggie |
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04-29-2004 @ 11:28 PM |
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Joined: Apr. 2004
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I don't know about any of you, but I check out the RX online at WebMD and PDR BEFORE I take it. If I am seriously concerned about the side effects, I will call my doctor and ask about them.
As for Celexa, I took only one pill, don't know the dose, and became deathly ill. I could not get out of bed for 2 days except to throw up or have diahrea. I have never experienced anything like it in my life.
The reason I didn't know about the side effects of Celexa was because I was hospitalized at the time. I was sucidal and in no shape to question the doctor. I refused to take any more of Celexa and the doctor suggested that what happened to me was the "flu" and not the drug. I don't know if that is true or not, but I'm not going to even try to find out. 
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| chuggie |
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04-29-2004 @ 11:55 PM |
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Joined: Apr. 2004
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P.S. I completly agree with you llewella. Whether or not to take a drug is an individuals own decision. In my case, they have saved my life. Looking back, I now recognize that, as a child, I was depressed and also suffered from SAD's. I attempted suicide at 17, spent 2 months in a mental hospital, had "shock" treatments, etc. They were brutal in their treatment back in those days, the early 60's.
Until that point I had not been treated or diagnoised as being "depressed" even though the signs were always there. I have learned by my own experiences of going "drug free" that they are a necessity in my life. I know I have a chemical imbalance just as a diabetic has an imbalance. The are many who become depressed and get over it. But there are also many more for whom drugs are the answer.
Also, I've never seen a drug that doesn't have a "No alcohol" warning on it. The drugs you are taking alters your chemistry as does alcohol. It is never a good idea to mix the two.
I'll shut up now, honest. 
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| Ryan |
04-29-2004 @ 11:59 PM |
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Joined: Apr. 2004
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llewella,
I'm glad it worked for you. It must be one of those things where it reverses your depressive state -- if you have depression, it cures it, and and if you don't, you get it. :-(
I'm glad that chuggie posted his story, which is very similar to mine. Celexa, BuSpar, and Zoloft have given me more pain and suffering than I ever had before, and that has made me question how much I have left other than my job. Before, I had a good job and good physical health, and now it's mostly just the job.
I re-iterate my thesis objectively: since each person's brain is different, the psychiatrists can't predict how such drugs will react almost at all. Therefore, it's a gamble, assuming you're not suicidal so it's doesn't matter if the drugs disable you. A good rule in gambling is to know how much you can afford to lose, and it has been proven on this message board as well as by the FDA in their recent overdue warning that for SOME people they lose big.
Rules of thumb:
1) Be a health care consumer -- do the risk benefit analysis yourself, since you are the one it affects.
2) Doctors have a strong cognitive dissonance about their precious psychotropic drugs, when they are the ones with the delusions...if you have strong adverse symptoms like chuggie and I did, STOP TAKING IT. Psychiatrists are notoriously difficult to contact, and when the drug is really messing you up, you really have to keep after them to reduce/eliminate the dosage.
3) If a drugs theoretically "works", but has such a high mountain of side effects to overcome that they overshadow the benefits of the drug, then the drug really isn't effective.
I work in the computer software (Information Technology) business. If any part of the system fails (web server, application server, database, computer network equipment [router(s)]), then the user complains that the application has failed.
The same goes for drugs -- it doesn't matter if the drugs primary effects are not potent enough or if it causes too many side effects to overshadow any benefits the drugs might actually have -- these both mean that from a holistic view the drug doesn't work.
BTW, I have stopped (what are for me poisonous) SSRIs and now am weaning off Ativan. I asked my very compassionate primary care doctor for more Ativan after discussing the risk/benefit analysis. For me, it provides the greatest relief from my treatable symptoms with the smallest side effects (although they are there). The psychiatrists might think this is wrong, but I've tried all of their stuff -- Celexa, Zoloft, Trazodone, Ambien, BuSpar and so now I'm going to do it my way. I gave them a fair shot, and they more than missed. It's my turn now.
Good luck to anyone trying medication -- I sincerely hope the gamble pays off for as it apparently did for llewella.
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Discussion Topic: Celexa side effects
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