Date: Tue Feb 6, 2001 11:23pm Back in July due to anxiety and/or depression I was given Paxil by a Docs Assistant at our local HMO. I experienced terrible anxiety when I started taking it (10 mg). Convinced by the doctors that I needed it, I worked my way up to 20 mg, at which point I expected something magical to happen. Well it didn't. Paxil continued to make me feel agitated and I was given Klonopin to help me sleep. Sometime in there, the suicidal thoughts started. In September or October, I decided Paxil just wasn't for me and started to ween myself off of it. Which I succeeded in doing about the beginning of November. Once off of Paxil I felt terribly depressed, I decided I must go on something and ended up on Celexa. Can't remember exactly when, the hysterical weeping started.. I've been on 10 mg Celexa for about 8 weeks now. I cannot get the nerve to raise my dose as the doctor instructs. In December I began to suspect that maybe the Klonopin had something to do with all of this and lowered my dose. Like a light switch the weepiness went away. However as I lower my dose of Klonopin, I become more agitated and anxious. So now I'm faced with the task of weening myself off of Klonopin, which I'm sure made any depression I had much worse, AND weaning myself off of Celexa, which may or may not be contributing to the problem. My current symptoms are: Agitation/Anxiety/derealization Some weepiness, although not much any more. Just generally don't feel "right" like myself...feel kinda strange. Of course the docs just want me to take Xanax and more AD...offered me a low dose neuroleptic...you name it. How in the heck do I get out of this mess. I'm not sure there's anything wrong with me. I think it's the drugs! Help! Please E-Mail me, Jerry Date: Wed Feb 7, 2001 0:14am Response1: Hi, all i can say that if your were not like this before the drugs, and you seem to be worse after the drugs then ITS THE DRUGS!!!! These drugs make people a mess, KNOW its the drugs, get off them and then give yourself time, (lots of time) to heal..... It takes normal anxity and then multiplies it x100 or even 1000, so yes maybe you had a little depression and maybe even a little anxity but I belive these drugs make it sooo much worse, at least they did for me. Wean off of them slowly, and dont be surpriesed if you get different things going on. Take care and check out in the files section how to get off these drugs safely, and dont depend on your dr. to know anything about these drugs, they usualy dont. Cynthia Date: Wed Feb 7, 2001 0:38am Response2: Hi and welcome. I too was on Ciprami/Celexa and experienced derealisation. If you intend to go off it, please wean off VERY slowly. I stopped cold turkey (thanks to the advice of a useless doctor) and it was sheer hell. I remember reading somewhere that these newer SSRI's, of which Celexa is one, are even stronger than the older ones, which ultimately means more severe withdrawal. I also read somewhere that Celexa has less side effects than the others, what a joke ! Good luck. Debbie Date: Wed Feb 7, 2001 0:49am Repsonse3: Jerry, That sounds like what happened to me. I was diagnosed with depression and generalized anxiety disorder. My doctor put me on very low dose of Paxil (5mg) and ativan (1mg) (which is an anti-anxiety drug like klonopin). I had already been taking ativan sporadically to help me sleep and it did work somewhat. My problems started when the paxil was introduced. Once I stopped the paxil alot of my symptoms went away. Ibelieve the ativan was okay to use as long as I used it sporadically. For me it was the paxil that gave me all the horrible symptoms: severe anxiety, weird thoughts, frightening dreams, among others. I stopped the paxil (did not wean because they didn't think I needed to because I was on such a low dose) and continued on the ativan to cope with the withdrawal symptoms (which weren't supposed to happen). I am still on ativan and plan to wean off that too. Lucille Date: Wed Feb 7, 2001 1:30am Response4: Hi jerry, It seems that the Paxil, first given to you, has amplified your anxiety which is typical for serotonergic drugs. In the meantime you started with the Klonopin which is a terrible addictive (benzodiazepine)drug . The suicidal thoughts you had where the direct result of the increased dosage of Paxil. What happened to you when you stopped the Paxil is a relapse of the activity of your serotonergic neurocells transmission (and withdrawal). This worsened your depression. Lowering your dose of the Klonopin was very wise to do so, its a nasty drug to get off. In the meantime your gaba-ergic system got used to the Klonopin so its very likely that you are experiencing withdrawal symptoms from it now. The strange kind of feeling and the derealization you experiencing now are definately from Celexa since you are stimulating your serotonergic system again, the system thats involved with your perception. I strongly advise you to make your doctor very clear that you wanna wean off this drug. There are a lot of strong anti-depressant alternatives like St. Johns Worth and Ginkgo Biloba. Also the least shortage of 1 element from the vitamine B group can bring you into a depression. One more thing: is your doctor nuts ?! to offer you a neuroleptic ?? If there are any drugs proven to bring damage to the brain then its neuroleptics !! Never take one !!! Charly Date: Wed Feb 7, 2001 4:47pm I've been on a low dose (10mg) of Celexa for about 3 months. I want to get off of it. Anyone know what the discontinuation syndrome is like for Celexa? Is it as bad as Paxil? How fast can I ween? My doctor is no help...they don't believe you when you tell them the drugs are the problem. Jerry Date: Wed Feb 7, 2001 4:52pm Response1: Jerry: You are not crazy, but if you go to the doctors with this litany of symptoms, they will slap you will all sorts of diagnoses. Hell, they already want you to take neuroleptics, which I will scream along with Charly -- DO NOT TAKE ANY MEDICATION THAT ENDS IN A 'ZINE' -- These drugs can cause Tadive Dystonia, so you'll look like a cow chewing its cud for the rest of your life. I took Paxil and I went through the exact thing you're describing. And my doctor DID tell me that I was insane. Just go slowly off this poison. It will be hell but you'll survive. Welcome to the group. Trisha Date: Wed Feb 7, 2001 7:28pm Response2: Jerry, I walked around my house in a panic for 4 weeks day and night asking everyone, what happend to me, did I go crazy, am I crazy, YES YOU FEEL CRAZY but its not you its the stupid drugs, belive it or not, it happens all the time, but your lucky that you found this group, and that you wont get into the cycle of drugs pushed from the dr's. You have a chance, the ones who keep listening to the Dr's and taking these drugs end up killing themselves or in a mental hospital, be happy you have a GREAT chance of recovering, you KNOW its the drugs. Take care, Cynthia Date: Wed Feb 7, 2001 9:41pm How do you survive the suicidal thoughts? How do you survive the anxiety? How do you survive the idea that you might not ever get better? How do you survive when you don't know who you are anymore? Is it easier to get of a lower dose of an AD than a higher one? I'm on 10 mg of Celexa, so in my mind I'm already half way off. Jerry Date: Wed Feb 7, 2001 9:52pm Response1: You survive because you HAVE to. Always remember that it's the DRUGS that caused this. You are not crazy. I'll be damned if I know why I was recruited for this mission, but I was and my goal is to teach people to stay away from these drugs. They never cured anything. As for your 10 mgs dose of Celexa, it is impossible to equate 10 mgs with half a dose because it has more to do with your own individual neurochemistry than any particular dose. The hardest part about kicking Paxil was the last 2.5 mgs, and this seems to be true for many people, while others fly through the withdrawal like a breeze. Go figure. Ginger tea helps with the nausea. Valerian and Kava will help with the anxiety. But you have to be careful if you are still taking a benzo. When you get really really mad at the lies that the pharmaceutical companies have perpetrated on an ususpecting population, you will fight to survive this ordeal so you can then tell others to stay away from these drugs. Good luck!!!! And hang in there. We all made it through this nightmare; you can too. Trisha Date: Wed Feb 7, 2001 10:37pm Response2: Jerry, I was only on 5 mg of paxil for two weeks and had crazy thoughts about leaving my family! I felt like I was on heroin for two weeks I shook so bad with CONSTANT anxiety to the point where I felt sick to my stomach 24 hours a day!!! Everybody's system is different! This may be the hardest time--what your going through right now. Sometimes knowledge is comforting. If you look in Webmd and look up Celexa or any other SSRI you will see all the symptoms that we have ALL experienced listed RIGHT THERE! Only they claim these side effects are "rare". We now know they are COMMON!!! Also, if you don't have a therapist at this time you might consider seeing one to help you get through this. Mine has helped me in that respect--reassuring me that I am not crazy!! I can assure you--it is the drugs doing this to you!!! Lucille Date: Wed Feb 7, 2001 11:47pm Response3: Yes, a therapist is good, I went to one for while, but you have to be careful because alot of them are drug pushers, and will insist that you need somehting..... Cynthia Date: Thu Feb 8, 2001 4:05am Response4: YOU ARE NOT CRAZY........are you married? My husband woke me up last night and asked me to put him in a hospital beause he was fighting the urge to kill our daughter and me. I slowly talked him into believing he loved us and you do not distroy the things you love, he did get rational, but it is scary. One of these days, you may hear of a news story where a guy in Dallas cut his family up, we have no guns. These drugs are powerful, really powerful, you need to be able to vent and get angry, it is the one emotion you still have, so now, I am trying to get Bob to name the thing in his head, and get angry at it for hurting him, not the people and things that he loves. These are side effects that come and go, sometimes he just complains of a tooth ache, a pressure-type of head pain, he had never had a head ache before the drugs so he can't say it is like a "normal" head ache. Sometimes he is very red like over heated, sometimes he shakes, hands shake, sometimes it is his head just bobbing up and down or sideways. He is hot, he is cold, he is thrashing around, he is a zombie, he is obsessed with sex, he won't touch even the dogs, he is hungry, he gets nauseous at the sight of food, you name it, he is it at sometime during each day. BUT, after Bob has his serzone cut, the very next two days are all of the above, no peace for him, the next two are milder, the next two even better, then we drop his dose again ditto, ditto......slowly...... Y O U W I L L G E T S T R O N G E R , get po'd at the doctors, the drugs, everything except yourself and the ones you love. Sorry to tell you hon, you are not crazy or unique, depressed, anxious, none of the feelings you have right now are you, it is the drugs doing this to you, It gets better, even Bob has only thought about killing himself and us once this week, for three weeks it was daily....just watch a clock to survive one more minute, if that is all you can do, time will heal you Hugs Joey P.S. Do not trust the medical field, even Bob's two psychologists told him he had deep seeded problems and was either very severally depresses or insane, one idiot asked if insanity ran in his family, Ha ha do not go waste your money.... Joey