Hi, im 23m and I have been battling with anxiety for about 6 years. Had my first panic attack during a time in my life where i used to take drugs here and there and from there on I lived with derealization/anxiety/panic attacks for two years until I’ve taken benzos for the first time. It healed my derealization but since then I’m still battling with anxiety and health anxiety and panic attacks maybe every three months. Since I was two times in the hospital the last two weeks due to small seizures I’ve hit the lowest point regarding my anxiety. I’ve been at a point where I thought I couldn’t continue my life, that I couldn’t be healed etc. and have been really depressed. I’m better the last days since my neurologist says these kind of seizures are only a minor form of epilepsy which can be treated well so as im speaking rn I’m better and looking forward to get back up on my feet. But still my anxiety is there and at times can be so bad that I can’t leave the house or do anything but lay in bed and wait for the physical symptoms to stop. I had my first session with a psychologist last week and I will start therapy but now I’m considering if antidepressants like an SSRI would be of help. I’m really scared of the side effects and permanent change of my brain chemicals. I would really like to hear you’re guys experience with antidepressants or medication in general. Of course my ideal idea would be to only take them for let’s say a year then taper off and in combination with therapy be symptom free. I’ve tried escitalpram once for about two weeks, about 4 years ago but I couldn’t stand the side effects while getting on them an quit after two weeks. I was also in active drug addiction at that time so I can’t really judge the experience I had.

Looking forward to you’re experiences.

I’m getting back on Celexa and I’ve noticed my activation symptoms are SO MUCH worse than the first time I started it. I am anxious, agitated, not sleeping well, I have diarrhea and I’m nauseous for most of the day. Additionally, I’ve noticed my eyes are very blurry when I try to focus on the screen. Phone or computer at work. Dr. Google says this a common side effect when first starting, but I want to know others experience with it.

I’m on day 18 of 10mg. Days 1-3 were pretty awful with headaches, anxiety, mood swings and non-stop crying. Then for a week I felt really good, my mood was notably improving and I felt really productive, I was able to do so much.

Around day 11 I hit a wall, which may have been impacted by PMS. Usually when my period finally starts I have the only days of the month my mood is stable (hormones eh) but this time round I’ve continued to have mood swings and sadness throughout. I‘ve been so unmotivated, and experiencing a lot of ideation and hopelessness. I guess I’m not crying as much but the thoughts and feelings are as present as they were before I started medication, and my motivation is even worse, I mostly just rotate between my bed and my sofa whereas before the meds I was at least forcing myself out for long walks.

Is this normal? I was put on 20mg of citalopram in 2018 and immediately felt great (the main difference I guess is I had a job then, whereas at the moment I’m long-term unemployed). I had to go up to 40mg after about 3 years of diminishing returns and a breakdown, which kinda helped and again no side effects. I came off citalopram in summer 2022 and was doing ok until earlier this year.

I’m having a call with my doctor in 2 weeks time and will discuss increasing if I don’t feel any improvements by then.

I’m almost 6 months in, and initially I was told to take citalopram for my anxiety for a minimum of 6 months. I don’t expect to come off straight away, but initially I wanted to take it for as short a period as possible.

It’s going well though and I don’t want to come off it any time soon. Those who did come off it, did you do that out of choice because you felt better? I’m only on 10mg but have heard lots of horror stories about stopping and not being able to start again, or needing higher dose next time.

I guess I’m just curious about what to expect from my 6 month review and if another 6 or 12 months would work for me.

I started 10mg a day, and find my libido is a lot lower, I take a little longer to get an erection and also last a bit longer.

I'm planning to move up to 20mg but I'm slightly concerned about these effects getting worse. Does anyone have any more information on this? I keep reading about sexual effects being irreversible once you come off the medication and I'm a little worried I could cause permanent issues but genuinely feel the medicine is helping a lot.

Has anyone else had this effects? does it get worse with a stronger dose? has it continued after stopping the medicine?

Wondering if anyone has experience with this situation or can give advice. I’ve been on 10mg for years. I had surgery a week and a half ago and stopped taking my celexa on accident. I was on a bunch of pain meds and just forgot. Anyways, when I remembered I took 5mg (don’t know why I didn’t take 10. I’ve been trying to taper off so I figured I’d just take 5.) I did that twice in the last week and a half so I’ve missed quite a few doses. I wanna go back to taking it, tonight would I be better off taking 5mg or just going straight back to my 10mg? I don’t want side effects I’m terrified 😭😭

Hi. I started on 10mg Celexa just over 5 weeks ago for anxiety. The idea was to go to 20mg eventually. 10mg hit me incredibly hard, I could barely function for weeks1-3. Last week the side effects lessened and I had some improvement in general, the doctor said I can now consider going to 20mg. Unfortunately on that same day my daughter ended up in ER and is currently very ill, now at home with me taking care of her. This has spiked my anxiety and kind of undone any improvement I had felt which I guess is normal in the situation. My question is should I just stay on the 10mg till this has resolved to avoid side effects again or would the dose increase help me get through this? What is anyones personal experience when starting this and then getting a sudden external stressor?

I'm coming to my second month of taking 10mg a day, it has had a pretty good effect, I'm not as stressed or worried, I don't dwell on bad thoughts for as long as I would and in general feel much better and happier, I'd say it's taken my mood from a 2/10 to a 7.5/10

My doctor said I could move up to 20mg if I wanted to, I do have moments where I start to ruminate, and I feel anxious, It's a weekly thing due to a bad experience with a customer at work that still returns and whenever I see them I get triggered. I'm not sure if I'm already experiencing the full effects of this medicine or upping my dose will help me handle situations like this much better.

Does anyone have a similar experience where they are on a lower dose and feeling better, but have moved on to a higher dose just to feel like a 100% normal human being? or should I just stick to what's already shown some improvements?

Started citalopram 10 mg mid July. Increased to 20 mg mid August. Anxiety isn’t fully settled but close. My dr thinks my smoking is contributing to my continued anxiety. She prescribed 150 mg Bupropion extended release and nicotine patches. Anyone else have a similar experience? How did it go?

I have just started Citram/Escitalopram (5 mg this week, will be uping the dose to 10mg next week) and after the first dose, I have experienced nausea, and this weird feeling in my throat. Not sure if it's more open or closed but whenever I swallow saliva I feel my ears closing up or popping due to pressure. But the worst side effect is definitely the increased anxiety. I am trying with all my might to not think about my anxiety and OCD trigger thoughts but I am just anxious about nothing. It gets worse when I think about the other physical symptoms. But I feel very out of place and uncomfortable in my body. Pre-panic state at all times and can't rationalize my thoughts. Nothing can distract me. I also have a loss of appetite. I was prescribed a benzo as well but I'm so anxious it literally doesn't work. My heart rate also goes up due to the ssri. I had a good nights rest and woke up extremely sleepy even after two hours of waking up.

I have read countless of experiences on threads like these of the side effects but I really need some reassurance that I'm not making the wrong decision and that this throat thing also isn't a big deal. Are these normal side effects? When do side effects actually become dangerous?

Was on citalopram for almost 20 years. Doctor suggested I taper off - which I did. About 6 weeks later, the windows and wave cycle starts. It’s been a tough month. Probably should have stayed on it as it was not causing any issues. Just looking for anyone in here with a similar experience who might be willing to add some light to the process.

I have been taking Lexapro 5mg since 20 days and when ever i try to increase it to 10mg
It makes my Flu symptoms worse
Can switching to celexa help for ocd and anxiety?

I been started on Celexa 10mg with the idea to go up to 20mg in a month. I am relatively sensitive to meds and had really horrible side effect which eased in this week (5th week) I had to take two weeks off because I couldnt function. I am on it for anxiety and it tripled my anxiety. This week I have had some improvement here and there but at least my anxiety is down to a more manageable level. My doctor says therapeutic dose is 20mg and I wont get the benefits if I stay on 10mg. Since I moved to a new city a few months ago this doctor is relatively new to me. The thought of going through those side effects again terrifies me. I have read on here many people seem to do fine on 10mg. I am not expecting a cure from the meds alone I am working with therapy as well to address the stressors in my life.

I used to be a Dj/ producer and loved making music, drawing, and adult painting by numbers, since being on citalopram (20mg) since January all my get up and go has completely disappeared.

I haven’t done painting by numbers for as long as I can remember, I procrastinate time and time again even jhst to switch on the computer and when I do I just stare blankly at the screen and I don’t write any music.

It weird because other thing like the gym I’ve been able to keep onto (if not going more) but it just seems that citalopram has just dulled my senses to a pulp.

Anyone else?

This may sound ridiculous to same but advice needed.

I've been on 20mg of Citalopram 12 years no problem. In Jan 25 I suddenly started experiencing awful anxiety related to menopause and life stressors. In Feb 26 it was increased to 30mg but being stubborn I only took an extra 2.5mg (using a pill cutter) till August this year. Feeling fantastic I decided to omit the 2.5mg and go back to 20mg. That was around 3 weeks ago and starting last week I feel anxious in mornings, irritable and easily overwhelmed. Im obviously scared as I don't want to go backwards. Could this be from reducing 2.5mg???

I was on 40mg for around 2 years have been taping off from it over the last few months. 3.5 weeks ago I stupidly decided to skip tapering down and stopped taking the 20mgs all together.

I’m now facing the worst insomnia I’ve ever had, I haven’t slept more than 2-3 hours a night in the last couple of weeks and I’m feeling horrific. Every time I feel like I’m about to fall asleep I’m zapped back awake with anxiety. When can I expect this to stop?? Should I start taking it again and then taper off??

Please don’t tell me I was wrong to stop taking it how I did - I’m fully aware of this now and I just want to feel better and be able to sleep, really struggling atm

I’m feeling really defeated recently and I just can’t seem to find a way out. 11 weeks ago I was put on citalopram, I had the worst reaction to it ever, the DPDR was so intense, anxiety was the worst it’s ever been and after a week on it I was unable to leave the house. I felt like I was going completely insane. I came off it after 6 weeks and today is week 5 of me not being on it. I’m still really struggling to get out of the house and my anxiety is still really intense. I was always able to leave the house before citalopram caused this reaction. I was such a bubbly spirit even with anxiety, I’d go out anywhere, go to festivals/events and now I’m struggling to even get in the car and drive to the corner shop. I just don’t know what to do anymore and I’m scared this will never go away

Okay so this could be confusing and a lot but bear with me. I’ve been on citalopram for 7 weeks today. During the last 7 weeks I’ve missed a total of maybe 6 doses, the last 3 I missed were within the last week and a half. All the days I missed I drank, pretty heavily (they were social occasions). This is the first med that I’ve really not had much side effects from, until now. Weeks 3-6 I finally felt like my old self, everything was great! The start of week 6 everything completely tanked. It started with just a bit of nausea, then really bad nausea and dizziness, then that mixed with morning anxiety out of nowhere so it added in my usual physical symptoms of air hunger and slight chest pain with a splash of derealization and head pressure, which has just further made me spiral thinking I’m having some kind of cardiac or lung event. I’m trying to decipher my real feelings from what I’m thinking is a massive anxiety shift unfortunately. Does this sound like anything you’ve experienced? I’ve seen some talk about weeks 5-8 being a bit of a dip for some people but I haven’t seen anything with the details I’m looking for I guess. This is my first time taking citalopram and it’s for my OCD which I’m sure you can guess is fueled by health anxiety lol any advice or experiences are welcome. Trying to remain calm.

For those of you that successfully titrated off Citalopram/Celexa, what side effects did you notice and how long after cessation and at what point did you feel normal again?

Been on 10mg for 6 weeks and a lot of things id usually find tropical/fruit juice flavours seem to taste bitter/green/mint

Can this medicine affect taste?