Heightened anxiety from Celexa (generic)

Anxious Jenny · Post by **Anxious Jenny** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 2:34 am

Hello everyone! I just started Celexa (the generic brand) 3 days ago and since the first day I seem to be having heightened panic attacks but they only come at night. I have been taking .125 mg of xanax a day and still do. Last night I had to take an extra .125 mg because the anxiety was too much! It didn't seem to do much though! Is this normal? Has anyone else had a problem with this or any other SSRI? Should I just wait it out and deal? xoxo!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 3:15 am

Hi If this is any help I had the same experence with Celexa and cymbalta. At present
I'm not on any anti depressant. I do take
Alprazalam for anxiety but only half of
a 0.25mg tablet. Hope this helps. Nana M

epa · Post by **epa** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 4:48 am

I think I'm just not going to take this celexa anymore. i know I've been on it for only a few days but I'm not comfortable with it at all. The xanax seems to help with my physical symptoms and I think I'm just going to try my hardest to get rid of this anxiety with this program and on my own!! I really do not like anti-depressants! I think they just make things worse!! For some maybe not! But for me, it's just not the way!
Thank you Nana for your input! Take Care of Yourself!

xoxo!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 4:49 am

Oh and Nana , I only take half of a .25mg of Alprazolam (xanax) twice a day too! So, I guess we really could have it worse!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 2:06 am

Yes this is totally normal for the start up of an SSRI. You need to give it time, it does get better.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 3:37 am

I also problems with an SSRI for anxiety. I took Zoloft 25 mg and it made me sucidical. I then took Lexapro and it made me feel like I was on some kind of street drug. I was up , couldnt sleep at night and more anxiety. You need to talk with your doctor before you go off the meds. I take Abilify 2 mg now and it works wonderfully.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 4:02 am

Originally posted by twinboysmom:
I take Abilify 2 mg now and it works wonderfully.

I have a friend that just started taking Abilify. I thought that was only for bipolar or schizo, but she has neither. She did have a brain injury about 18 months ago.

I'm curious, are you bipolar or do you just take it for anxiety?

I'm glad it is helping.

As for SSRI's, I was not able to get past the side effects the first few days to see if it would help me.

Many years ago I took Tofranil and that did help, but it made me sleepy.

Thankfully, I made it through the worst of my anxiety on my own with tools that I've learned.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 10:15 am

Hello - just wanted to say that I have also experienced this problem, but with Prozac. Day 1, I felt anxious. Day 2, I was a nervous wreck. Day 3 I was in the ER thinking I was having a heart attack.
I've been told that Prozac can cause paradoxical anxiety in the beginning, but since anxiety is my problem, I really don't think I can hang in there. The day I went to the ER was the last day I took the Prozac.
It's 2 days later, and I'm still having anxiety attacks, but not to the point that I was the other day. I will probably continue to take .25mg of xanax here and there to take the edge off. But all I want to do is sleep.
My doc also prescribed a low dose of beta-blockers for my physical symptoms (heart pounding, even though heart is healthy; trembling, etc.) Frankly, I'm afraid of those, too.
I started the program again today (I used it 8 years ago to conquer this problem before). I hope that it helps as well as it did before. Thanks for listening!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 4:05 pm

Had similar reaction to Celexa 20mg. My doctor reduced the dosage to 10 mg, but it still made m very anxious - even with Xanax. Within one day of switching to Lexapro 10 mg., I felt better. Have been on it for 2 months now and have no negative side effects.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 8:42 am

I've been on Celexa for almost 7 years now. It took a good month to fully kick in but I was anxiety free for 6.5 years.