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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by JC Godin on October 24, 2000, at 11:28:06
I started taking Celexa in late March 2000 with 20mg. In the later part of April some depression started to re-occur and it was increased to 30mg. By the the end of May anxieties and mild depression started to occur and it was increased to 40mg. In September I staretd feeling anxious for no apparent reasons and the therapist increased to 50mg. Last Sunday, October 22, 2000, I became depressed more than I have ever been and started on 60mg today.
With Celexa I started to notice that my energy started to decrease. At the onset of taking Celexa, I became less anxious and some unsual my daily task and chores were not being. At first, I thought this «non-chalant» attitude was the effect of the drug. I would put off things to later as if I did not want to become anxious. Before taking Celexa everything around the house used to get down but in a very anxious way. I did sweat a lot too. But now, I am becoming indiferent almost like a depression. However, last Sunday, I become quite depressed, an experience I'd never felt before. Can someone give me feedback please?
Posted by B Day on October 24, 2000, at 13:48:49
In reply to Can Celexa cause depression?, posted by JC Godin on October 24, 2000, at 11:28:06
I'm pretty new to all of this and not particularly knowledgeable of these issues, but it has been indicated by my Psychiatrist as well as on this board that the symptoms you express might indicate that you have another or at least some elements of another condition such as bipolarity.
It seems that regarding the subtler forms, Bi Polar II disorder can be misdiagnosed as unipolar depression on occasion. Some have expressed that this can occur particularly when one's initial diagnosis and treatment comes during a period of long depression. This happened to me.
In my case, the depressive side of my cycle is very powerful and the manic side much less so. I am hypomanic in the upper phase. I couldn't see this at first nor could my first two physicians since I so well matched the classic case of severe depression when I sought their help.
However, my latest doc asked me to write down how I felt. When I finished, I printed out and handed him my ten page assessment. He shot me a sideways glance and suggested we look more at the overall profile of my life. We did and he immediately suspected that I might be Bi Polar.
Separately, I took a test for indications of bipolarity and frankly scored lowly on it. However, when I took the same quiz considering other episodes in my life it started becoming clear to me that my new doc was most likely correct. Indeed I could see quite a number of alternating episodes of hypomania and depression in my life.
I am currently taking Celexa (one week now). This was prescribed by my second doc. My new doc and I will be watching Celexa's effect on me closely in the coming weeks. He says it will be ok for now in that I need to come up from my depression, but if I begin to show signs of hypomania or a reversal of the effects we desire from Celexa, then my medication will need to be adjusted, augmented or changed. It just depends on what happens to me. Some of the symptoms you've expressed are ones that we'll be watching for carefully.
Perhaps you have another, different condition from mine. There are many folks here who can help you sort through all this much better than I'm able. In fact, I hope I've not misinformed you on anything. I'm learning much about myself these days, but my understanding is that of a newbie. I just wanted to share with you my own brief experience thus far. It seemed somewhat relevant to your case.
Good luck.
BTW, my apologies for being so long-winded. I certainly envy those folks who can say things like "Well, let's not worry to much about how the mule got in the ditch. Let's work on gettin' him out".
B
Posted by JohnL on October 25, 2000, at 3:01:48
In reply to Can Celexa cause depression?, posted by JC Godin on October 24, 2000, at 11:28:06
JC,
Any psychiatric medication can cause worsening of symptoms, including Celexa. This is for several reasons. In some people, certain medications don't bind properly at a molecular level. Just a poor fit. The pieces of the puzzle just don't go together. A possibility exists that you don't have low serotonin, but instead low norepinephrine. If that's the case, increasing serotonin will only further decrease the norepinephrine. And the possibility exists that your malfunctioning chemistry isn't related to neurotransmitters at all, but instead to chemical or electrical instability, in which case any antidepressant would be the wrong choice.There are two schools of thought that I personally endorse. One is conventional psychiatry. The other is the Jensen method. Both of these though have the same thing in common at this point in your treatment. That is, other serotonin antidepressants should be tried and compared. You may likely find one to be a whole lot better than Celexa for you.
I too can get worse on higher doses. It happened with Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac, and Serzone. As doses were increased, I got worse than I ever was to begin with. Nearly suicidal. Medication related, no doubt whatsoever. Ultimately in time I discovered the best for me was a subtherapeutic dose of Prozac (5mg to 10mg a day), with the addition of another medication that enhances other things instead of serotonin. Not sure where your treatment will lead, but the highest priority at this time should be to try another antidepressant. In a perfect world, you could try three...maybe Effexor, Zoloft, Prozac, for example...for just two weeks each, and then choose your favorite of the three for a longer trial. You'll almost certainly discover you really like one a lot more than the others if given the chance. Sadly it's not a perfect world. Regardless, trying any other antidepressant besides Celexa is probably warranted at this time.
John
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