Celexa increase

Treatment and medication
1

Hello! need some input
Been on celexa 20mg for 20 years and have been doing great. the last 8 months, I’ve had terrible anxiety where i had to stop working. My doctor increased to 30mg and it didn’t help. I’m now on 40mg for 5 weeks and still feel very anxious. My doctor said by 4 weeks no improvement we can go up, add something to the celexa or change. I’m so scared to change or add. Does anyone know how long it would take for an increase to work. I’m losing faith

2

Any help would be

3

i am in a similar position. i have been on citalopram for 20 years. 5 months ago i started with a breakdown. i increased to 25mg not much improvement. I have increased to 30mg for 9 weeks and only 50% improvement. I am not sure whether to change meds or increase. I know how you feel x

4

I’m scared to change meds. I’ve been on celexa for so many years

5

i know i am exactly the same. I just constantly worry about side effects.

6

how is your anxiety now?

7

I had to stop working my anxiety was so bad. I so scared this will be me now

8

Hi Melissa! I’m so sorry you’re going through this. So many of us have, and have come out the other side, so be encouraged. In my (unprofessional but experienced) opinion, depending on how desperate you feel, I’d either give it about 3 more weeks so be at full benefit or add a tiny bit of something else. My doc added a very small amount of a mood stabilizer and it works wonderful with zero start up side effects. You will get there I promise!

9

Thank you so much.
I’m going to wait the full 8 weeks, I also started therapy so hopefully that will help as well. It’s just so hard to see outside of the dark cloud. I feel so alone

10

Hi melissa
just give some time for increase to work, 4 weeks are not enough, give at least 8-12 weeks for meds to settle.
Dont rush to increase so quick

11

can it take that long even when increasing?

12

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Sorry just feeling so worried

13

My doctor said I should increase. I’m having anxiety just thinking about it

14

Melissa,
i’ve gone through the same thing where I’ve been on the same drug and those for a long time. I take citalopram I realize that I was basically just kind of maintaining on the dose that I was on which was 10 mg so my doctor said to increase to 20 mg… So far I have increased to 15 mg but this is only my fifth day. But I feel the same as you it feels like you are just never going to get better… I actually went from 10 mg to 12.5 for a bit like a week and then to 15 mg my doctor also suggested the same thing to either go up to the 20 and see how that works, or to add a small amount of another drug. Which I really do not want to do I’d rather see how the increase goes but again it just takes so long, I do see some improvements but I also feel the side effects. It is very lonely because nobody really understands how these drugs make you feel and how long it can take for some people to stabilize on them. This forum is very helpful and I do find peace and camaraderie just by reading the forums.

15

Why does it take so long to feel better? :pleading_face: I’ve been on citalopram for anxiety for years, started at 20mg with horrendous side effects, but it did eventually help me. I then increased to 25mg which I was currently taking until recently started having panic attacks, I’ve had to slowly increase to 30mg, by just taking 2.5mg for three weeks and now I’m on the full 5mg which I’ve just started and again having side effects of increased anxiety!!! Its a long lonely journey going through this but this forum seems to give me hope and that I’m not alone. :blush:

16

yes it seems like it takes forever! today is day six of 15 mg for me… I’ve been pretty woozy, fuzzy, and brain fog like today. I slept a little better last night, which is a plus I see on this forum many times people say just to go straight to 20 mg, but I am a chicken, lol I want to see how I do on 15 first but I’m so tired of feeling like yuck! I have taken some time off of work, because there is no way I could be working through all of this. Hang in there we are in it together!

17

hi
it has been a very long journey for me. i was on a maintenance dose of 20mg for years. suffered a mental health crisis. increased to 25mg for 10 weeks not much improvement. now increased to 30mg just starting my 10th week. it feels like I am starting to now get improvements. been very gradual and still got a way to go. xx