Looking at everything everyone says on the forums made me worried and turned me into a a bit of a hypochondriac. Citalopram/celexa helped me through a rough patch. A bit weirded out because everyone makes it sound like starting A.D.’s was real hell as well as quitting them. Starting citalopram at 20mg I had no freaky symptoms. After a year of treatment, I decided to quit as I wanted to remember what I was like before the A.D’S.
Cons of starting them: None at all. Just had to watch how much I had to drink. Sex drive as if it were cut in half.
Pros of starting them: totally helped me with my depression, felt like a had a healthy serotonin level, like other lucky, normal humans who don’t get depressed. I felt fine.
Cons of stopping them: Obviously, brain zaps for a week and a half. Bit of a headache. My lifelong paranoia is back. I look around to see if someone is following me all the time. ¡Depression is gone for now!
Pros of stopping them: I’m much more conscious and careful about my responsibilities; as if a tad of anxiety gets me a healthily worried about exams and work. Stuff tastes yummier, and I can drink when I go out again. I’m less careless. Sex drive is back.
So to everyone who is starting them, don’t stop taking them because you read these extreme cases where people in forums are having seizures. Really, honeslty, chances are, you’ll have no secondary effects when starting, and only a couple of weeks of annoying brain zaps when you stop. Citalopram is a real life saver, it helped me put on a pair of glasses of clarity when I was really depressed, a year after, I can take them off and go on with my life. I don’t go oh hi, I’m x and I take citalopram.
Anyone can have a sick stomach, an earache, as much as you can have a mind that isn’t well. Don’t wallow in it, and treat it, if you can, get better and move on. If you cannot stop them, remember, AD’s don’t define you.