3 weeks ago I started on 10mg of Celexa for the first week. First 2 days I was a bit headachy, but I started to feel pretty good by the 4th day. On the 8th day I was instructed to up my dose to 20mg, and I could barely get out of bed the next morning. I was told to keep trying with it, so I did, and the 3rd day, I felt pretty good. But from there, its gotten back to where I feel EXHAUSTED. I was prescribed it for being a little depressed and was hoping it would perk me back up, but it seems to be doing the opposite to me! I feel SO lethargic, and today I'm headachy, and although I don't feel so sad, I feel worse because I'm totally unproductive from how this pill is making me feel. I think I'm going to go back to taking just 10mg because I do think I got to a point there where it was a good thing, and 20mg just seems to be overkill for me. But a friend of mine says that 10mg really isn't enough to do anything??

Do any of you take just 10mg of Celexa? Regardless, I'm going to go back to the 10mg tonight, I start a new job next week and there is NO WAY I can function like this if I'm working. I think I'd rather be sad about things than be totally non functional!

The other thing is, I'm a woman in my mid-40's, and find that my sad times seem to be more hormonal...can you take small amounts of Celexa just when you feel it coming on??

I'll be seeing my doctor on Monday, but I thought I'd try to pose these questions to people here who might have had the same issues.

Thanks for any insight you can send my way!!

Hi Carol. I started Celexa last week on 10mg. I was supposed to double my dose to 20mg after four days, but didn't because it made me nauseous, jittery, and very sleepy. I was yawning every five minutes! I'm extermely sensitive to medication, too. I felt much better emotionally after the second day, but I started to feel down again yesterday. So I took 20mg and an hour later I had a serious headache that landed me in bed extremely nauseous and wanting to bang my head against the wall because the pain was so bad.

I, too, am starting to think that my depression is hormonal as my husband points out that I'm an emotional basket case the closer I get to my period. I don't think Celexa is the type of medication that you can just take as needed. You should ask your dr about that. I'm sure you can go back to 10mg, but best check with your dr on that as well. I will take another 20mg pill tonight and see where that lands me. If I get sick, then I'll go back to 10mg. If you're sensitive to medication like I am, then 10mg is probably having an affect on you. Maybe you can ask your dr about other possible treatments if your depression correlates with your cycle hormones rather than your neurotransmitter concentrations.

Best wishes and good luck in your new job!

Thanks for sharing your info with me! I took 10mg tonight, and we'll see how I feel in the morning. I find that I really AM very sensitive to medications, so that could have been the issue, and I'm kind of small too, and have never taken an anti-depressant before, so this is all new to me. I hated the headaches I got initally from this med, but after a day or 2 they seemed to subside. Hopefully tomorrow I'll wake up refreshed instead of so exhausted that I have to crawl back into bed after the kids leave for school. :dizzy: The past 3 days I can't seem to get my head awake and out of bed until almost 1PM, and thats so not me. After that I seem better, still not "chipper" but I just can't function with the fatigue I have gotten off this medication. :yawn:

Hopefully I'll paint a happier picture tomorrow!

The problem with antidepressants is they take a good four to six weeks before you really know how they are going to effect your mental mood. If I was you I would be looking at natural products to take during difficult times. Antidepressants in my opinion should never be used in cases of slight depression.

take care
trg247

When I was on 20mg of Celexa I was so tired - My doctor had me split the dose. 10 in the morning and 10 at dinner time. It helped alot.

The problem with antidepressants is they take a good four to six weeks before you really know how they are going to effect your mental mood. If I was you I would be looking at natural products to take during difficult times. Antidepressants in my opinion should never be used in cases of slight depression.

take care
trg247

Thanks for the suggestion, and I honestly DID try every natural approach I could for quite awhile, without success. Going to a psychiatrist wasn't something I did without great thought and consideration! Believe me..it was the last thing I ever thought I'd be doing.

I've been dealing with a failing relationship which I have had a hard time letting go of, or dealing with in a way that didn't have my insides turning every waking moment. There has been such sadness and inner turmoil in my life, that medication was the only thing I thought could get me over the hump and take the edge off. I'm normally a happy, upbeat person. But add to that the loss of my job after 10 years back in August, and feelings of self-doubt due to that and my relationship, well...I hope you can understand now why I needed SOMETHING!

Anyway, last night I went back to 10mg of the Celexa, and I DID wake up feeling ever so much better today. I'm still not 100%, but I'm much closer than I was yesterday! And I'm feeling good. I believe even a little medication in me is allowing me to deal with my situation much more rationally, and has taken the "knot" out of my stomach that I've been dealing with for the last 6 months. I'm hoping tomorrow I'll wake up feeling even better. I'm a firm believer in listening to your body, and mine was telling me 10mg is good for now...maybe I'll need to increase it at some point, but for now this seems to work. I hope my shrink doesn't have a problem with this on Monday when I go see him!

Once I'm able to learn to deal with my feelings better, and find my self-esteem through hard work, I expect to be off of the medications. But I was at a point where I'd get in the shower every morning and just cry and cry and cry...and the thoughts of all the failures recently wouldn't leave my mind, and I couldn't deal with them in a constructive way. The Celexa I believe has taken the "edge" off and is allowing me to look into myself in a way that I couldn't before, without feeling despair, and work on fixing my issues and gaining back the self that I lost along the way. I know is ok to be sad, but not like I was...that was a black hole. I'm shoveling the dirt back into that hole and hope to fill it back up and move along in my life, and I feel hope again!

I am not on Celexa, but on Cymbalta, and it definitely made me VERY tired for a few weeks. I started with 30mg and went up to 60mg, and the switch made it worse for a while. I'm finally used to it and not so tired anymore. A friend of mine takes Lexapro (10mg) and said it was making her tired as well.. I'm not sure what the differences are in all of these medicines, but I have heard that most antidepressants can cause you to feel drowsy.. so definitely normal! I would say if you don't get used to it and feel back to normal within a few weeks, ask your doctor about it so they can alter it so you feel a bit more energized. Good luck!

I get really tired a few hours after taking lexapro, but it gets better as the day goes on. I'm noticed its getting better in general as well.

i took 20mgs of celexa for 8 weeks and went off of it because of tiredness. i would have some energy one day and the next none. i like to take naps but on the celexa i was sleeping 2-3 hours every afternoon. now i don't always take a nap or an hour at most. i do miss the sleeping well at night. it did help that. i was taking it because of breakthrough anxiety that the buspar wasn't controlling. it also helped with the ability to stay calmer. leveled out my moods. if i could have that without the tiredness it would be worth taking. God bless:angel:

Yes, it used to make me very, very tired. So much so that I would never go out after work, even when I was in my early 20s.

Saw my doctor earlier today, and he said that it was fine for me to just continue on the 10mg of Celexa, that if I was getting too tired from the 20mg there was no sense in me taking that much. Seemed to be fine the past few days since I've gone back down to the 10mg, but tonight I'm noticing headaches again, and also that I'm a little more tense...I can't win! Either get so drugged up on the 20mg that I'm not tense but I can't function, or be functional but tense! And so the saga continues.......:dizzy:

Hi Ladies:

I just started on this
10 mg.. im very sensitive to meds too

so.. nauseau came on right away
I take soda crackers and ginger tea
for this..
used to nauseau from chemo but still not nice

headaches.. hmm.. ill have to do something about these
hope that they pass in a few days


Best to all

Sometimes, you do need something to get you
over the hump

or if you have just too much..
to shovel
you need that bigger shovel
to help you out

I tried Lexapro.. terrible for me
and so was Paxil.. :(((



Olive




Hi Carol. I started Celexa last week on 10mg. I was supposed to double my dose to 20mg after four days, but didn't because it made me nauseous, jittery, and very sleepy. I was yawning every five minutes! I'm extermely sensitive to medication, too. I felt much better emotionally after the second day, but I started to feel down again yesterday. So I took 20mg and an hour later I had a serious headache that landed me in bed extremely nauseous and wanting to bang my head against the wall because the pain was so bad.

I, too, am starting to think that my depression is hormonal as my husband points out that I'm an emotional basket case the closer I get to my period. I don't think Celexa is the type of medication that you can just take as needed. You should ask your dr about that. I'm sure you can go back to 10mg, but best check with your dr on that as well. I will take another 20mg pill tonight and see where that lands me. If I get sick, then I'll go back to 10mg. If you're sensitive to medication like I am, then 10mg is probably having an affect on you. Maybe you can ask your dr about other possible treatments if your depression correlates with your cycle hormones rather than your neurotransmitter concentrations.

Best wishes and good luck in your new job!