Verwon Says:
Switched From Effexor To Celexa
Updated
Brandon Says:
Hi....Here's the short version of my story. I was on effexor for 13 years, started out at 37.5mg for probably 9 years and had absolutely No problems with anxiety. I was so good that I decided to stop taking it. Felt great for 3 months then I had a terrible attack in the middle of the night. Went to doc she put me back on and all said and done was up to 225mg to make me feel "normal". From there I stayed on that dose until about 6 weeks ago. Again I woke up in the middle of the night with a panic attack. Unfortunately they don't just stop, they go on for days and weeks! I immediately went to my doc and she upped me to 300mg of effexor, after a couple weeks we decided it just wasn't working anymore. We chose citalopram as the next option because my brother has had success on it. We made a plan for the switch and here it is......
Immediately drop to 150mg of effexor and start 10 mg of citalopram
In 4 days drop to 75 mg of effexor and stay ay 10 mg of citalopram
In 4 more days stop effexor completely and stay at 10 mg of citalopram.
I followed the plan and when completely off of effexor I started with the full attacks again so she upped me to 20 mg. that's where I've been for 18 days. My days are a roller coaster, some I feel fine others I have anxiety.
My question is has anyone out there done this switch and what was the outcome. Is it too early to say if citalopram will work for me? Any input would be appreciated.
1 Reply
1
Hello, Brandon! How are you feeling? I'm very sorry about the problems that you're having.
That was a rather rapid drop of the Effexor, so at this point it's possible that you're dealing with both withdrawal from it, as well as side effects from the Celexa.
And yes, it will take about 4 to 6 weeks of taking it at one steady dose, before you'll know if the Celexa will work for you and, due to the withdrawals from the Effexor, there's a good chance that will interrupt for a few weeks, so you may be looking at more like 8 weeks.
Typical side effects to the Celexa may include nausea, dizziness, headache, weight changes and dry mouth.
Are you just working with a PCP on this? If so, you may do better consulting a specialist.
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