Celexa Question

[JulyBaby2010]

Does Celexa make you gain weight. I was just prescribed this medication, and am unsure what to think. Will it lift my apathetic mood? Will I gain weight from it? I would love to hear anyone's story regarding this medication. Thank You =)

[lisak1962]

I have been on celexa for 15 years now.  I have had no problem with weight gain.  Good luck to you.

[birdie0907]

Are you on 20s? I had to move up to 30s after about 4 weeks. (Hard to remember the timing now.) 30 did the perfect job for me. After another month I tried to go to 20 and noticed a problem after about a week. Two weeks later I went back to 30 and got my life totally in order, enough that 7 months later I quit and have been fine since.

All that changing of dosage and the related effects to me convince me the med was working, and I was not experiencing some placebo get well effect. A study came out when I started that SSRI do not work, but my doc and pharma told me they had seen too many people recover with the meds to believe in the study. She said numerous studied people were prescribed the meds because they were unhappy (and not trying to change their outlook on life) and no SSRI will solve that, so that skewed the results.
So that brings me into the next topic, ask yourself if you are trying to be happy. You can read about meditation or cognitive behaviour therapy etc, or try volunteering to help others if you want some starting points. While in a true depression however, the meds are necessary to get back to normal before any benefit occurs from changed outlook. Counseling or a psychiatrist can help with more suggestions about how to review your outlook, to make sure you are doing everything possible to be happy.

If you later quit, follow doc's instructions and taper. I did and I experienced no problem with withdrawal, although some have a hard time. Never quit cold turkey, as the drug is not addictive, so there is no reason to fear it.
Lots of people post that they quit cold turkey (they must be under some misunderstanding about the drugs effects to do that). Their stories are never pretty, but the pain they suffer is needless and self-inflicted.
It takes 8 weeks for the full effect, so at least write back by then to let us know what happened. Write back now if you feel like it.

[JulyBaby2010]

Yes its my first anti-de[ressant. I take a mood stablizer though, Abilify.

Thank you for your post, it was really informative.

[birdie0907]

You can read my story on my home page. I loved it so much that I could be the Celexa poster woman, but I don't know anything about the weight issue, since I had lost lots suffering from depression and anxiety at the same time. I was able to normalize my weight after the Celexa kicked in.

Your pharmacist can give you good information on the side effects, as opposed to what may be just anecdotal evidence here. Lots of people here know a lot about the effects, but your pharmacist is the most reliable source, from her drug info and the many patients she services that give her stories that she has to compare to the drug records in order to respond to the patient's questions.
While switching from Wellbutrin (which didn't do the whole job and always involved a 4 PM meltdown of grey coming from nowhere so I had to grab another Ativan or 2 to stave off the panic) to Celexa, I was able to get a small good effect within a week, but the total effect takes up to 8 weeks to build.
I cut my Ativan use weekly, and after 4 weeks never took another. I just took Ativan on an as needed basis to cut panic, so it was good to be rid of that problem after 4 weeks.

Is this your first med for depression? They work differently for each person, and lots of people post here hate Celexa.