Celexa and anxiety?

[DancingJean]

First, I'd like to give you a bit of a background on me. I've been struggling with depression and since I was a senior in high school. I was hospitalized for a week my senior year because I wanted to kill myself. I recently completed my sophomore year of college. Last summer I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I am in a long distance relationship. He lives in GA and we've been together for a little over a month. I just found out that the guy I'm supposed to be living with when school starts back up got his girlfriend pregnant and won't be living there anymore. This sticks me with the financial burden of carrying the lease by myself or finding a roommate that I can trust to pay rent, which is unlikely.

On top of all of that, my 16 year old nephew committed suicide April 12th.

Now, I've found myself back into a very deep and very dark depression. I can't get out of bed. I haven't taken a shower in almost a week. I cry constantly. I can't eat. I can't sleep for more than a couple of hours a night. I've been having suicidal thoughts. I have been in a constant state of panic for over a week, having multiple panic attacks a day. It's exhausting.

I reached out to the county counseling center. They got me in for an outpatient crisis intervention. They wanted to put me in the hospital, but I refused. Instead, I signed a safety plan.

The CNP put me on 20mg of Celexa daily and 2mg of Valium as needed.

My anxiety is worse now than ever. My body gets hot and tingly. My stomach twists and turns and knots up. I can't breathe and my chest gets tight. I feel this way almost every second of everyday. It's only gotten worse since I started taking Celexa three days ago. I understand that it takes time for meds to build up in your system, but the Valium has done NOTHING to help my anxiety and my depression is still just as awful. n

I hate that I have to be on medication. I hate myself because I let it get back to this point. I hate that I cannot control my anxiety. I feel like such a failure.

My anxiety is out of control and my depression is crippling.

My question is, has anybody else experienced out of control anxiety while taking Celexa? If so, how did you combat the problem?

[cindymomof3]

I also jsut started citalopram (same as celexa) 3 days ago.  the doctors said it won't have full effect for 2 weeks.  I get scary adrenaline surges and have even had chest pain during a severe panic attack.  the surges sometimes go on for an hour or two.  that's all related to neurotransmitters and the adrenal glands.   this is scary stuff.  Im hoping to find others with similar symptoms so I can get the reassurance to get back to a normal life.

[jjswartz_1]

I am surprised that you were given only a SSRI.  First of all Bipolar patients should be treated with a mood stabilizer first like Lithium or Divalproex.  Carbamazepine and Lamictal are also second line mood stabilizers.  Then very cautiously a anti-depressant can be given.  However antidepressants always have the chance of making someone with bipolar Disorder go into a manic or even worse a mixed state.   Another name for a mixed state is an AGITATED DEPRESSION.  This sounds alot like what you are going through.

Seroquel is an Atypical Antipsychotic that is great for treating both the bipolar depression and the bipolar mania.  It totally stabilized me, however I do get terrible weight gain with it.

2 mg of Valium is a peanut dose, so I am not surprised that it is not helping.  Especially if you are in a mixed state or manic.

[remar]

Starting a new med can actually make your anxiety worse for awhile. I'm kind of surprised the valium is doing nothing though. It should start working within an hour or so of taking it. You may want to make a call to your Dr and ask to be put on something else.
You said you were diagnosed with bi-polar. I'm wondering why you're on Celexa and not something else for bi-polar. Many people that are bi=polar do not do well on an SSRI. Some do though. Try to make a call as soon as you can to try and get your meds changed.
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