can anti-depressant medicine wear off?

[Hypnoash6]

I started taking Celexa May 24th and it took 3 weeks after that for it to finally start working. Now I have been getting sad again, I am taking 20mg and it was working fine. Now I dont know if I need a higher dosage. Last week I was very emotional because of that time of month but I am still sad. I am having a stressful time in life now. I take it at 3am every morning so that it does not keep me awake all night. This week Ive had to take xanax the last 3 days because I was worrying so much which causes the depression.

[cgeiger71]

I'm so sorry that you are having trouble with your meds.  I have gone through a lot of different meds and up and down depression and anxiety trying to find the right combination of meds that would work for me.  It's really frustrating to go through and I completely understand what you are going through.

It takes a while for antidepressants to build up in your system for them to start working.  It usually takes about 4 to 6 weeks. Since you said You said that you felt your meds working after about 3 weeks and then you started to be sad again, you need to talk to your doctor about increasing the dose of your med.  If you reach the max dose and still are not feeling great...you're feeling better, just not great...talk to your doctor about adding something like Abilify.  It will boost the effectiveness of your antidepressant and you will deffinitely feel better.

So you're taking the Celexa at 3 am and the next night you still aren't sleeping?  You should also talk to your Psychiatrist about that as well. He may be able to give you something like Ambien to sleep.

I too have had a very stressful last couple of years.  Ive been through a pretty nasty divorce and some disabling medical issues. I have been through some really serious depression along with Fibromyalgia, CFS, Chronic Migraines, etc.  For my depression I take 100 mg of Pristiq and 2 mg of Abilify.  The Pristiq didn't work that greay by its self, but when he added the Abilify, it really made a difference.  I take Ambien on the nights when I can't sleep and that helps me even more whith being able to wake up in the morning . I also am in therapy...If you aren't already, you miight want to consider making an appointment with a psychologist or counselor so you can have a professional help you through some of the stressfull stuff you are going through right now.  It has helped me tremendously!  Just a suggestion.

I really hope some of this has helped you.  If you ever need to talk, I am here.  Just shoot me a msg....Take care  :)

[mammo]

Doctors normally start us out on a low dosage of these medications, this may be all we need.  But in 2-3 months they want to see us again to determine if the dosage is working or not and it is at this time they normally up the dosage if it's not.  This is normal, so contact your doctor to let him know it's not working, he will either tweak the dosage or sometimes they change the medication to a different one.  Anytime you feel your medication isn't working let your doctor know.  Take care.

[therese83]

Sorry to hear that things seemed better and now seem worse again.

Go back to your Doctor, maybe you need to find a higher dose that suits.

I have heard of this 'pooping out'  which means it stops working.  Though i have never experienced this myself.  But this wouldn't happen so soon, it would happen after a couple of years.

The Doctor will help you, and everything is a 'trial' if it doesn't work you can change, sometimes it takes time, so best of luck.