Celexa and Mood Swings

Starting at about the two-week mark of taking this medication, I was moderately depressed for a few hours and then super hyper, followed by a crash. The next day I was super hyper for about an hour and that developed into an energetic/irritable/anxious mix that lasted for the rest of the day. The next day I was irritated, and that turned into a weird irritable depression of sorts (with racing thoughst and psychomotor agitation). The next three days I'm fine, but today I was irritated and then extremely hyper with the inability to focus. And restless energy--that was horrible. Being at almost the three-week mark, should I probably discontinue this medication?

Well, now I'm being taken off the Celexa and being but on Risperdal, so wish me luck!

Good Luck! I hope the risperdal works better for you!

Cheze2 wrote:Good Luck! I hope the risperdal works better for you!

Thank you, Cheze2! Will be sure to update if the Risperdal is having an "eh" effect on me.

filthyfreshfish, standard advice would be, talk to your psychiatrist about it. I expect he would put you on another medication, that's the way he makes his living. I take no psychiatric meds and feel sure I am much the better for it. They all dull my mind and they do have nasty side effects such as you describe.

I don't know how or why you got on meds in the first place. You told your psychiatrist things in your life you didn't like, I would expect. There are ways of changing such things without going on medication. I write about them here.

Should you want to discuss this further, go to "General", then "Living With Mental Illness Forum", then scroll down to my topic, "I'm frustrated by this fouled up world. Aren't you?" and reply there. That's the only place I'll see your reply.

If it happens again talk to you pdoc. It may be bipolar. Some people need two meds to stay in the middle instead of just an antidepressant. Good luck.

mania from an antidepressant does not mean that one has bipolar disorder. Some people who are diagnosed with bipolar do become manic while taking antidepressants, but it is not a diagnosable criteria that if one becomes manic while on an antidepressant that they have bipolar disorder.

Rusty9 wrote:filthyfreshfish, standard advice would be, talk to your psychiatrist about it. I expect he would put you on another medication, that's the way he makes his living. I take no psychiatric meds and feel sure I am much the better for it. They all dull my mind and they do have nasty side effects such as you describe.

I don't know how or why you got on meds in the first place. You told your psychiatrist things in your life you didn't like, I would expect. There are ways of changing such things without going on medication. I write about them here.

Should you want to discuss this further, go to "General", then "Living With Mental Illness Forum", then scroll down to my topic, "I'm frustrated by this fouled up world. Aren't you?" and reply there. That's the only place I'll see your reply.

My psychiatrist swore off SSRIs/anything targeting serotonin for me after I told him of my experience, and so he put me on a tiny dose of Risperdal for anxiety (The Celexa was supposed to be for depression.). Glad you've found something for you that works; I can imagine you've been through a lot of frustration with medications in the past based on the way that you're speaking.

Sorry I'm responding to everything so late. I only get on an actual computer once in a blue moon. Replying to posts on a cell phone is not ideal for me. I'll get to your topic in a few.

bluedragon1200 wrote:If it happens again talk to you pdoc. It may be bipolar. Some people need two meds to stay in the middle instead of just an antidepressant. Good luck.

That's what was lingering in the back of my mind, especially with my teacher and guidance counselor (who have a past as psychologists--they're not saying this for the heck of it) saying they think I have bipolar disorder instead of major depression based on how low my lows are. I don't know if I quite hit hypomania or not, and once I took myself on the drug, that feeling started slowly going away, so I'm thinking it may have just been an effect of the excess serotonin in my system.

Thank you, you two, for your replies. You were of great help.