Hi Everyone! I enjoy reading everyones post. This has to be the best therapy out there. I'm on day 17 of Citaloptam (Celexa) at 10mg. I started at 5 and worked up to 10mg on day 7. This med has made me feel complete exhaustion in the morning, and lathargic. How long before this wears off? I manage to exercise everyday and work on eating right because I've read so much about the weight gain issue, but still am having a really hard time motivating myself and concentrating on getting things done. Honestly, this stuff makes me feel like I have been run over by a bus in the morning. I take it at night, as it helps me get to sleep. I have Depression, and Anxiety related to PTSD from my military time. The Celexa has helped alot with the anxiety, but not so much with the depression yet, so I take 5 HTP in the morning with it and that helps with the depression. Any thoughts?

Hi FFT,

I had that for about 6 weeks but hopefully it won't last that long for you. xxx

Hi PRT! Did it eventually go away on it's own and you felt normal after 6 weeks?

Yeah pretty much - well I'm not sure about normal, but I didn't feel like a zombie anymore. I was on 20mg though and am now on 40 so the effects were probably stronger
Sorry if my answers are kind of short and sharp - I'm doing about 3 things at once!! xx

Hi F,

I am also on Cipralex 10 mg and this is my 6th day. I experience the same, I feel lethargic in the morning but also through out the day! The depression is still there, but maybe it is not working yet. I am also exercising and try to keep my routine, although it needs a really hard effort to do anything, I mean, ANYTHING.

Six weeks seems long, but before this episode of depression, I also had Zoloft. It worked faster, I think, than 6 weeks. Maybe it depends on each individual. I am also taking ?Remediol, the pdoc said to boost the Cipralex work. I feel so exhausted and tired too.

I am sorry if this doesn't help but just sharing with you my experience. Maybe consult the pdoc when this continues but give it a time first. Let me know your progress because I also want to know how you progress.

Sincerely,

DD

Thanks PRT. I was on Welbutrin and Paxil once before at 40mg, and those made me feel like a zombie. So far with Celexa not soo much zombie, but definitely lathargic big time. I'll keep you posted.

This post has been edited by FoodForThought: Jun 6 2009, 03:29 AM

HI DD, Congrats on making it to day 6 with Cipralex. It is a fight to do anything. It's like your mind turns to mush. It's hard to even read. Thanks for the informative reply. I will keep you posted with my progress. This is much better (in my opinion) than Wellbutrin, or Paxil. I was on those once before and I had night terrors, and serious insomnia.

F,

On day 17th you still feel lethargic? On my 2nd day I was already feeling tired and feels like I have been climbing mountains when I just walked around the office! It is a bit of a worry because I have to work, like you!

For me, in the afternoons it is improved (the mood improved as well) but mornings are tough. I thought about taking it at night but you took it at night and still feels tired. I thought it was the Remediol and cut the dosage to half but still feel so tired.

I wonder if it is the mixture of the cause of the depression itself and the drug. I didn't feel this tired when I took Zoloft though.

DD

I'm lucky; Celexa doesn't make me lethargic. When I was lethargic those 2nd and 3rd times I was on Celexa it was probably the Risperdal that was making me lethargic. As it still does when I take it. Are you on anything else that could be making you lethargic? I felt so tired and like I just wanted to lie in bed all day when I was on Risperdal, even when I couldn't sleep, and my mind wandered and I was prefectly content to lie in bed all day.

Lexapro does the same thing to me. I've been on it for 7 weeks now. I can sleep 12 hours, wake up, eat "breakfast", then fall back asleep. I can even take adderall, feel it coming up, lay in bed, and fall asleep. But, if I make myself get out of my apartment and do stuff, I'm fine. That's the difference. Getting motivated (not that I'm depressed anymore) can be difficult, but once I make the effort to get up and get out, I don't feel too tired or tired at all.

Hi Anastassia! This is now about my 6th week on Citalopram 10mg. I still feel the exhaustion in the morning after taking the med before I go to bed. This exhaustion is not as bad, but still there. The only other med I am taking is Prazosin which is a blood pressure med for PTSD nightmares, so that shouldn't cause the exhaustion. I do have quite a bit of blurred vision still, and I have read that many others on this Celexa have that as well. The depression is not that bad anymore, but anxiety does come and go. I see my Dr. next week, so we'll see if maybe I should change my dose or meds. On a good note, I have lost some weight on the med. It does make you crave carbs, but your hunger seems to go down, so I exercise and watch my carb intake.

I hear ya. As long as I can get out the door than all is good. I just can't get over this exhaustion. I feel so lazy on Celexa.

God do you know I feel just the same at the moment. Can't shake it at all!

I am new to this forum. But it feels like you guys know what I am feeling like on citroplam. I went to my doc about 2 months ago because my daughter is getting married in September and I wanted to know what to do about anxiety for it. I was already on 40 mgs of cit. so he upped it to 60mg. I have been so tired that I won't get up until I absolutly have to then I take a nap in the afternoon and go to bed early. I have no ambition at all. My husband is getting upset because he thinks its just because I'm bored. What do you think? That and I'm hungry all the time.

Hi Addison,

This is just guesswork but it sounds like that dose might be too much for you. I wonder if you should go back to your doc and discuss your symptoms and see if he/she might put you back down to 40mg and give you something else for the anxiety. Is your anxiety constant or just at certain times? Tell your husband that a lot of people feel like this on citalopram - oh and I eat all the time too!

PRT xx

I'm absolutely knackered and I'm 6 weeks in. I've just had a cold and am still a bit snuffly so I'm wondering if this has something to do with it.

I hear ya. This stuff completely wipes you out, and make you crave food like mad. My wife wonders the same thing with me. I know when I take my celexa in the mornin' it's going to take quite a bit of coffee to do the simplest tasks. It does sound like your dosage is high, but I guess that would be something to talk to your doctor about. I take 5-Htp with celexa and it seems to brighten the mood a bit, and the celexa keeps the anxiety (along with ambition) pretty much completely in check. =)

I was on 20mg of Citalopram but my dosage got upped at the weekend, and I have been so tired pretty much as soon as I started on 40mg! I'm hoping it will pass, it probably doesn't help that I'm just sat at home all day at the moment.

hi. I am new here.
And I am glad to know that the tiredness and exhaustion wasnt just my own lazyness. I am also eating citalopram.
I think it is now my 7th or 8th moth eating them. At the beginning I was very tired. But the tiredness was very different from before the meds. Before the meds my tiredness was mosty just the mind's tiredness. And then When I started taking the pills it suddenly was my body that was tired. Funny.
Resently they raised my doze to 30mg and I felt the same exhaustion. It is good to know that it is the meds side effect. My doctor or my therapist didnt know how to answer my questions about this sleepyness or exhaustion.

My Dr. and Therapist had the same response. My Dr. said that it was odd that it made me so tired. Honestly, I am thinking about getting my med switched because citalopram just makes me too lethargic, and complacent. Even 20 mins on the treadmill now feels like an hour.

My sister's doc said that too. They clearly are not familiar with this very common sideeffect!!

It's really good to read this. I'm on my 6th (or 7th?) week on citalopram. The anxiety seems to be reducing, but along with it goes my desire to do much. The apathy is a bit alarming. I'm getting through all my tasks at work, but little else. I'm averaging about 25 hours (I make my own hours). Everything still just feels so pointless and futile. I think I probably still have a lot of work to do with my counsellor to help with this, and the depression which has only lifted slightly. I still feel like everyone on earth hates me and I am doing a terrible job (when I recently received a payrise, so clearly I'm doing alright at work!). I really need to work on my self esteem as it's been plaguing me my whole life. Anyway - I'm getting off topic. Motivation and apathy are a real struggle on this drug. And I also wake up most mornings feeling like I've been hit by a a truck. It's an excellent description. Although that is easing with time, it does get a little better. It's just hard to get out of bed. Glad to hear it's not just me being lazy.

Although, on the flip side: I'm also finding when the drug actually does make me feel good, I'm a little too 'high' and make bad, irrational decisions and embarrass myself. I'm rushing trough things and making mistakes. This usually happens in the afternoons, when I finally make it to work. Seems I can't win. Hoping it will all level out soon.

This post has been edited by PRT: Jul 21 2009, 06:03 PM

bananas - are you bipolar?

No, I'm not. Just swinging back and forth on these pills it seems. It take forever to get out of bed, battling really negative thought patterns and then the afternoons I'm sitting at my desk grinding my teeth and writing rapid fire response emails that get me in trouble.

Prior to any medication I was just down all the time and having panic attacks. My step Father is bi polar, so I know what it looks like.

yeah I suppose I definitely have better times of the day on it but I never find it makes me in that kind of 'high' state.

I do find that my motivation has never improved on it though. However like you say, it's better than continual depression and panic attacks.

I was on dothiepin (sp?) a few years back, and I spent a month feeling excessively high. It might sound as if it's better than feeling unmotivated and tired, but it's quite scary.

So, I'm a little worried about it this time around. Mornings, though...I take the citalopram at night. It's almost noon where I am and I'm still in bed. Good thing I have a meeting in a couple of hours or I would just stay here.

I did something really stupid at work yesterday afternoon (whilst feeling that afternoon raciness) so I REALLY don't want to go in today and open my email.

I've been on the stuff nearly 2 months and I felt myself improving because I've started doing some exercise. But yesterday and today I feel the tiredness coming back I did have a wee bit of alcohol saturday evening and sunday..not massive or anything just a bit. I'm wondering if this is the cause!! Typical!