Posted by Melissa on June 15, 1999, at 12:18:39
In reply to Re: Celexa-Can't Get Back to Where I Was!, posted by Jim on June 15, 1999, at 11:53:11
> Good News! The Celexa has now kicked back in!
> I no longer have sad feelings in the morning.
> This took about 5 weeks from when I weaned off.
>
> As everybody suggested to me, I would not go
> down on the Celexa without checking with Doc!
>
> On this second round, I was starting to become
> concerned with morning headaches but simply
> took my 40mg at 9PM instead of 10 PM and now
> I do not awaken with headache!
>
> The first thing I tried in January when the
> depression first started was St. John's Wort.
> I was on it for two months and it did not seem
> to help at all! There are a lot of books supporting
> SJW, but I never heard of anyone who has really
> been helped by it in the long run!
>
> Very Best of Luck
> I'll E-mail you if seek additional infoWhen I was on Celexa, the headaches started to diminiish after a while. I did try St. John's Wort a year and a half earlier and had wonderful results. (My depression is very mild--it is more anxiety I deal with.) But it was only effective for about 3 mos. I didn't know this and kept taking it for another 8 thinking that it was circumstance that was leading to an incteased depression and despair. (THere were circumstances to justify that but looking back I over reacted in exactly the way an anti-depressant is supposed to prevent.) I then learned that ther are studies that have been coming out that demonstrate that St Johns WOrt is only effective for mild cases of depressiona dn only lasts about 3 mos. It was the power of that impact onme that led me to decide to try the pharmaceutical route. But as I have posted in other notes, though Celexa had very positive psychological benefits, the side-effects on me were intolerable: sex drive killed off immediately (which I could have lived with for a while), compulsive eating disordered triggered horribly (gained 10 pounds in 6 weeks and it was getting worse) and deep in m bones tiredness that caused me to sleep and take naps in increasing amounts until I was sleeping 14-16 hours day, loss of motivation which is deadly in my profession (not anxious, who cares? why worry? put it off til tommorrow.) But the psychological benefits were enormous: my anxiety disappeared, whatever depressionI had disappeared, my tendancy to take other people's stuff personally disappeared and in fact enabled me to manage difficult people or people in difficult moods very effectively) optimism became extremely strong, sense of self-worth, empowerment and so forth. It was great. I held on to the Celexa as lng as could but then I had to stop. Of course everything reversed rather quickly both the positive and negative. Tiny doses didn't help. So now I am relying on my therapy (which I must say I am very fortunate to have be highly effective), I have started using a light box, even in the summer, and I religiously workout cardio vascularly 45 minutes 5 times a week. (I also do weight training twicw a week.) I also meditate with meditation books every morning (I am in 12 step programs and have been for 13 years). I find that if I let any of those drop for more than three days I deteriorate mentally quite quickly, whether it is the exercise (especially that) the light box, or the meditation. I also go to a minium of 2 12 step meetings a week. THis takes a lot of organiztion and it took me years to build a rooutine so I could get all this done efficiently but it seems to work. It is not as good as the positive benefits of Celexa but I think in the long rum I will get there. And the good news is--no bad side effects and my sex drive is extremely healthy and gets better all the time. (smiles). So the best to everyone. Cheers for feeling well and happy in life!!!
poster:Melissa
thread:348
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990601/msgs/7414.html