Progress update: Celexa + 8 weeks!

[Ten Chips Down]

Hey y'alls -

It was. . . . about eight weeks ago that I came here a complete wreck. I had stopped the Zoloft 100mg I was taking for more than a decade and, well frankly crashed and burned.

What led up to that is a story told in my first postings on SR, but I wound going back on ADs and we went with Celexa 20mg, half the usual ED50.

Well it was like a miracle. In three days (VERY unusual, i know) the cloud was lifted and in 2 months I am just doing fantastically!

. . . i guess one of the most remarkable things is the side-effects.

Like... almost none. LOL I have tolerated Celexa so well it's like taking an aspirin: If not for the lift in depression (and the impotence - oh well :shysmile, I'd never know I was taking it.

So today I told the good doc that I wanted to go on to a full 40mg just to see what the hell would happen. Told him (oh, and he knows I'm well-versed in psychopharmacology--we talk "shop" all the time lol) I'd play it by ear and that hey, you know--if the side-effect profile increased to a bothersome level, then I would simply cut back to 20mg. He say: no problemo.

So! Starting tomorrow morn, i go up to 40mg citalopram and see how it all works out. Now you may VERY reasonably ask, "John? What are you doing? i thought we should always seek to stay on the lowest effective dose of any medication if we really must take it in the first place?"

And you would be right. The answer is: 1) there is always room for improvement, 2) I'm fighting the stressors of d/c'ing all my BZDs, and 3) supposedly a good level of AD helps with all of that. And stuff.

A-a-a-anyway that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

=-=-=-=

So just thought I'd update you guys in a journaling sorta of way.

Will keep you... "posted." Haha!

TenChips

_________________

DYK?

BZD benzodiazepine
EtOH ethyl alcohol
Therapeutic index The safety margin of a drug expressed as the following:
ED50 essentially meaning the average effective dose
LD50 essentially meaning the average lethal dose

[shutterbug]

Thanks for sharing your story and wonderful progress!!

[reader]

Good to know u are doing well

[Ten Chips Down]

Thanks - could be that 20mg is the best level for me. I went on and popped that whole pill yesterday (40mg) and tolerated it well but for some odd lethargy and feeling "doped."

Dunno honestly, whether I'll continue to experiment with the actual "ED50" of this stuff.

The rule of thumb is: If it works, then leave well enough alone. You know. "If ain't broke, then..."

So might could be I'll go on with 20mg and seek to improve the other deficits in my life the old fashioned way: Making more healthy choices and exercise, exercise, exercise. I'm a big proponent of that, ya know. It really only requires 30 minutes of fast, aerobic walking every day above and beyond your normal exertion--to reap those benefits. Really. It's so simple. (And easy and fun once you get into it.)

Also, to get a damn grip on this wacky sleep-pattern - which segues straight into my continuing BZD habit, of which I am making good, slow but steady progrees toward the end goal of getting OFF.

I think the Celexa is a blessing. But when one embarks upon a medication regimen that works, all the other areas of that individual's life have to be looked at carefully as well if he/she is to affect actual outside change (i.e., good sleeping patterns and keeping busy with regular, consistent exercise).

So it is a blessing, true. Magic pill? Uhh, no. There is no panacea to be found in a pill. What the proper medication does is allow you to move forward, and that part is always up to YOU.

Ten