Citalopram (Celexa) and Zombie-ism? lol
 

Wondering if anyone who has taken this before has had any problems with always being tired? I doubled my dose to drown out SAD symptoms but now it's gotten 10 times as hard for me to get out of bed in the morning. I'm not sure what's causing the constant tiredness....the list of culprits is anything from stress to caffeine to vitamin deficiency. I've been going crazy with Vitamins B, C and D, cut back on caffeine, started taking Melatonin at night in case I needed to just sleep deeper and changed to a healthier diet but I seriously feel like I need someone to perform physical abuse on me to get me out of bed these past couple weeks. I'll easily sleep 12 hours if I have no alarm clock.

Anyone have any ideas?

I am so glad you posted about Celexa, and would like to share with you my experience. The doctor's directions were to take it at night. The first morning after taking it, I felt like a complete Zombie. So much that I was not effective at work or anywhere else. Unfortunately, I suffered from other side effects including a severe panic attack. After 4 days I quit taking it. Sorry to hear about your experience, but glad to hear I am not the only one. I switched to a different medication and very glad that I did.

DH, I tried doubling my does of Cymbalta too to overcome SAD symptoms but it also made me just want to sleep all the time. My cousin then told me about Wellbutrin. It is often prescribed specifically for SAD. Anyway, I mentioned it to my doctor, we gave it a whirl and it worked great (in addition to my orginal dose of Cymbalta).

Lexapro can also have a sedating effect. Effexor has an energizing effect for most people. I loved it, but I had a side effect of it thinning my hair out so I went off of it.

You know I was just thinking about this again today. I've been trying to explain to people how hard it is to get out of bed and they think I'm a loon and completely lazy. I've always seen the "may cause drowsiness" warning label on the pills but always brushed it off...well, I always used to brush off the "don't drink with alcohol" warning too, what can I say. lol But today I was thinking about how I used to be on Wellbutrin and I actually liked it. I don't know how I talked my doctor into Celexa really...I was drinking a lot so I started to have anxiety problems, social anxiety too and the doc told me it looked like I was having a hard time focusing too...so we somehow ended up with Celexa so he could make me happy about my anxiety complaints...even though the anxiety was probably caused by the alcohol dependence the I somehow managed to leave out of our sessions for 5 years. lol

Now that I doubled the dose, the drowsiness probably increased too...I'll have to schedule an appt. with my doctor soon to see about this. I'd hate to switch anti-depressants in winter but maybe there's some sort of smooth transition he could have in mind.
Thanks for the responses and it's good to hear others have visited Zombieland on Celexa too. lol And thanks for that info mattcake79 about it brushing with histamine receptors...I don't need any of that!

Hi ho, off to the doc I go. lol

Oh, weird thing though...when I was in AA, my doc turned out to be in the same meetings as me and then I dropped out of AA and now I'm not drinking and not in AA...I wonder how weird things will be when I go back or if he'll even believe I'm not drinking. Oye ve. lol

This happened with a former gynecologist too...we ended up in the same meetings....you want to talk about weird and creepy, there ya go. Thank God for self-recovery. hahaha

Hi DrivenHeart!
Ive been on Celexa for about 5 years now, i dont think i ever got the 'zombiness' with it, i tried a couple differnt ones before celexa, and this was the only one where i didnt really get any side effects....but then again the one i was on before celexa was EffexorRX and it messed with me pretty bad lol made celexa seem like a god send to me ;)

wow you sound like me! lol i knew thats why i started having anxiety/ panic attacks, but i wasnt going to tell her! she would tell me to stop drinking!! LOL
after 5 years, i finally confessed to her last month, and only because i started having heart issuse and my liver hurt. sigh.

I am on 20mg and I know exactly what you mean, makes me feel like I can sleep for all day long, I find a good idea is too take them at night, a few hours before going to sleep :)

I have been on it for a little over two weeks now. I didnt get the Zombie feeling but I have a massive headache for the past several days I am wondering if its the Celexa. I also feel more tired hoping this regulates in my system soon.

I took Celexa once and I felt like I had done Heroin it was while in an acute recovery place so they took me off it right away and put me on Risperdal instead, which has been better but not totally different

I was on Effexor, insurance ran out, and they put me on Celexa. I absolutely hated it. HATED it. Only because it was on the stupid $4 Wal-Mart list. It didn't work, the side effects sucked, etc. Actually, when my boyfriend went to detox, they put him on it, and he didn't like it either. So it must be a lot of people who have problems with the side effects. (that's why it's only worth $4, haha). Ugh. So anyway, I am back on Effexor, and I like it a lot more. A LOT more. Although withdrawal sucks pretty bad, so I have to make sure I don't run out at inopportune times like holidays or something when the pharmacy is closed.