Shown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by tippin on September 19, 2001, at 23:00:02
I have weened myself off of celexa (5 days since my last 10mg dose prevoiusly on 20mg/day) and am experiencing "electric shocks" traveling through my arms combined w/ slight dizziness when I turn my head.......any suggestions
T
Posted by Remi on September 20, 2001, at 0:04:07
In reply to coming off celexa......are these symptoms typical?, posted by tippin on September 19, 2001, at 23:00:02
You need to wean off slower. Typically a taper of 20% off the dose per week, or even two weeks is how it is done. Maybe go back to 20 mg for a couple of days to stabilize yourself, then go to 15 or get out the pill splitter and do 17mg, if that is more comfortable. Then take it down about 20% from there and so on. It should go a lot smoother. I found Celexa to be fairly free of withdrawal problems this way.
Posted by Janelle on September 20, 2001, at 20:51:07
In reply to coming off celexa......are these symptoms typical?, posted by tippin on September 19, 2001, at 23:00:02
I had no problem going off Celexa, but I had not been on it long (cuz I couldn't handle the side effects) and tapered off it while adding another SSRI - EffexorXR (which also did not work for me).
I tapered/weened off of the EffexorXR (I was at the lowest available dose of 37.5mg/day for about 4 weeks) and also experienced those "electric shocks" - they traveled to my legs sometimes when walking. I also had bad rebound anxiety the first day off the EffexorXR. The electric shocks were frequent and "intense" the first couple of days being totally off the EffexorXR, but have decreased in both frequency and intensity (almost gone!) and it's been 5 days off the stuff.
I have read on here that when you taper and go off an SSRI, it has to do with the decrease and then the stopping of the action on Serotonin that can cause the electric shocks and dizziness. This is why it is suggested that if you taper off an SSRI like Celexa or EffexorXR you should take a low dose of Prozac to avoid the electric shocks. Me, I chose to ride them out - I did not want be on another SSRI for even a few days. My pdoc has fine-tuned my cocktail and deleted any SSRI. So far, so good.
Posted by Daveman on September 21, 2001, at 0:21:17
In reply to Re: coming off celexa......are these symptoms typical? » tippin, posted by Janelle on September 20, 2001, at 20:51:07
The "electric shock" thing is the most common reported side effect for people going off an SSRI too fast. It's usually referred to as "zaps".
I discussed this very thing with my pdoc (I'm on Celexa 40 mg./day). He says that in his experience, patients who "go slow" off Celexa usually can avoid or minimize this effect. He also said he usually doesn't switch people from Celexa to Prozac because Celexa also has a long half life- about 35 hours, according to Rx List. Not as long as Prozac (1-3 days for some metabolites, 4-16 days for others-Wow!) but much longer than Paxil (15-20 hours), Luvox (15 hours), or Zoloft (26 hours)- all according to the information at Rx List.
Guess I'll find out when it's time to go off, eh? :) I'll report back at that time.
Dave
This is the end of the thread.
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