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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Deneb on June 1, 2005, at 21:28:14
...is this correct? If so, does anyone know how/why Celexa is a mood stabilizer? Are all SSRIs mood stabilizers?
Confused about why Celexa is supposed to cure all my problems...
Deneb (used to be Shy_Girl)
Posted by krybrahaha78 on June 1, 2005, at 22:25:30
In reply to My family doc says Celexa is a mood stabilizer..., posted by Deneb on June 1, 2005, at 21:28:14
Celexa is an antidepressant SSRI--not a mood stabilizer---although it may bring you out of depression and youll be in a better mood--...mood stabilizers usually are meds which are known as anticonvulsants such as Depakote, Lithium, etc...
Posted by Chairman_MAO on June 2, 2005, at 9:40:53
In reply to My family doc says Celexa is a mood stabilizer..., posted by Deneb on June 1, 2005, at 21:28:14
Celexa is an SSRI antidepressant, which can be mood stabilizing in that it flattens mood and makes it harder to feel anything at all. Thus, your mood is stabilized.
However, if we are talking about mood stabilizers as those used in bipolar disorder, Celexa is anything but! SSRIs are notorious for DESTABILIZING bipolars and are often avoided in patients who need a mood stabilizer! My advice: find a shrink and run from this doctor. You will never find relief with such an ignorant physician writing your scripts.
Posted by JenStar on June 2, 2005, at 10:20:19
In reply to My family doc says Celexa is a mood stabilizer..., posted by Deneb on June 1, 2005, at 21:28:14
hi Deneb,
I take Lexapro, which is a derivative of Celexa, and basically works the same way. For me, it's definitely smoothed out my anxiety. I suffer from extreme anxiety at times. I'm not sure how it works, and I don't even know if the scientists know exactly! That's the scary thing about brain drugs - that we don't know exactly WHY they work as they do.Generally, these drugs work by increasing levels of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is a chemical largely responsible for feeling good, calm & happy. The story goes that the more serotonin you have, the more "you" you feel. When you have more serotonin, you feel less depression, despair, anxiety. For some women, taking SSRI's also decreases PMS! But the exact mechanisms behind how and exactly why it works are still being researched.
Anyway, for ME this drug is helping. And Celexa/Lexapro have lower side effects (supposedly) than other similar SSRI's. I've really had NO side effects on Lexapro (yah!) which is great.
Anyway, I'm sure that there are people here who know a lot more about the drug mechanisms than I do. But at least I'm one "success story" (sort of, anyway!) I'm still anxious a lot of the time, but it's definitely better.
take care!
JenStar
Posted by Bill LL on June 2, 2005, at 10:57:07
In reply to My family doc says Celexa is a mood stabilizer..., posted by Deneb on June 1, 2005, at 21:28:14
It is a stabilizer of mood, but it is not a "mood stabilizer". I'm sure that your doctor knows that it is not a mood stabilizer by definition, but he probably just means that it will stabilize your mood.
I have had much success with Lexapro which is a more refined version of Celexa. I used to take 40 mg, but I now take 5 mg before bed. I take it before bed because it tends to dull my thinkning a little bit.
I only need 5 mg now since I started on Concerta and Toprol XL which both calm my agitation.
> ...is this correct? If so, does anyone know how/why Celexa is a mood stabilizer? Are all SSRIs mood stabilizers?
>
> Confused about why Celexa is supposed to cure all my problems...
>
> Deneb (used to be Shy_Girl)
Posted by Phillipa on June 2, 2005, at 17:52:33
In reply to Re: My family doc says Celexa is a mood stabilizer..., posted by Bill LL on June 2, 2005, at 10:57:07
Deneb, How come you changed your name? I had to stop and try to remember who you were. Keep posting your previous name for a while. On the other side, I took Celexa for a month and didn't have the energy to do a thing. I really felt awful. Of course this was in the time frame that my lyme's disease was being dx'd so that could have been why. Fondly, Phillipa
Posted by linkadge on June 2, 2005, at 19:42:58
In reply to Re: My family doc says Celexa is a mood stabilizer..., posted by Phillipa on June 2, 2005, at 17:52:33
This excerpt was taken from www.biposychiatry.com
-------------------------------------------------
Second, though some subjects may feel mildly euphoric, in other users the SSRIs serve more as mood-stabilisers and -flatteners in their lives. By increasing the user's emotional self-sufficiency, too, SSRIs may subtly change the "balance of power" in personal relationships - for good or ill. In some cases, SSRIs may even act as thymoanaesthetisers which diminish the intensity of felt emotion; by contrast, a mood-brightening serotonin reuptake-enhancer like tianeptine may intensify emotion instead. Affective flattening may be welcome to someone in the pit of unmitigated clinical depression. It is scarcely a life-enriching property for "normal" people who lack any convenient diagnostic category which acknowledges their malaise.-----------------------------------------
But no, it is not something that will bring someone down from a euphoric high.Linkadge
Posted by Deneb on June 2, 2005, at 21:38:19
In reply to Re: My family doc says Celexa is a mood stabilizer » Deneb, posted by Chairman_MAO on June 2, 2005, at 9:40:53
> Celexa is an SSRI antidepressant, which can be mood stabilizing in that it flattens mood and makes it harder to feel anything at all. Thus, your mood is stabilized.
I have a BPD and not bipolar disorder, so I guess it doesn't matter if I don't take a real mood stabilizer. My moods are still very volatile at times. I think overall there is less anxiety...but this kind of works against me sometimes...I don't feel as much motivation to get things started. My emotions still get very intense, but I guess meds aren't supposed to control emotions. :-) It is a little odd that I'm *much* more up and down now than before the Celexa, but then again it probably has more to do with environmental factors.
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