# Just took my first dose of citalopram and i feel super giggly



## pain (Sep 1, 2010)

Hi guys,

It's my first time ever taking an anti-depressant. I took 10mg of citalopram. I literally feel high. I'm giggling and smiling for no reason. It's almost like a body buzz rather than mental. 

I was told that I should wait at least 4 weeks to see its effects but I did not expect to see such immediate reaction.

I'm not sure if I enjoy this kind of sensation. I just feel really goofy in an artificially elevated state. Would such high go away after a while?


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## peaceandlove09 (Aug 10, 2010)

I think it's probably a placebo effect. 

But if not, that's cool that it had an effect on you so fast!  


Cheers,


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## peaceandlove09 (Aug 10, 2010)

*Celexa versus Lexapro*

...


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## pain (Sep 1, 2010)

I dont think it's placebo. I've read some people reporting similar initial reaction to the first dose even at 5mg.

I think I'm one of those hypersensitive individuals. Even just a cup of coffee gives me crazy jitters.

I'm going to split into 5mgs and take it for a week.


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## peaceandlove09 (Aug 10, 2010)

rocknroll714 said:


> They're essentially perfectly identical, with the exception of the fact that the doses are different (i.e., escitalopram is more potent compared to citalopram). Escitalopram was simply a [successful] attempt by the pharmaceutical company that manufactured citalopram to continue receiving profits once the patents for citalopram expired and it went generic. Now they get another ~10-12 years of cash from escitalopram. Complete bull**** in my opinion, and shame on the FDA for approving escitalopram.


Thanks for your reply. Yeah, Lexapro is still under patent and it's incredibly expensive!!!!


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## areq1987 (Jul 10, 2010)

Eric69 said:


> Yeah, Lexapro is still under patent and it's incredibly expensive!!!!


In Europe lexapro went into generic few months ago.


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## rustybob (Nov 19, 2009)

rocknroll714 said:


> On the contrary to my above post, 10 mg of citalopram is a really low dose, and as this poster suggested, it's probably just placebo effect, especially since this is your first antidepressant and you don't know what to expect.


I went into mania for 3 days when I started Zoloft, it's not unheard of. That was on 25mg.

Pain, hopefully things work out better for you than they did for me. Those first 3 days in mania were absolute bliss. Afterwords, not so much.


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

Hmm isn't becoming manic upon starting an SSRI (provided it's not just a placebo effect) often a sign that a person may actually be suffering from bipolar disorder?


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## pain (Sep 1, 2010)

Instead of taking 10mg at a time, I tried to take 5mg, 4 hours apart today. The effects aren't as profound but now I feel more anxious, irritated and jittery. 

I have read that the signs of depression or anxiety can get worse for the first 2 weeks. Is this normal?


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

pain said:


> I have read that the signs of depression or anxiety can get worse for the first 2 weeks. Is this normal?


Yes, it's fairly normal for anxiety to get worse for the first 2 weeks or so as the body adapts to the med.


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## peaceandlove09 (Aug 10, 2010)

pain said:


> Instead of taking 10mg at a time, I tried to take 5mg, 4 hours apart today. The effects aren't as profound but now I feel more anxious, irritated and jittery.
> 
> I have read that the signs of depression or anxiety can get worse for the first 2 weeks. Is this normal?


Yeah its something about how the first two weeks there is more serotonin in the synapse due to the reuptake effect of an SSri, but oddly enough, thats not what relieves the depression.

After a few weeks, because of the excess serotonin in the synapse, the brain compensates by reducing the available amount of serotonin receptor sites that the serotonin can bind to. And thats when people start to feel better.

Kinda counter inuitive and i probably didn't explain it very well.

But long story short, yeah. It could take a few weeks to feel better.

Cheers,


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## IllusionalFate (Sep 10, 2008)

jim_morrison said:


> Hmm isn't becoming manic upon starting an SSRI (provided it's not just a placebo effect) often a sign that a person may actually be suffering from bipolar disorder?


That's immediately what I thought after reading the OP.

pain, what you are likely experiencing is an atypical but common reaction to SSRIs. Those with bipolar disorder tend to experience hypomania or mania upon starting treatment, though rarely this can occur in people who aren't bipolar. Read this and see if it sounds familiar to how the citalopram was making you feel.



Eric69 said:


> Yeah its something about how the first two weeks there is more serotonin in the synapse due to the reuptake effect of an SSri, but oddly enough, thats not what relieves the depression.
> 
> After a few weeks, because of the excess serotonin in the synapse, the brain compensates by reducing the available amount of serotonin receptor sites that the serotonin can bind to. And thats when people start to feel better.
> 
> ...


I haven't researched this much, but from what I gather it seems the following is roughly what happens over the course of adjusting to an SSRI:

First, serotonin accumulates in the synapse due to the SERT being blocked. However, there are serotonin subtype receptors that induce negative effects and others that are responsible for the beneficial therapeutic effects of SSRIs. Initially, the neurons that have the "good receptors" also have autoreceptors that detect the increase in serotonergic neurotransmission and reduce the firing rate of the presynaptic neuron. The neurons with the "bad receptors" don't have autoreceptors responsible for regulating intrasynaptic serotonin levels, so serotonin remains elevated between these neurons. Over the course of a couple weeks, the autoreceptors downregulate in response to the slightly elevated serotonin levels and therefore the firing rate of the neurons harboring the good receptors increases, which leads to the overall therapeutic efficacy.


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## pain (Sep 1, 2010)

> Characteristics of mania include rapid speech, racing thoughts, decreased need for sleep, hypersexuality, euphoria, impulsiveness, grandiosity


I had all of those symptoms of mania.

Even on 5mg of citalopram, those symptoms still appear. Does this mean I'm bipolar?!


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

pain said:


> I had all of those symptoms of mania.
> 
> Even on 5mg of citalopram, those symptoms still appear. Does this mean I'm bipolar?!


Yeah it's possible (although 5 mg is such a low dose that it may be an adverse reaction, a start-up reaction or even just a placebo response) but if you find that these symptoms persist or start to get worse especially when you up the dosage then it would probably be a good idea to talk to your doctor about this reaction.


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

rocknroll714 said:


> Try memantine for tolerance.
> 
> .....
> 
> I'm kidding of course.


Haha yeah, what's kind of ironic about all of this is that people with co-morbid SA and untreated Bipolar disorder seem to be amongst some of the few people for whom SSRI's may work super-well at treating their SA. :b


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## IllusionalFate (Sep 10, 2008)

pain said:


> I had all of those symptoms of mania.
> 
> Even on 5mg of citalopram, those symptoms still appear. Does this mean I'm bipolar?!


It doesn't sound like you've been through these types of episodes before, so I would venture to guess that you aren't. What is your baseline mood like?


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## pain (Sep 1, 2010)

IllusionalFate said:


> It doesn't sound like you've been through these types of episodes before, so I would venture to guess that you aren't. What is your baseline mood like?


I'm usually pretty chill and relaxed. I'm more on the extroverted side. My base mood, I'd say neutral to fairly positive.

I'm VERY sensitive to stimulants. I avoid drinking coffee and energy drinks because they give me the highs, jitters and crashes.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

rocknroll714 said:


> 5 mg of Celexa is like nothing.


It is to some, actually. I have had to split pills at times.



pain said:


> Instead of taking 10mg at a time, I tried to take 5mg, 4 hours apart today. The effects aren't as profound but now I feel more anxious, irritated and jittery.
> 
> I have read that the signs of depression or anxiety can get worse for the first 2 weeks. Is this normal?


5mg every four hours would lead to over 20-30mgs. Depression feels the same or worse for the first two weeks, yes.



IllusionalFate said:


> That's immediately what I thought after reading the OP.
> 
> pain, what you are likely experiencing is an atypical but common reaction to SSRIs. Those with bipolar disorder tend to experience hypomania or mania upon starting treatment, though rarely this can occur in people who aren't bipolar. Read this and see if it sounds familiar to how the citalopram was making you feel.
> 
> ...


I was tested twice for bipolar and do not have it. During anxious episodes, I can be manic just to get the nerves to subside. If the SA is bad, then depression kicks in an I get lethargic.



pain said:


> I'm usually pretty chill and relaxed. I'm more on the extroverted side. My base mood, I'd say neutral to fairly positive.
> 
> I'm VERY sensitive to stimulants. I avoid drinking coffee and energy drinks because they give me the highs, jitters and crashes.


In my case, I have to drink coffee to offset some of th effects of my Paxil that makes me tired. If I decrease my dosage, I can tell immediately that I need to limit the caffeine.


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

millenniumman75 said:


> In my case, I have to drink coffee to offset some of th effects of my Paxil that makes me tired. If I decrease my dosage, I can tell immediately that I need to limit the caffeine.


Yeah, I usually have to drink atleast 2-3 cups of coffee to get myself going in the morning.


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## peaceandlove09 (Aug 10, 2010)

pain said:


> I'm usually pretty chill and relaxed. I'm more on the extroverted side. My base mood, I'd say neutral to fairly positive.
> 
> I'm VERY sensitive to stimulants. I avoid drinking coffee and energy drinks because they give me the highs, jitters and crashes.


Some people are more sensitive to meds than others. I relate to what you are saying. I am very sensitive to meds. I have allergies and i can't stand anti histamine medications. They make me feel like ****. I also don't take advils and tynenols when i'm sick unless i'm really bad because they mess me up a bit too.

I tried Wellbutrin at the lowest dose and it gave me a lot of anxiety. Whereas some people take upto 450mg per day which I think would cause me a severe panic attack.

So who knows, maybe 5mg or 10mg is OK for you based on your body. Everyone is different, and i think the therapeutic doses for anti depressants are too high anyway.

Cheers,


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## somerandom (Feb 18, 2011)

Hi guys, im new to here, so bare with me..

I have just be prescribed desvelafaxine for depression
I have never taken anti depressents before, but if other "drugs" are to go by, I feel them pretty quickly, its 3 hours and already I feel really good,

hope this is a good sign, because 4 hours ago i was severe depression, and have had mood swings for the past 8 months, been suicidal, and everyday was a nightmare, I couldn't socialize or function during work etc. etc. and would just snap and go crazy, and my temper was at breaking point, if working on the car and couldn't do something, i'd start bashing it

I hope this is a good sign, I really do, I wish i took these along time ago

by all means, even if my mind is being tricked into thinking this is working, when in fact it may not be, then so be it


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## jdand751 (Feb 6, 2012)

*Honeymoon period*

I'm replying to a very old post but if you stumbled upon it like I did it may still prove to be useful information.

Feeling the effects from the first dose of an SSRI is not uncommon, and it is only in small part placebo effect. More likely the effect is genuine and a very good sign of things to come.

The "honeymoon period" in the beginning is short-lived only because our neurochemistry quickly down-regulates. After a couple days it feels as if the pills are no longer effective and people get discouraged.

Hang in there, because it may take anywhere from 4-9 wks to reach steady state levels, but if you had such an experience from the first couple pills chances are you're someone who will respond very well to the drug.


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## gilmourr (Nov 17, 2011)

pain said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> It's my first time ever taking an anti-depressant. I took 10mg of citalopram. I literally feel high. I'm giggling and smiling for no reason. It's almost like a body buzz rather than mental.
> 
> ...


placeboooooooooooooooooooooooooo


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