# Anyone experience switching from Paxil to Celexa



## Umyaya (Feb 17, 2012)

So I have decided to switch to celexa. I have recently been a wreck and it's gotten pretty serious. I usually am on Paxil and have been wanting to get off paxil for years... The doctor prescribed me 10 mg of Celexa for 7 days then said I should add 10 more mg.. up to 20mg... I have been attempting to taper off Paxil and got down to around 7 mg for 2 months... The doctor said I could cut out all the Paxil since the dose wasn't very high and just go to Celexa but I am scared. So it's only my second day adding the Celexa and I have been cutting my paxil down 1 mg a day since the half life is very short... Anyone have input or thoughts!? Or have experienced this? I have been on Celexa but that was 6 years ago... and I switched off it.. 

Please help!


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## pixies (Oct 28, 2009)

Why do you want to switch from Paxil, just out of interest? My story is that I've been on paxil for around 12 years, but I've taken breaks for a while where I've been off it for a few years here and there. It's not perfect but nothing I've ever tried has been. If anything the Paxil is probably about the best I've tried.

As for changing drugs, usually I completely come off one first. But at one point I was taking Escitalopram for around a year and it was ok, but I felt like it was losing its grip on me. So I switched back to Paxil, yet again, and my pharmacist told me it would be safe to just switch right away. I didn't even need to come off the Escitalopram first, I just started taking the Paxil and stopped the other one. I felt a bit weird for a few days but nothing too bad. 

Going the other way though, again, I would want to get advice. I checked with my doctor but I also checked with the pharmacist for a second opinion, and between them both I felt safe. 

The deal with SSRI's though is that they each work differently for different people. One person might swear by one drug that for someone else, does absolutely nothing. And vice versa. It sucks because your only solution really, is to try different ones for yourself and find one that works well for you. It's a nuisance because it can take so long to come off one and for another one to start working. Maybe even several months, so it can be very disruptive to your life, especially if you can't really work or socialise in all that time. 

But finding a drug that works well for you, if only for a year or so, is well worth doing. The best years of my life have been while under a good medication. I have done all kinds of things, been all over the world, had great jobs and relationships and done a lot, and it was all down to being on the right medications.


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## Umyaya (Feb 17, 2012)

Yeah the side effects of Paxil were just killer.. Zombie like and just forgot what real feelings were like.. It did help though on the panic attacks and SA. After a while I think my body wasn't responding very well to it and wigging out. Yeah it's a bummer because I am currently in a super stressful position with an internship and I really hope I can work through this.. It's been awful. How much paxil are you taking?


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## pixies (Oct 28, 2009)

Ahhhh yeah the zombie thing is a real pain. I get that too. Although personally, I have had that on other drugs too so I don't really know how to escape it. Ideally I would test lots of different drugs and find one that works best for me. But the problem is that the transition basically destroys my life. I have various commitments and social stuff I go to at the moment, only like once per week. But when I come off one medication and then wait for another one to start, I am such a mess, I can just not even leave the house. And it takes so long too! It literally can take like 2 or 3 months for a new medication to start working, and if I had to spend a few months coming off one first... that's like half a year without leaving the house! Its too long, friends forget you, jobs fire you, everything falls to pieces in that kind of time. So I struggle by on Paxil...

As for your dosage question, I started on paxil at 20mg when I was about 19 or so. I was on that for a few years and then crept up to 30mg, and then a few more years, crept up to 40mg. Eventually I stopped using it because I wasn't even sure if it was doing anything anymore. And I felt quite ok anyway. A few years later after not using any medication, I started getting major panic attacks and social anxiety. So I am now back Paxil. Again I started on 20mg but after several months I really felt like I needed more. I wanted to just go straight back to 40mg again but doctor insisted I went on 30mg for a while. So that's what I'm on now and I'm trying to make do. I still feel like it's a bit low so I want to go up to 40 soon. 

I read that you can go to 50 but I never went that high. Not sure I would want to.

Besides long term paxil, other meds I was only on short term, except for Escitalopram which I took for a year. It worked ok, but I felt like it didn't quite have a total grip on me. I felt like at any moment I could have a panic attack. I never actually did... but I felt like the drug just wasn't quite strong enough. And sadly the dose of that medication is not something that could be increased. So I switched back to trusty old paxil again. Its not much better but at least I get by. 

Side effects are my only real issue. The zombie thing sucks but I can live with it. But bigger problems are insomnia, lethargy, and bad sex drive. I just hardly ever feel horny, and usually I'm as horny as a 14 year old boy. But it just destroys my sex drive and makes me have zero interest in sex. It's very weird. And if I do have sex I can 'get it up' but it just doesn't feel very hard. It looks ok and feels hard to the touch, but to me, I can barely even feel it.. almost like it's not even a part of me. And orgasms are just boring. Sometimes they feel good but often they just don't really feel of anything. It's strange. 

I try to tell myself life could be worse... many people have far worse lives for various reasons, at least I live a fairly normal life. But I basically have no sex and that is quite a big sacrifice I think.


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## Umyaya (Feb 17, 2012)

Exactly man... I wonder if I'm even getting a medical effect from such a low dose of paxil now... hopefully this Celexa works! i did notice fat gain though with paxil...Hopefully I can survive this semester.. ugh... and with my luck I'll probably get all the worst side effects of celexa haha ****ty... we'll have to wait and see.Tapering off Paxil is death!


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## pixies (Oct 28, 2009)

I never really got the weight gain the first time I used paxil, but now that I'm back on it again I can't stop eating! I have put on 22lbs in the past 2 years! I used to be very skinny so I don't really look fat now, at least with my clothes on because they just about hide it. But my chest is flabby now when it used to be firm, and my belly is pretty big and I have 'love handles'. 

I am determined to fix the problem through brute force though, I'm just going to be strict about what I eat and exercise regularly, but it's especially hard because I have really bad insomnia and always feel so tired. And when you feel like that, the last thing you want to do is go for a jog or something, and the thing you most feel like doing.. is eating something tasty. But it could be worse, and I know I can fix this. 

And yeah, coming off Paxil is seriously horrible. I've done it twice now and the only way I could cope was to do it super gradually. Like in 5mg steps per week or something like that. Maybe even more gradual than that. Even 1mg makes a difference. 

Good luck with Celexa though! You never know, it might work great and maybe the side effects will be nothing. When I first took Paxil when I was 19, I basically had no side effects. It was a total miracle drug. But I was stupid and because I felt so good, I thought I was cured so stopped taking it. Everything went to hell pretty fast after that, and when I went back on Paxil a second time, it came with some side effects I never used to have. 

So hopefully if you get a smooth ride the first time, try to stay on it as long as possible so it hopefully fully cures you before you think of coming off it. Good luck!


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## Umyaya (Feb 17, 2012)

Yeah i've been tapering my paxil pretty quick since I added Celexa... I'm tapering 1mg a day.. when I used to before taper like 5mg every 3 weeks... but now that I was only on like 7 mg... and I'm adding the Celexa I am tapering faster.. The doc wanted me to just switch drugs but I was too scared.


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## Umyaya (Feb 17, 2012)

Doc wants me to go up to 20 mg celexa Friday.. but I'm feeling may doing 15mg..


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