Celexa and Depression: What Are The Facts?

What is Celexa?

Celexa is the brand name of the generic drug citalopram. Celexa is owned by U.S., Forest Laboratories, Inc. and is an SSRI or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Celexa is mainly used for its anti-depressing effects in order to treat depression, mood disorders, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and body dysmorphic disorder.

Other off-label uses of citalopram include treatment of diabetic neuropathy, post-stroke pathological crying and sexual dysfunction. The drug comes in the form of 10, 20 and 40 mg tablets and is taken once every day.

How Celexa Works

Celexa is able to treat depression by increasing the amount of serotonin in the brain without affecting other neurotransmitters. It is very selective in balancing serotonin solely which results to improvement in mood and emotion. The chemical process takes anywhere from 1 to 4 weeks. The dosage prescribed should be enough to render results within those given weeks.

Patients are never advised to self-medicate or increase dosage to expect better results. Since Celexa is an SSRI, it should not be stopped abruptly once patients feel better to prevent withdrawal syndrome or sudden reactions with new drugs or substances.

Common Side Effects

The side effects of Celexa should remain only from mild to moderate. Immediately report to your physician extreme and abnormal body responses. Frequently, physical symptoms like nausea, dry mouth, insomnia, sweating, tremor, diarrhea, sexual dysfunction and vomiting may occur.

Mental side effects like anxiety, teeth grinding, confusion, nausea and sleep disturbances are also not uncommon. Visual and auditory hallucinations, sudden lost of interest, inability to feel pleasure, feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness and frequent or long lasting depressed mood are not common side effects of the drug and should be reported immediately. Before the person begins to feel better, there may be episodes of panic attacks, self-mutilation tendencies and suicidal ideations. These should be reported and should not linger longer than 4 weeks.

How to Avoid Side Effects

Take citalopram only in the right amounts and at the right time. Do not take it concurrently with MAOI or mono-acid oxygenase inhibitors since interaction of these drugs may cause serious or fatal results. Discontinuing the drug takes around 4 to 5 weeks to avoid withdrawal symptoms. Tell your physician which drugs you are currently taking since some may interfere with Celexa’s efficacy or concentrate it more. Alcohol beverages, caffeine and smoking are advised to be stopped temporarily until treatment is complete.

Celexa for Depression

It is very helpful to couple medication regimen with psychotherapy wherein patients can practice mental and emotional wellness. Depression symptoms can also be evaluated through regular visits to the physician in order to check the effects of the drugs and whether or not the dosage needs to be increased.

Celexa and depression seem to go well together, as it is actually a well-tolerated drug for the condition. Although the drug has been known to be safely tolerated even in very high dosages, patients should never increase on their own to hasten or produce better effects. Fatal results were presented in dosages from 800 to 2000 mg.