Lingering side effects? Celexa to Lexapro and back

[alchemillae]

Hello everyone,

 

First time poster, growing increasingly desperate for insight. I was put on 20mg Celexa for anxiety/depression in the fall of 2012. I was newly 21 and I've had general anxiety and depression since I hit puberty. On the citalopram, I had side effects that were relatively bothersome but for only relatively a short period. I had been given new life and felt better than I had in a long, long time. However, by fall of 2013, I wasn't doing well. It felt like I wasn't taking medicine at all, as I was as anxious and depressed as ever, and went to see my doctor. She suggested we up the dose or try Lexapro. I'm not sure why now, but I chose the Lexapro, and my doctor would also give me a prescription of citalopram to help taper off. We also decided to try Trazodone 50mg for sleep issues at this time. When I got to the pharmacy, I was pretty anxious and not thinking clearly. I was handed my new Lexapro 15mg prescription, no aforementioned citalopram in bag, and the journey began.

 

I had plenty of citalopram/celexa leftover, so I didn't worry too much about not receiving the other third of my prescription, though I did find it odd. Immediately after my first Lexapro pill I was lobbed into side-effect hell. This built up for weeks and included: decreased night vision, foggy head, crawling skin, night sweats, nightmares, nausea, insomnia, and the terrible akathisia. After six weeks I believe I could not take it anymore. I was still taking a 10mg citalopram, as I was scared to leave it completely, with the escitalopram yet I was anxious and depressed as ever, along with being in such agony from the relentless side effects. I had a friend make the call (I'm quite afraid of phones) and it turned out, the doctor's office had no record of a Lexapro prescription being written (assuring!), but did have a 30mg Celexa prescription logged. They sent that to the pharmacy and I never took Lexapro again. I'm doing okay on the 30mg Celexa.

 

Now, however, I find myself still battling with some side-effects months later. Specifically, I still have akathisia (and boy, nothing else has brought me to tears so often), blurry night vision, foggy head, night sweats, and nightmares. As it's recently gotten warmer, the sheet-ruining night sweats have become unbearable, and cause me to wake up too early or too late with a foggy head so bad I don't feel like I exist. And when I try to sleep, the akathisia keeps me up. Trazodone makes everything a little worse, so I've been avoiding it.

 

I have to wonder if citalopram and escitalopram are similar enough that when escitalopram moved in, it left some of its reaction baggage behind on its way out. I am genuinely worried that I am going to be stuck like this unless I get rid of celexa (which has been so good to me). I dread the thought of trying to go on a different medication for fear it ends up like my Lexapro experience. Does anyone have any insight they can offer? Thank you so much for your time.

 

 

TL;DR I was on citalopram/Celexa for a year, was put on escitalopram/Lexapro for ~6 weeks with horrible results and nasty side-effects, I was returned to citalopram but months later still have debilitating Lexapro side effects. Help, please?