Has anyone tried Celexa for dizziness? I had a new neurologist prescribe me it, but I’m pretty much paranoid of trying meds now.
Just wondering if it has worsened anyones dizziness and if it has helped? It’s only 10mg dose.
Thanks,
–Stace.
— Begin quote from “scott”
Hi Stace,
Celexa (Cipramil here) is the only SSRI, and only drug for that matter that I could handle. It saved my neck in 2004. I know at least 2 others who also gained some good control over their MAV with this med. Robert Baloh at UCLA said that this SSRI is his “favourite” for migraine control.
Start at 5 mg or less and work your way up slowly. I didn’t get full control of my life again until I had hit 15 mg. I never took any more than that. You should be fine on it.
Best … Scott 8)
— End quote
How were you able to start at such a low dose did you cut the tablets in fourths?
Timeless and Nance,
I have a pill cutter. But to cut it down to less than 5 mg I had to use an Exacto knife, one of those razor blade type handyman blades. It cuts easily enough and doesn’t explode all over the table. Nance, you should see if there is a liquid version available in the States. You could control the titration much more easily this way. As I said, I’d start on about 2.5 mg and move up from there every week or so. I really don’t think this one will jack you up at all.
Everything you are describing sounds like I was years ago Nance. Totally out of my head with anxiety and MAV. It’s dreadful I know but it will end too.
Scott
Thanks Scott. It is hard feeling this way. I was in the car earlier, felt vertigo/dizziness and the anxiety surged literally through my body. I ended up coming home and laying down. It was a stressful day all around though. I wonder if that contributed. I awoke with dry heaving and nervous surges all over…I think because I was nervous about Jerry’s first chemo treatment today and then after 4 hours of chemo at the clinic, he brings chemo home in a pack connected to it till Wednesday. I hadn’t woken up dry heaving in a week or so.
I need to wrap my head around the idea that tomorrow can be better. I seem to have the idea that if I have one dizzy/anxious day, the next will be too. I know that sounds stupid. We have 3 appointments tomorrow and a b-ball game. I need to be well tomorrow.
I talk to my family dr for a followup tomorrow. I am telling him Hain’s suggestion about the Celexa. I also see a new counselor tomorrow. I requested a woman who has an awesome reputation around here. I was seeing this man counselor, but didn’t feel a connection whatsoever. i can’t believe I am seeing a counselor. I always thought I could handle things myself till this mav crap. If I could ditch the mav, I could handle everything a lot better because I would know I could take care of everyone.
Still holding on to the dream that mav will just burnout one day. Hain’s office said it can and does for some people. Hope we, hope all of us are the lucky ones eventually.
Nance
Okay thank you guys SO much for all the help. It’s a wonderful feeling having someone I know I can talk to about these things. I feel terrible for people who had to suffer from medical conditions when the internet didn’t exist!!!
And I’m truly sorry you are suffering so much Nance. I can’t believe you have to cope through what you are going through PLUS with your husband. You’re amazing enough just being there for him. It’s hard to deal with anything on top of this illness. I hope everything goes well for the both of you.
Scott, Always informative and someone you know you can count on. I love the small dose idea. I’m going to try to cut that darn pill up as small as I can, ha. 2.5 mg sounds great.
Oh and Nance, I’m so paranoid of medicine I’ve had Nori prescribed to me since last June and haven’t taken it. I’m on the same boat. I started having all these problems after taking meds. I had TERRIBLE reactions, so I’m so scared! So I know EXACTLY how you feel. I wish I could get better anyway besides takings meds. But I got to brave up some day if I want to help myself.
Thanks you guys!
–Stace.
Hello,
I’m on 40 mg of Celexa. I feel 50% better on it and I can function again. It’s the mildest drug I’ve ever taken … it’s a dream in comparison to Effexor. I think you should give it a try.
Best,
Emma
Thank you kindly for the encouragement!
I’m so glad to hear it has helped you. 50% is better than nothing right?
I’m just waiting until my midterms are over tomorrow. I don’t want to take the chance of having an awful experience before/during my exams.
Hopefully trying it Thurs. Thanks!
–Stace.
Hi Lucille,
There may be three of us doing the same thing: me, you and Luke. I’m considering it again at a low dose. I’m going to get neurontin as well and see if I can hack it.
Best … Scott
I just wanted to throw a little tidbit into this mix. I have read the book 5HTP over and over, and there are so many links to serotonin and most of the symptoms we are experiencing. Headaches, anxiety (and related insomnia), dizziness etc…from my perspective, as someone who has no history of anything migraine, and no family history of anything migraine, all these symtoms were so strange and out of the blue. My initial doctor told me it sounded like low serotonin and put me on low dose Lexapro at 2.5 mg with the intent to titrate up to 5 mg. Still a low dose…I was fine on the 2.5 and my dizziness got better, but didn’t go away. So when I got to 5 mg I started getting agitated and feeling just plain “weird” and never felt depressed before, so didn’t see why I needed an antidepressant. Long story short…I went through the wringer in trying to find out what was wrong with me. Was it MS, Lupus, brain tumor, hole in my heart, etc…went to several docs and felt totally terrible and scared for 6 months…after all that, I can say that I think low serotonin was right on.
SInce starting Cymbalta, most of my problems went away. I still have some visual dizzy issues that are fairly mild. My symptoms during the majorityi of this past year were daily headaches, insomnia, daily horrible anxiety, low appetite, low mood, dizziness, waking up trembling every morning, and all that led to severe depression. All but the mild dizziness is gone, but something that really topped it off for me was adding 5HTP to the mix…I truly think if I had a doctor who told me to try that first, I might have been able to avoid all the meds that didn’t work, and months and months of a very poor quality of life.
I’m still on Cymbalta, but hope to titrate off and continue with the 5htp. For those of you scared to try a prescription fix, you may want to consider something that will boost your serotonin naturally. It also helps to take your B vitamins to help facilitate the process and eat foods rich in triptophan…turkey, chicken, etc.
Just food for thought.
Kelley
Hi Kelley,
I went through all that as well, they thought I had lupus for a year, then said I didnt fit all the criteria. I was wondering about the hole in the heart as my husbands cousin who got migraine just had a stroke and after tests, they found the hole, closed it and her migraines are gone.
Just been through a night of those symptoms you listed. Slept till 2 then awake all night with anxiety, total insomnia, shakiness, dizziness, disorientated. feeling sick, heart palpitations, got up dizzy with that “cant cope” depressive feeling. I am sure there must be a serotonin link. I am very med sensitive and one sixteenth of a 30 mg cymbalta over two days made me quite ill and took 4 days to get out of my system but I was more sleepy albeit the wrong time of the day!
I tried the cipramil just small piece of a tablet and got an instant migraine, but think I may try it again, but wondering whether to get some 5 HTP and try that first.
Looking back years, there seems to be a link with me often being depressed in the morning but it lifted as the day went on.
Christine
Hi Christine,
I did in fact have the “hole” in my heart, and my initial neurologist told me it would fix my problems. My cardiologist disagreed. The latest studies suggest that it isn’t worth it to do the surgery. It is a bigger deal
than I was originally told.
Im very sorry you are having those kind of nights. I get chills just thinking about how terrible it was, and pray I never have to go through that again. This whole thing is really a learning process. In the end, I think
we gather all this info from all the research, doctors we see, and stories we share , like on this site. But we end up being our own advocate…we are the ones who feel it…we are the ones who go through every side effect and
symtpom and it’s different (and sometimes errily the same) for all of us.
Anything you can do to decrease your oversensitized nervous system would be helpful. You can try the 5htp, or valerian root at night…st. johns wart…there are several herbs that help. Have you seen a naturalpath? I know that
prescription drugs don’t work well for everyone, and if someone is having a hard time with them, there are alternatives. I am finding the combination to be helpful. I take Cymbalta, but I drink an herbal tea at night called “Bedtime” from Yogi tea, that contains st. johns wart and valerian )(and a host of others). I take Melatonin at 3mg at night and also 25mg 5htp. I am doing the best I’ve done in the past year with this combination. I still have some visual dizzy symptoms, but
I don’t know if it’s the 5htp, the Cymbalta or just “Me”…in any event, it’s tolerable. The insomnia, shaking, anxiety was not tolerable.
Let me know if you try the 5htp…it is suposed to help insomnia, headaches and anxiety…
Good luck.
Kelley
Hi Kelley,
After only 3 hours sleep the night before, yesterday was a horrible day. Felt rotton all day with tiredness and sickness, so went to bed at 9 and took 25 mg 5 HTP, included was valerian and B6.
Slept four and half hrs then woke again. Tried to go back to sleep for two hrs with that familiar jitteriness and jumpiness. Thought its not going to happen, so took another 25 mg 5 HTP and although my head felt tired, my insides were still jittery and I laid awake all night again. I now have a dizzy thick head developing.
Tonight I will take 50 mg before I go to bed and see what happens.
We keep trying!
Christine
Quick update. The thick head from the 5 HTP developed into an almighty migraine, lasted into the night when I woke with vertigo. On the plus side, I felt really happy, so it makes you upbeat! So there it is, with me, bad migraine, vertigo but deliriously happy with it :?
Christine
Christine
I have to say, your sense of humor is one of the best things going for you right now! 
I think Scott was getting headaches with the 5 as well. I was getting increasingly dizzy while taking it and skipped it last
night, only to feel a little less dizzy this morning. my thought it to take it for a few days, then a break…then a few days etc…see how that goes. Do you have anything to help with sleep? Have you ever tried
Trazodone? Supposed to be good for raising seratonin, heavy on sleep, and good for anxiety? I tried it and it didn’t work well for me,but Remeron worked fantastic for about 6 weeks. Enough time to make me
know I was going to be needing some meds for this stuff.
I take occasional Lunesta for sleep and it works well with no hangover. Lack of sleep is a big trigger for me, so I try to make sure I get it.
all the best,
Kelley
Hey Christine,
So there it is, with me, bad migraine, vertigo but deliriously happy with it.
That’s exactly what happened to me. Jittery through the night and messed up sleep, and woke with a miserable headache that went on all day – and only on 25 and then 10 mg. But I was definitely happy. You and I seem to get the same effect from both Cipramil and the 5HTP. Increasing 5 will likely just make you more jittery and anxious. That’s what happens to me.
Let me know if you are able to stop the headaches from it. This Paxil comedown is so awful. I feel shocking in the mornings and seem to always have stomach pains. I think abdominal pain is a withdrawal effect for this stuff … read it somewhere. I hope it isn’t here to stay.
Scott
Kelley,
Just looked up my long list of tried preventatives and tried trazadone in 2002, comments are, dizzy and hungover and migraine. Sigh …
Scott,
How much of the paxil are you on now? Just looking at my notes, I tried paxil 10 mg for 4 days only,
again, terrible migraine and dizziness.
What are the morning symptoms? The cymbalta was the worse for me on the stomach. One sixteenth of a 30 mg tablet two days and I had all sorts going on. It took 4 days to get that small amount out of my system. Are you low enough to stop them now?
Christine
Christine,
I took another (3rd) dose of 5htp yesterday but this time under my tongue at about 4 PM. Within an hour I felt more agitated and weirded out in a shopping mall, even panicky for 30 minutes. But no headache. After dinner I had all of this horrible obsessive thinking going on that was making me feel crazy. Then this morning I woke up with a very sore neck, had a shower, off to work, and now have the mother of all headaches and neck pain. It’s so bad my vision is blurred and my eyes burn. I’m done with 5 htp for now. This sucks.
Scott 
Scott,
You and me both. I have some Dr. Bests L-Tryptophan which it looks like I tried once. I think this did not give me the headache but the next day I was very dizzy but looking back I had a stressful day the day before so I think I might try this one again.
Hope your head goes soon, another two days of life written off eh :roll:
Christine
Hi Christine,
another two days of life written off.
If I had to count the number of days ruined by this, I’m afraid it would add up to years now. :?
Scott