Does anybody have experience with the anti-depressant drug ceflexa? I am about to start a 6 month course and am curious about any side effects and the effectiveness of this drug.

http://depressionforums.com/forum/ikonboard.cgi

Good luck to you.

I can offer a few pieces of support though. When I work with anyone who is taking medication, I often suggest that they keep a log (a very small notebook or something that can be carried with them), and that they make four entries in this log every day. It takes less than a minute to do daily.

The daily log might look something like this:
Date:  April 2, 2002
Dose:  20 mg.
Side effects:  slight headache, a little nauseau today
General mood:  Felt calm today

You can also ask your physician or psychiatrist for a copy of the PDR (Physician's Desk Reference) entry on Celexa, so that you can see for yourself how the medication is described, how it works, what the usual dosage is, what the side effects are, and any problems with interactions with other drugs or alcohol, herbs, etc. There are also resources online like WebMD or the Harvard Mental Health Letter which have articles on Celexa, reports on clinical trials of the medication and important information about taking this medication.

In my experience, people are affected differently by the same medication. Because one person had side effects, doesn't mean you will; and the contrary is also true that if a friend had no side effects, you won't either. I think its best to be active and feel empowered about your own care and health, to track how the medication affects you specifically and to stay in close touch with your physician, psychiatrist and/or therapist so that you have a team of people on your side!

I wish you the best in working on dealing with the depression.

Do some internet searching, and you'll find very complete information about depression (there are three basic, distinct types, and other less typical types of depression), and details about the dozen or more types of drugs available to treat depression. (It baffles me why physicians always start with Proxac - it is not one of those with the least amount of side effects.)

After living with depression for most of my life (but not knowing I was depressed), I spent several years trying to find out why I had no energy, didn't care, found it hard to get through my days, etc. After exploring many other factors, my doctor and I decided to try an anti-depressant medication (even though I'd had bouts of depression, I didn't consider myself ''depressed''). It's difficult to go through, because all the meds need to be taken for 6 weeks to 2 months to be evaluated properly. But, having found SO many different medications on the internet, I was determined to keep trying different ones till I found one that worked for me -- on my third try, I discovered what it's like to live without depression AND to not have to put up with any side effects.

It's quite an amazing revelation. I can hardly believe looking back at my life now, what I had gone through unnecessarily.

Hope my message gives others the courage to try and persist. It's so worth it, for yourself and everyone you love.

Like any drug, it is not a substitute for getting to the root of the problems and I am concurrently doing other things to help myself be a happier person and a better parent, including reading books, looking for good counselor/s for my daughter and/or me, scheduling weekends to reduce stress for both of us, doing grownup things without her, organizing free childcare exchanges to give myself free time without the stress of paying a babysitter, and more. And of course, as time passes, my child is maturing and hopefully growing out of the tantrum phase she has recently been in (she's almost 5). Best wishes to you.