dubcity: about to start celexa taper

[Dubcity]

@Gridley

[Gridley]

19 hours ago, Dubcity said:

Ok so does anyone know when the best time to take your ssri is?

SSRI's are activating and so can disturb sleep, so I would take the opposite view from your doctor.  I took Lexapro in the morning after breakfast.  Full stomach, empty stomach?  I generally take my psych drugs after a meal, but when I was on a split dose of Ativan, one of my three doses was at 4am (empty stomach, obviously) and it didn't seem to make any difference.  It would be good to remain constant, either full or empty stomach every day, just in case in makes any difference in how it affects you.

 

I don't know what time you take your Celexa.  If it's later than morning and you want to move it back, move the time back one hour a day until you you reach the time you want to take the Celexa and that's your new dosage time.

[Dubcity]

@Gridley I take my dose around noon ever day. The weird part is my doctor tired to change my dose to night in the past and I took my dose at night for a week and it felt like I was losing my mind has the worst WD. Went back to my normal noon dose after that. 
 

ive tapered off Effexor, zoloft and benzos in the past but this celexa is giving me a harder time than both of those which are supposed to be harder to get off. Even a 5% decrease kills me. Not sure why it’s harder to get off since the half life is longer than Effexor and Zoloft, figured it would be easier 

[Gridley]

22 minutes ago, Dubcity said:

this celexa is giving me a harder time than both of those which are supposed to be harder to get off. Even a 5% decrease kills me. Not sure why it’s harder to get off since the half life is longer than Effexor and Zoloft, figured it would be easier 

Some of it may be battle fatigue. Some of it may be increased sensitivity after going off the other drugs. I know those are factors with me in my current benzo taper.  Half life is just one factor and not necessarily determinative.   Just stay with it and go as slowly as you need to.

[Altostrata]

What time have you been taking your drugs? You may have to move them gradually to make changes in your schedule, or you could get withdrawal symptoms while your system gets used to the new timing.

[ChessieCat]

  From the Prozac Bridge/Switch topic:

 

25 minutes ago, Dubcity said:

Hey guys is cross tapering and bridging the same thing? I’m having a hard time understanding. Thanks

would it look like this going from 10mg of celexa to Prozac? 
week 1 7.5 mg celexa plus 5 mg Prozac 

week 2 5mg celexa plus 10 mg Prozac 

week 3 2.5 mg celexa plus 15 mg Prozac 

week 4 stop celexa and go to 20 mg Prozac 

 

I've answered your first question in the Prozac topic.

 

I'm responding to your other question here in your Introduction topic so that your history is all in one place.

 

Please ensure that you read Post #1 of the Prozac Bridge/Switch topic and not that Prozac has a very long half life which is explained in that post.

 

If you are currently taking 10mg Celexa (citalopram), then changing over to 20mg would most likely be too high a dose.

 

From https://ahpnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Switching-Scenarios.pdf

 

They show 20mg citalopram = 20mg fluoxetine (Prozac).

[Dubcity]

2 hours ago, ChessieCat said:

  From the Prozac Bridge/Switch topic:

 

 

I've answered your first question in the Prozac topic.

 

I'm responding to your other question here in your Introduction topic so that your history is all in one place.

 

Please ensure that you read Post #1 of the Prozac Bridge/Switch topic and not that Prozac has a very long half life which is explained in that post.

 

If you are currently taking 10mg Celexa (citalopram), then changing over to 20mg would most likely be too high a dose.

 

From https://ahpnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Switching-Scenarios.pdf

 

They show 20mg citalopram = 20mg fluoxetine (Prozac).

Oh sorry about that I forgot 10 mg celexa = 10 mg Prozac . Let’s try it again lol.......

 

week 1 7.5mg  celexa plus 3.5 mg Prozac 

week 2 5mg celexa plus 5mg prozac

week 3 3.5mg celexa plus 7.5 mg Prozac 

week 4 drop the celexa and go to 10mg Prozac 

 

so is this how it would be done? 
 

 

 

[ChessieCat]

On 3/12/2021 at 6:04 AM, Dubcity said:

ive tapered off Effexor, zoloft and benzos in the past but this celexa is giving me a harder time than both of those which are supposed to be harder to get off. Even a 5% decrease kills me. Not sure why it’s harder to get off since the half life is longer than Effexor and Zoloft, figured it would be easier 

 

Q:  When did you try to taper Celexa?

 

If you attempted to reduce your Celexa during the first 6 months after your benzo taper, it may have been that you tried reducing too soon.

 

It is generally better to taper the drug that you are currently taking rather than do a switch to a different drug.

 

You only finished your benzo taper in 2020 but you have not included the month.  Please add the benzo name and the last dose and the date you finished to your drug signature.

 

Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature

 

I have corrected your dose amounts:

 

week 1   7.5mg  celexa plus 3.5mg 2.5mg Prozac

week 2   5mg celexa plus 5mg prozac

week 3   3.5mg 2.5mg celexa plus 7.5 mg Prozac 

week 4   drop the celexa and go to 10mg Prozac

 

 

Please note that I am not agreeing/disagreeing with the timeline but I do have some thoughts about it.

 

I think you need to consider that it can take 10-14 days for Prozac to "ramp up".  Whereas Celexa's half life is about 27-32 hours.  This means that to begin with the Celexa will be getting lower faster than the Prozac gets higher building up.

 

The better option may be to do 2 weeks on 7.5mg Celexa and 2.5mg Prozac before going to 5mg Celexa and 5mg Prozac.  After that you might be able to only wait one week before changing the dose combination.

 

[Dubcity]

Hey guys my doctor went ahead and prescribed me liquid celexa. The bottle I got is made by silarx pharmaceuticals. My question is how hard will it be to cross taper from tablet to liquid? I was going to do a cross taper over a span of 20 days from tab to liquid. I’m very sensitive to changes in manufactures but I’m going to tough this one out and see if I can stabilize on the liquid. From everything I have heard it’s supposed to be much easier to taper down especially micro taper with liquid compared to dry tapering tablets. I really hope it’s worth it. Wish me luck yall ! This is how I was gonna do my cross taper, let me know what u think. Please leave some suggestions 

 
5 days of : 7.5 mg tab plus 2.5 mg liquid 

5 days of: 5 mg tab plus 5 mg liquid 

5 days of: 2.5Mg tab plus 7.5 mg liquid 

then continue 10 mg liquid 

 

[ChessieCat]

Yes, that is a good plan.  However, it will be important to listen to your body/symptoms and hold for longer on any combination as required.

 

Be sure to check if the liquid ratio is 1:1, ie 1mL liquid = 1mg Celexa?

 

Some liquid drugs are 1:5, ie 1mL liquid = 5mg drug.

[Dubcity]

18 hours ago, ChessieCat said:

Yes, that is a good plan.  However, it will be important to listen to your body/symptoms and hold for longer on any combination as required.

 

Be sure to check if the liquid ratio is 1:1, ie 1mL liquid = 1mg Celexa?

 

Some liquid drugs are 1:5, ie 1mL liquid = 5mg drug.

yes u are correct 10mg = 5ml liquid 

started my cross taper today, let’s see how I feel in a couple days. Fingers crossed 🤞 

[ChessieCat]

21 minutes ago, Dubcity said:

10mg = 5ml liquid 

 

So that is a 1:2 ratio.  Each 1mL liquid contains 2mg Celexa.

[Dubcity]

On day 2 of liquid cross taper feel a bit foggy headed. 
Quick question yall, so when I use the Syringe I notice that when I take my dose there is still sum liquid remaining in the very tip of the syringe. Is that how it’s supposed to be or how can I get the last drop out of the syringe tip. Thanks 

[ChessieCat]

1 hour ago, Dubcity said:

there is still sum liquid remaining in the very tip of the syringe.

 

You do not worry about it.  So long as you always measure your dose the same way, then you are taking a consistent amount.

 

For example you would not one day take your dose by extracting the liquid and consuming what is in the syringe and a different day (same dose) extract what you do not need and take what is left.

 

And you always use the same equipment for a particular dose.  It is okay to change the way you do things when you make a reduction if that makes it easier to get your dose but always do things the same way with the same equipment for the whole of a reduction.

[Dubcity]

Hey guys I’m almost switched completely over to liquid. I got the Covid vaccine a few days ago which completely destroyed me for a couple days. 
my question is I’ve noticed a lot of people dilute their liquid celexa with water 1:1 liquid celexa to water ratio. What is the point of doing that? 

and also is it ok to dilute with water? Is it still equally distributed if you add water to dilute the prescription liquid celexa?

thanks everyone :) 

[ChessieCat]

From https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2009/020822s037,021046s015lbl.pdf

 

Quote

 

Celexa oral solution contains citalopram HBr equivalent to 2 mg/mL citalopram base. It also contains the following inactive ingredients: sorbitol, purified water, propylene glycol, methylparaben, natural peppermint flavor, and propylparaben.

 

 

The Celexa prescription liquid contains purified water.  This means that it is okay to mix it with water.

 

Please note, do not mix the whole bottle of prescription liquid with water, only mix a small amount each time, eg enough for 3 or 4 doses.

 

The reason people mix a prescription liquid with water is to dilute it so that they can measure their dose with greater accuracy.  I make my own liquid from compounded Pristiq capsules and it depends on the dose I to need measure out what amount of water I use.

 

If you were taking 0.1mg Celexa it would be extremely difficult to measure such a tiny dose.  If you measure 19mL water and added 1mL of Celexa prescription liquid you would have 20mL = 2mg, 10mL = 1mg, 1mL = 0.1mg.

 

If, for instance, you did not have a 1mL syringe but only had a 10mL syringe you could measure 200mL water (with a large quantity of water it isn't worth bothering about the extra 1mL) and add 1mL Celexa prescription liquid.  200mL = 2mg, 100mL = 1mg, 10mL = 0.1mg, 1mL = 0.01mg

 

I've shown the break down steps to the smaller amounts.  To work out the smaller amounts straight away, or as a double check of the calculations, you divide both sides of the equation by the same amount:

 

200mL = 2mg

Divide both sides by 200

1mL = 0.01mg

 

[Dubcity]

@ChessieCatgotcha! And what size syringe would u recommend. I’m taking 5ml of liquid celexa right now which is equivalent to 10 mg of celexa. Was wondering what’s the easiest way to reduce 2.5% each couple weeks 

[ChessieCat]

I've got 4 different sizes of syringe.  10mL, 5mL, 3mL and 1mL. 

 

Hayduke recently posted about adjustable volume pipettes:

 

how-to-make-a-liquid-from-tablets-or-capsules/comment=515001

 

how-to-make-a-liquid-from-tablets-or-capsules/comment=515062

 

how-to-make-a-liquid-from-tablets-or-capsules/comment=526043

 

I have calculated different dilutions for my drug so I have a list of amounts to work from.  And because I'm using 2mg capsules and you are using liquid with a 2mg/1mL ratio you can use the same calculations.  It depends on the dose I am taking which dilation I use.  What I do first is work out what the new dose will be.  Current dose x 0.9 = new dose.  Because I've only just started doing this I do the calculations for the dose using each of the different dilutions to see which will work best.  However, you will notice that in the first dilution below there are two places after the decimal point whereas the other two have 3 places.  So if your new dose has 3 places after the decimal point you would not be using the first dilution.  If I wanted to I could make 2mg / 2000mL = 0.001mg : 1mL, but instead doing that I just round up or down to an even number so I can use the third dilution and therefore not have to measure double the amount of liquid for my dose.

 

2mg / 200mL =  0.01mg : 1mL

2mg / 400mL =  0.005mg : 1mL

2mg / 1000mL = 0.002mg : 1mL

 

If the required dose is 0.03mg then you would use the first dilution

0.01mg : 1mL

to work out the liquid amount you need to find out how many times 0.01 will go into 0.03 so you divide 0.03 by 0.01 and then multiply both sides by that number which is 3.

0.01mg x 3 = 0.03mg : 1mL x 3 = 3mL

 

If the required dose was 0.215mg you would use the second dilution.

0.005mg : 1mL

to work out the liquid amount you need to find out how many times 0.005 will go into 0.215 so you divide 0.215 by 0.005 and then multiply both sides by that number which is 43.

0.005mg x 43 = 0.215mg : 1mL x 43 = 43mL

 

This is an example of making a weaker dilution to make measuring easier:

Instead of adding 2mg capsule contents to 200mL water I used 2mg capsule contents in 400mL water so that instead of trying to measure 11.5mL I measured 23mL.

 

What I am trying to do is not have to measure any less than 1mL.

 

Edited April 11, 2021 by ChessieCat

[Dubcity]

@ChessieCat thank you so much for taking your time and explaining it to me. I am so confused now, I figured I could use the 5ml syringe and just drop a line down every couple weeks. 
So how do o get the measurements for let’s say 400ml? Do I need to order a beaker? Thanks again 🙏🏻 

[ChessieCat]

What dose in mg are you currently taking?

[ChessieCat]

10mg x 0.9 = 9mg

 

2mg / 1mL

 

1mg / 0.5mL

 

9mg / 0.5mL x 9 = new 4.5mL

 

If you can measure 4.5mL with the 5mL syringe you will not need to dilute the Celexa liquid.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2021 by ChessieCat

[ChessieCat]

The next reduction after at least a 4 week hold:

 

9mg x 0.9 = 8.1mg

 

Yes, it would be a good idea to buy a graduated cylinder.  They come in a variety of sizes.  I have 100mL.

 

You could take 8mg / 4mL of undiluted liquid and then make the following and take the extra for the 0.1mg.

 

For the extra amount of 0.1mg make a dilution of:

 

2mg / 200mL =  0.01mg : 1mL

 

0.01mg / 1mL

 

Divide 0.1mg by 0.01 = 10 then multiply both sides by 10

 

0.1mg / 10mL

 

You have already taken 8mg dose so only need 10mL of diluted Celexa to make a total dose of 8.1mg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ChessieCat]

The next reduction after at least a 4 week hold:

 

8.1mg x 0.9 = 7.29mg

 

I would round this up to 7.3mg

 

You could take 7mg / 3.5mL of undiluted liquid and then make the following and take the extra for the 0.3mg.

 

For the extra amount of 0.3mg make a dilution of:

 

2mg / 200mL =  0.01mg : 1mL

 

0.01mg / 1mL

 

Divide 0.3mg by 0.01 = 30 then multiply both sides by 30

 

0.3mg / 30mL

 

You have already taken 7mg dose so only need 30mL of diluted Celexa to make a total dose of 7.3mg.

[Dubcity]

I was thinking 5% cut

so I would take 4.75 ml of liquid.

I would take 4 ml using the 5 ml syringe 

than I would take the rest which would be .75ml using my 1ml syringe. Does this sound reasonable? Or would diluting be easier 

[ChessieCat]

Yes, that would work.

 

It's up to you whether you choose to dilute or not.  We each have to find and do what works best for ourselves.  For example there is no way I would have the patience to measure crushed tablets with a scale.  Personally I prefer to have a greater quantity to measure both for ease and accuracy.  If there is a bubble that I cannot get rid of in a syringe, which for me often happens, then with the larger quantity the less impact the bubble has on the dose.

 

But there will come a time when you get to the low doses that it will probably be necessary to dilute, and you've already got some calculation examples which you can use as a template for how to work it out.

[Hopepersists]

Hi @Dubcity just wanted to introduce myself as I’m going to be tapering on Celexa soon as well.  I’m currently on 15 mg and plan to use the liquid to help me taper, too.  I’m currently in the process of stabilizing from side effects due to my too fast taper earlier this year.  
 

If you ever want to commiserate, I’m here.  Best of luck!  

[Dubcity]

Hey yall I’ve been tapering using liquid solution celexa to taper the past couple years. I am unable to get liquid celexa. I’ve tried crossing over to liquid Prozac in the past but found it too activating. Should I switch over to liquid lexapro? Is it an easier switch, will the shorter half life be noticeable? Thanks everyone 

[Emonda]

Welcome back @Dubcity

 

Could you update your signature please, and we can try to assist from there.

 

Emonda

[Belajazi]

11 hours ago, Dubcity said:

Hey yall I’ve been tapering using liquid solution celexa to taper the past couple years. I am unable to get liquid celexa. I’ve tried crossing over to liquid Prozac in the past but found it too activating. Should I switch over to liquid lexapro? Is it an easier switch, will the shorter half life be noticeable? Thanks everyone 

@Dubcity sometime switching cause problem. Be carefull. 

If You want to switch, then you should switch at the same dose you were on pill form, and before fruther reduction you should wait for at least whole month on liquid form. Its my opinion/ from experience of others 

i am also new here.Don,t follow my instructions. 

Moderators,Administrator  help you better.

[Dubcity]

Hey yall I’ve been tapering using liquid solution celexa to taper the past couple years. I am unable to get liquid celexa anymore. I’ve tried crossing over to liquid Prozac in the past but found it too activating. Should I switch over to liquid lexapro? I keep hearing their very similar and almost the same. Is it an easier switch? will the shorter half life be noticeable? Thanks everyone @Altostrata

[Emonda]

Hi Dubcity. I've moved your new post back here. Please don't create a new topic for yourself. It is easier for those trying to assist if everything relating to your own situation is in one spot.

 

I've changed meds 3 times over the years...never again. It was most unpleasant.

 

I thought a liquid version of Celexa was available in your country. Has that recently changed?

 

Best not to tag Altostrata, as she has stepped back from daily involvement on the site.

 

Emonda

 

 

[Dubcity]

Hey guys, was wondering if anyone here takes their ssri at night instead of morning. I have noticed they make me more tired and out of it after taking it in morning. Has anyone had any luck taking it at night. And how does one change their morning dose to night dose? Any help would be much appreciated y’all . Thanks 

[Dubcity]

Anyone? Thanks y’all 

[Dubcity]

Bump

[Dubcity]

Wanted to see how one would go about changing their morning dose into night dose @Emonda

[LotusRising]

@Dubcity You could move it forward by one hour each day until you're at the time you want to take it.