I have been prescribed 19 mil of celexa (citalopram) for extream anxiety. after reading the warnings, i am scared. does it make everyone dizz i have asked my question

It : It can be a little frigthening when you read the list of possible side effects that can occur with a medication. Please try to remember, that these are only potential issues. The answer to your specific question is: no, Celexa (citalopram) does not make everyone dizzy. I just reviewed it in the physician's desk reference and about 2% of people get dizziness on Celexa (citalopram) compared with about 1% of people who were taking a placebo (a non-active drug used for the purpose of seeing how effective the actual drug is). That means it is not common at all.

I've : I've probably rx'ed Celexa (citalopram) to something on the order of 3000 pts, over the course of my career, and honestly can't remember a single one who complained of dizziness. That doesn't mean it never happened, but only that it either wasn't severe enough for anyone to mention it, or if anyone did, it wasn't severe enough that it stuck in my memory. So in other words, from a clinical standpoint i would say that it is exeedingly rare. One other thing, though. Something is very fishy about that dosage. Celexa (citalopram) comes in 10 mg, 20 mg, and 40 mg tablets, with an available liquid concentrate @ 10 mg/5 ml. I am at something of a loss as to why any clinician would actually prescribe a 19 mil dsg. Of that medication, except... There was an fda warning that came out a few months ago (actually on august 24th, as i seem to recall), which suggested that there was some evidence of (slightly) increased potential for cardiovascular issues in patients taking Celexa (citalopram) only at dosages above 40 mg / day. To be frank, i find it absurd to the point of being almost unbelievable that any physician would actually put a patient through the inconvenience, and possibly extra cost of dosing the medication @ 38 mg / day to avoid the 40 mg dosage (when there is no evidence whatsoever to support this mere gesture - because the 40 mg dosage was specifically mentioned by the researchers as not being associated with any increase in risk! frankly, if that were the case, and the physician didn't obtain an ekg to look for increased qtc intervals, i would want to know why do something which only (at best) creates the appearance of ultra conservative prescribing on one parameter, then ignore the availability of a simple test which could likely screen out patients who might actually be at potential risk?!? One final point is that Celexa (citalopram) should never be started at any initial dosage above 20 mg, because at higher doses, and sometimes even that one, many folks (particularly those with anxiety disorders) will experience a week or so of increased anxiety, while their body adjusts to being on the medication. If the dosage you stated is correct, then i would ge extremely interested to know what the rationale may have been. If you find out, please let us know.