Is it safe to just stop Lexapro and replace it with Celexa immediately?
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 at
3:18 pm
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Filed under: anxiety treatment
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Well they are pretty much the same thing, one is just a more "pure" form I guess you could say. Celexa contains both active and inactive isomers whereas Lexapro contains only active isomers. This has almost no effect on the therapeutic mechanism of the drug.
The drug company made Lexapro when the patent on celexa started running out so they they could still make a ton of money off of it.
You are basically taking the same drug.
If your doctor didn’t recommend to wean you off of it then you should be fine. It’s not usually safe to quit psychiatric meds cold turkey, but since you’re under the care of a doctor then it’s no big deal.
Just make sure to call them if you notice any major changes.
Edit: What I mean by cold turkey is you’re not lowering the dose and tapering off of it, simply stopping. Even if you are switching to a different medication you’re still stopping the Lexapro.
However, as I said, since your doctor knows what’s going on you don’t need to worry.
I agree with Elle that Celexa and Lexapro are basically the same drug. It may be trickier to switch from one class of drug (for example, an SSRI like Prozac or Lexapro) to another class of drug (for example, an SNRI like Effexor). Also, people generally have trouble getting off Effexor.
The transition from Lexapro to Celexa should be quite easy. If not, keep track of any side effects and report them to your doctor. Also remember that many side effects last only a few days to a few weeks.
It should be fine as long as thats what the dr recommended. Ive recently have done the same . The downfall is the withdrawl
See http://www.theroadback.org on Lexapro (notorious). Few doctors know about weaning off (not taught). Page Z.22, in section 2, at http://www.ezy-build.net.nz/~shaneris has a detailed method, suitable for Lexapro. See page R, while you are there. I suggest that once you have slowly tapered to 50%, you could begin low dose Celexa, building up, as the Lexapro is reduced, but even this is not without risk.
Check out medications at: http://www.drugs.com * & http://www.iguard.org/ & http://www.rxlist.com/ & http://crazymeds.us/ & http://www.askapatient.com/
Use the medication interaction function, here*.