Susan, Yes I do know people who have great benefits on a low dosage. It is good to be informed on medication, remember unless they are clinicans that have held their own trials, they are soley give information on medication from pharmacuetical companies, so the normal dosage dicatated by a pharmacy company is what they are going by. Often times people do fine on a low dose, and doctors push to keep up'ing the dose, and not until the point of abundance of side effects will they stop at that dosage. Everyone is different, biologically, etc. if they go by pharmaceutical pamphlets, its like adding sugar to ice tea, for some its too bitter, others too sweet,some just right, only you know how you feel.

Susan, I was just reading your posts and I noticed you didn't mention anything about therapy. If you have just been to see your GP and haven't been to a doctor who specializes in anxiety and depression please do so. It sounds to me like you are on the medication merry go round. GP's and some psychiatrists seem to only be able to write out prescriptions, and never take the time to really help us figure out why we are feeling depressed or anxious. I have found that psychologists are the most helpful, because they can't write prescriptions so they have to earn their money by actually talking to us and helping us figure out why we are being negative thinkers. Someone like that can help you to break the cycle your mind is caught up in.They can also work with your GP and make recommendations about which meds may work for you.

Susan, this is a tough case. I would suggest that you need to get a second opinion. Try another GP initially, tell him/her your story and see how you go. You can change GPs at anytime. You dont even have to tell your current GP you are doing it, so long as you are totally honest with the new GP. Worst case scenario, you can always go back to the old Dr, but its quite likely you will get some better advice. If the GP cannot give you advice, he really should be referring you to a psychiatrist or a Dr with some specialisation in mood disorders and psychiatric medications. Small doses of SSRI antidepressants do work for some people. Its unlikely that a small dose will agitate you a lot, but some people are hypersensitive to various drugs. In terms of how you feel, its quite possible that celexa wasnt the right SSRI for you. Different pharmacological treatments are used for different patients, and unfortunately there is a lot of trial and error involved in finding the right drug for some people. Evidence shows though that most people respond better to one drug than another. Prozac may well be a much better choice for you than celexa. If it is the more upbeat, stimulated feeling that works for you, something like zoloft may be a good choice too. Anyway, try a different dr, that is my advice. Remember that the key to anxiety disorders is generally catastrophic misattribution - we tend to misinterpet natural changes in our body, or even in the environment around us dreadfully, and spiral into anxiety and panic as a result. Agoraphobia develops as a result of systematically misattributing a coincidental activity with panic or anxiety. It is the fear and the misinterpetation that is the problem. Always remember that it is far more likely that your anxiety is making you think you have another illness than you really do have that illness.

Just read my message and realised that I had put amnesia instead of insomnia. I have also just been reading some Prozac information online and it specifically mentions akathisia which is the agitation I've been describing and that sometimes this is mis diagnosed as agitated depression. I really don't know what to think because of course if I am really suffering with that I would want to get it sorted but I don't want to end up on a medication conveyer belt. Already I'm taking 8mg Prozac liquid, beta blockers, Buspar and the diazepam the doctor prescribed yesterday. My normal doctors mission is to see how low a dose I can manage to be on rather than a standard 20mg. Is anyone else having success on such a low dose of Prozac. I'm not saying i'm completely cured on the dose but I can't believe that my driving phobia has almost disappeared, I've been playing tennis, socialising more and sat through a school meeting last night which I would normally have freaked out at. The doctor looked at me incredulously when I told him all this as if I were some mad woman who doesn't know what she's talking about. He said it was because I still had Citalopram in my blood stream until I reminded him that I had actually stopped taking it some 10 weeks before. When I said that the Maudesley hospital said the agitation can last 3 or 4 weeks on Prozac he said that yes that was right...3 or 4 weeks after you've stopped taking it and then didn't like it that he'd got his information wrong. Thank God I rang them before | went to see him. It was him who put me on the Citalopram 5 years ago which basically robbed me of my soul and enjoyment of life.

You have read my notes before and know that I took Celexa for about 5 years for panic attacks. I realised that it had stopped working and that it was actually making me withdraw from everything and everyone which was very different from my true personality so I weaned off of them over a 9 month period. I really suffered doing it which is why it took so long....I thought I had a brain tumour or something but of course I have read on the internet of other very similar problems faced by people doing the same thing so I was assured. About 10 weeks after taking nothing atall I became profoundly depressed and was experiencing horrible nightmares and anxiety worst than I had ever known. I spoke to my doctor who put me on a therapeutic dose of Prozac to take away some of the effects ie 4mg. This worked a bit but I was still very depressed so he increased it to 8mg. The result was amazing that on such a low dose I was suddenely able to do things I hadn't done for years. But I still had this horribe depression. I also seemed to suffer with the Prozac effects ie insomnia and an agitated feeling. The agitation worried me so much that I went to see an emergency doctor yesterday. He blatantly denied that such a small dose could have made any improvement, that it could cause any side effects atall and that in fact this was very serious and considers that I could actually be suffering with "agitated depression". I am so scared and worried. I just don't know what to think. I've been thinking that all these things are withdrawal effects and effects of taking the Prozac and now I feel like I'm a lost cause. He has given me beta blockers for the agitation and 5 tablets of diazepam incase I really need them. What does anyone think? In the meantime I had another awful night because he wouldn't give me anything to help me sleep (he was reluctant to give me the diazepam but I told him I had been advised to ask for these from the Maudesley Hospital). I have been so impressed by what the Prozac has done for me so far, even though I am still feeling depressed although I think some of that has something to do with lack of sleep and worry about all these symptoms, that I am thinking maybe I should just go on a full dose of it. But I've been on these tablets for