Will I be taking Celexa forever?

Question: I started taking 20mg in 2002. When I asked my Dr how long will I take them, he said I can stop whenever I felt comfortable doing so, that it wont take long for me to know if it was a good idea or not. And he was right, I can see a big difference, and so can my children.
But now I am taking 40mg. Will I (can I ) take this forever? At this dose?
What exactly is Celexa for? My Dr is very thorough, he explains everything in detail. But I really don't understand.
I aslo have .25mg Xanax, but I only take 1 or 2 a month.

Answers:
you are in control of your health as much if not more so than your doctor it seems that you are blindly accepting treatment and dont feel any sense of control.40mg is high and its sounds like you would like to reduce dont wait for your doctor to decide listen to your own feelings on the matter this is the best way of deciding how to go forward.i myself have taken celexa for 3yrs i started out on 20mg for 18 months really helped but then i began to find iwas drowsy and sleeping a lot so i decided with my doctors support to reduce. icut to 15mg for six weeks the effects of withdrawl only last about two weeks and are bearable iwould even say i felt better less drowsy. i then dropped to 10mgs for about 6 months and was fine after a couple of weeks withdrawls comprised of a thick head and draining feeling but they pass pretty quickly and are bearable.i now cope on 5 mg daily my doctor thinks this dose is too low to actually work but it does for me obviously everyone is different so you have to try yourself to see what works for you.i did come off for a few weeks but found my original symptoms returned so ive found for me personaly 5mg daily is good

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Celexa is an antidepressant. Celexa is often taken for 9-12 months. But some individuals (depending the cause and severity of depression) will have to take it (or some other antidepressant) for life. Chances are after awhile, (depending on you and your doc) when you have been stable for many months, the dose may be lower to a maintance dose.

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