I actually was on celexa around october, and imo it is a pretty good one. I dont think there are many side-effects (or at least i didn't experience any) .. and as for how long it should take? .. well its different with everyone ... but it took a good couple of weeks before i started to notice anything (around the 3-4 week mark probably). As you were, i was also prescribed sleeping pills at the same time, and those two worked pretty well hand in hand.

Hope this helped .. and hope you feel better soon.
Jacq