A few months ago I started taking Celexa which seemed to help a lot (at least more than any other med attempted). After being on Celexa 7 wks. I started breaking out into daily hives and had to switch, my doc avoided moving to Lexapro because of the possibility of whatever I was allergic to may also be in Celexa (no other known allergies) so I tried Zoloft. I wasn't my usual sad self but I just lacked all motivation , not that I have much naturally, and the headaches pretty much daily. So BLAH! feeling.

So, now we've basically hit the end of the road as far as SSRIs go (no Welbutrin or Seroquel either). She wants me to take a chance with the Lexapro since the Celexa seemed in the right direction. If I'm allergic I'll have to switch again, ugh! Just want to be okay with life, the way others seem to do, maybe even find a hobby or something. Well, anyway, that was a bit off track.

My question is does anyone here have any experience with both Lexapro and Celexa? Any differences or similarities?...side effects? Or has anyone had an allergic reaction to one and not the other?

I just took my first dose about two hours ago and I'm prepared with the Benedryl, but here's to fingers crossed this is the one, finally......probably not.

[Mollie May]

I don't have experience with either, but I wanted to say good luck tonight. I hope you don't have an allergic reaction.

So far, so good but it took six weeks for me to have a reaction to the Celexa. It's kind of a 50/50 chance that I'll react and it may be worth the chance if it works and I don't react.

Since I'm not getting a whole lot of response because I'm sure my situation is a little unusual and specific. Has anyone had experience taking both meds and found that one works better or has more side effects than the other? Just curious what kind of differences there may be since one is a derivative to the other.

Just an update here if anyone cares to know. So far no side effects whatsoever, well maybe a little intensified hunger but I seem to always experience that when I first start a new med. I think the Lexapro may actually be working better and obviously a h*** of a lot faster than the Celexa. I know I will adjust more over the next few weeks. But the fog has been lifted and all seems to be going really well for me. Here's hoping to more progress without unbearable side effects.