Vivid and Unusual Dreams

[Quentez]

As ive increased my dosage of celexa my dreams are being affected. Each night I have very vivid and unusual dreams that seem to last my whole sleep. Luckily for me, they havnt really been frightening nightmares but they seem to last the entire night.

Each morning I can remember what felt like at least 3 or 4 hours of dreams. Ive always dreamed alot, but this is very excessive, and according to many articles that I read, dreaming this much is not a good thing.

Has anyone experienced the same thing and have any insight or advice?

Also, im thinking of slowing lowering my dose but I noticed many posts stating that the vivid and unusual dream increase when going OFF Celexa, so Im hesitant.

Ive been taking celexa for about 2 months now and am currently at a 40mg dose. I havnt had any other problematic side effects, other than the usual tiredness.

[Nicole]

I have just started on 20mg celexa, and I as well have been having unusual and extrememly vivid dreams. I heard from a friend who previously took celexa that had night terrors. So possibly a side effect?

[Lauren]

I started August '07 on 20mg Celexa after weening off Paxil. Around the beginning of February, I my dose was increased to 40mg after little effect from 20mg. I really don't feel much of a difference, however, the consistent effect I have is incredibly vivid dreams. I always wake up with clear depictions of what ocurred in my dreams. Most aren't necessarily nightmares, but the are what I consider "bad" dreams (i.e., dad died, friend died, wrecked car, being chased my killers). And not to mention, I've experienced these same dreams many times over.

[Sher]

I have been going through the same thing! I am now up to 40mg of Celexa and I feel so tired because night after night I am having a mini, vivid motion picture going on in my head.

If I think about something during the day, I'm dreaming about it at night. Or I am dreaming of people I haven't thought of in years. So weird.

Does anyone have a remedy to help with this? Such as Tylenol PM or something?

[Midnight]

I am going through the same thing recalling flashbacks from my past abuse and having weird dreams.
I talked to my doctor yesterday and he asked me if I ever had dreams before and I said never.
He said I am feeling better and this is the reason that I am dreaming and having the flashbacks. He said that when I experienced the trauma my brain blocked out the bad things as a defense mechanism and now that I am on celexa I am getting better -
I was happy to hear this. I am only on 10mg of celexa and I am going to ask him to double my dosage to speed up the getting better part as I dont want the flashbacks

[katie]

oh my god.
i thought i was the only one!.
i recently upped my dosage.
and my dreams are longer. and i get a lot more a night.
and really really really strange. like me marrying flavor flav...--- bizarre.
anyways, and has anyone been having several of the same dreams?, while using celexa.

[katie]

oh yeah, and i remember them alot clearer, and they are kinda depressing, and traumatic at times.

[emily]

I am also having the same problem. The Doctor wanted me to switch from Zoloft to Celexa. I am on the Zoloft for anxiety and she said that the Zoloft could not be working and causing me to be depressed. I have taken Celexa for 2 nights now and last night I has the most vivid dream that I was being chased by a lion and me and 2 other girls killed it with out bare hands and 2 of my ex-boyfriends were in it. It was so long and it seemed like a movie. I was out of it when I woke up. I don't like this feeling. I am fine during the day and my mood seems to be boosted already. It is just annoying. I wish I never would have started taking any of this stuff...

[nico]

I guess its not just me. Ive been on celexa for about 8 months and my dreams are CRAZY. Every night its: someone gets hit by a car, someone is throwing up blood, once I killed my dog with a rock, had an abortion, had sex with people etc. I always wake up and think WHOAH! What was that?! I have never had such upsetting dreams except for when I had to take malaria medication for a month when I was in africa.(I had a dream I had sex with a girl with a goats head. yeah - gross) Its sad but I still prefer it to Zoloft and definitely prefer it to my full blown OCD ridiculousness. I hope this goes away. I have had a string of these dreams for about the last 20 days or so. Has anyone experienced this and had it eventually taper off or go away?

[NeutralChic87]

I've been having vivid dreams too, I wouldn't say entirely... HORRIBLE.. but.. bad would be like it- I can recall them too, it's really weird. I've only been on 20 mg for 4 days now, going on 5.. 10mg didn't affect my dreams in any way.. it's not too bad.. I use to have nightmares so I'd consider it a step up, but they are just- odd.. weird.. crazy dreams lol.

for the person taking 40mg, I'd think about getting reduced to 20.. cause even when I take 20mg I feel like I'm taking too much.

[NeutralChic87]

Ok maybe I take that back- I just had a CRAZY dream last night...
I was in 9th grade, and 21 years old... I drove to school, and put a knife between my seats, for some reason I fell asleep on a teachers couch and woke up with a shot in my arm, I guess I " overheard" something and this teacher didn't want me remembering- well I asked a friend what it was that I was injected with, and he said it would just erase my mind and I wouldn't remember anything I heard. Well this chick told me that this teacher had these drugs that are for terminally ill children- and I thought she was shooting up with them.. well the next day this chick comes back and tells me that they found a black garbage bag in her classroom.. above her fridge thats the shape of a human body.. and ALL THE LIGHTS in the school shut off- everything went totally silent.. I went and hid cause I was scared.. I woke up.. then I went back to sleep- and my dream continued but this time, I was in a different teachers class cause she knew this teacher wanted to kill me- it turns out that medicine injects tar into your system to kill you off.. like, assisted suicide. Well, she didn't shoot enough into me. and like, this teacher let me sleep at her house, and I had my bestfriend ( Steve) with me, he was in the middle, and I was scared the psycho teacher was going to get my car keys somehow and get the knife out of my car, I was about to ask the good teacher if she could put my keys in her nightstand drawer, and right before I was about to, she showed us the new book we were reading for class the next day, and on the cover it had a blonde holding a knife to a guy and sliting his throat I looked closer and it looked like my teacher and my friend.. and it was a possibility if I gave her my car keys she could get the knife and kill HIM.. it WAS BAD.. it was scarey.. everytime I went to smoke a cig it looked like my smokes were soaked in something so I threw them away... Idk.. I DON'T KNOW.

[Nancy Clark]

Well, I am glad I am not ALONE with the crazy dreams!! Some are horrid and some are not. When I first lay down to sleep, I see flashes of people I don't know and creatures?? like a motion picture rolling. Its weird! Often I talk out loud and jerk myself awake. My husband fills me in on what I say! Not liking it! Lets see, depression or weird dreams?? What a choice!

[Joe C]

Wow.. I am relieved I decided to do this google search and find out I am not the only one.

I have been on Celexa for a year now, and had my dose bumped twice (started 10, went to 20, now on 40)

It DOES seem to help immensly however I get the same reaction. Mine are less frequent now, but when the dreams happen they are so vivid. It's usually normal situations, and normal interactions. But they are SO VIVID.. I wake up and when it first happened almost had trouble remembering if I dreamed calling my brother at 2am, or if i actually did it.

It's just a really freaky experience I guess. When i went to 40mg they happened nightly almost.. for me over time they have decreased. Either that.. or I just trained myself to not remember them like I used to!

[Joe C]

Oh.. one more thing I forgot. I also started taking my dose in the morning a few months ago, instead of at night. I am thinking that could possibly be why i am having less dreams over past few months also!(totally blanked on that *small* fact in original post)

[NeutralChic87]

I'm scared to take it in the morning.. lol
I don't like the feeling of it- but I don't like the dreams, so Idk.
I was put on Trazedone since I can't sleep on celexa.. well, I'm STILL on celexa- I just take Trazedone to help me sleep, aaand
I sleep pretty peaceful now :)

What side effects are you havin? cause I've had a week headache now, but, I get frequent headaches before this med... just seems worse now

[frank]

NeutralChic87 wrote:

I'm scared to take it in the morning.. lol
I don't like the feeling of it- but I don't like the dreams, so Idk.
I was put on Trazedone since I can't sleep on celexa.. well, I'm STILL on celexa- I just take Trazedone to help me sleep, aaand
I sleep pretty peaceful now :)
What side effects are you havin? cause I've had a week headache now, but, I get frequent headaches before this med... just seems worse now

My advice to all. GET OFF CELEXA. None of these pills help in long run. You may seem to get relief in one way but wind up having other problems in future. Im off it mow over a week or so. 40mg for about 2 years. I weened off at 20 then none. Only had so far some light headedness. Time will tell, but I decided that I will go without. Tired of having erection and libido problems. Is that a tradeoff to take these meds? What scares me more is your doctors are also telling you to combine with other drugs? GEEESH wake up folks!

[tiff]

Wow I'm so glad others seem to be noticing this. I'm on 20 mg of the generic, and have been for about 8 months.

I've been experiencing the most vivid dreams of my life over the past few months. Sometimes they are so realistic that I confuse them with reality. All of the sudden in the middle of the day, I'll remember part of a dream but sometimes I see it so clearly in my head I have to think about the possibility of it being a real memory or part of a dream. Many of my dreams involve me simply waking up and doing this i know i have to do that day. Then i wake up, and am confused. Because i had thought i was already up. And then there are the crazy dreams. Just like movies that feel like they last forever.

I had been on lexapro for years before switching, and i had problems sleeping at all on that. SO i guess this is better. However, dreaming this much is exhausting!

Joe, I think you make a good point about switching to taking them in the morning. I always take mine (20 mg) at 10 at night.I think i may try switching.

Other than that, I have had no negativeside effects. Except for occasional light headedness. And no sexual side effects at all, as I had on Lexapro and on Prozac years before that. Actually, I think the celexa (i'm on the generic) may have helped with that part.

[Melinda]

I too have been having dreams, but they are night terrors. I wake up scared to death, and thinking it was real. It often takes me 30-40 minutes to calm down and fall back asleep. Then I go to another horrible dream. I am a nurse, and didn't see it in the side effects list. I just started the medicine last week. That's when the dreams started. I think I may have to quit taking it so I can sleep. I feel ok during the day once I get awake.

Quentez wrote:

As ive increased my dosage of celexa my dreams are being affected. Each night I have very vivid and unusual dreams that seem to last my whole sleep. Luckily for me, they havnt really been frightening nightmares but they seem to last the entire night.
Each morning I can remember what felt like at least 3 or 4 hours of dreams. Ive always dreamed alot, but this is very excessive, and according to many articles that I read, dreaming this much is not a good thing.
Has anyone experienced the same thing and have any insight or advice?
Also, im thinking of slowing lowering my dose but I noticed many posts stating that the vivid and unusual dream increase when going OFF Celexa, so Im hesitant.
Ive been taking celexa for about 2 months now and am currently at a 40mg dose. I havnt had any other problematic side effects, other than the usual tiredness.

[Pager]

Ive also been surprised at my dreams. I didnt realize this was something anyone else was going through. I have even started a dream book, because they are so intense. It takes me upwards of 2 hours to fall asleep. Then when I do, I have dreams that last all night. Very vivid and a lot of times they incorporate what I have seen or heard throughout my day.

[cyn]

lately my dreams have been more intense and vivid as well as if they actually happened. I'm on day 5 on being on celexa and last tnight was the most intense. I dremaed I was having a phone conversation with my sister and talked with people who I never talk to anymore. I didn't sleep well though still tossing and turning and whenever I wake up I feel out of breath like I actually was doing what was in my dreams. Right now I'm just glad I don't have a roommate that has to go through this with me.