Posted by kalyb on May 9, 2003, at 14:46:04
In reply to madoutof it on efexor, posted by fanni on May 8, 2003, at 16:06:29
> my srink just switched me to efexor today and i feel like ive done ten e,and as sick as a dog!!! im sick of stpid drugs,does anything actually work?!
You're not alone... I took my first dose of Efexor yesterday and I know what you mean. I found this board about an hour afterwards and have been reading ever since!!
I took my dose, 75mg (normal, not XR) at 10pm last night and almost immediately felt like I was "coming up" on Ecstasy (something I dabbled in years ago but no longer). I don't know if I slept last night, it felt like I didn't, as my brain was dreaming just like it does when you're on E, even though I may have still been awake.
All today I have felt totally weird. I finally worked out my body was undergoing severe anxiety symptoms - nausea, butterflies, tight head, shaking, sweating - but my brain was doing the opposite. I felt alert, but glassy and brittle, as if the world was too brightly lit. But no anxiety, which for me is like a holiday - I've been tormented by anxiety for weeks, continually recycling depressive sad thoughts that I simply could not switch off. I felt less at odds once I worked out the brain/body disconnection, most of my disorientation was the weird contrast of having my mind at a pole from my physical feelings: having more physical symptoms of anxiety than usual but actually not feeling a thing, mentally.
Some of it may have been lack of sleep, or that could have accentuated it. I decided to have a lie-down at 6pm tonight and I *think* I drifted off into a nap - woke feeling calmer and more "united". I just hope that nap doesn't stop me getting to sleep later. I think I shall take tonight's dose at 10pm again, and hope that in time I can either sleep regardless or manage to move the dose.
But yes - I have felt really like an E high today. I don't think it will last - it will level out - I think it's the initial effect of having my seratonin/other levels "messed with" by something. I seem to recall something like this with my first Prozac dose and definitely with Celexa, but in the case of those two drugs, I still had mental anxiety (which felt worse, but less E-like). Neither of these worked for me since they didn't address the anxiety, but despite the weirdness of today, my first Efexor day, I am feeling positive about it. Please cross your fingers that it works for me!!
And fanni, keep posting, I'd like someone to compare notes with, I want to hear if it settles down for you?
poster:kalyb
thread:55847
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030505/msgs/225434.html