Posted by John2222 on May 10, 2003, at 13:53:58
In reply to Re: Effexor alternatives ??? » John2222, posted by Snoozy on May 10, 2003, at 12:20:25
Thanks for your suggestions. Actually the Effexor XR was working fine for me and after a year felt that I could handle it on my own with Effexor. But the tapering has turned out to be worse than I expected.
Today I went back to ~18 mg (1/2 of a capsule) and I'm feeling better, but still have that high-pitched whine in my head and ears. I think I'll keep at this level until that all stabalizes. And then, either decrease some more or stop.
My dr suggested taking it at this dosage every other day for 2 weeks, then every 3rd day for 2 weeks, then stopping for good.
Anyone tried this method?
John
> The good (?) news is that Effexor is probably the worst when it comes to withdrawl. I wasn't given any warnings about tapering, and just stopped taking it. You can imagine how fun that was. Paxil can be bad too.
>
> I never had a chance to try it, but I hear that low doses of Prozac, because of its very long half-life, are used to help with withdrawl from the shorter half-life drugs like Effexor. You may want to ask your dr about it.
>
> Did you want to stop taking Effexor because it wasn't working anymore? I'm sure the veterans here can give you some ideas on what you may want to consider trying next.
>
> I know it can feel like a catch 22 sometimes. I would say don't let fear of going through another Effexor-type withdrawl stop you from trying other medications. If the Effexor did help you, then I would think some of the other drugs might help too.
>
> Good luck to you.
poster:John2222
thread:225514
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030505/msgs/225591.html