Posted by Ritch on May 13, 2003, at 23:12:52
In reply to Re: Effexor tremors?, posted by cybercafe on May 13, 2003, at 16:22:08
> > Woah-I didn't realize you were taking Effexor along with Ritalin and Zyprexa. I take just a few spheroid sprinkles of Effexor XR (and not every day) for anxiety and usually on my "off" dysthymic days of my cycle. I find it a very tiring med compared to the other serotonergics. Hmmm. What dosage are you taking of (Effexor)? The highest I can EVER go on Effexor is about 25mg/day-which thus far is the only serotonergic to really *work* for my bipolar seasonal depression depths. Even at 25mg/day I'm mildly hypertensive.
>
> Ummm... I once went up to 300 mg on Effexor. Then went off and went on Parnate. Now I'm back on Effexor + Ritalin. I'm taking 150 mg and getting tremors -- though I think last time I took it (with depakote or nothing rather than zyprexa) i didn't get tremors until i went up to 225 mg.
>
> What are the symptoms of your mild hypertension?
I didn't have any symptoms. I would just check my blood pressure every so often (maybe once a month or so), at a BP machine in a store before I started taking any Effexor. Then I started it and just happened to check it and it was up quite a bit (on 25mg/day from what I remember at the time). My "typical" BP is centered around 127/73 or so. When I checked it it was 148/90. It was like holy sh*t what's going on here! I've stopped and started it and mixed it with different meds since and Effexor is the one that boosts it more than anything I've ever taken-even dexedrine. Effexor 12.5mg mixed with 75mg of Wellbutrin in the AM yielded 144/93 in my pdoc's office (my pdoc thought it was the WB at first). I was off Effexor entirely and up to 150mg of WB/day and it wasn't elevated very much at all. I bought my own BP machine and charted it with stims and all sorts of mixes. Definitely saw an inverse relationship with heartrate and BP that was interesting-also waking BP/HR vs. BP/HR after meals midday, etc.> > Well, IMO, that sounds like the core of your problem-excessive sleepiness and tiredness. I've been on meds that produce listlessness and I have the same problem-attempting to start several things (and there are several things because you are procrastinating), and not having the ENERGY to follow through.
>
> yeah Parnate was really nice.
> Can i expect ritalin to ever help with sleepiness and tiredness? that's what i'm hoping for
>
I hope it winds up helping, but IMHO, I think the Zyprexa and Ritalin together is like driving a car slowly hitting the brakes and the gas at the same time. The closest thing I have came to what you are taking is 500mg of Depakote + 20mg of Ritalin + a few MG of Effexor every day. The one thing I can say about stims that I like is that I sleep much better and more soundly when I am taking them, but while they are kicked in during the day I am too tense/aloof/quiet and I didn't like it.
poster:Ritch
thread:225269
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030505/msgs/226485.html