Posted by Napaba on May 20, 2003, at 10:26:03
In reply to Re: Sexual Disfunction of Effexor, posted by Misha on May 20, 2003, at 7:23:57
I totally agree Effexor should be taken off the market.
My doctor told me there were only three possible side effect, he also said he hated to tell people the three, because then they would be looking for them and feel they had them. The three were- decreased sexual desire, blurred vision that would go away after the first couple of weeks (my eye site is now so bad I have to wear glasses, I only wore them before Effexor when driving or at the movies, my persciption doubled)and nausea. I think he missed another 25 that I personnally experience, which make the three he told me about look like a walk in the park.
I know that there are people out there that
would disagree, but in my honest opinion Effexor XR should be pulled from the market and not prescribed again. I am definitely not the only person to say that. Had I known what I know now, after nearly six months of terrible withdrawals, I never would have even considered taking it in the first place. Yes, I did taper off correctly. As said before, for a lucky few it has not caused bad withdrawals, but the percentage scale has too many people on the bad side to dismiss the problems. I do not feel that people who are on Effexor XR right now who have not gone off of it are qualified to dispute the issues of the withdrawal. Those of us who have experienced the sometimes debilitating withdrawals from it are not trying to so much "scare" people into not taking it, but to inform them of the potential risks that doctors either do not know about or are not telling them about. The following is the actual excerpt from the Effexor XR prescribing fact sheet listing the symptoms of discontinuation:
>
> "Reported symptoms include agitation, anorexia, anxiety, confusion, coordination impaired, diarrhea, dizziness, dry mouth, dysphoric mood, fasciculation, fatigue, headaches, hypomania, insomnia, nausea, nervousness, nightmares, seizures, sensory disturbances (including shock-like electrical sensations), somnolence, sweating, tremor, vertigo, and vomiting."
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>
> The above is at the very bottom of the paper that comes with every bottle of Effexor XR, but how many of us read that before we starting taking the medication? It is also in the Effexor XR official website, but buried. They do not give any estimation of how long the symptoms may last. For those of you who, like myself, do not know what fasciculation means, here's the definition:
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> "Fasciculation
> <neurology, physiology> A small local contraction of muscles, visible through the skin, representing a spontaneous discharge of a number of fibres innervated by a single motor nerve filament."
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>
> There's the information that doctors should be providing their patients with. I had discontinued taking Effexor XR due to the bad side effects that did not go away while I was on it, such as insomnia/night sweats, anorexia and complete constipation just to name a few. Unfortunately laxatives did not help.
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> People deserve all of the facts on any medication their doctor prescribes to them. Doctors tell us way too little the majority of the time. I apologize if this is disturbing to some of you, but I feel it is necessary.
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>
> Misha
poster:Napaba
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030520/msgs/227865.html