Posted by zinya on May 27, 2003, at 18:13:32
In reply to Re: new to effexor, and I have questions, posted by jtc on May 27, 2003, at 10:26:35
Thanks to the responses from each of you here already...
I guess i didn't make clear that this isn't my first a-d attempt... Going back 15 years, i've been put on prozac, lithium, depakote, zoloft, celexa, and paxil -- in that order, i believe - and in each case the side effects caused me to quit before i got to a one-month point, except for depakote which i allowed a pdoc to insist i keep trying for 5 very groggy months of feeling dead to the world til at least noon every day no matter how early i took it before bed... until i finally took myself off of it ... In all those cases, i don't recall having withdrawal present its own set of symptoms however and once i stopped, i returned to where i'd been before. It was reading here about all these w/d symptoms that gave me added pause about this despite my md (an internist)'s encouragement that Effexor would be good cuz of dealing with adreanlin as well as SSRI system ... Though i read somewhere here say the adrenalin effects only kick in at or above 150mg levels and, at the rate i'm on feeling weird effects at just 18 mg, that would require a helluva lot of 'mind over matter' .. Which is what happened i guess to cause me to finally decide to try it cuz i'd finally realized nothing was getting me out of this hole ... of virtual immobility and sense of overwhelmedness and defeat, after a life of much activism, now since my mom's passing 9 months ago took away a key prop which i think was keeping me going - as her caretaker - even though i can see that depression has been just under the surface or rather something i (barely) papered over for years of mushing on and being productive. Now productivity seems like a fantasy, a mirage, a completely elusive thing of the past.
Hence, resorting to Effexor and, despite all the reading here as background knowledge, starting with hopefulness. yet already the side effects make me pause. Again. I took the other half of the first 37.5 last night and it must have also had a sedative effect as i fell asleep unusually early (before midnight) and then woke before 6 am, also unusually early, this time not with nausea but with inner heat sensations and just feeling weird. There's been some nausea just in last hour, milder than yesterday, and there's already dry mouth, semi-big time. I do feel less back pain than i chronically experience, which is surprising, and havent' taken any painkiller today, but to feel such weird sensations forces me to wonder once again what road i'm putting myself on. I'm so appreciative that, thanks to you, at least i know what the risks are. I'm waiting for a callback from my bereavement counselor, a social worker who sees lots of folks on a-ds and who's been great as a sounding board. My actual md still doesn't strike me as the best source of knowledge and i'm still a long way from feeling the kind of energy that would make me feel up to driving a fair distance to see him even if i could get an appt.
Well, this feels like babbling. I do appreciate and thank each of you for any and all input. I'm feeling like -- because of the awareness of withdrawal symptoms you've all made me aware of -- I'm walking a fineline here of constant monitoring where i have to make a judgment call that could come at any moment of thinking "Nope, quit now before i risk any greater w/d problems" ... or... ?? ? or yikes, the alternative seems like casting my fate to Effexor forever ... or going back to being grateful for "only" being depressed and energyless.. It's a bit daunting to hear that, unlike the other a-ds i've tried, this time might be sheer hell if i give this a full shot -- e.g., for a month -- to see whether the side effects might ease away and the good effects change my life substantially.
thanks to all
zbtw, does "Cyclothalmia" mean that your mood or body chemistry, etc. then can change within an hour? That sounds very familiar though i hadn't heard this label before. Twice someone thought i was bipolar but the depression side sooo far outweighs (and is so much more problematic) than any high side that after lithium and one other (?) both failing to do any good, i scrapped that route and yet part of my depression now is compounded by circumstances of decisions i made in the effort to take care of my mom which in retrospect look like they were more than a tad unrealistic, even if my behavior wasn't "manic" at the time... And yet in a way it was, and I'm paying an enormous albatross-like price for it now that is adding to a sense of overwhlemingness with this depression that hasn't wanted to let up with the end of a long winter of desolation...
poster:zinya
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030525/msgs/229537.html