Posted by Doug_1029 on January 19, 2007, at 23:30:13
Just joined after seeing much helpful information on Effexor withdrawal, which I underwent a couple of years ago. There's more in this board than everywhere else I looked combined!
My story: Effexor made me feel no pain, but it wasn't me any longer - I like some dark with my light and Effexor ~200 or 300 mg (I forget which) made me into an idiot. Not just me, my wife thought so as well. 8^)
Going off it gradually worked until I tried to go below 70 mg to 50 or less (I forget now). I didn't know anything about the brick wall at 70 mg, and I had a very unpleasant if short-lived (about an hour) experience of extreme restlessness, sense of doom, agitation. I paced around in the house telling my wife I didn't want to be hospitalized! I looked for a word corresponding to the experience, and the closest thing I found was akathisia. I went back to 70 mg, then reduced in smaller increments without further incident.
The more lasting effect, however, is an odd vestibular throbbing in my head that is initiated by looking to the side (rotating my gaze laterally). I found a name for this as well: lateral gaze nystagmus. Odd, because it's not initiated by head or body motion - only by eye motion. The LGN first showed up while I was on Effexor, i.e., before I withdrew. I didn't make much of it at the time, and it didn't appear to interfere with balance (I'm no longer so sure about that); but the fact it has continued long after I withdrew does bother me. The Merck Manual section on vertigo suggests that the kind of nystagmus I have reflects brainstem damage. I hope THAT isn't true...
Alexi posted something a ways back about Cymbalta withdrawal involving eye motion-induced sensations in his head, that sounds like exactly what I underwent. Too bad, since I am now ramping up on Cymbalta after being assured by my current psychopharmacologist that his patients react differently (and individually) to the two drugs.
Any advice on either? (LGN or akathisia on withdrawal)
Thanks
poster:Doug_1029
thread:724288
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20061224/msgs/724288.html