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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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Posted by mmx on September 21, 2008, at 20:26:29
In reply to Re: Long term effects of Effexor/permanent, posted by Jenna611 on June 22, 2008, at 14:36:16
For more info on withdrawal and what Effexor and other psych meds do to your body, Google "Effexor Withdrawal" and check out labelmesane.com and theroadback.org I have nothing to do with those sites, but I am going to withdrawal using one of them. My first attempts at withdrawal using my doctors way of stepping down one week at a time put me in the hospital with dangerous side effects. I had to go back on Effexor, but will get off if it's the last thing I do. I want my life back. Good luck!
Posted by boltsdraggin on September 21, 2008, at 22:23:52
In reply to Re: Long term effects of Effexor/permanent, posted by mmx on September 21, 2008, at 20:26:29
I'm not new to psychobabble, but it's been a long time since I posted.
I don't pretend to know a helluva lot about meds - however, I am an RN, and I pay close attention to the meds I administer, and take myself, on a daily basis. I read this site to educate myself on side effects that I may be missing.
I just started Effexor, currently taking 75/daily and will start 150 XR as soon as the prior authorization goes through. Currently am having some insomnia that I've been killing with a small dose of Zyprexa. However, the Zyprexa is doing nothing now but increasing my girth. Is there another combo-safe med I could use to induce sleep without drugging me out the next day?
Posted by laserguy2 on September 22, 2008, at 15:41:18
In reply to Re: Long term effects of Effexor/permanent, posted by boltsdraggin on September 21, 2008, at 22:23:52
It breaks my heart to hear all the pain we've gone through coming off this drug. Not everybody will be the same. Polarbear206, Your not crazy, I had the same thing happen to me with my eyes also. It took me two weeks before i could even go to work. I took Effexor for 8 months and can't imagine being on it for mutiple years. It did work for me,actually to well, and i acted like a 18 year old.(wife didn't approve of that) I've been diagnosed Bi-polar and now on meds that actually work well!
I was lucky in that i own the company and could come and go as i please. I followed the withdrawl thread, so i was prepared for the pain. I created a spread sheet for 2 weeks for every feeling i felt while coming off of it. I put it a scale of 0-100 for every feeling. i must admit it was the darkest part of my life, and yes, my beautiful wife had the common sense to lock all my guns and keep the keys. I wish all the best to anyone coming down from this drug. If anybody is interested, you can e-mail me at effexor@laserformllc.com and i can send the spreadsheet to you in excel or PDF format. This helped me understand the pattern that i've been going through the past years. It also helps the new doc see how i feel. Just put in the subject "send me a pdf" or "send me a xls" and i will send you the file, no questions asked. I wish we could attach files on this thread. Any doctors interested are also welcome to e-mail me.
BTW my old name was laserguy - i forgot the password and started a new logon name.Once again, good luck to all.
Posted by junegem on October 5, 2008, at 16:02:05
In reply to Re: Long term effects of Effexor/permanent » boltsdraggin, posted by laserguy2 on September 22, 2008, at 15:41:18
> It breaks my heart to hear all the pain we've gone through coming off this drug. Not everybody will be the same. Polarbear206, Your not crazy, I had the same thing happen to me with my eyes also. It took me two weeks before i could even go to work. I took Effexor for 8 months and can't imagine being on it for mutiple years. It did work for me,actually to well, and i acted like a 18 year old.(wife didn't approve of that) I've been diagnosed Bi-polar and now on meds that actually work well!
> I was lucky in that i own the company and could come and go as i please. I followed the withdrawl thread, so i was prepared for the pain. I created a spread sheet for 2 weeks for every feeling i felt while coming off of it. I put it a scale of 0-100 for every feeling. i must admit it was the darkest part of my life, and yes, my beautiful wife had the common sense to lock all my guns and keep the keys. I wish all the best to anyone coming down from this drug. If anybody is interested, you can e-mail me at effexor@laserformllc.com and i can send the spreadsheet to you in excel or PDF format. This helped me understand the pattern that i've been going through the past years. It also helps the new doc see how i feel. Just put in the subject "send me a pdf" or "send me a xls" and i will send you the file, no questions asked. I wish we could attach files on this thread. Any doctors interested are also welcome to e-mail me.
> BTW my old name was laserguy - i forgot the password and started a new logon name.
>
> Once again, good luck to all.
>I've been on Effexor XR at 225mg for almost five years and recently decided to wean off from it. I reduced by 75 mg, at a time, for two weeks at a time and, other than really weird bad dreams for several nights after the initial reduction, everything was going okay until I decided to stop completely. Now, after two days of flu-like symptoms (severe body aches, chills), dizziness, headache, nausea, panic attacks, weepiness and severe irritability, I split a 75mg capsule open and divided the granules in half to take what I hope is 37.5mg. I'm still waiting for it to take effect as I write this message.
The effexor helped my depression tremendously; however, my cholesterol was up and I thought that after five years, I am finally ready to try to live without it [the drug]. BUT - if the side effects don't get better, I fear I will go right back up to 75mg just to have a good quality of life and get rid of these annoying side effects!
I've not yet experienced the brain zaps and I hope I never do.
As other posters have mentioned, if I'd known the withdrawal would be so bad, I think I would've opted for another drug; but, it worked well on the depression.
I've got my fingers crossed that the half capsules will work okay for the next two weeks, after which I will then try to stop taking it all together.
UGH!!! Hopefully, my husband won't divorce me as I go through this!!! The irritability is awful - I just can't stand him talking to me! I just want to be alone in this! Thank you to all who responded about the withdrawal symptoms as it helps me to know that I may be able to overcome them, eventually!
Posted by Homemommy on January 7, 2009, at 13:53:52
In reply to Re: Anyone had success on Effexor XR? YES! , posted by Shel on July 18, 2000, at 1:35:45
Effexor works great for me but I am scared of the long term side effects of the drug. I dont like the weight gain or the being nausious if I take it a few hours later than usual. I also don't like that I cannot drink on it. I occasionally like to have a few drinks. If you ever get off of it beware of the terrible side effects. I am afraid if I am ever successful in getting off of it that my body will need whatever drug it has in it to live.> I too have had problems with depression for the last 7 years. Crying for no reason, could not sleep, couldn't eat, feeling out of control of my life, turning mole hills into mountains.
>
> I first on Zoloft for about a year was just fine, then quit (thought I could handle life without "having to take drugs" and slowly went down hill over the next 6 months.
>
> Went back on and was on it for a couple more years, felt great and decided I was all better and went off of it and crashed again- this time in 3 months. Tried Zoloft again, this time-no relief. Then tried Wellbutrin for a month, felt a little better, but not like before. Then tried Efferox XR.
>
> Started slow and built up to 150mg per day. Wonder drug! I love it! Have been on it over a year. No side effects to speak of. During the last 9 months I have managed to survive a move from Indiana to Austria (no kanagroos here) for a 3 years ISP assignment with my husband's company. We had to sell our house, cars, leave family, friends, my job and our horse behind with less than a 2 month notice. Stranger in a strange land and they don't speak much English in these parts. Yes I have had to learn German. Sprechen sie Deutsch?
>
> I have survived! Have had some down days over the last 9 months that I attributed to more of loneliness and boredom and winter blahs than from depression. Summer's here and I am great!
>
> Work with your doctor for the right level- give it time to build up in your system- a month prehaps and you should see positive results as I have.
Posted by llong on January 27, 2009, at 18:25:49
In reply to Re: Long term effects of Effexor/permanent, posted by Jenna611 on July 16, 2008, at 7:43:45
I have been only taking 35.7 mg of effexor for the past two years. i seem to be functioning well now and has niot had a visit to the emergency ever since. However, even at such a dmall dose, I have tried weaning off effexor by halfing my capsule, and even trying to take one whole capsule every other day. But the withdrawl effects are much to great such as the brain zaps, nausea,fatigue, migrains, and my panic attacks reoccure. I told this to my psychiatrist and she stated that I was not suffering from withdrawl symtoms and that my anxiety, panic, and depresson was returning. So can anyone please tell me if you have ever heard of this this. Because I fell better now, plus I have been only taking 37.5 mg once a day and nothing more and I would really like to stop takong this medication because I have gained lots of weight and have chronic constipation non stop.
Posted by Ceres on January 28, 2009, at 16:59:12
In reply to Re: Anyone had success on Effexor XR? YES!, posted by Homemommy on January 7, 2009, at 13:53:52
Wow, that sounds intense.
I'm usually very sensitive to drugs & have to take it slow, but Effexor didn't do much for me. I didn't have noticeable side effects, nor withdrawal. It did nothing for my depression.
At the time, I had an obsessive doctor who kept patients on drugs as long as possible, just in case it would eventually kick in, so I was on it almost a year.
Good luck finding & maintaining a good balance of meds.
Posted by Garnet71 on January 28, 2009, at 21:09:21
In reply to Re: Long term effects of Effexor/permanent, posted by llong on January 27, 2009, at 18:25:49
I just find it interesting that a doctor can claim that they know what is going on inside your brain and bodily chemistry from merely talking to a person for 5 minutes.
Posted by llong on January 29, 2009, at 8:21:48
In reply to Re: Long term effects of Effexor/permanent, posted by Garnet71 on January 28, 2009, at 21:09:21
That is right, but furthermore, i was informed to continue taking the low dose of effexor since its hard for me to wean off so iam, but i really do wish there was an easier way to get off without the horrible side effects, is there????
Posted by laserguy2 on January 29, 2009, at 8:48:48
In reply to Re: Long term effects of Effexor/permanent, posted by llong on January 29, 2009, at 8:21:48
llong, The only thing i've seen on this post is being prescribed a small dose Paxall from your doc to ease the withdrawls because it has a short half life. I'm not sure about this, but once again your using a bandaid to fix another problem. Cold turkey will suck for the first 3 days. It gets better after that. Good luck!
Posted by parkscat on January 29, 2009, at 9:25:42
In reply to Re: Long term effects of Effexor/permanent, posted by llong on January 29, 2009, at 8:21:48
I used Benadryl and Dramamine less drowsy to get off of it. Danny
Posted by laserguy2 on January 29, 2009, at 9:28:51
In reply to Re: Long term effects of Effexor/permanent, posted by parkscat on January 29, 2009, at 9:25:42
Everybodys different, Dramamine didn't work for me. I ended up puking it out.
Posted by fletcher on January 29, 2009, at 12:18:28
In reply to Re: Long term effects of Effexor/permanent, posted by llong on January 29, 2009, at 8:21:48
> That is right, but furthermore, i was informed to continue taking the low dose of effexor since its hard for me to wean off so iam, but i really do wish there was an easier way to get off without the horrible side effects, is there????
YES! At least it worked for me-- I posted this before (a long time ago).I was out of work for more than two weeks (maybe three) with the vague set of symptoms of coming off Effexor. I didn't know the cause at the time.
I was weaning myself off of Effexor XR by opening the capsule and taking a small number of the granules inside-- down to one or two granules to stave off the symptoms until I ran out.
A friend (randomly) suggested that I get back on the medication, but I didn't have any-- however I DID have doses of Celexa available. I took one dose of Celexa and within 15-20 minutes, all my symptoms were gone and did not return. Really, that fast.
I have no experience of other medications, but I suspect any SSRI could work.
Good luck!
Posted by Jim45 on February 3, 2009, at 16:03:14
In reply to Re: Long term effects of Effexor/permanent, posted by llong on January 27, 2009, at 18:25:49
OMG YES!!! I've just written two posts about Effexor so I don't want to write it all again.
However, you're on such a low dose and for only two years, so while I know you'll suffer weird withdrawals, given time I think you'll be fine. I tried to stop 75-150 mg of EffexorXR after a couple of years because it stopped working, but I couldn't handle the withdrawal and it had helped for awhile. It had just stopped working. Instead the Doc increased my dose to 150-300 mg and that worked for another couple of years but then that dose stopped helping too. REALLY couldn't stop then though. AWFUL withdrawals.
I wish I'd stopped the first time it stopped working. My Doc lost his license and I ran out of EffexorXR in several days. Went through incredibly awful things for months, terrible things for over a year, and still wasn't back to normal after two years off the stuff.
Good luck. I've heard that 5HTP, St. Johns Wort, and REAL actifed - gotta get it from a pharmacist - can help ease the withdrawal symptoms. Slowly weaning yourself off of it was advised by the Nurse at my Docs office.
You can do it! Good luck!
Jim
Posted by betrayed on March 10, 2009, at 19:50:40
In reply to Re: Effexor Newbie » renecoston, posted by BiPolar Mama on June 30, 2006, at 2:10:49
Hello,
I found your post very interesting some sounded like me except for the klonopin. It made me feel not like a zombie but the opposite. I was flying high, giggling annd thought of it as a wonder drug only lasted for 3 days and I started to see changes I didn't like. Such as chest pains, vision was no longer the same, migraine headaches, forgetting things and then the drug stopped working after 5 days and then I vomited for 2 days and nights. I imediately stopped it and 2 days later was talked into trying an anti-depressant called Celexa. I had taken just 1) 10mg pill and 40 minutes later I was have bad heart palpitations. I called the pharmacy and was advised to stop taking it. 24 hours later I woke up in the middle of the night holding my throat I ran to the bathroom and saw this huge rash starting from the bottom of my chin right down my back. A had a very serious rare allergic reaction and almost died. All week people were treating me like a freak telling me I had a nervous breakdown trying to admit me to a mental Institute and I have been trying to tell everyone it's the medications noone has been listening. It was the most horrifying experience of my life so I truly advise you because I learned to late be very careful and review al medications before you do. I found Klonopin is rated 4 by IGUARD.com meaning the drug is an elevated risk. Good Luck!
Posted by Phillipa on March 10, 2009, at 20:12:20
In reply to Re: Effexor Newbie, posted by betrayed on March 10, 2009, at 19:50:40
OH how horrible are any meds okay? Seriously. Love Phillipa
Posted by Phillipa on March 10, 2009, at 21:22:15
In reply to Re: Effexor Newbie, posted by betrayed on March 10, 2009, at 19:50:40
It doesn't work have done it four times. Phillipa
Posted by Budzoid on March 13, 2009, at 21:33:34
In reply to Re: Effexor Newbie » betrayed, posted by Phillipa on March 10, 2009, at 21:22:15
My wonderful journey continues. After all my attempts to get tested and then treated for possible Lymes, my Psyc. wants to start me on Effexor XR (37.5mg. a day for a week, then doubled every week for 3 weeks).
After over a year spent tapering off Xanax (5mg. a day for 6-7 yrs.), I really don't want to go down that road again. I hate having to withdraw from a drug that I may not even need.
It seems like the VA only wants to treat my symptoms, and not the possible cause.
Anyway, I'm holding off until I have more info.
Posted by Phillipa on March 14, 2009, at 19:45:17
In reply to Re: Effexor Newbie, posted by Budzoid on March 13, 2009, at 21:33:34
Good for you. Which type of info on lymes's or effexor? Phillipa
Posted by Budzoid on March 14, 2009, at 21:27:29
In reply to Re: Effexor Newbie » Budzoid, posted by Phillipa on March 14, 2009, at 19:45:17
Phillipa, I am still looking at all my options on Lymes.I have a doc. I see outside of the VA, and I think he will maybe test me, or if not, put me on antibiotics for a trial (saying it is for an upper resp. infection to cover his skin).He's that cool.
As for Effexor, I am holding off for now.I don't need anymore problems such as nausia. I get all the nausia I can handle from all the opiates I take. And as I said before, I don't want to be put on something that is hard to come off of, especially if it doesn't help.Although I see people that say it is good for depression,the side affects are not good.Almost everyone has some sort of side affect.
Posted by Phillipa on March 14, 2009, at 21:38:56
In reply to Re: Effexor Newbie, posted by Budzoid on March 14, 2009, at 21:27:29
I wouldn't go on that one either. Why would the doc have a problem doing Western Blot? It's just a lab test. All he needs to do to justify it is say you got bitten by a tic. I'd do that before antibiotics. Love Phillipa ps health dept will probably do one for free as lymes is world wide just different strains of bacteria in different places. I'm assuming you've google lymes as that should explain.
Posted by Budzoid on March 14, 2009, at 21:49:30
In reply to Re: Effexor Newbie » Budzoid, posted by Phillipa on March 14, 2009, at 21:38:56
Phillipa, I have thought about going to the county health dept. and ask for the test.That may be the best "next step".I'm a little concerned that they work with the CDC and I would still get the same runaround.
Posted by betrayed on March 15, 2009, at 5:38:43
In reply to Re: Effexor Newbie » betrayed, posted by Phillipa on March 10, 2009, at 20:12:20
Hi Philipa,
I have had so many problems with most medications. I usually become very ill when I take something new. I have now taken Klonopin and celexa and suffered two allergic drug reactions. Do you know of any testing that could be done so I would'nt have to go through this every time a new med is prescibed to me?
Posted by Phillipa on March 15, 2009, at 18:31:35
In reply to Re: Effexor Newbie, posted by Budzoid on March 14, 2009, at 21:49:30
I'd think since the health dept called me when they received the results of my test and said positive that is when I was first treated. Then when a doc up here in NC did one and said no worries health dept still called and asked if I was being treated. Called that doc and he said tell the health dept to call him so no antibiotics from the doc. Love Phillipa ps say you were bitten and felt like the flu. What state you live in as more states have lymes than others. See I'm originally from CT.
Posted by Phillipa on March 15, 2009, at 18:33:32
In reply to Re: Effexor Newbie, posted by betrayed on March 15, 2009, at 5:38:43
Betrayed when you say allergic reaction what does that mean? What happens? Rashes? Love Phillipa
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