Effexor withdrawl and symptoms, please help _{Page 16 of 140}

Regarding Clarocet, my concern is the St. John's wort. I take seriously the warning from both sides of the aisle that one should not mix pharmaceutical anti-depressants with herbal ones. If you're off Effexor, then it sounds like a nice product.

Passion flower is a very nice calming agent.I like the notion that these big, bold flowers produce a herbal that encourages relaxation. Naria, the name I signed on the list with, is actually a shortened form of La Pasionaria, the Spanish word for passion flower (or also "the empassioned one") Naria is a character in a saga that I started writing some years ago. She's very much my alter ego. :-)

Oh, and it being casual Friday, I discovered I can wear jeans again. Denim no longer makes my skin hurt.

bee....so happy your interview was a good one...glad you are feeling better...day 5, that's something to celebrate!

naria....as always nteresting info.

again, have a good holiday weekend, stay focused, be positive, enjoy!

~dawn

Great Job Bee! I knew you could do it! I bet it feels great to know you can still hold it together!
I was told as well that St. Johns wort wasnt a good idea if you are on an antidep. But I would like to start taking it when I'm off these meds.
As for Passion flower Laurel or Naydies, can you take that while still on effexor? I'm on a low dose but I'm still on it. (*Thanks for the suggestions!)

Laurel I'm glad to hear you're doing better than yesterday, I know what you mean by the headaches. I get them more now than I ever have. But it will soon pass. That's what I keep reminding myself.
I am so the queen of rambling. Someone stop me! LOL It just feels so good to get this stuff off my chest.

By the way, I love the meaning of Naria, very captivating! : )

thanks guys!

i, too, am having the horrible headaches. :( yuck. but like elena said, hopefully they will soon pass.

I GOT THE JOB!

not even this headache, bad brain zaps, and a horrible negative inner voice can get me down right now. :-)

Congratulations, Bee! This will make your weekend special. :-)

When do you start?

Congratulations, Bee!
You go girl. :)

Bonnie

Wow, I ago away for a week and all sorts of things happen! Lots of newbies! As there should be. As we are overcoming this trial, new people should be coming in to us. I had a good week in St. Louis. Last Sunday 5/23 I decided I was going to reduce to 37.5 mg. I opened my Effexor 75 mg for the first time ever. Tipped it out on a black paper and divided it. Took my dose for Sun at at 1:00 and then Mon am at 7:00. Put it in cottage cheese since I didn't have yogurt for Sun + Mon. Tues, Wed, Thurs, I put half of the 75 in yogurt and this AM too!

Also I was taking the witches brew I told you about last week, I don't know but it really helped. I am so tired right now I am going to bed, but tomorrow I am going to respond to all our newbies and all of the people who have helped me so far. St. Louis is fab. Saw a Cardinals game, (I'm a RedSox fan and my husband was going to wear his sweatshirt but it was too hot).

But anyway, I have been to all of the states that our folks here are from, IOWA I have a good story. But, otherwise, isn't is pathetic that this problem with effexor is country wide.

Another comment, I have never seen an advertisement for Effexor, have any of you?

LOL Cat

Cat it is good to have you back. We missed you!
You are right I have never seen an advertisment for Effexor. The only thing I did see was that Delta Burke takes it.
Looking forward to hearing more from you.
Bonnie

My goodness, I had a nice nap and I am ready to talk. To the newbies that I have seen (I might have missed some) don't do it cold turkey. Stay away from caffeine. Oh, my, there I go again not reading my notes, maybe I should do them in word first before getting into this site.

Jami - I am so glad that you heard from NoHope. Do you think that you have helped her? Brought her back from whatever hell she was in? I was so worried, I tend to have things that I am AWARE of in my life. Dreams that sort of come true, etc. I did not have good vibrations about "nohope", I still don't. Also Jami - I left out a lot of CA that I have been to - Sonoma, Monterey, Solvang, Carmel, Muir Woods, and all those cutesy little towns on the other side of San Fran Bay.

Everyone else that has posted since I went off, I have been to your area. My goodness, do you realize that by looking at all the places we have posted from, how endemic this evil medicine is!

I want to tell you about the weird tonic I started taking on Monday, 5/23. Very interesting. As I said it was a witches brew. The website I got this off of is www(dot)prep2003(dot)com, then go the the left column, and click on the tonic. It may or may not impress you. I want to tell you that last Sunday while I was still on 75 mg I decided to divide it into 37.5 that night, taking the rest the next morning. That morning I started the 37.5 plus the witches brew, very interesting. This is now Friday, I have not had any major problems, a few zaps, a little bit of disorientation, I am wondering if this brew helps. It is not appetizing looking, sort of tastes like green chili salsa with vinegar but the main ingredients are all things that help the problems with detox. Check out the website I have said above. Hey, it might work for you, it seems to do it for me.

I just can't believe how this site has grown. I started at page 9 and it is now up to 16. I just think we have a great group here.

No matter how low you go out there, just remember to look around at other people, and realize that you are not that badly off, check out your loved ones, they may or may not know what you are going through (either post or pre Effexor), there is always someone out there to help you, and we are always here for you.

Love to all and tomorrow I am going to read all the posts since I got back and respond to them!

LOL - Cat

congrats Bee!!


I hope luck is with me when i take my test next week. i sometimes fees discouraged becos im taking the cfa and yet im not working in the investment field even though id love to...que sera

on a brighter note. the way i feel now is a whole lot better than the way i felt. in a way its scary, tuesday i was ready to leave this world, and now, though not happy, i can cope. these ups and downs are scary.

i did look into st johns wort a while back check out this website for great info www.sjwinfo.org , but it didnt work for me. in addition i also looked into SAMe which is supposed to be really good as well. that didnt work for me either simply becos of the fact that my depression is as a result of my single, lonely and watching friends get married and have babies. no pill in this world is going to help with that :-)

have a wonderful weekend guys!

To Chrissy, Bee, Naydies and Soldier girl, may I offer my welcome also to you all. It took me a while to read through all the posts done while I was away but I just finished.

Wondering - I take blood pressure medication, have for about 30 years, have been on many different kinds but they always stopped working after about 2 years. 10ish years ago my doctor switched me to a beta blocker which has worked. My GYN told me that the beta blocker is also know as the "stage fright" medicine. I do know that it has helped my anxiety over the years. I tend to internalize all my stress and the blood pressure was one of the ways it reacted. Ask your daughter's doc if something like that would work. I don't have any problems with it if I forget to take it and I have missed several days on occasion.

I wish I had had a mom like you but my mother also had her mental problems which were medicated by nicotine, caffeine and alcohol. And my dad was no help either. I was long an adult before I realized what made my father the way he was. He was a 20 Navy veteran and saw lots of combat in WWII. He sort of gave up a lot after the war. I told everyone he was "retired" at age 40. He still worked because he had 5 children to support. He probably suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, something that really didn't get a lot of attention until the Vietnam War. Anyway, my parents did not have a happy marriage, but were Catholic so stayed together. Brought up 5 dysfunctional kids, we all have handled it in different ways.

Naria, congrats for making it to the end. Hang in there for the rough patch.. Somewhere I read that dreams are the mirrors of our souls, I'm sure the bad dreams we all are having are ways of coping with our depression. Most of my extremely vivid dreams right now are about people in my past, maybe unresolved conflicts? Who knows. Anyway, I'm doing a lot of yelling and saying nasty words in my dreams.

Bonnie, I have been tapering down just like you. When I switched to the 37.5 I am taking it everyday and am more even than when I took the 75 every other day. I am just opening the capsules and tipping the contents back and forth in each half until it looks even. A lot easier than dumping them out and trying to divide them, Put half in the yogurt and close up the capsule. I have enough 75 capsules to go two more months, but hopefully it won't take that long. I do want to be almost ready to go off next time I see the doc.

Chrissy, get a new doctor!

Bee, congratulations on your new job! Glad you made it through the interview. Keep up the good work. I'm going to tell you a funny story. I have never worked full time but have had a myriad of part-time jobs usually found by working for a temp agency. I went to an agency for my interview and they gave me all kinds of tests. The room where the typewriter was (pre-PC days) was in a little closet. I am claustrophic. I do not remember anything after starting that test until I got home. I later told them about that episode and they said I was just fine, finished the interview, scored well on the typing test, they would never have known that I spaced out.

I have to get some housework done, laundry mostly, can't stay on the 'puter all day. Will touch base soon. I have lots more notes I want to comment on.

I'm feeling well, few zaps today, lousy dreams, good night's sleep, no nausea. I'm ready to drop the dose again but will try to hold off.

LOL Cat

thanks to all about the job congrats - i do appreciate it!

cat, thank you for the welcome. wow. your story about the interview was unreal - kudos to you for getting through it! :-)

endless night, you said 'my depression is as a result of my single, lonely and watching friends get married and have babies. no pill in this world is going to help with that :-)'
i can relate to that. *hugs* i'm 29 and much of my depression stems from loneliness and wishing i had found 'the one'. hang in there!

today is my sixth effexor-free day. i'm feeling pretty rotten physically, truth be told, but i'm trying to focus on the positives. i have a horrible headache which i've had for the last few days but today is the worst. i've been slightly dizzy all day and had quite a few brain zaps. BUT my state of mind is much better and the zaps are fewer and far between. in fact, if it weren't for this headache i would be feeling quite well today. oh, i did forget that i'm also having lots of general aching all over my body today.
this drug is nasty.
i ran into a friend of my mom's and she was telling me that her son was on effexor. had bad problems (no surprise) and he gained 50 pounds. tried to go off, got the bad withdrawal and his doc is now slowly weaning him off of it.

there are so many people suffering from this drug - it makes me sick.

Well Well Well, I am with Cat on this....I leave for a few days and we repopulate lol. I am glad you found us and that we found you all too bad we meet under these circumstances.

I just read 3 new pages of posts and I am trying to process all of it as you can imagine. I think its funny that you keep "rambling" Elena I was doing that SOOO much hell I think I still am. It just feels good to feel doesn't it? So much I feel like I have missed in the three years of my life.

I saw a commercial on T.V for a website depressionhelp.com I am going to pull it up in a moment but what the actress said on there hit home. She said she felt like her year with depression was a LOST YEAR and though I managed to care and love my family I was neglecting myself mostly and just surviving on my absolute love for them. GOING through the motions mostly.

Congrats on your job interview that is awesome that you feel you did well. I think people can usually tell if they did well. I also worked in HR for a very long time and my advice for people along with the info Wondering said was "Answer and explain" I always drill that over and over when a friend asks for help preparing for an interview. I think they get sick of me saying that lol. SEEE I RAMBLE TOO :)

Chrissie your doctor and his staff should be closed down! I had a doctor that prescribed me this crap and kept upping my dose. He wasnt half as rude but I never pushed him to be accountable (though I should just to see his reaction) but I am contemplating cutting and pasting some great excerpts from from here into a nice lil document, label it Information On Effexor and Withdraws That Every Doctor MUST Be Aware Of and send it to his office. Maybe I might luck out and they could see it from the horses mouth so to speak.

It has been now a lil over a month for me and I was feeling great but then we moved a few days ago and I am exhausted lol but I know it is because I am so out of shape. I have only been able to work on putting things away until about 2 pm every day then I crash for about an hour on the couch and piddle the rest of the day. I still have lots lots lots to do.

I will write more later about how I am feeling. I still have some bathroom probs but the dreams are not crazy like they were for the longest. Each day at a time!

Hugs to you and welcome.

P.S I havent written Hope yet but I know they said they dont have access to computer often and I just got mine hooked back up. I will write them in a bit. Wish me luck.

Jami

OHHH MY GOD!!!!! I just went in and typed Delta Burke Depression into my web browswer and found two links to some site called GOONANDLIVE.COM and it pulls up freakin WYETH (Effexor maker) I want to puke. I know the meds can help but MY GOD I WANA HURT THEM FOLKS!!!

::exhale deeply::::

jami

Ah, yes, the lost year ...

Day 5 for me. I don't feel to0 bad physically today, but it's been a crying and feeling angry day. I changed water in my fish tank, fixed a problem with one of my toilets, but I could not get my laptop to work. I felt so frustrated with that failure. (perceived failure)

I got together with some women friends today that gather periodically to talk and knit/crochet/spin. They were good support, but I did break down and eat two cookies. :-) Then I had to stop by work to see how everyone here was doing. I really NEED to get my laptop back in working order.

Kind of headachey now. Probably need to eat some real food. Nothing really appeals, but I've found if I don't eat regularly my symptoms intensify. Not that one shouldn't eat regularly anyway.

I made the "mistake" of reading a beautifully written novel about a family with an adolescent schizophrenic son last night and this morning. Heart breaking. Probably set off some of my tears and anger. I feel bad enough in the grips of this drug and struggling to get my brain to work again. Imagine having to take some of those antipsychotics with their side effects or have huge -- possibly dangerous -- breaks with reality. Not that any of this is new to me; I have friends with schizophrenia. But with my own vulnerability at the moment I think that was not the wisest choice of books. A little too close to home. My brain is doing a lot of internal talking without my direction.

I look forward to the end of rambling. I hope it goes away. I'm kind of embarrassed at how much I'm spewing out right now. :-)

Welcome back, all who were on trips or otherwise occupied, and Endless, how can we help you feel better about taking that CFA test? Why is financial advising a difficult field to get a job in right now? Maybe you could audition for The Apprentice and get hired by The Donald. I think I'm just kidding. I do understand that you are feeling frustrated career-wise. And lonely. That's a hard one. I ache with you.

Laurel

Bee, congratulations on getting the job! :)

Endless, by passing your CFA it's something that you will do for yourself that no one can take from you. It will show potential employer's/clients your level of professionalism and determination in this field and make you that much more employable.

I'm now entiring day 16. I was tired today as I didn't got to sleep late last night. As a result I had a few more slight dizzy/zaps and was a bit more irratable but I do think with grounds to have issues. Anyway...

Has anyone ever gone to the doctor after being effoxor free for the abdominal distension?

With all the publicity about the fattening up of the US, especially the children, I wonder if the researchers have ever looked the coorelation of anti-depressants and other brain chemistry altering drug use to weight gain on a national level. If found to be true, imagine what that would do to the drug companies stocks....maybe that's why they aren't looking at it?? ! ! I think the question should be answered myself having gained so much weight in so little time while on the drug.

You all are great!
Melissa

Had a good night, no dreams, slept until 6. Played golf. Should have taken E at 10 am but didn't get home until 11:30. major headache and zapping, took chaser, headache went away. Zapping went away later.

I am going to comment on my notes NOW instead of waiting until later. I think this is half of my problem reading my writing.

Endless night - I can't imagine what your loneliness feels like. My daughter is 34, unmarried, a career person, doesn't want children, but would like a husband. She has lots of friends (and 5 cats). She just doesn't seem to find a guy who is a keeper, her relationships self-destruct. She keeps herself busy, her hobby is international travel, luckily with her hours and job she can afford it. But sometimes I see that loneliness in her. I don't know what you are going through, but hang in there, and I will add you to my prayers (actually I have added everyone here in my prayers!)

Chrissy - I realize I have never really discussed withdrawal with my doc. The E worked fine, pulled me out of the abyss I was in, got me back on track. It was six months ago I realized something wasn't right. I just mentioned it to him at my last visit, before I had actually done research on the withdrawal. I have started withdrawal before discussing it with him. I don't think I have made a mistake because I think he would have told me to do it differently than I am and judging by a lot of the comments on this site, the doctors don't always know what to do. That's why they call it the PRACTICE of medicine!

Jami -glad your move went well. You do know that moving is one of the major stresses in life. But you just moved locally so you may be okay.

Naria -stop reading deep books. Get some romances or thrillers out of the library, read some scandal sheets, keep lightness in your life. Thinking is hard enough.

Melissa - I liked your comment on the "growing" problem we have here in the USA. I have always felt that too many children are put on Ritalin when all they really need is to go to bed at 8 pm, watch less TV, play outside more and eat less sugary junk food, never mind that, no junk food. How many of these kids diagnosed with ADD will go on to other mind-altering drugs in the future. My son was hyperactive as a child, it turned out that he was allergic to wheat. Try to stay away from that!

To those who discussed St. John's Wort, I checked into that when I first realized I needed help with my depression. However, it was contraindicated by my blood pressure medicine, so I didn't take it. Went on to the E.

Interesting comment about the "lost year." Was this the year before Effexor or after. I have had enough lost years in the past 10 years, I don't want any more.

Anyway, today is the end of my first week on 37.5. I think I have done okay.

LOL - Cat

I had been on Effexor, Wellbutrin and Zoloft. I tapered off the Zoloft and Wellbutrin and then the Effexor. The side effects were nausea, dizziness, irritability, and the very worst was the intense joint and muscle pain. I have gone back on a low dose until I can find a psychiatrist. The symptoms seemed to get worse as time went on. Any advice for trying to quit the second time?

To all of you: thank you for coming here and rambling it is a godsend do not feel embarassed at all just to see how others thought processes work through this stuff really helps me to feel "normal" though we all see and do things differently we all of course have one common goal and that is to be free of this drug and to feel our bodies working in a proper and productive way.

Just to know that I was not the only one to have abnormally vivid dreams or the bathroom issues or the zaps or the headaches and the flu-like symptoms and so on was comforting. Especially from those who had gone through and gotten passed that stage or had known others that had.

Cat your right moving is such a stress and doing a 25 minute move was bad enough but I really gave myself permission to take my time on gettin things back in order. It is not usually in my nature to take things a step at a time. I lack patience and like most of us here probably have some control issues to the point of being obsessive compulsive. But that said I decided to be strong and set a goal of a few things I want to get unpacked each day and when I finish those if I feel like stopping for the day, I do it.

I see things in my mother that I want to try to avoid for the sake of my sanity. She is such a control/clean freak and I am that way but she just puts so much pressure on herself for things to be perfect that I wonder when the payoff is for all this hard work? I mean I love a clean house but I will not let it run my thoughts if I dont have it where I really want it. SEEE I RAMBLE TOO. LOL I just really had to sit and think before the move and rationalize so that I wouldn't be a stressed out witch to my husband and kids. The house will be here. I have no deadline on when things need to be done. It is looking better each day and it is something to keep me busy.:)

Next subject...I wana say that regeant went to the ER once for stomach distension she should be back online by Tuesday I think. I don't remember what she said about the outcome of the ER visit :)

LOVE AND PRAYERS!!

Jami

Thanks so very much for sharing your experiences. Whata relief. This is such a lonely experience. Now I feel there is some hope. I felt so defeated when I had to go back on effexor just to survive. At least I am on less... Thanks to your many suggestions I now have some options and some hope. Thanks again!

After a year of not sleeping and taking Ambien when I couldn't function any more, the doctor changed my prescription from Welbutrin to Effexor. I thought I had died and gone to Heaven! I actually started sleeping through the night without taking a sleeping pill. But then it got to the point I couldn't wake up in the morning. It now takes everything in me to get up and go to work. A little over a month ago I decide this was crap and I was getting off of these things. I was on 75mg and I tapered to 1 every two days planning on working my way off. Last week I went to every 3 days. At day 3 I became dizzier than I've ever felt in my life, and very emotional(!!!!). Once I took a pill everything was fine. Today was day three again and ptl I found this website. I have to say I've cried more than once reading through these - identifying with what ya'll are going through. My husband and I ran to a local convenience store and bought some Damamine and vitamin B complex which someone had suggested. The Damamine worked GREAT! Too soon for the B complex.
My questions for all of you: 1) How long does this take? I have to work and need to make decisions all day long. I can't afford to feel like crap day after day for too long.
2) Have you found it better to taper off or since I'm only at 75 every 3 days to just stop and go through the junk?
3) Since going off have you noticed any improvement with your mid-section? 4 months ago my husband gave me a membership with a personal trainer. I humbly say that I look great for someone in their 50's - except for my belly. I look 6 months pregnant - after HUNDREDS of crunches. And that is standing up, don't even ask what it looks like sitting down!!!

It DOES feel good to unload!!! Thank you all for being here!

first off , welcome to all the new people.


mamamia, to answer your questions

hi mamamia;

1) i think it varies depending on how long you took it and your each persons individual ability to wean off. I took mine first in 03 for about 4 months, then I quit for about 3 months, then they convinced me to get back on it and i took it for nine months again. as of today, ive been off it for 6 mos.

2) i tapered off for about 3 weeks and then went cold turkey. very horrible way to do it but i just wanted to stop.

3) my mid section is SLOWLY getting back to where it used to be. when i was taking effexor, id noticed that id gained a lot there, but when i stopped, it seemed like i gained even more, and it became more bloated. but like i said, its shrinking somewhat. and yes, i know what you mean about sitting down.

i really should read through more slowly before i post :-)

thanks for the good wishes on my test.


Naria, I completely agree with Cat. Read some thrashy badly written romance novels. Deep stuff will tend to make anyone who is even a tad down even more so. I doubt "The Donald aka The hairpiece" will hire me. and in my delicate state, you're fired is not something i need to hear!. I dont want to be an advisor, but an analyst but getting into the investment world is so difficult. Plus, everyone seems to wants to put me into "accountant" role becos i have the CPA and zero experience in the world of invesments.

As to my being lonely, thanks to everyone who sent hugs and prayers. I send them straight back.

Bee, you said you were waiting for "the one", I feel like I did find him and screwed up, and now I am suffering for thinking it would be so easy to find a decent and good guy to settle with. Those very famous words "had i known" hunt me everyday.

cat---thank you.

melissa, thanks for those words. you're right, no one can ever take it away from me (well except the governing body of the cfa institute if i do something which in anyway reminds them of Enron :-) )

i have now added vitamin B3 and zinc to my dose of daily vitamins in hopes of combating this constant tiredness and difficulty getting up. I'll let you guys know if it does anything.


take care guys.

Hi everyone. I am so amazed at the response to this forum. Welcome to Pam and Mamamia. Really, this is obviously what we all need, to Ramble- (LOL Jami!) and get everything off our chest.
By the way, I am so happy for you BEE! Congratulations on getting the job! You so deserve this: )
Cat I'm glad to hear you had a nice time in St. Louis. It is nice to have you back tho! ; ) I have been on half of the 37.5 for a week now, and I have been splitting my capsules in half like you. It's a pain in the butt to do it, but it works out okay. I literally go cross eyed trying to make the portions equal! LOL I think that the drop of the meds is always a little hard. We just dropped our doses and this Effexor is a powerful drug! No wonder our poor bodies are taking it so hard! But cheers to you for your first week on 37.5! It's not too far away now!
Melissa is so right about the growth issue. No wonder they aren't addressing it, the sales of the drugs are at stake! Oh and Melissa, so happy for you that you are on your 16th day! Good for you hun! Keep it up!
Laurel I hear you loud and clear about feeling a little embarrassed at times, but we all need to let out our opinions and emotions. We have all gone through (and are going through) alot. So throw the embarrassment out the window and know that we all support each other here. We know what you are going through.
My headaches have been a little more intense lately. And I noticed that my nightmares and sometimes negitive thoughts have been more pronounced. I did the drop from 37.5 one day and 18.75 the next, to just 18.75 everyday last week. I made it, but I know that my mind is racing. Where these thoughts and negitivity is coming from I don't know. I try to calm myself down and ignore the images and thoughts but sometimes it's hard. It usually happens when I am really tired or when it's late at night. I started to get scared because I thought maybe this was something else, like I was nuts or something. But I am thinking that it is just part of this whole ordeal. I know that endless has been feeling the ups and downs as well. So I do know I am not alone in this. But wow. It can be really hard to deal with. I will handle it, but I do get overwhelmed at times. That's normal for this situation I guess.
Jami good luck writing to Hope. I'm sure he/she is happy to know that people out there care about his/her well being. Oh and by the way! Take a load off and relax girl! LOL you've been busy as a bee! Make sure you get your time to unwind! : )
Have a good day all.
*Hugs*