Posted by Cristy on June 12, 2001, at 8:37:45
In reply to Re: Effexor Withdrawal, posted by Janie on October 23, 2000, at 10:27:20
> > THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING ALL THIS! I have been on Effexor for 5 months and didn't like some of the side effects I had - the trembling, and the how my "parts" didn't work during intimacy with my husband. After that long, I wanted to have fun again. I told this to the doctor and he had me start zoloft and go cold turkey off the Effexor! What a jerk. Now that I see y'all had the same problems, I know it isn't just me! YEAH! Glory be to God that I had some pills left over. I just split one and took it with some chocolate milk (chocolate makes everything better) and am SO thankful to see that this is a common side effect and not merely my brain disintregrating into a primordeal mass of jelly.
> > Thanks again!
> _______
>
> Hi. This is my third day of reducing my dosage of Effexor from 75mg to 37.5mg per day. So far, so good. I actually feel more energized and the yawning has stopped. My problems centered around lethargy, sedation and the inability to get up in the morning until about 11 a.m. Perhaps 37.5 mg will turn out to be the best dosage for ME. Has anyone else taken such a low dose with success?--Janie____________
I have been on 35.7mg of Effexor for about 2 years. I have been on several kinds of medications -- Buspar (nasty stuff - never again), Zoloft, Serzone Paxil and Effexor. After trying Buspar, my doctor put me on Zoloft. This worked much better for me, but the sexual side effects were awful. It got to the point that just the THOUGHT of making love with my husband made me sick to my stomache! So, I made the transition from Zoloft to Serzone. Serzone was working great, but was not taking care of my anxiety attacks. We added Paxil for the anxiety attacks -- which helped -- but caused tremors. Therefore -- 35.7mg of Effexor. This takes the edge off, and I am happy to say, I am not having anxiety attacks anymore.
A few things I have noticed: Switching from Zoloft to Serzone "fixed" the sexual disfunction. However, even that small dose of Effexor gave me a few problems, but not nearly as bad as the Zoloft. I am able to enjoy making love with my husband, but have a very difficult time reaching orgasm or my orgasms are "muted" and sedate.
I am currently in a good place, so I am tapering off the Effexor. I am tapering VERY slowly. For 2 weeks, I cut the 37.5mg pill in half and take 1/2 a day. Then 1/2 pill every other day for 2 weeks. Then 1/2 pill every 3 days for 2 weeks. Then -- OFF! I have just started the 1/2 pill every other day. I am having some side effects -- dizziness and weeping. I think the weeping is just because I am scared of returning to that awful place where I felt so bad. The dizzines . . . well, that is real. But, I have been assured by my therapist that the effects are temporary and that things will be OK. The sexual side effects are QUICKLY GOING AWAY!!! I will start tapering off the Serzone when I am off the Effexor.
Hope you have good luck on the effexor. I did.
poster:Cristy
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010612/msgs/66211.html