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Re: Discontinuing Effexor

Posted by Marlane on August 8, 2001, at 15:28:06

In reply to Re: Discontinuing Effexor, posted by msaxon on August 6, 2001, at 23:42:09

> > >Has anyone experienced erectile dysfunction after coming off effexor. I am a 33 yr. old man. I'm in good physical condition. I was on effexor for approximately 3-4 months and I could not stand the side effects: sweating and erectile dysfunction (ED) being the two main problems. I quit cold-turkey contrary to the advice of my psychiatrist. I have been off of it for approx 3 months. I have mild-medium depression and can, on most days, make do without the meds. Since my ED has not gotten better, I called my psych. and explained the situation. He immediately handed me a script for Wellbutrin. I can't decide if I should take it or not. I have never had problems of this nature in the past and I am becoming scared that this could be permanent. My psych. even told me that Wellbutrine could up my sex drive. How upsetting that could beto have the drive and no "car". Any info at all would be very appreciated.
> Msax
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> I would first like to thank everyone for your e-mail responses to my threads. I have read thru most of the Effexor notes and the pattern of experiences that I have read are all basically the same. For those of you who are taking the drug and having success.........fantastic!!! I hope you continue getting and feeling better.
> > >
> > > Many of us have been prescribed this medication to help overcome the debilitating effects of depression and/or anxiety. We all know how we were feeling when we started taking the effexor. I to, started feeling better.....in the beginning. The positive effects of the drug lasted about six months and then what I found, as I look back on it now, was what seemed to be some sort of relapse of the depressive state. This lasted until I started taking a real hard look into the side effects of the drug. Thru your own experiences with effexor and your discussion I now feel confident that I'm not going insane.
> > > I have been off the effexor completely for 5 days but it was months, and I mean months of withdrawal effects before reaching this point. Here's how I did it. I was taking 37.5mg a day which was nothing compared to what some of you are currently taking. Nine months ago I cut that dose in half, literally. I actually broke the pill in half. I stayed at this dose for 2 months. In the beginning I suffered severe side effects. I the middle of the third month, I broke that dose in half. I was down to a qaurter of a pill a day. On a quarter of a pill a day I wasn't having any of the withdrawl effects. I then started spreading out the dosage to a quarter of a pill every other day. Withdrawal effects again became severe. But I was determined to get off this drug. It stayed like this for almost 6 months. The process of getting off the effexor started almost a year ago. I am still having "flashes" of all the side effects. Some so bad that I am forced to lay on my back for hours just to deal with the withdrawl. When this isn't happening I'm up, out and feeling really good. Here's the bad news, I have been in touch with several ex-effexor med patients. One in particular has been off the drug for almost two years. He still has severe flashbacks of the side/withdrawl effects although now occuring with less frequency than they have in the past. He believes through his investigative research that there may be a possiblity that he, as will all of us, will suffer with these effects for the rest of our lives. Almost everyone I have been in contact with feel that the effexor has permenantly and negitvely effected their lives and vow never to use it again.
> > > There are some people on this sight who challenge this, requiring "scientific proof" of this fact.
> > > To you I say, your proof is coming. Effexor has now been on the market long enough for post-trial studies of the side effects of this drug to begin. These preleminary studies are not at all good or positive. Some can be seen and read by going to Pubmed. A case report on the long term neurological effects of effexor as well as all SSRI's can be found at Psychiatry Online.
> > >
> > > I ecourage all of you to look into these studies. I think you will find that the drugs we have been taking create entirely new and equaly debilitating effects that may very well cause that unexplained relapse back into depression. My feeling is that long term use of this drug (1 year or more) creates a vicious cycle of effects, mentally and physically, that do nothing more than worsen what is already a bad situation. The longer you are on this stuff the worse the side effects and withdrawal become. If your on effexor and feeling the "blahs" or that miserable depressed state, get to your doctor. It could be, and most likely is, the effexor.
> >
> > HI I was wandering if you still have depression and anxiety since you quit taking the effexor or are you on something else. Or could the side effects be anxiety and depression from not tahing the pill.

Hello All, I have not posted lately, but wanted to update you on my weaning off EffexorXR. The other posts in this thread hit home for me and I wanted to encourage some of you. I have finally come off this drug after being on it for several years. Paxil wasn't working, and I was still depressed and hated the side effects, mostly, the inorgasmia! Do drs. who prescribe these drugs ever take them themselves? Would they, knowing what they do to one's quality of life? My depression is also situational, but they say you need to be in counseling also when taking these, and that I can't afford. I found that I was gaining weight, mostly in my abdomen, and I was depressed anyway. So the dr. said to up the amount, that in turn gave me a terrible rash on my face! I was still very depressed all winter, which was not unfounded by any means. When I researched what would help my serotonin levels, and also asked a biochemist about what to do, I decided to reduce the dosage slowly and supplement with 5-htp, which goes right to the brain and makes serotonin! I have had terrible dizziness, especially whenever I would postpone or miss a dose of the effexor. When I tried to get off this before, I would cry at the drop of a hat! The thing is, on these anti-depressants, one doesn't truly feel emotions, and I was beginning to feel like some kind of Zombie, just going through the motions of life and not moving forward because I was still depressed anyway! What purpose does that serve?? I did have a rough time after weaning off for about 2 months, and I cried through church, and I cried at everything, but it has been healing and cathartic. Having not been able to cry when I should have for several years, I think this was needed. The 5-htp, along with St. John's Wort, has helped tremendously, and I am now totally Effexor free!!! I am deeply concerned that this drug has permanent effects, because I still have no sex drive, and I have extreme difficulty reaching an orgasm. It became progressively worse from Paxil to Effexor, and now that I am off of both, have to wonder, like some of you, are we going to soon be a nation of Zombies, taking elaborate cocktails of psychotropic drugs just to get us through life? What is that going to do to our children? And when is the govt., the FDA, and the public going to tell the huge drug manufacturers that this is enough?!!? They make me sick, how they invade dr. offices, selling their wares, giving out free samples. I have to tell you, my dr. has a closet FULL of samples, and since I haven't any medical, she has been supplying me with Effexor for years! That is wrong! I now take nutritional supplements that are the best made, and I am feeling like myself again! I still have overwhelming difficulties in my life, but I feel better and more in control than I ever did on anti-depressants. I hope to soon stop taking the St. John's Wort also, but I don't want to push it. It has taken 2 months to not get the dizzy spells. Every once in a while I get a twinge, but nothing like it was before! So you all keep trying, and I know you, too can get off these potentially harmful drugs. Take care. Marlane


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Psycho-Babble Medication | Framed

poster:Marlane thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010804/msgs/74200.html