Posted by ArtChee on December 10, 2001, at 9:29:03
In reply to 4 Weeks off Effexor, posted by Leo on March 7, 2001, at 17:23:26
Read your post as I am now just a week & a half off a 300mg/day dosage of EFFEXOR. My sister has been on the samae dosage, and finds that it has given her "new energy." In my case, after 2.5 months it did NOTHING positive for me. I suffered mild side effects, that could have been contendable had it relieved the depression.
For years my mother was treated medically for depression with Prozac and Paxil. The Paxil produced noticable changes in her attitude, BUT was no "cure all." She has ALSO been treated for YEARS for Hypertension. Is hypertension a genetic 'disease?' or is it the physiological result of anxiety & tension? Over the years she had to have her medication adjusted time and again. It would lower her blood pressure to the point of illness & hospitalization, and need to be re-evaluated & adjusted. What might be the consequence of someone being on medication to reduce blood pressure, and then put them on Paxil, which successfully relieves anxiety (which would in itself lower the blood pressure)?
I have fought chronic depression for 30 years. I have sought "professional help" in every manner that was available to me. I have spent thousands of self insured dollars to find a release from the "demons" tormenting me, all to no avail - marriage counseling, hypnosis, hypnotherapy, personal counseling, psychotherapy, psychiatry, psychic counseling, and family therapy. Three years ago, I resorted to psychopharmacy, hoping that new developments in this area may bring me relief that "talk therapy" could not. I have seen two Psychiatrists, as well as my general physician, for antidepressants. I have been on Zocor, Effexor, Paxil (which killed any energy that I had), Serzone, Wellbutrin, Celexa, Prozac, and Provigil. One of the psychiatrists even guessed that, since these medicatiions were ineffective, that MAYBE I had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. He prescribed Concerta -- which almost put me to sleep!!
Everyone is different & has varying reactions to these medications. I am glad that my Mom and Sister have felt "better" by using antidepressants. HOWEVER, is this not treating the SYMPTOMS of an "emotional dis-ease"?!?!? Would it not be SO MUCH BETTER to treat the source of the symptom and avoid putting various and assorted medications in your body???
In desperation, I have spent an hour a week in psychotherapy for the LAST TEN MONTHS, without a clue of what was happening, what was SUPPOSED to be happening, or where it was to go. The therapist explained that I need to "get in touch with my ANGER." I felt that I had no anger, other than self anger for not being able to find my way in life & be a productive individual. I was on the verge of quitting several times. WOULD HAVE, except this Dr. stopped charging for his hour, rather than let me go back to my desperation. Finally, I did concede that I DO have suppressed anger, as I realized how I tend to snap at my wife when it is in no way deserved.
At a time when I was feeling as low as I have ever in my life felt - with NO help from 300mg of daily EFFEXOR (with anxiety increasing with the increasing dosage)- I picked up a couple of books that were around the house. THE SECRET STRENGHT OF DEPRESSION told me that Depression was an "opportunity to change." THE SEAT OF THE SOUL explained that for all of my life I have been seeking "external control" of my life and environment, and have been in conflict with my "true nature." The anger that I need to get in touch with is due to some confict between who I am truly am (as a spiritual being) and who I THINK that I SHOULD be. For my ENTIRE LIFE I have been stuggling to MAKE myself a whole person, while never realizing that it is already there, and all the efforts I was struggling with were just blocking the flow of the natural person that IS WITHIN, that I don't NEED to put there.
The after effects of EFFEXOR are now inhibiting my moving closer to discovering the source of my anger. I am lethargic, light headed, and exhausted with mild headaches that I haven't had in the 10 or 15 years prior to EFFEXOR. I just lost my Mom October 19th. She had lived alone for 37 years after my Dad passed away. That probably was a lot due to her anxieties and preference to retire to her bed and read novel after novel after novel. It pains me greatly that she lived for 85 years with this interior conflict that caused her so much anxiety, that had to be medicated.
I would hope for my own sake that I have finally come to PERSONAL REVELATION that will lead me to being a whole person -- or as much of one that I can be. As I am not there yet, I cannot witness this as my TRUTH, and wish it for anyone else. However, with my experience with antidepressants, that AIN'T WHERE ITS AT! It is merely the treating of the symptom of one's emotional dis-ease. If you manage to receive some relief from depression, please use that reprieve to "find your true self" and eliminate the need to medicate your body.
I wish you all PEACE & HAPPINESS in your individual quests, and MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!
poster:ArtChee
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011202/msgs/86443.html