Posted by Mr Cushing on October 22, 2002, at 17:25:30
In reply to Re: thinking about taking effexor but not sure, posted by Sanj on October 22, 2002, at 16:01:42
Yeah, that's the main decision, but like I've realized recently, if you can remember this anxiety being a part of your life for some time now (for me, my entire life) and it seems to be getting worse over time, then you probably do need it and if you let it get too much worse, you'll probably need a few other medications along with it.
Me, I know I'm going to be taking either Effexor or something similar to it, Clonazepam (Klonopin), and a mood stabilizer (currently Depakote) for the rest of my life. The hardest part for me was accepting that I wasn't going to get better by myself. That even if I just decided to forget about the problem, just tried to improve my life by itself, the cause of the anxiety wasn't going to go away. Hell... I even graduated from school, wasn't working, wasn't doing anything but relaxing around the house, and my anxiety was STILL making every day like a living Hell.
Effexor does work remarkably well for anxiety (I'm not too sure about depression) if you give it time and allow it to work. The first month on it will be relatively tough. You'll feel like you have the flue for about 2 weeks, then you'll have almost no energy for about another 2-3 weeks in which you'll need to exercise regularly to get your stamina back. But for the withdrawal, for me honestly, I'm not worried about it because I know that I'll probably never come off of it.
Right now I'm starting to feel better than I've felt in years. I've still got quite some ways to come before I'm 100%, but it has done wonders for me. For a while I was living in Hell but now every day seems to get a little bit easier.
As for people in your life that won't accept you having to take the medication, I've gone through a lot of that myself. I've basically just decided that these people have no idea what it's like to actually be me. They have no idea what I'm feeling. You can't see the pain that an anxiety disorder can cause, therefore, they really have no right to judge. If people still couldn't accept it, then well, I've just decided that i'm better without them in my life period.
Once you're able to decide though on whether or not you actually have a problem that needs to be dealt with, and you're just not going through a rough stage in your life, and you actually accept the fact that you do have a problem, then at that point you're on the road to recovery and things will start getting a LOT easier pretty fast.
Hope this helps
> yeah, I hear what you're saying. I think I just need to do what I'm supposed to do and If I still am feeling anxious I need to get over the fear of taking effexor. Its just that reading everybodys comments on this site - it seems like it is very hard to get off of it due to withdrawal problems. I guess everyone will react differently. My problem is that I have to make a decision as to whether I need it or not. I probably do but I am still in denial.
poster:Mr Cushing
thread:124726
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021019/msgs/124750.html