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Re: Effexor Withdrawal --- tina p, daizy

Posted by keroppi on February 16, 2003, at 14:34:04

In reply to Re: Effexor Withdrawal Geoff , Keroppi, posted by daizy on February 16, 2003, at 11:43:58

> > People tell me please...
> > I am a sufferer of clinical depression, and I have found that anti-depressant drugs relieve my misery miraculously. I would never, EVER want to stop taking my Effexor and go back to the sadness I was living with. So, why are so many of you doing this, and struggling with these awful side affects? I guess I have no concept of why anyone would want to stop taking this drug when it is so helpful to me and has improved my quality of life so much. Would some of you please share your scenarios with me so I have a better understanding, and perhaps I can be better prepared for the possibilty of having to give up this drug in my future? So far, the only withdawl I've had to deal with was switching from Paxil to Effexor XL, and that was because the Paxil was causing weight gain. (I would have avoided the Paxil altogether, but it's the only drug my doc could offer me during my pregnancy). After the baby was born, I made the switch, and it wasn't too difficult. But to give up my medication completely and go through withdrawls like those I'm reading about in your posts, I would never attempt it!!!!! I hated the way I felt before taking my meds anyway! Any input for me?
>
> Hi Tina P
> I had to come off Effexor because it was causing Heart Palputations, which if you've had them will know they are really scary. Im glad because it wasnt working for me anyway, although like you, I know people with clinical depression who it has worked for. The withdrawal in my experience, was really bad, I had constant headache and shocks, it made me feel sick and dizzy, horrible really for about two weeks.
>
> When my doctor started me on AD's he said that when I feel better, and have been for a constant of six months/year it would be ok for me to come off them. However I havnt yet found a med that works for me, and I havnt been properly diagnosed yet. Has your doctor told you that you will need them permanently? Its great that you have found a med that works for you, hope that it stays that way and you dont need to stop. In the future if you do have to come off them for whatever reason, you might not experience withdrawal symptoms, it varies from person to person(as you can see!)


Hi Tina,

Like Daizy, I was having very strong, irregular, scary heart palpitations. I suspected that it might have been from Effexor, but now that Daizy's confirmed it (and I've seen 2 other posts on a different message board that confirms it), I KNOW it was definitely caused by Effexor. However, the main side effect that caused me to want to go off was REALLY bad constipation....I don't know if you read my first post, but I said that from the very first day (3 months ago) I took Effexor, I was constipated. Would only be able to poop every 3-4 days, and I felt SOOOO bloated all the time. When I did poop, it was 3-4 days worth in one hard, thick, long poop, so it was like giving birth. Which caused the toilet to get clogged. And I live w/ my sister......she got so sick of having a clogged toilet all the time. So after 3 months of that, I decided it wasn't worth it. The E did help with my anxiety, though, but I just never felt right on it. So I made the decision to taper off and go back on Prozac. I started tapering last week from 225, to 150 for 4 days, then 75 for 4 days, then 75 every other day. Up until the 75 every other day, I had no withdrawal, except easier pooping. However, now that I'm doing one day on and one day off, I'm having those electrical brain shocks that everyone's been talking about. And diarrhea. But....I'd already experienced the brain shocks WHILE I was on Paxil a couple years ago. That was a side effect of Paxil. Didn't bother me too much though. And I'd much rather have diarrhea than constipation.

I'm glad that Effexor is relieving you of your depression.....it's been a godsend for friends of mine, too. So just because it didn't work for us, you should continue on it, because it works for you. Hope you continue to do well!


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