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Effexor, side-effects and withdrawal

Posted by HS on November 3, 2003, at 7:50:25

In reply to Re: effexor and alcohol , posted by crazy canadian on November 3, 2003, at 0:42:48

My psychiatrist put me on Effexor which made me EXTREMELY unwell (increased anxiety, manic episodes, insomnia, weight gain, constipation, etc) at 150 mg, then tried to tell me I was bipolar and wanted to put me on litium.

Finally went to see a really nice psycologist who immediately sent me to a neurologist - turns out I have temporal lobe epilepsy, which gives many of the same symptoms as GAD and tends to lead to depression. Turns out the Effexor had been making it worse, as all anti-depressents lower your seizure threshold.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am all in favour of antidepressants and certainly do not belong to the "sue them" fraternity we've been seeing here lately. The problem for me was a psychiatrist who didn't listen properly.

I am now on Topomax, which is an antiepileptic, but also works as a mood stabiliser. I am finding it extremely hard to cut out the last 9 mg of Effexor (I have to cut the tablets into quarters), but then I found Seroxat difficult as well. With Seroxat, I had to go on taking a miniscule dose for a couple of months before I could stop completely.

Obviously, I'm over the moon about a correct diagnosis after 33 years. And one of Topomax's side-effects is weight LOSS.

During this and previous depressions (all associated with traumatic events) I really needed medication, but I would have been totally lost without a good psyclogist.

Anyway, don't just allow the psychiatrist to put you down - you are the expert on you!

HS


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poster:HS thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031030/msgs/276027.html