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Effexor - Finally off this f***ing crap

Posted by TurboRealtor on December 21, 2003, at 8:13:56

You'll have to excuse my language in the topic of this post, but I'm a little on the "short" side right now. It's 5:30 in the morning and I haven't had a minute of sleep since about 9:30am yesterday. You see, I WANT to sleep, I'd LOVE to sleep, but it just won't happen. But, I'm getting ahead of myself...

About 8 years ago (I can't believe it's really been that long... unreal...), my psychiatrist started my on Effexor, and a couple of years ago moved me onto Effexor XR for depression. I have to hand it to him, he really helped me out when I was in a very awful place emotionally. But, over the years I have come to the conclusion that 90% of my problems could have been fixed with cognitive behavior therapy. The drugs definitely helped things get started, but they should have gone by the wayside long ago.

About 5 months ago I was going through a trying time in my life, feeling very lonely and afraid. I had a major depressive episode that lasted about a week, and all it took to make it go away was for a good friend to sit down and talk with me and show me why (as obvious as it should have been) the ideas floating around in my brain were wrong. All the while I was on 150mg Effexor in the morning and 150mg at night. The next day when I was feeling better I got to thinking that if I could still have an episode like that where I wake up in the morning wanting to be dead and can't seem to see the light at the end of the tunnel while I'm on 300 mg of this drug, then there is something very wrong with this situation. To put it mildly I was angered and fed up and resolved that I would get off this drug and see how things go.

I knew getting off Effexor would be difficult. A few times over the past many years I had forgotten to take a night time dose before bed, only to wake up the next day in a total stupor. On a whim, I once searched for "Effexor Withdrawal" on the net and couldn't believe how much information I found. But, I didn't care... I decided I'd get off it if it killed me. I'm a little stubborn when it comes to decisions like these.

I hope no one goes and does what I did which was to eliminate the medication without first consulting a doctor. I was just worried that the doctor would say "Oh, you want to get off it? You must be depressed... Let's double your dose... again..."

The next day after my epiphany, I started to reduce my dosage. I would first reduce 37.5 a night, then 37.5 in the morning, 37.5 at night, 37.5 in the morning, etc until I would be left with one last 37.5 in the morning. Between each reduction I would give my body 2 weeks (sometimes more) to adapt to the change. The amazing thing about coming off this drug is that every time I reduced a 37.5 I had to go through all the withdrawal effects again from scratch for several days.

Three days ago I took my last 37.5 Effexor XR. My brain has been an utter mess, but I'm so used to this effect now, it doesn't bother me all that much. My girlfriend is ready to hit me in the face with a bat from my mood swings, but she's been amazingly helpful through this whole time. The withdrawal on this last pill has definitely been the worst of all. I've had a lot of dizziness, and flu-like symptoms. It's about 72 degrees in my house right now, I'm wearing jeans with a long sleeve shirt and I am FREEZING. My head has been has just been electric for the past few days. I know it will go away soon, but soon can't come soon enough.

And lastly, to get back to the beginning, I'm having a LOT of trouble sleeping and restlessness. I lay in bed and all I want to do is shake my legs back and forth. I feel tired, but sleep just doesn't come. It will in the next couple of days. I just need to occupy my mind with something else.

I don't really have a reason for this ridculously long post other than to let everyone know it can be done. It takes willpower and determination. Getting angry really helped me out... Being fed up with being controlled by this substance and willing to take whatever steps necessary to get off are the main "secrets" for my success.

If you really want to get off Effexor and don't need to take it any more, just gradually step yourself down off it. If dropping 37.5 at a time is too much, drop only half. If 2 weeks isn't enough time to get your brain back where it needs to be to make another reduction, take a little longer.

Lastly, I wanted to mention an overwhelming thought that has been going through my mind during this whole process... Why are psychiatrists so quick to throw medication at us, but are utterly lost when it comes time for us to get off them? It's kind of irritating... If I didn't credit my doctor with saving my life, I'd have to fly back home and slap him around a little.

Thanks for reading,
Peter


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Psycho-Babble Medication | Framed

poster:TurboRealtor thread:292077
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031219/msgs/292077.html