Posted by rvanson on April 4, 2004, at 0:27:38
In reply to Effexor Horror, posted by gimp on April 3, 2004, at 12:15:51
> Joint pain led me to try Effexor. My Rheumatoligist has been trying lots of drugs on me. Well, this is the last time I take an anti-depressant. Once a doctor told me I hurt because I was depressed. I told him that am depressed because I hurt. Now I know that depression is not causing my pain. Effexor did absolutely nothing for my pain. It made me a zombie. I could not drive because I had no motor skills. I would slam on the brakes or forget where I was going. I needed long naps to get through a day and I was so unmotivated it took 3 days to finish a load of laundry. So I decided not to re-fill my prescription and went through the horror of withdrawal. Nausea, chills, sweating, visual disturbances, nightmares, dry mouth and spent 3 days in bed with symptoms I call "the worst hangover of my life". On day 4 the cloud lifted and I could think more clearly and the nausea was less frequent and intense. But I still feel disconnected and have temper outbursts. My husband is glad to have his zombie wife on the mend because my behavior was bizzare and my personality was absent. But I worry about permanent damage to my brain. Will I ever get over that feeling of "the lights on but nobody's home" in my head? My husband says a doctor gave a Nascar driver Effexor for anxiety and he had to withdraw from the race because of the side effects. He was angry that his doctor would give him something that modified his ability to drive. Doctors not have a clue about this drug. I would like to see it banned. It is too powerful to be handed out as brain candy by un-informed doctors.
This is typical of modern HMO medicine where the HMO's want your PCP treating your mental illness, not a Pdoc, so they can save a few $$$.
When the many side effects hit you, they havent a clue, much less be of any help,in most cases.
They just say "dont take it until I see you again".
Big help that is !!! NOT!
I could agree more about regular medical docs handing these meds out like candy with almost no training in treating mental illness.
I dont think meds like Effexor should be banned as they do work for many, but only P-docs should prescribe them, no one else.
poster:rvanson
thread:332091
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040402/msgs/332367.html