Posted by Readersleaders on March 8, 2005, at 14:56:33
Hi All,
This is a journal that I am keeping of my journey getting on and now going off of Effexor.
I will update it frequently enough so that you can see my progress and I hope it will help others like me who want nothing more to do with this poison!
Thanks for letting me share,
RL
Where I started:Prescribed Effexor for panic attacks: doseage progressed from 25mg/tablet once a day for a week to 37.5/mg/XR once a day for a week to 75mg/XR once a day for a week to 150/mg/XR once a day.
Side effects I experienced: upset stomach, nausea, no feeling of emotion (like I was in a bubble), horrific nightmares, constipation, total loss of libido, and developed one bladder infection.
--150mgXR/once a day; stayed there for 1 1/2 years.At the 1 1/2 year mark I developed a skin condition called: *Erythema Nodosum*.
My dose of Effexor was then lowered to 75mgXR/once a day. I was dizzing, agitated, and weepy for about 4 days; after two weeks I was completely stabilized.
*Erythema Nodosum* - this is an allergic (delayed-hypersensitivity) reaction that results in the formation of tender, deep (within thesubcutaneous fat tissue), red bumps on the arms or legs, particularly on the shins. General symptoms may include malaise, fatigue and joint pain (most often in the ankles). The lesions progress to a yellow colour looking like an old bruise. Lesions generally are gone in 2-8 weeks without recurrence.
Lumps went away, however I have red & purplish scarring where the lumps use to be.
--75mg/XR once a day for 9 months.
--37.5/XR once a day for 6 months.
--Tried doing the "every other day" dosing for about a week, but I felt so bad I just stopped taking it all together. 4 days past and the floodgates of withdrawal started. This is what I experienced:---Itching all over my body; randomly--first my arm, then my ankle, a few minutes later the top of my head and so on.
---Pins and needle feeling all over body.
---Numbness in all extremities with alternating burning--like on fire sensation
---Numbness in face; especially skin around and including my top lip.
---Extreme crying jags.
---Extreme feelings of rage
---Nightmares; weakup and feel like nightmare was more than my reality.
---Clenching of teeth/muscle tightning (I now understand that these are part of seizures*!!!)
---Panic Attacks (far worse then before I used the medication)
---Severe Headaches
---Extreme Chills (5 blankets--one a down comforter during the summer (90degree temp. at night).
---Agitation
---Dizziness
---Swishing in my head when I turned my head
---Could not concentrate
---Extreme Diarrhea--using the bathroom 5-6 times a day.Returned to family doctor who put me on 75mg/XR once a day; (He said I was having a "reocurrance" of my original problem that I went to him for--MY FOOT!!!) On it for 9 more months.
In an effort to start tapering down from 75mg/XR I switched to tablets. Here are my experiences to date.
February 24, 2005:
6:30 p.m. - Made the switch from 75mg/XR capsules to taking one 37.5/mg tablet (twice a day). Initial transition was smooth--slightly dry mouth--did not last more than an hour.February 25, 2005:
6:15 a.m. Upon waking I was coming out of multiple scarry dreams. Felt very disoriented, slightly shakey and agitated. Was so disappointed to be feeling this way I was thinking, "maybe the tablets are not such a good idea and I should go back to capsules" and I wanted the feeling to be over with. Ate small amount of Cherrios and half a banana with skim milk. Took one 37.5 mg/tablet. When disorientation left then I went back to sleep for another 2 hours. Put soothing music on while I slept. Woke up and felt fine. The day has been very good and my state of mind and body very stable.
February 25, 2005:
6:30 p.m. - 37.5/mg tablet. About an hour before taking the medication my head starts to hurt--like a band is tightning around it. I'm tempted to just go ahead and take the Effexor, but wait it out until the scheduled time. I don't want to start taking it earlier and earlier like being on a merry-go-round--only in reverse! I take the med. at the right time. It's now 8:59 p.m. and I still have a headache. Not sure if its totally medication related or not (as we did eat supper kind of late). I'm drinking lots of water.Every time I tried to fall asleep I was awakened by something I was doing in a dream. Or I would feel like something sucked the breath out of my lungs and I would gasp for air. I just couldn't get past the initial dream state. At 1:00 a.m. I woke with a groogy/doopy mind and had a panic attack. I splashed cold water on my face, drank some iced water and watched some Christian T.V. for about 20 minutes out in the livingroom; I then decided I would stay and sleep on the couch. I think the panic really kicked in when I realized that it was Saturday and my doctor wouldn't be in if I wanted to contact him.
February 26, 2005 - Saturday
6:15 a.m. - took medicine and then went back to sleep until 10:00 a.m.!!! I started feeling "normal" around 1:00 p.m. I was REALLY tempted to take a capsule this morning since I didn't have unusually disturbing times getting to sleep (like last night) while taking them. But if I do that I will have no way to wean off. The rest of the day was very good.6:30 p.m. - Saturday
Took med. Great evening; accomplished a much needed to be done task. Had no problems going to sleep this time.February 27 - Sunday
6:30 a.m. - Sunday
Took med. Had a great sleep; woke and felt the best I have in a long time. I'm hoping this means my body has adjusted to the tablets and that I can start shaving some of the med. off sometime this week.6:30 p.m.
Sometime in the afternoon I had a panic attack, but it did not last long at all. Took the med. and felt fine the rest of the evening.February 28 - Monday to March 2 - Wednesday
Taking medication 37.5mg tablet/twice a day. I have had no more panic attacks in the night or day. There are vivid dreams every night--what else is new?! It seems that my body has now made the transition from capsules to tablets.
March 3, 2005: Thursday --- March 7, 2005: Monday
Still taking 37.5mg tablets once at 6:30 am and once at 6:30 pm. My body has totally adjusted to the tablets, no more trouble going to sleep and no more panic attacks.
March 8, 2005:Tuesday - Cut dosage
7:00 am - Took one 25mg/tablet plus (*)1/4 of a 37.5mg tablet.By taking one 25mg/tablet plus 9.375mg (1/4 of the 37.5mg) = 34.375mg/twice a day or 68.75 per day. That is a 6.25mg decrease from 75mg for the entire day or 8.335% decrease which is in the range of a 5-10% dose reduction that I have seen many other folks doing who are tapering slowly like me. This is WAY better for me than reducing dosages in half like most doctors will tell you to do.
(*)Here is how I divided the dose of 37.5mg into fourths:--Put a tablet on some freezer wrap.
--Crushed the tablet into a *fine* powder.
--Using a knife with a very sharp thin blade I formed the powder into a rectangle making sure that the medication was *evenly* distributed on all sides and height wise. This took me about 1/2 hour to get it just so.
--Divide the rectangle of med. into 4 equal parts.Took only one of the four equal parts (I scraped it onto a spoonful of applesauce and I also took my 25mg tablet with applesauce inorder to get the medication down smoothly. (Effexor tablets are extremely bitter so you don't want them sticking to your mouth or throat.)
Drank a glass of water.Scraped each of the 3 remaining individual equal parts *separately* in 3 different containers. I'm using empty pill bottles that I washed and dryed thoroughly. (Saving the medication will save me the effort of having to crush and divide the Effexor every day and night.)
(Next time instead of putting the 1/4 dose in applesauce, I may try adding juice to the bottles and drink the medication out of that just to make sure I get all the powder out. Then I will wash and dry the bottle for the next time I have to store a 1/4 dose in it.)
It is now 10:00am and I feel just fine.
poster:Readersleaders
thread:468296
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20050228/msgs/468296.html