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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 15 of 15. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by NZgirl on December 1, 2005, at 19:34:08
I have been reading discussion boards like this avidly now for about a month. It has been a huge help and support to know that others have expereinced what I have been going through with this awful drug. I was only on Effexor 75mg for 3 weeks, yet the side effects were horrific (chronic insomnia, nausea, migraines, fatigue) that I demanded my doctor take me off it.
She offered me a reduction schedule that lasted 5 days! and after 2 days I rang her and told her I would be doing my own reduction over the next month. What followed was one of the worst months of my life. I had one week off work and I have never been so sick in my life, vomiting, diareaha, nausea, painful heaadaches that dont respond to medication, fatigue, ringing in my ears. I had to go and stay at my mums and was completed incapacitated at times. I stablised on a lower dose so I could return to work, and decided to reduce my dose slightly every Friday and try and cop the worst of it over the weekend. I managed this for 3 weeks and went to work every day with these painful headaches and awful nausea. Nothing I took for the headaches helped, but ginger did help for the nausea.
I took my last Effexor dose 7 days ago. It was a a very low dose of 10 of those little balls from the XR capsule - equivalent of about 3 gms of the drug. I felt ok for the first 3 days, the physical withdrawals more or less have gone, but the last 3 days I have been "out of control". My emotions are all over the place, I cant stop crying, I am having suicidal thoughts (not that I am planning to follow through on them), I feel desperate and have not been able to go to work this week.
Is this normal? Did anyone else feel like this in the first week coming off the drug? How long does it last? I know that my doctor would say it is the depression symptoms returning but I know that is not the case - I did NOT feel like this before starting on Effexor. My doctors are ill informed about the side effects of taking this drug and coming off it and I feel that they think I have exaggerated the effects I have experienced the last month. It makes me so mad.
Anyway, thanks for reading, and all replies very much appreciated.
Posted by sassie on December 2, 2005, at 21:25:54
In reply to Effexor withdrawal and side effects, posted by NZgirl on December 1, 2005, at 19:34:08
im going through effexor withdrawal right now as well and its awful. i was only on it for a couple weeks and i demanded my doc take me off of it because i knew i was headed for trouble. it completely numbed all my emotions, made me not care about anything, and confused me and affected my decision making ability; also i felt physically sick and overtired and had horrible headaches.
but now the withdrawal is even worse- i eased off of it from 75 to 37.5 mg and have been off it completely for 3 days. i am now an emotional wreck- sobbing all the time. i also have horrible dizziness and tiredness and im worried in going to faint. is this normal? cuz my doc thinks im exaggerating. someone please help, any advice would be appreciated, im desperate. and its only going to get worse cuz my docs going to start reducing my wellbutrin in a couple days . . .
Posted by NZgirl on December 3, 2005, at 18:49:39
In reply to Re: Effexor withdrawal and side effects, posted by sassie on December 2, 2005, at 21:25:54
It sounds like you are reducing too quickly - I was only on the drug for 3 weeks but it took me 4 weeks to get off it!
It is now 10 days since I stopped Effexor. The uncontrollable sobbing lasted about 4 days. I am still getting headaches but they are a walk in the park compared to the ones I had while withdrawing. I felt pretty good yesterday, but have felt tired and nauseous today.
My advice to anyone trying to withdraw - if your doctor tells you to decrease over a matter of days, or to just stop taking Effexor altogether "Do not listen to them! They dont know what they are talking about!!" Listen to the people who have had to go through this before you. I have found doctors to be of no use at all through this experience.
Here is my advice for what it is worth:
1. Reduce very very slowly - I was only on the drug 3 weeks, yet it took me nearly 4 weeks to get off it! Go figure! If you are on a high dose and have been taking the drug for more than a few months, you will need to reduce over a period of a few months or even more.
2. Reduce your dose by about 10 - 15% if you can handle it, and stay there for 2 weeks before reducing again.
3. Dont listen to doctors who tell you to take the med every second or third day - when you do this you will just send your body into withdrawal. Because of the low half life of Effexor you will most probably start to feel sick if you miss a day.It is much better to take it every day and lower the dosage over time.
4. I have heard that the lower reductions just before you stop altogethr can be more horrible than the bigger ones - you may need to decrease more slowly as you get closer to coming off the drug completely. This means you will need to cut up pills, or break open the capsules.The last week or so of my reduction went like this.
I opened the 75 mg XR release capsule and counted the granules - there were about 250, which meant roughly 3.3 granules was equal to 1 gram of the drug. On Friday I took 40 granules, Saturday 35 granules, Sunday 30 granules etc until the last day I took 10 granules.
The doctors will tell you not to do this but it is the only way I could get the doses small enough. Make sure you dont break or crush the granules - carefully pop them on your tongue and swallow with some water or put them in a teaspoon of yoghurt or something.
Make sure you always eat and drink a big glass of water.
5. Other things that helped:
- Ginger for nausea - it doesnt take it away completely but does take the edge off
- Benedryl(diphenhydramine hydrocholoride). Depending on the country you are in it is sold as an antihistamine, or an OTC sleeping aid. These did seem to help me with the headaches and sleeping at night.
- I've seen other postings where people recommend taking fish oil supplements, which I did, but I dont know if it helped any. I'm sure its good for me anyways.To all of you trying to deal with this horrible drug, be gentle with yourself - you may need to take time off work - personally I have had to take 8 days off work because of Effexor - I'm lucky I have an understanding boss.
Good luck everyone - you will get through this. Take care
Posted by alexandra_k on December 4, 2005, at 20:24:16
In reply to Effexor withdrawal and side effects, posted by NZgirl on December 1, 2005, at 19:34:08
hiya.
are you from NZ?
where abouts?
(if you don't mind me asking)
i think...
that makes two of us :-)
Posted by ReadersLeaders on December 4, 2005, at 22:58:14
In reply to Effexor withdrawal and side effects, posted by NZgirl on December 1, 2005, at 19:34:08
Even though you were taking the medication for 3 weeks, you still needed to go slower on the amount you cut each time and the amount of time in between. Tapering should be done by taking only 5%-10% off of your dose each time and then staying at that new dose until you feel completely stable (this usually means waiting anywhere from 2 1/2 - 4 weeks).
Unfortunately you cannot just stop taking Effexor, even at 10mg. Effexor does come in tablet form--25mg, 37.5mg, 50mg, 75mg & 100mg. You can buy a "pill splitter" and reduce your dose that way.
Everyone is so different on how long withdrawal will last. One thing is for sure---you are not exaggerating what you are experiencing---it is all too real!
RL
> I have been reading discussion boards like this avidly now for about a month. It has been a huge help and support to know that others have expereinced what I have been going through with this awful drug. I was only on Effexor 75mg for 3 weeks, yet the side effects were horrific (chronic insomnia, nausea, migraines, fatigue) that I demanded my doctor take me off it.
>
> She offered me a reduction schedule that lasted 5 days! and after 2 days I rang her and told her I would be doing my own reduction over the next month. What followed was one of the worst months of my life. I had one week off work and I have never been so sick in my life, vomiting, diareaha, nausea, painful heaadaches that dont respond to medication, fatigue, ringing in my ears. I had to go and stay at my mums and was completed incapacitated at times. I stablised on a lower dose so I could return to work, and decided to reduce my dose slightly every Friday and try and cop the worst of it over the weekend. I managed this for 3 weeks and went to work every day with these painful headaches and awful nausea. Nothing I took for the headaches helped, but ginger did help for the nausea.
>
> I took my last Effexor dose 7 days ago. It was a a very low dose of 10 of those little balls from the XR capsule - equivalent of about 3 gms of the drug. I felt ok for the first 3 days, the physical withdrawals more or less have gone, but the last 3 days I have been "out of control". My emotions are all over the place, I cant stop crying, I am having suicidal thoughts (not that I am planning to follow through on them), I feel desperate and have not been able to go to work this week.
>
> Is this normal? Did anyone else feel like this in the first week coming off the drug? How long does it last? I know that my doctor would say it is the depression symptoms returning but I know that is not the case - I did NOT feel like this before starting on Effexor. My doctors are ill informed about the side effects of taking this drug and coming off it and I feel that they think I have exaggerated the effects I have experienced the last month. It makes me so mad.
>
> Anyway, thanks for reading, and all replies very much appreciated.
Posted by ReadersLeaders on December 4, 2005, at 23:06:53
In reply to Re: Effexor withdrawal and side effects, posted by sassie on December 2, 2005, at 21:25:54
Oh, no, you also tapered way too fast. You can't cut doseages by 50% with any anti-depressant or you will start to go into withdrawals. You never stabilized at 37.50 and then you stopped taking it all together, that's why you are so sick. You need to restart the medication at 37.50 (or even go up to 50mg) and stay there until you feel better. Then start reducing your med. MUCH slower and with SMALLER cuts. See my note to the original poster of this thread.
RL
> im going through effexor withdrawal right now as well and its awful. i was only on it for a couple weeks and i demanded my doc take me off of it because i knew i was headed for trouble. it completely numbed all my emotions, made me not care about anything, and confused me and affected my decision making ability; also i felt physically sick and overtired and had horrible headaches.
> but now the withdrawal is even worse- i eased off of it from 75 to 37.5 mg and have been off it completely for 3 days. i am now an emotional wreck- sobbing all the time. i also have horrible dizziness and tiredness and im worried in going to faint. is this normal? cuz my doc thinks im exaggerating. someone please help, any advice would be appreciated, im desperate. and its only going to get worse cuz my docs going to start reducing my wellbutrin in a couple days . . .
Posted by sassie on December 4, 2005, at 23:41:18
In reply to Re: Effexor withdrawal and side effects, posted by ReadersLeaders on December 4, 2005, at 23:06:53
thanks for the replies! it makes me feel so much better to know that my symptoms are normal. my doctors make me so angry- they didn't even really believe me when i told them what i was feeling.
im definitely starting to feel better- my emotions are more under control, im less depressed, and the dizzy spells are almost gone.
now i just have to get off of my wellbutrin. my doctor dropped my dose from 150mg xl (the all day version) to 100mg sr( only 12 hour). so far i feel ok but its only the first day. any idea if this is too fast? a few weeks ago my doc dropped me from 300mg xl to 150mg xl and i barely got out of bed for 3 days. so hopefully that won't happen again ... thanks again for the help!
Posted by tizza on December 5, 2005, at 2:07:36
In reply to Effexor withdrawal and side effects, posted by NZgirl on December 1, 2005, at 19:34:08
I have been off effexor xr for about 3 months now. Just hang in there, it gets better with time. I know what you're going through
Posted by NZgirl on December 6, 2005, at 3:38:49
In reply to Re: Effexor withdrawal and side effects » NZgirl, posted by alexandra_k on December 4, 2005, at 20:24:16
> hiya.
> are you from NZ?
> where abouts?
> (if you don't mind me asking)
> i think...
> that makes two of us :-)Yes, I am - In goood ol Auckland, what about you?
Posted by NZgirl on December 6, 2005, at 3:56:33
In reply to effexor withdrawal to wellbutrin withdrawal, posted by sassie on December 4, 2005, at 23:41:18
Yes, to say that I am angry is an understatement - FURIOUS and LIVID gets closer to it. I had a meeting with my doctors about a week ago and took in a copy of the 4 week reduction schedule I followed (which yes I agree it was probaably a little too fast but the side effects of continuing to take it were just as bad - I needed to get off it asap).
When I showed them the schedule they looked at me like I had 2 heads and expressed their extreme surprise that I had been forced to do this. Apparently my reaction and experience to taking and coming off the drug are "completely unexpected and ABNORMAL". I looked at them and said "You should try going to google and typing the words "effexor withdrawal" and you will see thousands of people all around the world going through the same horrific experience"... more blank stares. They are so useless it makes me sick.
For the record I am now 12 days since the last 3mg dose and I'm still getting headahces, nausea and tiredness, but thankfully the horrible out of control sobbing attacks have stopped - If I hadnt read someone elses post on another board explaining that this is a common reaction when coming off the drug, I would seriously have thought I was losing my mind.
hang in there everyone - it really does get better. Make the most of your close friends and family, use their help and support - show them posts like this so they can get some understanding of what you are going through (they can never FULLY get it, but it will help)
To answer your qeustion, yes, I think your reduction is too quick - most of the sites I've visited suggest anywhere from 5 - 15% max at a time. Everyone one is differnt, try a smaller reduction for a few weeks and see how you feel before attempting another. I have also heard stories of some peoplw who manage to reduce in 37.5 gm increments before stopping completely - god knows how - that wouldnt work for me at all. Good luck
> thanks for the replies! it makes me feel so much better to know that my symptoms are normal. my doctors make me so angry- they didn't even really believe me when i told them what i was feeling.
> im definitely starting to feel better- my emotions are more under control, im less depressed, and the dizzy spells are almost gone.
> now i just have to get off of my wellbutrin. my doctor dropped my dose from 150mg xl (the all day version) to 100mg sr( only 12 hour). so far i feel ok but its only the first day. any idea if this is too fast? a few weeks ago my doc dropped me from 300mg xl to 150mg xl and i barely got out of bed for 3 days. so hopefully that won't happen again ... thanks again for the help!
Posted by alexandra_k on December 6, 2005, at 14:05:47
In reply to Re: Effexor withdrawal and side effects, posted by NZgirl on December 6, 2005, at 3:38:49
> Yes, I am - In goood ol Auckland, what about you?
:-)
Hamilton
(Though I'd rather live in Auckland)
Hey...
You never used to post to bpd.net did you?
Just asking because I used to post to that site but then it went down and I haven't found anyone from there online since...Have a good day
Posted by Liz7711 on December 8, 2005, at 6:44:17
In reply to Re: Effexor withdrawal and side effects » NZgirl, posted by alexandra_k on December 6, 2005, at 14:05:47
Hi, well I'm finally going off Effexor. I started taking it 2 years ago. It worked good for me, helped with anxiety, kept me from feeling rage, especially helped me deal with my 5 year old!
But now i'm trying to just go natural, and clean out my system. My doctor said to go down to 75 for 2 weeks (I was taking 150), then stop. So that's what I did. I had heard of people having problems, but I had also heard of people who did NOT have problems, so I was hoping to be among the lucky ones. Not to be. My last dose of 75 mg was last Thursday. Friday and Saturday morning were fine, no feelings of withdrawal at all. Then it started Saturday evening with extreme crying, and all day Sunday I was crying, dizzy, nauseous, slept alot too, hot and cold. I was thinking that I could hang in there, perhaps it would just last a couple days. Finally, last night (Tuesday) after two more days of not being able to move out of the bed without spinning, crying, feeling so weak and sick and having to have my brother watch my daughter, I decided to go back on.
Since I had already been off completely for 5 days, I decided to open the capsule and take 1/4 of the 75 mg capsule. It was about 50 beads, I think about 18 mg. That was about 6:30 pm last night, and today I feel sooooooooooo much better. The main thing is not being dizzy anymore. My stomach is not totally good, but at least I can eat. And I can drive and do basic self and household care! It still hurts to look at too much light, like this screen!
My plan is to stay at 18 mg for at least a week, then go down a few mg for another week or two, and on down until I'm basically just down to 2 or 3 mg and then quit. Hopefully that will help my body adjust. I'm also taking milk thistle to help the liver detox. I'm thankful I didn't have the brain zaps...at least not yet!
It's been hell though, this drug is way too powerful...I hope we can all be completely healed of its' effects. ONce I'm off entirely i'm going to go through a detox program to clean my whole system--uggghh...just too many toxins over the years. I agree 100% with those who have recommended finding natural ways to deal with depression/anxiety.
By the way to you Kiwis...when I was about 10 years old I lived in Singapore for 2 years and traveled to NZ, had many kiwi friends. I can honestly say that new Zealand is the most beautiful country I've ever been to. That said, although I live in the US, i've never been to the amazing sites in the US, so maybe I'd take that back, but I doubt it. Anyway, good on ya!
Liz
Posted by sassie on December 8, 2005, at 11:31:29
In reply to Re: effexor withdrawal to wellbutrin withdrawal » sassie, posted by NZgirl on December 6, 2005, at 3:56:33
just wanted to report that i'm doing a lot better. i've been a mess the past month or two between coming off some of my wellbutrin and going on and off effexor. i'm now on wellbutrin sr 100 mg once a day- no more feelings of withdrawal and overall i just feel more positive and energetic than i have a long time. the only problem is some edginess i've been feeling- i have anxiety as well as depression and wellbutrin tends to bring that out. so i hope to go off the rest of the wellbutrin soon, but for now i'm just happy to be relatively stable again. i hope everything works out as well for the rest of you as it has for me!
ps- in terms of experiencing dizziness coming of effexor, i was speaking to my therapist, and one of her patients had to be hospitalized for her withdrawal. she was so dizzy she couldn't even walk to the bathroom without falling over. its pretty scary what ignorant doctors can do to their patients.
Posted by NZgirl on December 8, 2005, at 15:49:53
In reply to doing better, posted by sassie on December 8, 2005, at 11:31:29
Hi everyone. I'm glad you are all doing better. For the record, I am now exactly 2 weeks Effexor free. I cannot believe that a drug I took for 3 weeks took me 4 weeks to get off, and is still affecting me. It has turned my life upside down!!
For the most part I am going about my daily business, but I am still getting those awful Effexor headaches (you know the ones I mean!) in the afternoon and evenings, and still feeling very tired. I had Chronic fatigue 2 years ago, and I am certain Effexor has caused a minor relapse in this. The insomnia is still pretty bad, and I still feel emotional at times.
My heart goes out to anyone trying to deal with this - it is truly the most awful thing I have ever had to go through. It's so good that boards like this exist so we know we are not insane and can get the support of others. Take care everyone.
Posted by Jax on January 15, 2006, at 2:58:33
In reply to Re: Effexor withdrawal and side effects, posted by NZgirl on December 6, 2005, at 3:38:49
> > hiya.
> > are you from NZ?
> > where abouts?
> > (if you don't mind me asking)
> > i think...
> > that makes two of us :-)
>
> Yes, I am - In goood ol Auckland, what about you?
Ah - another Aucklander! I've been posting on and off this board for years and I don't think I've ever bumped into another kiwi.One question NZGirl - how did you manage to get Effexor since it's not subsidised by the Govt here? It must have cost you a lot.
cheers
Jax
This is the end of the thread.
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