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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by pellmell on July 11, 2001, at 20:01:44
Hello all,
..sigh.. Okay. I'm on Effexor XR, 150mg/day taken in the morning. I've been taking it for five or six weeks now, at this dose for three or four of them.
My anxiety lifted significantly during my first week on the drug, and it hasn't quite come back... but it's done nothing so far for my symptoms of depression. It might even be making them worse. I'm posting here hoping you can help me figure out whether it is.
You see, two of my major symptoms of depression (dysthima?) are mild social anxiety and feeling slow-brained and stupid, not feeling able to make the connections required to keep up quality banter or do any intellectual lifting. The social anxeity isn't bad enough to keep me hiding inside, but it is enough to make me sit there quietly among friends (and even my girlfriend), feeling like worthless company, not able to participate very well in conversation. Before I started Effexor (on a trial of Remeron, in fact) I felt a whole lot more anxious, but my brain would at least break through with witty rejoinders and such from time to time. On Effexor I'm feeling even more slowbrained and dumb, and I'm still not making those connections.
I've been on Prozac and Zoloft in the past, and both have made me feel sharper and more happy and open. Effexor isn't doing that at all. I stopped taking Prozac because I thought it was making me apathetic and detaching me from reality (like, I didn't care that I was being a terribly awful college student). At least I was smart on the stuff, though.
So what do you think? How likely is it that Effexor is causing this dumbness? I see my pdoc again in a week and a half. Do you think I should try a dosage increase before I give up on it?
It's odd that both of the SSRIs I've been on have unlocked my wit, but Effexor (which at 150mg is inhibiting 5HT reuptake almost exclusively, same as the SSRIs) seems to have closed another latch on it.
Thanks so much for your advice,
-pm
Posted by Janelle on July 11, 2001, at 20:27:12
In reply to Effexor XR and feeling slowbrained, posted by pellmell on July 11, 2001, at 20:01:44
Hi,
I've just started EffexorXR and well, it sux so far. I titrated up to 150 mg and felt worse and worse in terms of both depression and anxiety, so my pdoc had me cut back to 75 mg until next appointment.
I am also feeling foggy, light-headed, slow-brained, apathetic, lethargic, yet anxious with racing thoughts at the same time. Weird, huh?!
I hate to say it, and this is based ONLY on MY limited experience with Effexor, but it could be causing your slow-brained "dumbness" as you put it. I'm sure you are NOT dumb; the med may be making you feel that way. I also felt foggy, heavy headed and dumb on Celexa, but was sharp as a tack on Paxil but I think I was on it too long and it lost its effectiveness.
I would say do NOT try a dosage increase without talking to your doctor; if your doc agrees, then go for it (increase to what the doc says), see how it feels before you give up on it. ALSO - 150 mg is the therapeutic dose for EffexorXR, so you probably shouldn't go up much further anyway, at least not for a prolonged time.
Since I got worse as I increased EffexorXR (and the one day I was on 150 was horrible; that day I phoned the doc with an SOS call), I will probably go off Effexor and try something else.
I think I have "problems" with SSRI's that do a lot to norepinephrine. I was better on Celexa, but that's not saying much.
I can't tell how much of my "stuff" is depression versus anxiety. Ackkkkkk!
Good luck, and talk to your doc before increasing the Effexor (or changing dose of any med for that matter!) - Janelle
Posted by SalArmy4me on July 11, 2001, at 22:59:10
In reply to Effexor XR and feeling slowbrained, posted by pellmell on July 11, 2001, at 20:01:44
Take your Effexor all at bedtime to minimize daytime side-effects.
Posted by pellmell on July 12, 2001, at 13:57:35
In reply to Re: Effexor XR and feeling slowbrained, posted by Janelle on July 11, 2001, at 20:27:12
Funny... I felt a little better after posting my worries about my meds, and today I feel a lot less foggy. I hope it continues.
And, as SalArmy advised, I may try taking that red capsule at bedtime instead. I'm not sure if that's going to work for me, though, because while I was getting used to the stuff it was sedating, but now it seems to be activating.
-pm
This is the end of the thread.
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