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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Buckeye Fan on April 23, 2004, at 12:18:52
I am curious.
What is the reason(s) for quitting Anti-Depressant?I have my own reasons for wanting to stop....but
other than if they have ceased to be effective...why quit?
Posted by ku4ns on April 23, 2004, at 15:28:42
In reply to EFFEXOR XR WTHDRAWL, posted by Buckeye Fan on April 23, 2004, at 12:18:52
My heart rate (100)remained high while on the effexor. If not for the increased heart rate I would have been happy to stay on the drug for a longer period. Now i'm on prozac an its working well for me, but I still would like to stop all medications that I do not really need. I guess I won't know if I really need it until I try to stop. John
Posted by T_R_D on April 26, 2004, at 13:00:28
In reply to EFFEXOR XR WTHDRAWL, posted by Buckeye Fan on April 23, 2004, at 12:18:52
> I am curious.
> What is the reason(s) for quitting Anti-Depressant?
>
> I have my own reasons for wanting to stop....but
> other than if they have ceased to be effective...why quit?I've quit with side effects being too much to bear and also to try and find if there's "something better" out there (i.e. a form of the drug no working.)
I've never had any other problems with compliance. Once I realized how important these drugs are to my functioning you couldn't tear them from my hands! That is unless they found a cure for bipolar disorder!
Posted by Buckeye Fan on April 27, 2004, at 6:25:51
In reply to Re: EFFEXOR XR WTHDRAWL, posted by T_R_D on April 26, 2004, at 13:00:28
Well,
I tried to quit cold turkey last week....
OUCH!@
Needless to say, I failed~ I got these "buzzings" in my head every time I moved...I was anxious as could be...I felt flashes of anger at times ( bordering on RAGE)
I just felt terrible!!!!Is this normal?
I take 150 MG per day for about a yer.Buckeye Fan
Posted by T_R_D on April 27, 2004, at 10:47:05
In reply to Re: EFFEXOR XR WTHDRAWL, posted by Buckeye Fan on April 27, 2004, at 6:25:51
> Well,
> I tried to quit cold turkey last week....
> OUCH!@
> Needless to say, I failed~ I got these "buzzings" in my head every time I moved...I was anxious as could be...I felt flashes of anger at times ( bordering on RAGE)
> I just felt terrible!!!!
>
> Is this normal?
> I take 150 MG per day for about a yer.
>
> Buckeye FanYep, all of those things can happen--and did happen to me although I didn't get rage as an emotion but severe depression and anxiety...lots of crying jags too. Cold turkey is brutal. You need to taper down slowly and then once off the drug completely, take Prozac for about three days. That's what I did and it drastically reduced the emotional, psychic problems...the brain zaps and that. For the flu-like symptoms I took Benadryl.
Posted by Buckeye Fan on April 27, 2004, at 11:12:18
In reply to Re: EFFEXOR XR WTHDRAWL, posted by T_R_D on April 27, 2004, at 10:47:05
> > Well,
> > I tried to quit cold turkey last week....
> > OUCH!@
> > Needless to say, I failed~ I got these "buzzings" in my head every time I moved...I was anxious as could be...I felt flashes of anger at times ( bordering on RAGE)
> > I just felt terrible!!!!
> >
> > Is this normal?
> > I take 150 MG per day for about a yer.
> >
> > Buckeye Fan
>
> Yep, all of those things can happen--and did happen to me although I didn't get rage as an emotion but severe depression and anxiety...lots of crying jags too. Cold turkey is brutal. You need to taper down slowly and then once off the drug completely, take Prozac for about three days. That's what I did and it drastically reduced the emotional, psychic problems...the brain zaps and that. For the flu-like symptoms I took Benadryl.
>
>
*******************************************Thanks.
Just wanted to know I wasnt the only one.
I also have a follow up question....what are the "side effects" I read others posting about while ON Effexor?I assume they are referring to more than the initial side effects when first starting the drug, or changing the dose ..right?
It seems as tho they are refering to ongoing side -effects that never end...maybe I have some that I dont realize! Can anyone help with this question?
Posted by T_R_D on April 27, 2004, at 16:28:23
In reply to Re: EFFEXOR XR WTHDRAWL, posted by Buckeye Fan on April 27, 2004, at 11:12:18
Sure! Everyone is different but I can tell you what I've experienced on the drug. Granted I was at 375mg with an augmentation drug added so that's pretty heavy. I believe 375mg is the max. therapeutic dosage in an outpatient setting. I'm a small-ish female if that also has anything to do with it. Maybe not but I suspect I was a pretty fast metabolizer because if I missed a dose I would experience some pretty awful stuff. This would be exacerbated with alcohol intake as well.
But while I adhered to my regular dosing schedule the worst was probably lack of sex drive and anorgasmia. Granted the lack of drive could have been attributed to my underlying depression at the time. I suspect that is the case. What else? Ah yes, myoclonus--my legs mostly. They would jump or twitch for a second and that was it. In general since I've been on meds, any meds, I sometimes have minor aphasic problems where I forget what a person or thing is called, call things by the wrong name, I stutter and I also have problems writing: I reverse letters and numbers all the time. It's frustrating but what am I going to do, right? Effexor makes me yawn a lot too!
When the bad missed dose/alcoholic nights would occur I would have extremely vivid nightmares, night sweats, violent full body spasms, sleep paralysis, spontaneous orgams and seizures. The clue to the latter was my loss of bladder control while sleeping.
Now extreme warning to everyone: I am a freak and have been known to suffer the rarest of the rare side effects while on meds (see spontaneous orgasm.) The joke is that that's a bonus not a problem but sexual arousal and orgasm combined with gore and horror was too much for my little psyche to bear. I would be drained and "hungover" the next day...perhaps similar to what seizure disordered people feel like after nocturnal seizures. For all I know, some of that kicking and flailing could have been seizure related too. We'll probably never know as the only things noted have been simple partial seizures when I am unmedicated. Anticonvulsants take care of those now.
So, how's that for an answer!
Karen
This is the end of the thread.
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