i'm going to clarify something about myself.

i am here to give support and ask for support.

i am not arguing or countering with any experts here. i'm stating what has happened to me and telling a poster about a life-changing experience that i had with effexorxr. and i have great empathy for Olivia and have demonstrated that in various ways. (and for anyone who has problems/questions about these meds)

i detailed the weight loss, while on it, i detailed how it made my head feel and i've talked about the hell of getting off of it.

last time i checked, we have freedom of speech here. i've taken the drug. i can talk about the drug. and i will talk about the drug. it almost killed me. i went from a size 6 pants to a size 0.....if i prevent one person from going through what i went through......99.9% of the others are safe, right?

i didn't even disagree with those statstics in this thread. because i don't have a dog in that hunt. i don't prescribe meds.

i do agree with Alex pointing out that drug companies pay for those studies. i am presently working as a therapist for geriatric patients, i married a doctor, i worked in a psych hospital, i worked in an emergency room......i know how those studies and the med companies that pay for them work. i may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night.

i wasn't in a "blind study" or any other clinical study. i was on my own, without the support of the doctor who put me on it and i suffered. no one interviewed me after my experience.

how hard is it for someone to understand that those who have taken the drug, and had to take most of a year out of their life to get off of it, know more about the withdrawal than those who read about it?

i do not counter views. i keep presenting what happened to me. and i will not be sweeping such a bad experience under the rug.

Doc John has never said a word to me about discussing our experiences with our meds... he pays the cost to be the boss.....so, i will report to him any future communications about this thread.

and i want to state that i do not want to argue, i don't deserve lectures and i will believe what i believe about effexorxr.......