[dcdan]

just found this support group. need help guys. i

i was on effexor xr (150-225mg) for four years and have been withdrawing from effexor for 4 weeks. i have currently been on 75mg for three weeks. i got past the physical symptoms pretty quickly (brain shocks, etc.), but i have been crushed with these sudden, intolerable depressions with dysphoria and anxiety. my life is a panic hell....i feel like i am in some sort of torture chamber where everything i care about is made to look evil.

i am suffering so much. i really want to stay with this, for i am sick of drugs, especially this one. none of them seem to work and i am sick of giving these people money so that i can continue to suffer. also, this is the first time in twelve years i have attempted to be completely free of drugs. i almost wonder whether i still will recognize myself.

i really would like to talk to someone who has successfully come of effexor and leads a normal, happy, drug free life. has this ever been done?

[KatesShadow]

Hi dcdan....I was on Effexor in highshcool (just 6 short years ago) and when I came off of it it was HORRIBLE the worst feelings EVER. I had to literally wean myself off by taking like first a half of one for 2 weeks, then a quarter of one for 2 weeks, then an eight blah blah to were i was taking practically crumbs... A year later I hit an all time low and had to be put on Celexa, two years after that I tried to kill myself (the Celexa stopped working) and I am now on Wellbutrin XL....(sort of, see my post in Drugs)Point being in all of this, the withdraws of E SUCK, but they will end, it may take three months, but it will end. As far as living without meds, if you can do it, more power to you. If not, its ok. You would not deny yourself blood pressure medicine if you needed it, well, your brain may need seratonin help...and that is not a weakness. (preaching to you as well as to me!!) Hang in there, talk to your Pdoc if you need, and wean off that Effexor SLOWLY no matter what the dumb drs say, odds are they have never been on the meds!

[dcdan]

thanks, kate. i just need to know that i won't be feeling this bad for the rest of my life. when i am this depressed and frightened, it is hard not to convince myself that things will get better. it took you three months to get off it? i think i may have to take longer than that.....

[(JD)]

Welcome to PC. I took effexor for maybe 4 years??? or longer... (it caused skin discoloration and other sides I finally couldn't handle) withdrawing it did seem like a long time... at least 2 months? after OFF it, I would still have a "deja vu" type effect occur... ugh. (But it was the only a-d I could take at all!)

effexor almost killed me. i am very grateful that you are getting off of it. my pharmacist and i actually counted the little balls, in the capsules, so i could taper very slowly. it took me three months to get off of it. i had the "zaps" and my skull felt as if there were rocks rolling around in it...rubbing up against one another. it is not a good drug for some people. good luck, xoxoxo pat

I went off Effexor twice. The first time I went cold turkey (ummm....BAD mistake). It really was awful. I was never so crazy in my life. The second time my doc gave me some SSRI, maybe prozac, which I took through the withdrawal process. I had ZERO problems with getting off Effexor that time. Then once I was off Effexor, I could stop the Prozac which is not problem at all. If you are still sick, you may want to ask you doc for something similar.

Take care. Em

great post, ems. i had forgotten that some docs give the prozac. wish i had been given some of it......yuck.......

[spidertothefly]

I was effexored for nearly3 years. I took myself off it (we wont go into the nono's of that nor the whys) After some reading I found out that it stays in your system sometimes up to 9 months. The side effects gradually go away. I found that if I took 5htp it would boost my seratonin as well as a left over LOW dose of paxil or zoloft but those just helped the brain zaps.

After being off them several months I lost nearly 70 pounds, I know all that wasnt due to getting off the ssri but it sure did help.

Good luck
M~