Posted by Racer on December 17, 1999, at 4:17:09
In reply to RE: Racer and Effexor, posted by DC on December 15, 1999, at 16:15:54
> > Effexor XR fixes the high anxiety portion of the depression, but not the depression itself.
>
> That's very interesting. I always thought that effexor was one of the more stimulating AD's and hence more likely to cause anxiety. It made me anxious when I tried it. But a friend I know with depression and social phobia did very well on it. I wonder if I never got the dosage high enough. I know the Norephinephrine effect only occurs at higher doses. When did you notice the improvement in anxiety?Ack! I'm sorry, I used a generalization. I should have said that the Effexor XR worked for the anxiety portion of MY depression. One more of those "we all react differently" things.
As for your question: the anxiety effects happened literally right away. From the first dose I was MUCH calmer and better able to rest. Of course, for the first three days I was on it, I didn't sleep AT ALL. I lay in bed and rested, but didn't sleep at all at all. Not as in, "gee, seems like I didn't sleep a wink last night", but as in literally lay in bed and did not sleep, did not doze, did not drift along. Just lay there calmly fast awake. That was at 37.5 mg. Now I take 225 mg.
As for the anxiety, it's been totally gone since I've been on this. I moved to Effexor from Serzone, though, which was dreadful for me. It lowered my blood pressure, and increased my anxiety a huge amount. I couldn't keep food down, and could hardly walk across the room without falling over because my BP was somewhere around 80/50 or something ridiculous like that.
Here's a caveat, though: the Effexor is lowering my blood sugar, which lowers my energy and my lack of anxiety may be related to that. I'm living in the 40s most of the time, when normal is about 100. That's mg/Dl for those of you who like to know that sort of detail. Anyway, since my blood sugar is so very low, I can't say that this is a great solution, but at least it keeps me mostly functional.
Good luck.
poster:Racer
thread:16921
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19991212/msgs/17047.html