Posted by rmshed on June 14, 2001, at 17:54:44
In reply to positive on Effexor + don't want to stop!, posted by Emmah on June 14, 2001, at 12:18:11
> Hi everyone,
>
> I am new here. Well new, I have been reading a lot of your messages over the past few months, but this is my first post.
>
> I am from The Netherlands and am being treated by my family doctor for dysthymia. I have been taking Effexor XR 150 mg for a year and a half, and I consider myself very lucky that it kicked in from the first day and with no side effects whatsoever.
>
> But now I am doing fine, my doc thinks my dysthymia is under control and I can do without meds because my body can do it on it's own again, so he lowered my dose from 150 mg XR to 75 mg XR last january, and it was hell. He was very surprised by that and let me go back to 150 mg XR. A few weeks later I had to try it again, in smaller steps, now from 150 mg XR to 1x 75 mg XR + 1x 37,5 mg non-XR. And it was hell again. Changing to 3x 37,5 mg non-XR made me feel a little better, which was not possible according to my doctor because the amount of mg was still 112,5, but it really did. Then I went from 3x 37,5 mg to 2x 37,5 mg and the misery started all over again. And I went back to 3 tablets a day again.
>
> I feel so tired of all that trying and feeling miserable again. I had some capsules of 150 mg XR and 75 mg XR left and I decided I have had enough of this shit and 10 days ago I put myself on 150 mg XR a day again. And the day I did that, I started living again. So I have been wondering: could it be that I respond more to the noradrenalinic effect of Effexor than to the serotinergic effect? I have read somewhere on this board that with higher doses the noradrenalinic effect increases, so maybe that is why a decrease of just 37,5 mg already makes me feel so miserable? Do you know at what dosage the noradrenalinic effect starts to attribute to the effect of Effexor? And I would also like to know what treatment should be given after a doc considers your dysthymia under control. From what I've read about it, not much is known about dysthymia and it's treatment, let alone about maintenance treatment. I cannot seem to convince him that without these meds at a high enough dose I don't feel up to getting a job and having a socal life. My next appointment is on june 26th, and I hope you can help me with these questions because I really need to convince him. I am not prepared to spend any more time of my life feeling miserable than I have already, because I now know how much better I can feel with the right dosage of Effexor.
>
> Thanks for listening to my long story,
>
> EmmahI really can relate to what you are saying. If you are doing well on the Effexor and you are happy with the quality of life that you have with it and if the doctor that you are currently going to doesn't want you to be on it. Ask the doctor "WHY" and be persistent. If you feel that he has made a decision as to how he wants to treat you regardless of how you feel, you might want to get another opinion from another doctor. I have a doctor who has kept me on Xanax for 12 years, I had severe panic attacks then, but they are in remission. I know that I am addicted to xanax and it is very hard for me to cut down on it. If my doctor decided that he didn't want to prescribe it anymore, I would probably end up in drug rehab or something. I try not to worry about that. My argument with my doctor, is, I would rather have 5-10 decent years left of life, than 20-30 miserable years. This may sound extreme. But I get irritated when a doctor tells me that I don't need any medication for panic attacks. Let us know what happens. Best of Luck, I start effexor xr this weekend and I am terrified. I guess I have been reading too much on it. Becky
poster:rmshed
thread:66461
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010612/msgs/66505.html