Posted by Ted Toal on January 5, 2002, at 11:00:44
I was on Effexor XR for a couple months or so, and experienced some nasty side effects including a strange dizziness when moving my eyes. I went off it and probably didn't do it slowly enough: I experienced a scary zapping noise when I moved my eyes suddenly at night in bed. It was so scary I got out of bed and online, and came across this web site, and was relieved when I learned that other people experienced similar sensations going off Effexor.
It has now been over a year since I was on Effexor. The side effects subsided almost completely, but there is one thing I still notice that now seems to be getting worse. The sound I heard when I moved my eyes gradually became less frequent and less intensive, but never went away. After hearing it many times, I have now become aware that it seems to be caused by a skipped heartbeat, or an unusual heartbeat, and I'm actually hearing a change in the sound of my bloodflow for that heartbeat, a sort of small jerk sound. Because this sound has evolved from something that started with Effexor, I'm thinking that maybe Effexor had a permanent long-term effect on my heart. Has anyone else who has taken Effexor noticed any similar sounds upon awakening at night time (that's the only time I hear these sounds)?
There is a second sound, a tick-tick-tick that usually comes in sets of 2 or 3 ticks, that I occasionally hear, and that I eventually decided was also a strange heartbeat. I had an echocardiogram and it was normal. I really don't know what to make of these sounds. After steadily decreasing following withdrawal from Effexor, the small jerk sound now seems to be becoming frequent. Its relation to eye motion became less and less until now I don't think it is related to eye motion any more, it's just sort of random when it will occur.
poster:Ted Toal
thread:88837
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020103/msgs/88837.html