Posted by ZeKingPrawn on January 5, 2002, at 17:53:47
I was looking for info about effexor and how to get off of it, and have read a lot of negative things about it. Here is a positive story. Two things I think that are very important that I don't think a lot of people do:
1. Find a good doctor who
[a] gives a shit,
[b] is familiar with your type of depression and causes (mine stems from partying like a rock star from 15-25 years old. You know, flooding the brain with chemicals while it is still developing)
[c] is open to different approaches
2. Stay in touch with this doctor and tell him how you are responding. These people who quit cold turkey or are more depressed than ever are not communicating with their doctors. Prozac was my first try. Then I went to effexor which didn't help either at the first dose of 150mg, but doubled to 300mg worked like a charm3. Therapy alongside. I know this can be expensive, but it makes the drugs SO MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE. Most insurance companies will only pay for 20 visits - go once every two weeks for two hours - that's forty out of the fifty two.
I have taken Effexor for 2 years and it didn't "save my life", but it made it a lot better. I went from being chronically sad, and above all philosophically depressed (life is pointless, nothing means anything) to being able to laugh at the same things that brought me down.
If effexor doesn't work, don't give up and think that it is an inherently evil drug. To use an analogy, think of the nerves and wiring in your brain as a machine that is not functioning properly. To repair it, you have to find the right tools. You don't curse the flathead screw driver that won't turn the phillips screw, you get a phillips head screwdriver
Hope; this helps someone
poster:ZeKingPrawn
thread:88901
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020103/msgs/88901.html