Posted by JANNBEAU (homenym) on May 2, 2002, at 23:42:16
In reply to Re: Anyone had success on Effexor XR?, posted by troys on May 2, 2002, at 19:04:29
>Tim, yours is just the kind of case I was talking about earlier when I suggested that one of our members NOT take Effexor right now as a first line of treatment, but try to get therapy, only for a few weeks. Yours is a different case, with years of mental pain and depression, going on and on, the kind of case that meds may have been meant for. On the other hand, where might you have been if your docs had NEVER put you on these things?
I take Effexor XR for pain relief rather than depression, although I was depressed when I was in constant painand felt 100 years old all the time! I also take Fastin, a drug with similar CNS stimulative properties to Ritalin. Both Fastin and Ritalin have antidepressant effects and some physicians have said all of the SSRI's, at least, as well as Welbutrin are antidepressants only because they are stimulants! I don't pretend to know, but I know I feel better and so did you right after starting the Ritalin. I took my first diet pill at 19, when a well-meaning doctor gave me some powerful stuff for weight loss. It worked! but I believe that the dl-amphetamine in the medication changed my brain permanently (there is research to support this contention, although I came to it on my own). It changed my personality--and not for the better in some ways--I was shier and quieter, altogether more introverted, but I wasn't unhappy being that way, I was just too fat! The other thing it did to me was to me was make my brain exquisitely sensitive to whatever in other drugs make you sleepy, such as antihistamines and some antidepressants, so that, even on just 75 mg a day of Effexor, I cannot function. I had to beg my doctor to give me back my Fastin, too!
The amazing thing is that this drug inhibits pain, also (again, documented). With the low dose of effexor and a low dose of Fastin (about 15 to 20 mg per day--I've never had an urge to increase this dose- I have since been able to cut my Vicodin to 1 tablet a day. I also no longer take ibuprofen or Celebrex, which were responsible for my worsening asthma--a nightmare. These drugs have powerful effects on the CNS and sometimes they are not those that are expected! Very few psychiatrists or pain management specialist know of the pain relieving effect stimulants. Finally, I notice that hydrocodone and codeine also wake me up, with codeine making me "nervous-- Elizabeth, if you're reading this -HI! CNS drugs are funny things. Perhaps we're even seeing an interaction between the cns stims and Effexor that actually increases the efficaciousness of Effexor. Doses may need to be adjusted. Be very careful, however, not to mix certain drugs with Effexor. I seem to have suffered a terrible case of Serotonin Syndrome whe one doctor put me on Effexor and Ultram at the same time. All this is the reason I caution against beginning CNS active meds if one can possibly wait it out! All these drugs make me feel as if my life is run by medications. I'm not depressed and I don't hurt, however, so I guess I'm getting what I asked for!! Oh, yeah have to take Ambien and Xanax at night (insomnia predating any drugs, not a result of stimulants)! A cautionary tale, is it not?
Jannbeau
I have been in therapy for many years. I had been through the whole drill before, including being hospitalized (in mental wards) for three suicide attempts. My last stay in the hospital was from Jan 5th to Feb 1st, and I really did not expect much different. I have been on a number on meds (Prozac, Wellbutrin, Zoloft, Xanax, Klonopin, Buspar, Depekote, Ritalin, Sonata, Ambien, Carisoprodol, Norco and Juradisic Patch for back pain ad infanitum...),and I have been in "therapy since 1974.
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> I have been getting worse and worse. It looked liked nothing was going to work. Finally one the psychiatrists decided to experiment on me with EffexorXR! I had also been asking for my Ritalin back (they had taken it away, saying that there was no reason for me to take it). They started me on 75mg for three days and then increased it to 150mg. I had been in the hospital with NO change in my depression, suicidal riations, or self esteem... and PRESTO! Fours days later I was home.
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> I no that it suppose to take two to as much as six weeks to determine whether or not psychotropic drugs are helping and I also know that we're all different. However, I am absolutely certain that after being a "psyche patient-lab rat" for years, I've finally found something that works FOR ME (I now am on 250mg of EffexorXR)!
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> I believe that the best thing you can hope to get out of a forum like this, is some idea of how a drug works for others, or how people have dealt with their illnesses. There is no way to determine how a hand full of individuals experiences with any given treatment (drugs &/or therapy) will have any bearing what so ever on you! The best that you can hope for is that you come away with a little more general knowledge and understanding of how other people are dealing with their, very unique, mental illnesses.
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> Note: Hopefully some day the our medical schools, research programs,elected officials, and the vast majority of our "friends and neighbors", will take mental illness seriously. Until then we'll still be just lab rats for the mental health hospitals, and weirdoes to the rest of the world. GoodLuck and Good Mental Health
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> Tim R
poster:JANNBEAU (homenym)
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020425/msgs/104882.html