Posted by Etherize on August 1, 2002, at 15:18:27
Hello, I'm new here. I'll try to make my message short. (note the word "try")
I'm living with AIDS, and take a lot of medications, so my Effexor experience may not be "typical" at all, but I'd like to add my 2 cents.
A few years ago, I started Paxil--loved the effects when it finally kicked in, until I started having really violent dreams. Tapered off of it, very slowly, and still had horrible withdrawal symptoms (rushing sound in head, *extremely* irritable, headache, etc.)
In April 2001 I started taking Effexor XR and the initial side effects were very hard, even though I started at a very low dose and gradually increased. My appetite (not good to begin with) decreased, I was extremely anxious and nervous, and I felt as though I was on LSD and was just it was just "coming on" (no way to describe this, you have to experience it, I'm afraid).
Because I had such low energy before the Effexor, I welcomed the "speedy" effect. I worry that when I get off it, I'll be exhausted.
By August 2001, I'd finally made it up to a 150 mg dose. But now I'm ready to get off it. I'm sick of not being able to really laugh, or even smile half the time. I also would like to have some kind of appetite. True, it keeps suicidal thoughts at bay, which was definitely helpful in the beginning!
A psychiatrist told me that he "often" prescribes Remeron and Effexor because of Effexor's emotion-numbing effect. At this point, I think I'd rather just taper off Effexor and be off all A-Ds for awhile.
Any thoughts or comments are appreciated.
poster:Etherize
thread:114832
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020731/msgs/114832.html