Posted by LynnPerley on September 18, 2002, at 22:34:57
In reply to Effexor-Any Positive results, posted by lucky on September 18, 2002, at 18:49:51
I can say I'm fairly similar to you, but farther along on this med. I was prescribed effexor xr by my gp, whom I consulted at the recommendation of a counselor who felt meds might help. I also feel my mild depression had progressed to a major depressive and anxiety situation because it was interfering with my productivity at work and my family relationships.
I've been taking it sinc March. It took until I had been on the 150 mg dose for about three weeks to fully appreciate its positive effects (I started on the sample pack). It helped my anxiety right away but the effects on the depression were much more subtle. I stayed on the 150 mg level for 60 days and I felt that it was worth staying on, but I began experiencing some very low days where it was hard to concentrate on anything and especially where my self esteem was crashing as it used to do. I increased to 225 mg and it really helped me a lot. I even contemplated starting to taper off because I felt as if I had been cured. I'm going to stay at 225 mg for six more months and go back to the counselor to talk things over and make sure I have some copng strategies at hand.
Side effects - jaw clenching was the most annoying initially and almost scared me off, but it decreased eventually. Now the occasional constipation is annoying. I almost have IBS except I never get diarrhea, just constip and gas. I've switched the brand of bulk laxative I was taking and noticed a great improvement. Thirst - I can deal with. There was some initial drowsiness that went away when I switched to taking it in the evening.
One word of caution - do not miss a dose, ever. You will be able to figure it out within a few hours. I forgot my dose last night and I woke up at 4 am after a totally strange dream, feeling weird, and I suspected I had forgotten. Sure enough, when I got up I counted the pills and I had not taken it. I took it this morning and I was fine all day.
Hope this helps. Remember people come here frequently to compare notes so you will see more negative than positive posts.
poster:LynnPerley
thread:120309
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020914/msgs/120329.html