Posted by Badger on December 13, 2002, at 8:27:54
In reply to Effexor XR - So Far - 12/12/02, posted by khead on December 12, 2002, at 11:13:48
> Hi all...I've been lurking here for the past 2 weeks since I started Effexor XR.
I'm just finishing my fourth week on Effexor, and thought it might be interesting to compare notes (also with Peterjg, who started one week ago and who, like me, is a 47 year old male).
> 1st week 37.5mg and have now ramped up to 75mg. Will go to 150mg next week.
I started on regular (i.e., non XR) Effexor at 75 mg/day for two weeks, then increased to 112.5 mg/day for the past two. I'll be starting 150mg/day of the XR formulation on the weekend.
> Results so far:
> 1) No obvious side effects yet.I noticed a few mild side effects for the first 2 or 3 days (slight nausea, 'spaced-out' feeling), but these quickly faded. I've also noticed increased difficulty in reading small print, but this is probably just a coincidence, since I'm at that age anyway. (It's not blurry vision, as far as I can tell, which I understand is a possible side effect.)
> 2) DEFINATE reduction in depression/anxiety.
I noticed some improvement in the first two weeks - still a couple of "black days", but also a couple of "bright" ones. My third week was really good - very positive outlook, and starting to think about addressing some long-standing personal issues. This week has been a bit of a letdown - no severe depression, but just a bit gloomy.
I saw my doctor at the beginning of this week and she was surprised that I was seeing any results so soon. Although she didn't suggest it, this got me wondering if some of the early improvement was due to a placebo effect. I'd prefer to believe that wasn't the case (I'm not sure why), but either way, any change for the better is certainly welcome.
> 3) Am now able to sleep (mostly) through the night without rolling around for at least 2 hours reviewing how f**k'd my life is.
My sleep also started to improve almost immediately - I still wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning to go to the bathroom, but can generally get back to sleep afterwards, which I haven't been able to do for some time. I do find it hard to wake up fully and get out of bed some mornings, but after suffering from insomnia for a long time, I'm willing to put up with this for a while.
> 4) Don't get really pissed at the slightest daily frustration. (Still get pissed at the really stupid/irritating ones though.)
Anger hasn't been one of my problems (maybe I'm just good at supressing it?), so I haven't noticed any change in this area. Still, that itself may be a good sign - I was talking to an old friend last week whose husband has been taking AD's for a few years, and she told me that one of his early meds used to make him very angry, which was never part of his personality before (and hasn't been since he changed to a different drug).
It's nice to hear from other people who are going through the same process at more or less the same time. I didn't know anything about this drug (or any other AD's) when I started taking it, so finding this forum has been quite informative.
Good luck to all -
Badger
poster:Badger
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021210/msgs/131633.html