Posted by KrissyP on March 3, 2003, at 22:45:06
In reply to Can SSRI/atypical cessation cause CFS/FM-like, posted by Beastress on March 3, 2003, at 1:26:24
WOW you describe exactly what I went through when I stopped Effexor. I am very sensitive to many medications which makes it harder to find the "right" one for each person. *When the time of about 2 months when coming off Effexor hit, I was getting sore knees, knots in my neck and back, and I felt like I had FMS- the muscle pain was unbearable, for someone who has been active all her life, except for the past few years. My depression and mood swings were getting worse so I recently went back on Effexor. I know for some, Effexor is just to hard on side effects for them. It's a shame because I hear others say how well it works for them, but stop due to a few side effects. I'm not a doctor, have you tried chiropractic or get massages-they help me a lot. I wish I could help you more but wanted to share my experience.
Good Luck
Kristen
> Hi all,
> I am a long-time reader that finally had to ask...I was on Effexor for less than a year before the side-effects became too many and too severe to continue. I am pretty medication-sensitive---I found out the hard way. I tapered VERY slowly (4 months to taper off 75 mg.) During the last couple of weeks of the taper I noticed knots in my neck and back and a recurrence of TMJ that I hadn't had since I was 13 (I'm almost forty).
>
> It has been 7 months since my last dose of Effexor and I'm in constant muscle pain, I tire very rapidly, have lost a great deal of muscle strength, my memory is shot and I notice something I have seen others mention here called "brain fog." With the exception of the TMJ, these are all new things for me and things that I have found to be most commonly associated with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and/or Fibromyalgia. Accupuncture has helped with the muscle knots, but they never go entirely away, they just feel somewhat better or somewhat worse. I was hoping that these symptoms would eventually go away as my CNS readjusted back to its pre-effexor state but I'm starting to worry that I'm just stuck in this state permanently.
>
> Is it possible that CFS/FM resides in the body for years before it manifests? Can SSRIs/atypicals create a sort of neuro or immune "short circuit" that makes it active? Most importantly, is there a more effective way to deal with the pain and fatigue? I tried 200mg of SAM-e with a noticeable improvement for a while, but with added brain fog. When I bumped up the dose to 400mg, I immediately broke out and became almost terminally cranky. The increase didn't help the pain or fatigue so I went back down to 200mg, and it stopped working altogether. I'm considering Enada NADH (?). Any suggestions, comments, anecdotes and even non-sequiturs are deeply appreciated.
>
poster:KrissyP
thread:205441
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030301/msgs/205684.html