Posted by Robert Pineiro on July 31, 2003, at 0:35:17
Hey,
Went to see my doctor @Jan of 2002. Diagnosis: Dep., man. Wife let doctor know of symptoms. Doctor prescribed Effexor, Effexor XR (started out at 37.5mg, worked my way to 300mg before throwing in the towel). Dep. symptoms worse for me than not being on it. Why? Probably because I got over the Dep. shortly after taking it. Effexor, I pray to God you don't have the roadtrip I had. Constipation bad enough to cause internal bleeding. Manic e'sodes. General feeling of "I could care less". Sexual side lines (couldn't keep it up for long...) But that wasn't near as bad as if I missed my meds or try to "weinie" off or cold turkey. I can see why 9% of the clinical trial folks committed suicide while on this shit. Chemo-neuro. transmitter screwups in my brain (kinda like your brain is sticking its tongue on a 9 volt battery). I crapped stomach acid and bled for 4 days. Couldn't sleep, didn't want to eat. Kicked the shit out of my puppy and I felt no guilt (the manic side effect). I have been trying to get off this shit for over 4 months. I took my last 150mg of Effexor last Tues. (7/22/2003). I had 7 days of Hell on Earth (and in my anus). The manic is gone, I have a conscience now, and I stopped being mean to my wife, kids, and even the puppies. The chemo-neuro transmitter screwups are still around as well as the nausea, light diarreaha, and fatigue. From my understanding I may have to deal with those kind of symptoms for some time (or even permanently). I am happy again with the exeption of the addiction I have developed to this non-addictive Anti-Dep.drug. I wish I knew beforehand what I was going to have to go through for 1.5 years. I definately would not have signed up for this. Why am I telling you this? I didn't want you to think that all those stories and rumors were false. There are people tripping out on this stuff. Wyeth(of course) won't take responsibility, my Doctor just has a blank look on her face and still sticks by her decision. My wife is still just as naive as she was when she was so excited when I got on anti-Dep. I feel so alone with this, even though I know that there are others who have went through what I am still dealing with. Joining the hundreds if not thousands waiting in line hoping for litigation by an attorney with balls enough to take on Wyeth (by the way, Wyeth made 3.1 billion off this drug last year, I don't think they are going to throw in the towel too easy) Take care, God bless. Post message if you began to feel bad while on this junk. I most definitely will be able to empathize with you.
Bubba
poster:Robert Pineiro
thread:246914
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030728/msgs/246914.html