Posted by ty_webb on October 17, 2003, at 14:18:12
I've been on Effexor XR 75mg for about a year. I started out slowly from 1 capsule a day to 2 a day. Once I got to the 2/day regimen I started to feel a bloating sensation on the lower left quadrant of my abdomen. Along with this I had bouts of constipation or diarreha. My day was riddled with frequent trips to the bathroom to move my bowels. I also noticed that I would to get really itchy at times with no explanation.
I got fed up and decided to try and quit this stuff cold turkey. BAD IDEA! I was ok for about half of the day then I was hit with dizziness, a sort of zapping sensation, light sensitivity in my eyes, and more bouts of diarrhea. I immediately went back to my regular dosage. At my next doctor visit I mentioned the bloating that I had experienced prior to going cold turkey. He recommended that I cut back my dosage to one 75mg capsule a day. The bloating seemed to go away and I was feeling a bit better.Fast forward to July 4th of this year; I started to get itchy little welts in various areas of my body. Since it was summer I figured it must be mosquito bites. It wasn’t because the bumps started to get worse over time. I was popping benadryls like they were going out of style. On my next visit to my GP he sent me to a Allergist who did a quick scratch test and handed me three different antihistamine sample and prescription, an epi-pen and a diagonosis of Idiomatic Urticaria (Hives) and Angiodema. I settled on the Allegra prescription because that is the one the insurance would pay for. While on my honeymoon I legitimately forgot to take my 75mg of Effexor XR for a couple of days. I started to get the bouts of diarrhea, but since I was in Mexico I thought it might have been something I ate. Then it dawned what was causing the irritable bowels, no Effexor in my system. The one good thing that I did notice was that my hives were much less worse those days under the Antihistamine treatments.
Just last week I mentioned the lack of hives on the Effexor so he instructed me to wean myself off of the Effexor. I started splitting the capsules in half and taking a half a day (roughly 37.5mg). Today is my third day off of Effexor XR totally. I have slight zaps now and then, but it is nowhere near the drama of going cold turkey. The only problem is I still have the hives and they don’t seem to be getting better. I’m wondering if anyone else has had problems with hives or itchiness in general while on Effexor XR. I feel as though the Effexor has something to do with the hives.
poster:ty_webb
thread:270248
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031015/msgs/270248.html