Posted by Blissful_Girl_NOT on December 12, 2003, at 12:34:03
In reply to Re: Effexor withdrawal - very bad news, posted by jeenobeano on December 12, 2003, at 12:03:49
Hi :-)
Well, I've never been on Lexapro (I'd check out some of the threads about it on this board though to give you some insight), but my doc had me switch to Remeron at exactly the same time I stopped the Effexor. The Effexor withdrawals were still bad, but the Remeron at least didn't seem to make matters worse.
I just saw a new pdoc on Wednesday...during this bout of anxiety/depression/stress it has been my regular doc who prescribed the Effexor. Both my regular doc & my pdoc told me that the standard practice (in Canada at least) now is to prescribe a single dose of Prozac to any patient who is going off of Effexor. The Prozac is taken on Day 2 or 3 of withdrawal depending on how bad your symptoms are.
Both docs had just recently read an article (I'm trying to track it down) that showed that tapering and cold turkey withdrawal of Effexor produce the SAME results in people who are predisposed to having withdrawal problems from this med. In otherwords, neither method worked better than the other. My pdoc wryly commented that tapering just seemed to draw out the same withdrawal problems over a longer period of time.
Another thing my pdoc did was sit down with me and go over the (very long) list of AD's and anxiety meds I've been off and on over the past 15 years. The drugs have worked sometimes, but eventually they all either stop working for me, or become to difficult to stay on because of side effects. His point of doing this review was to say that maybe I need to look to something other than just medication to heal myself, so rather than up my Remeron, or add some new RX to the mix, he upped my visits with him. He looked me right in the eye and said "After 15 years of medication yoyo-ing we're going to try something new, we're going to talk about whats bothering you."
He's given me books to read and workbooks with excercises that I will need to do as "homework". I'm still on Remeron, and I have no idea if this "talk therapy" is going to help, but it is definitely not going to hurt. I have a long history of this type of illness in my family. I have no doubt in my mind that some of my problem is chemical imbalance...but I also no longer have any doubt that some of my problem is that I have not learned how to COPE with this illness. I've been chasing that magic pill that is going to "fix" everything for 15 years...and while I've found lots of bandaid pills, I've found no cures. I think I'll start looking inside myself for that.
Thanks for letting me rant...Jeeno I know that didn't answer your question...but think about this: If your instincts are making you question anything about the course of your treatment, listen to those instincts and ask questions, lots of questions and look for options...lots of options. Getting you off of Effexor should not be about finding you another AD (Lexapro) to go on.
-Bliss
poster:Blissful_Girl_NOT
thread:1016
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031208/msgs/289115.html