Posted by jeenobeano on December 15, 2003, at 14:45:11
In reply to Re: Effexor withdrawal - very bad news, posted by Blissful_Girl_NOT on December 15, 2003, at 14:29:48
> Hi Jersydevil :-)
>
> I think the post you are referring to about there being no difference between weening or going cold turkey, is from me.
>
> I was referring to the withdrawal symptoms. There has been some very basic studies into the actual physical withdrawal side-effects and the severity of these withdrawal symptoms were seen as the same whether people tapered off or quit cold turkey under a doctors supervision. The main difference was the time...the people who quit cold turkey did not have as long a period of the withdrawal symptoms as those who weened off. And for those who quit cold turkey a single dose prescribed by their doc for 1 20mg dose of Prozac releived most of the major withrawal symptoms.
>
> Again, I'm not saying either method is the best. But I can speak to the cold turkey method. I had a total of 3 days when I was not able to do my regular things (3 sick days in effect), the rest of the time, while I did not feel well, I was still totally functional. Now, three weeks since my last dose, I have been feeling really pretty good for the past week and a half.
>
> -Bliss
> p.s. I'm trying to get my doc to e-mail me a copy of the report she and my pdoc are referring to. If I get it I will post a link to it on here.Bliss,
It makes sense to me that the TOTAL amount of withdrawal symptoms could be similar if you taper vs. if you withdraw. However, just from my own personal experience, the day-to-day w/d symptoms I've suffered from sloooowwww tapering have been a fraction of what they were when I sped up the tapering process. Maybe I'm gonna suffer just as much overall, but each day's allotment of pain will be tiny -- which I can handle.
I'm an attorney and the sole breadwinner in my family. I'm also no hero; rather, I'm a total wimp with a very low pain threshhold. I can afford to feel kind of not-great for 6 months. I CANNOT afford to be incapacitated for any amount of time.
poster:jeenobeano
thread:1016
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031213/msgs/290107.html