Posted by selene on December 30, 2003, at 5:14:26
In reply to Re: Effexor Withdrawl » nancy lotfi, posted by linkline on December 23, 2003, at 14:24:09
Today I took my last dose of Effexor XR. I've been on 300mg/daily for a number of years now, and despite side effects when I forget a dose, I wouldn't still be alive without it. I had a marvelous psychiatrist for years who tried various ADs and "cocktails" until we found the one that really worked -- for me, Effexor. His patience, kindness, and prescribing brilliance was so reassuring.
Unfortunately, about a year ago, he had a stroke and, though he survived, thank God, he was unable to continue his practice and, in fact, was taken out of the area to rehabilitate with a family member. I felt terrible for him, and, yes, was grief-stricken by the loss of his empathy and his knowledge of me. I managed to find another pdoc and stayed on the Effexor XR, though I did reduce from 450 to 300 mg.
However, now I'm stuck in a terrible dilemma. My health insurance has lapsed so I can't afford to refill my prescription (my God, is it expensive!). My doctor sent an application to Wyatt Labs to enroll me in their patient assistance program so I could still get the Effexor for 3 months, by the end of which I should be back on my feet financially. Wyatt said it would take about 4 weeks to process the app. Meanwhile, my dr. gave me all his office samples to tide me over (how fun it's been taking about a million 37.5 capsules each morning in order to get my 300 mg!). If my original pdoc was around and healthy, he would have found some way to prevent this from happening, I'm absolutely certain. But ... not to be.
The sky darkens: it's been over 6 weeks since the application went to Wyatt, so I called them the Friday after Christmas. Coal in my stocking, dammit: they're running way behind, have no record of my app., and no suggestion except to wait since it may take 8 weeks total to get to mine. Aaaargh!!
I know full well what awaits me in stopping the Effexor cold turkey. And I'm horrified by the prospect. I'm fairly sensitive to the dose and have had withdrawal symptoms when I've even been 8 hours late in taking my meds. Those were mostly the "weird brain" feelings (as I call them), sudden weeping, and the feeling of being physically out of sync ... sort of a strange body perception, slightly out of normal time. Oh yeah, and the cranium-crushing headaches. That was with just a delay or a missed day. I am not looking forward to experiencing what going from 300 mg. to 0 mg. will be like. Yiiiiikes.
Anyway ... I do have some Prozac left from this doc prescribing it for PMS symptoms. And I've read the posts from several years ago about taking Benadryl to help alleviate some of the discomfort.
Please, please, please -- does anyone have any other suggestions? Should my husband pad the walls of our room and lock me in with some food and water and my paltry supply of Prozac? Tell the neighbors to ignore my screaming?
Anyone? Help?
poster:selene
thread:3670
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031225/msgs/294587.html