Posted by Zellie on January 13, 2004, at 8:22:49
In reply to Sudden descent into Efexor hell » kattay, posted by omegon on January 12, 2004, at 15:34:48
My heart felt heavy as I read this posting. I am sorry you have gone through this.
As I read it, I recalled that, as I was commencing the Effexor, my pdoc watched closely for signs of any mood instability, stating that it can be a mood de-stablizer in some people. He titrated me up in wee little baby steps, for that reason, to watch like a hawk for any signs of mood instability. I see from your posting that this is what he meant.
Effexor MUST be titrated down in even teensier, weensier baby steps. Otherwise, what you experienced, the pure hell you have described, is a sure thing. WHEN WILL THIS INFORMATION GET WELL INTO THE HANDS OF ALL THE PRESCRIBING PHYSICIANS OUT THERE???!!!
I am soooo sad every time I read a posting of someone's being taken off Effexor abruptly. It is beyond sad. It is so unnecessary, too.
My hope to all of you who have suffered this way, is that you will somehow have enough strength once you are through the worst of it, to communicate your experience in a constructive way to the drug company, and to the governing medical body in your state, province, country, etc., so that, hopefully, in the future, no one else will have to go through what you have endured.
In the meantime, try to find yourself a very good pdoc (psychiatrist, not just a G.P.) who specializes in this area. He/she will likely be much better informed about the biochemistry involved in all the drugs used to treat depression, anxiety, BP, etc., and will provide you with a much more positive experience. I love my G.P., and I think he is extremely competent, but I am way, way, way better off in the hands of my pdoc, who has earned my deepest respect and trust (I know not everyone has had that experience with their pdoc...so do your research, and keep your eyes open along the way).
I hope things will be much improved for you very soon.
Kindest regards,
Zellie> > has effexor xr ever give anyone bouts of rage and or major depression? For the women: I can't tell if it's my pms or the med. I get these bouts of being so upset. I can't stop crying. I could blame it on pms cuz that time is coming up but i'm just not sure.
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> Yes and yes. Rage and major depression - that's a fairly accurate description of me (male, so probably not pms) over the last couple of weeks.
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> Quick history... I was on it since October-ish (I think - memory is more than a little vague right now beyond a week ago) for depression & anxiety, having switched from paroxetine.
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> At one point, efexor worked pretty well. I got mild stimulant effects in the first couple of weeks, but this quickly decreased and the 150mg dose (75 x 2) just made me unbelievably sleepy and apathetic. Then I reached what seemed to be an effective final dosage (225mg) and (after a few days of 12-hour adrenaline rushes) the effects stabilised for about three weeks - felt calm, more confident than I can remember in years, depression under control, but had the energy to actually enjoy my job and working with people, which was something of a novelty.
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> Then a week before Christmas, the sleepiness was back and worse than before. I could hardly get out of bed, motivate myself enough to eat and buy food, etc. How did I manage to drive 60 miles each way to work?!
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> Over the Christmas holidays, staying with family, I felt increasingly agitated. No longer sleepy but still no motivation for anything! Extreme irritability, aggressive (rare for me), falling out with my family, etc etc.
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> Then back home on my own last Tuesday. I bought a book to read on the train (Michel Houellebecq - Platform; do read it but not, _NOT_ when feeling at all uncomfortable with the world or yourself!) I finished it the next day; it triggered a couple of hours' crying spell (unheard of for me), complete loss of all hope, etc. Then rapidly changing mood, going randomly from calm and relaxed and apathetic, to overconfidence (everything's fine, I'm not depressed any more), to anxious rage to tearful despair over the course of an hour. This while STILL ON the same 225mg efexor. Hadn't missed a dose or anything. The mood swings are a horrible, insidious effect as I couldn't seem to observe them changing, I'd just suddenly realise I was feeling completely different from half an hour ago. Very disorientating, being a different person every few minutes. There were also quite a few occasions also when it would shift *instantly* - I'd go from crying hopelessly to sitting there mildly puzzled and wondering what that was all about, as quickly as turning my head. Anyone have any suggestions on how to integrate that and retain some sense of my mood actually meaning anything?
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> Fortunately I already had a doctor's appointment booked next day, having been considering switching to something else before Christmas due to the sleepiness I was having then. That morning's (Thursday) was the last dose of efexor, and I started fluoxetine on Friday - which I pretty much chose myself, mainly for its long half-life, as the GP no longer seems to know what to do with me and has referred me on.
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> I can honestly say that the last five days have been the worst I've ever had. Combined depression / efexor-induced psychotic howling despair / rapid mood swings / efexor withdrawals (zap! jangle!) / initial fluoxetine side effects / whatever this has been. Oh, yeah, and the nightmares. I'd never imagined a dream could, well... get inside your head... like that. Every tiny self-doubt, unpleasant memory and subconscious neurosis dredged up and turned into a drama which which I am forced to watch and star in. There was some kind of infinite spiralling recursive dream in there somewhere as well, which contained all the others and gave them meaning and sinister purpose repeated endlessly with variations. Kind of a grand unified reincarnated paranoid conspiracy theory of a dream. It doesn't make sense from outside, but it did from within, and I could see its dread genius - that makes it worse, because I could never explain to anyone (or even understand myself) how awful it was or why. The dreams going up on efexor were weird. The dreams going down redefined my concept of hell.
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> I seem now to be over the worst of now. At least, I don't remember my dreams from yesterday. I haven't quite burst into tears yet today and I can walk in a straight line without the world shaking or lightning hitting my brain, which is pleasant. I suppose I should be grateful I still managed to go to work, since that's about all that's keeping me going right now. And statistically there must be a lot of good weeks ahead, perhaps an infinite number of good weeks, before the next one as bad as that one!
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poster:Zellie
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040109/msgs/300119.html