Posted by omegon on January 13, 2004, at 15:22:24
In reply to Re: Sudden descent into Efexor hell » omegon, posted by Zellie on January 13, 2004, at 8:22:49
Zellie,
Thanks for your post and your concern in helping everyone avoid this particular hell! (on which I have more to say below) I agree it's far too common, judging from what I read on here.
I'm feeling somewhat more functional now, thanks, though still rather worse than I was before Christmas, and enjoying a variety of interesting new fluoxetine side effects. Sexual pleasure? -what's that? Insomnia? -yes, that I am now beginning to get intimately acquainted with. Bizarrely it was the other way around on Efexor, ALMOST worth the mood swings (do I mean that? the answer is mood-dependent), and I don't think fluoxetine will be sustainable for me if it stays like this, especially with the emotional numbness it's producing. (Would be tolerable if I was actually calm and contented, but I'm not.) It's baffling how these drugs can include seemingly opposite side effects for different people - insomnia/sleepiness; anxiety/calm; apathy/motivation; sex/slump.
Also, I now understand what was meant by someone's description here (in relation to efexor withdrawal) of having a porcupine inside your skin, trying to get out. Ouch. Perfect description. I couldn't quite imagine this before; I think I would have preferred to remain ignorant. Same feeling on/in my skin as a mains-voltage electric shock I had once, though admittedly not quite such an overwhelmingly loud/bright/sharp/sense-mixing colour. I'm grateful it's not continuous, and presumably the fluoxetine is cushioning the fall somewhat.
Although the doctor didn't say a word about the potential for withdrawal problems before having me switch drugs without tapering (and when I quizzed him before starting the drug, said he didn't think it was ever a problem), I can't claim to have gone into it completely unawares - thanks largely to your well-informed postings about this, and those of others on this board. I was expecting some kind of withdrawal, but nothing quite like I got, especially since I was switching rather than going off medication altogether. I thought the massive mood instability I was having justified the risk of withdrawal hell; maybe it even did, as for the last days I was getting only violently negative effects from the drug and was losing any sense of control, and couldn't have functioned at work like that; however tapering could perhaps have solved both problems. Alarmingly though, I don't think I even brought up the subject at the appointment where I decided to quit Efexor! I have noticed in the past (with St John's Wort, believe it or not, and with selegiline) that once I decide the adverse effects of a medicine are outweighing the benefits, I can't get off it soon enough and don't consider the situation as rationally as I should.
I urge anyone reading this to watch for this tendency in yourself - overriding it could save you a lot of pain. Easy to say with hindsight. Anyway thanks for trying to make people consider their withdrawal with more care! At least I knew what was going on.
> WHEN WILL THIS INFORMATION GET WELL INTO THE HANDS OF ALL THE PRESCRIBING PHYSICIANS OUT THERE???!!!- When the manufacturer publishes a clear warning from the beginning, rather than only after years of pressure and in the face of lawsuits. (So, fat chance of that happening, then.) This would put the information in the little book of facts and figures which said prescribing physicial is using (and which seems to be all my doctor needs to glance through, sorry, _refer to for detailed information_ before throwing these drugs around) - rather than in some future edition, if they ever bother to update. Once everyone knows how a drug behaves, it's hard to learn 'em otherwise.
> to communicate your experience in a constructive way to the drug company, and to the governing medical body in your state, province, country, etc.To my doctor will be a start! I think he'll be horrified and I'm sure he will be wary of putting anyone else through it in future. Maybe I'll get him to fill out the infamous "yellow form" (UK adverse-reaction-reporting whatsit).
Warmly (in as much as I actually have positive emotions right now, here is one),
Nick.
poster:omegon
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040109/msgs/300267.html