Posted by noa on February 12, 2004, at 19:13:46
In reply to Re: I'll testify against you, posted by Angielala on January 15, 2004, at 14:54:07
>You are the first person I have heard anything good about this drug.
I know that there are a lot of problems with Effexor, BUT, perhaps the reason you hear more bad than good is that people posting here on this topic are frustrated and angry and more motivated to post about it.
I see effexor for what it is. On the one hand the medication that finally broke through my depressive symptoms after a long haul of searching. ON the other hand, it has its limitations--I don't tolerate the SEs at higher doses, so it is most effective for me in combination with other meds, and there are still some SEs I'd rather do without. And I know that there are withdrawal challenges should I decide to go off of it.
But it is a key component of a cocktail that is working for me, that has allowed me to be in remission from a very bad chronic depression. I consider this my "holding pattern" until something new and better comes along--until the science comes up with a new treatment with a new mechanism of action. It may be a while, and that's ok.
I agree that more truth about the realities of this medication are in order. And perhaps it should only be prescribed by doctors with special training in psychopharm, rather than by family doctors. I certainly wouldn't want it to be prescribed as a first line trial treatment because it is a powerful medication with "issues".
But there are people like me out there who have and continue to benefit from this medication. I myself don't have the energy to post frequently about its positives, and I suspecct this is true of others who feel the med has benefits, so you might get more of the negative slant on things here.
JMHO : )
poster:noa
thread:53462
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040210/msgs/312579.html