Posted by justjustine on February 16, 2004, at 12:59:10
In reply to Re: Major withdrawl symptoms, posted by Judie on February 15, 2004, at 10:59:26
i'm 6 weeks off effexor and still feeling the withdrawals, although much much muted from what they were. i mean i was able to stop taking the vicodin a week ago, right?
i tapered to a point by pouring off the capsules, worked fine for me. i went faster than one granule a day - those little white pellets are quite small. and there's still a bunch of them stuck in the cracks in my wood floor (makes me sick to see them).
once i got myself to about 75mg, i saw the doc and he said "go to 37.5 for a week, then you should be able to stop."
holy moly was he ever wrong. and it's damaged our relationship because i don't trust him anymore. i was sick, sick, sick for over a month. all the doctors say is it must be because of something else - the vicodin, the xanax, because i refused the serzone that wasn't doing a darn thing to ease the withdrawal sickness, etc. etc. or maybe i had the flu for a whole month - a really weird flu with no fever!
for me, it worked out better to accept that i was going to be too sick to do anything for a while than it would have been to drag it out longer. but that's me.
note: chairman mao said he stopped effexor by using amphetamines, but i never got clarification on how that worked for him. (?)
here's a weblink on SSRI withdrawal you might find interesting:
http://www.fpnotebook.com/PSY169.htmand here's the 'treatment' they recommend:
--------------------------
Management: Specific Withdrawal SymptomsCholinergic rebound symptoms (See above)
Atropine 0.8 mg PO tid to qid
Cogentin 0.5 to 4 mg PO qd
Artane 1-4 mg PO tid to qid
Donnatal 2 tablets PO tid-qidAnxiety
Lorazepam 0.5 to 1 mg PO tid prnDizziness
Antivert 12.5 to 25 mg PO q6 hours prn
Dramamine 50 mg PO q6 hours prn
---------------------huh well i got through on vicodin, marijuana, ambien, and the occassional xanax. to each their own.
you WILL get through!!!
> I am stopping effexor xr after 6 months, because I , too felt "flat-lined"... like I wasn't depressed, but I felt no joy or passion in anything I did, either. My doctor (GP) wanted to double my dose, but I can't see how that would fix my problem. I want to feel SOMETHING, just not suicidal! My last dose was 2 days ago. I'd been taking 75 mgs. a day. When I woke up so dizzy today, I started hunting on the internet for some info and I'm thrilled I found this site. Looks like I'd better taper off instead of going cold turkey. I dumped half of the granules out of a capsule and I'm going to try that every day for a week. I don't want to drag this out too long, but I have to be able to function. Scares me that folks are having withdrawel symptoms AFTER two weeks of quitting!! Somebody PLEASE post a success story for getting off this stuff!
poster:justjustine
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040215/msgs/314096.html