Posted by seeknsolace on April 30, 2004, at 20:26:28
In reply to Re: Does it ever end? When?, posted by howard laporte on April 30, 2004, at 17:16:18
Hey howard, thanks for taking time to post. It sucks going thru this but good to know that I'm having common withdrawl symptoms and thank you for the hope that it will get better.
I had begun thinking that some how effexor may have caused some permanent damage and this is now the quality of life I have, now I know it will pass. It's tough having pains and symptoms that you cant even explain to friends and family, but as I'm finding out in life, as much as you try to reach out to get support thru this, no one really gives a shit and no one understands except those who have suffered as well.
I don't agree with advocating cocaine as a means of coping, but then again, you do what you gotta do to survive, as long as it doesnt become a form/habit of life.
I was on the prozac for one week after effexor, it took the edge off and I felt good at times, like on speed.. adrenaline rush, everything felt sunshiney, but that ran out as it was to be used only short term, so been feeling like shit since but am able to function, faking the raging hell inside my body.
If I ever get to feeling better, hope I gain the ambition to lose this weight I've gained while being on it, but not beating myself up, because the number one priority is to be able to live and get thru this.
Thanks again!
> I have been off of this med since October of last year. I had a daily dosage of 300mg and tapered it down to 50mg a day for the last two weeks before finally going off of it completely. The side effects even on this low of a dosage were devastating to me.
> Yes, it took a long time for the effects to dissipate to where I could live with myself again (about 6 weeks). I had only been on the drug for a total of 6 months and it seemed to take forever for the brain zaps to go away. I have subsequently lost the weight and I have been off of all SSRI's since October. I have been through a little depression since then but nothing compared to the symptoms of which effexor put me through. During the withdrawals from effexor I was constantly nauseated, all my extremities hurt (like I had just been stretched on a rack!), but it was my head that hurt the most. It was hard to hold a thought long enough to act on it (except suicide).
> Loratab helped me quite a bit during the 1st week (I would take 1-2 a day), benadryl didn't do squat for me. Cocaine works wonders, but its effects (addiction) can be just as scary as those of effexor, and I really wonder if I should advocate its use here except to say that in moderation, it worked for me.
> It took a long time before I could even say to myself that I was feeling better. Effexor left my body very slowly and it seemed that just one day I woke-up and all was cool. There were many times that I almost started back on the drug just to forego the effects of withdrawal. I am glad to say that I finally won the battle against it and I feel healthier now than ever. I can still remember how it was on the drug and wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy. I hope that this helps somewhat. This is the first post that I have put in here. I just found some documentation from this site in my desk draw and thought I would see if there were still people suffering from this shit out there.
poster:seeknsolace
thread:1016
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040429/msgs/341976.html