Posted by dancingstar on December 31, 2004, at 14:19:04
In reply to Re: Anyone had success on Effexor XR?, posted by Jeff Guider on December 31, 2004, at 13:51:45
After reading hours and hours...and hours of information from all sides, I'd say that you should do all the research first. The doctors don't seem to have done a good job of this, and Wyeth may be withholding some information from us. Did you read the article that I posted in the NY Times?
Did you read the side effects that not2late4u posted that were just revised as of 2004? Here is a link that will show you that Wyeth has known of those side effects since 1996 but that they didn't publish them. Read the whole thing and then read the very last paragraph, the conclusion.
http://www.socialaudit.org.uk/9425vfx.htm
Some people think that this is a valuable drug. If you are extremely depressed with no alternative available or nothing else that will work, then by all means, you might want to consider taking it because it is likely that you will survive the drug's reactions as most of us have. Truthfully, during the time that I took it I had no idea that it caused me harm. Had I not stopped taking Effexor, I would never have known that I didn't have chronic fatigue nor fibromyalgia; that I don't spend my days tired, in pain or feeling hazy and drugged. It didn't happen right away either. At first it gave me more energy, just as it was prescribed to do. I even lost weight at first. It wasn't until months went by that I became tired, achey, gained weight and slowly became almost completely unable to do much of anything for more than an hour or two at a time for about two and a half years...not even work, think, drive...live. I know others that this has happened to as well. It happens so slowly that we don't know it. Something just changes. I became sad, lonely, incapable of doing all the things that people do.
Three months after I've stopped taking Effexor, though I feel as though I may have a bit of colitis, I'm happy, essentially healthy, clear thinking -- the world is truly a wonderful place to be for the first time in years. Thing is, I wasn't clinically depressed when I took Effexor and it shouldn't have been given to me...and probably millions of others, but I can't speak for you. For you all I can say is that if you don't really need it, it is a very, very powerful drug that has the potential to be dangerous to some people. You need to evaluate all the data very carefully and make a decision that you think is right for you. Some people have said, as you have read, that it has saved them from the depths of depression. If you are clinically depressed with no other alternative, this could be true for you, too.
Best of luck to you in your journey. I'm sure you will find the right answers. They're out there. You have to do the research for yourself, though, and not take mine or anyone else's suggestion because each person's health is a different situation.
Bebe
poster:dancingstar
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041228/msgs/436044.html