Posted by KaraS on January 23, 2005, at 1:32:49
In reply to Re: how do i taper off effexor-xr, posted by Aaron Uyanik on January 22, 2005, at 23:05:03
> what are the major side effects of wallburm and is it as good as effexor-xr when it comes to treating depression. i feel so great on effexor-xr its really helping me out with my depression. Its been a little over a month now since i started taking it. man could somebody tell me some positives about this damn drug everyone here have scared the living sh*t out of me.
>
> Thanks guys
I think that those who have had better experiences aren't posting as much as those who haven't. I was on Effexor XR for nearly 5 years. At one point I got up to 225 mg. It has helped my depression more than any other medication to date. It was not a complete response and it didn't give me motivation so I have been experimenting with other thnings lately. However, I'm probably going to go back on Effexor and try augmenting it with other medications and supplements.I didn't have a horrible withdrawal from the Effexor either. I decreased it VERY slowly. When I finally went off of the last quarter of a pill (about 10 mg.) I started to have some problems. I had two very uncomfortable days until I started taking Cymbalta. Then all of the side effects went away. It could have been hellis had I not had the Cymbalta to take. You really need to substitute another serotonergic agent (at least at the end) when you're going off of this medication. It doesn't have to be for a long period of time. Sometimes one 10 mg. of Prozac is all that is needed. Had I taken the Cymbalta a couple of days earlier, I would have had minimal problems with the whole withdrawal. Maybe I was lucky. I don't know, but others have gone off of Effexor with very little problem also. All of them seem to have taken something else with serotonergic activity to help the process along though. (BTW, Prozac is supposed to be great for this because of it's long half-life.)
If I were you and I were having a great response to the medication without any horrible side effects, I would stay on it. I would, however, educate myself on how to go off of it when the time comes. If you're still uncomfortable staying on it (and I wouldn't blame you after reading all of the horrible posts) then please make sure you do the withdrawal in the right way.
Take care,
Kara
poster:KaraS
thread:445565
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050119/msgs/446067.html