Posted by Tony P on January 17, 2012, at 12:26:30
In reply to Re: Dopamine Fixes for Effexor, posted by never2late on January 14, 2012, at 2:12:19
At risk of repeating myself, if Effexor continues to not be satisfactory, try Cymbalta. It's a better balanced SNRI than Effexor & for me has far less side-effects. By better balanced I mean it is more motivating & I am in good touch with my feelings most of the time.
Cymbalta stimulates much more NE than Serotonin and (paradoxically) that energizes me without making me anxious. I have been able to cut my klonopin (now switched to diazepam) to 1/3 of what I was taking 9 months ago (3 mg/day), and hope to get off the benzos in the next 3 months.
Re the sexual side-effects, I don't know what the active half-life of Effexor is, but I can skip one dose of Cymbalta without any noticeable distress, but the sexual S/E decrease considerably.
TP
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> The effexor is definitely making me feel flat. I just recently have realized that I dont have any desire to have sex. When I do get aroused I have trouble staying with the thought that got me aroused.
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> I am pretty unimpressed with the Effexor so far. I have had a dramatic decrease in anxiety but that could be due to the klonopin I take twice a day. I really hope my doc switches me to ritalin or focalin when I see him. I am really unmotivated and tired all the time. The only thing that gets me through the day is coffee and cigarettes. Not exactly where I want to be.
>
> I was hoping for some advice or someone who had success on effexor with some type of add on to help me figure out a plan with my Pdoc. But there are no magic solutions. Ill see what he comes up with. I was thinking about asking him to order a blood test for prolactin and testoserone as I my self esteem motivation and focus are all 0 (unless I chain smoke and drink coffee all day which is sick).
poster:Tony P
thread:1006132
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120108/msgs/1007573.html