Posted by Hopespringseternal on January 14, 2005, at 16:56:29
This is my first posting . . . I was prompted to respond to the various descriptions of strange/unusual "brain" activities. They DO occur!!! I've been taking some form of SSRI since January 1997 when I was in graduate school and had become depressed due to personal relationship issues. My family doc started me on Paxil -- I think it was 10mg - - but I quickly "progressed" to 20mg and then 30mg...until I was finally on 40mg by which time I had developed high blood pressure. My doctor reduced my dosage to 30mg, which I continued for a short period. But, since I was not getting the "desired" antidepressant/antianxiety effects (could part of that have been due to the fact that I was in law school and living away from my husband except for weekends?! LOL). Soooo, my doc switched me to Prozac - - Yeee-hawww! I was just the perkiest miserable woman one could hope to be!!! I really don't remember what my final highest dosage was, but eventually even Prozac didn't help much, especially after I was divorced, changed jobs three times, and lost my house. In addition, both of my parents became very ill AT THE SAME TIME and I took on a lot of their responsibilities. One day I found myself in the ER with a heartrate of 185, crying my eyes out and totally confused. The ER doc sent me to a psychiatrist and the first thing she did was give me Effexor... that was three years ago. Now the jist of this is that I've been on three different SSRI's without a break, ALTHOUGH I TRIED REPEATEDLY TO DECREASE OR DISCONTINUE THESE EVIL MEDS OVER THAT EIGHT YEAR PERIOD!!! These TRUTHS have been made manifest to me:
1. Docs, whether "family" OR "shrink," do not believe there are any significant withdrawal symptoms -- who KNOWS why they are so obstinate on this point??!!
2. Docs might try to decrease your dosage at a frightenly fast rate, thereby exacerbating the horrible symptoms/reactions, and if you suggest going a little slower, they practically sneer at your wimpishness.
3. There ARE such things as "BRAIN SHOCKS." Mine are best described as auditory - - imagine you are deep in the woods on a hilltop. In the distance you see the flash of a hammer, as a builder pounds a nail into a timber. He strikes the nail, and there is the slightest pause as you wait for the sound to travel. When it hits you, it's as though the hammer is stiking your tympanic membrane. The sound strikes again and again, especially with the slightest movement of my head. It wakes me up at night, provided I have managed to go to sleep in the first place. These "shocks" are very, VERY REAL. And it is painfully obvious that no one in the medical profession believes me.
I am currently taking a whopping 225mg of Effexor. I have managed in the past to get down to 150mg, just by splitting the little, bitty "pills" inside the capsules until I reached that level over the course of a month. BUT, the worst part of withdrawal for me is the anxiety, muscle cramps, sleeplessness, inability to concentrate, aggression (pure, nastiness toward others), carbohydrate cravings, gnawing nerve pain in my back, hands, feet, and legs... I have been terrified of trying to reduce my dosage below 150mg because I'm afraid of suicide or finding myself running naked in the park; the possibilities are endless and unknown! I began again today, trying to discontinue this horribly damaging medication. I took only two 75mg caps (150mg) and plan to take 225mg tomorrow, 150mg the next - - and so on unti I feel like I can go two days on only 150mg each day... I will continue this stepdown program until I am no longer addicted to Effexor, the "miracle" antidepressant that is supposedly non-addictive. One thing I have been doing for anyone and everyone I know who is thinking of taking it: I WARN THEM EMPHATICALLY TO NOT GO THERE! Please, if anyone has any advice for me, I am begging for any assistance you can offer.
poster:Hopespringseternal
thread:442237
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/newbs/20041227/msgs/442237.html